Finally, the long-awaited drama of Cha Eun Woo and Park Gyu Yeon is released. A Good Day to be a Dog is based on the webtoon by Lee Hay. The drama has the same name as the webtoon and, for the most part, follows the same story.
The drama follows the journey of Miss. Han Hae Na, by all means, lives a normal and happy life except for one of her family’s best-kept secrets- the family curse. The family is cursed to turn into a dog when they kiss someone.
A Good Day to be a Dog Episode 1 Recap and Ending Explained: What is the curse? Will Hae Na break the curse?
A Good Day to be a Dog Episode 1 Recap: What is the curse?The story jumps straight into the life of Miss. Han Hae Na was celebrating her one-year anniversary with her boyfriend. Her refusal to kiss anyone has brought many of her previous relationships to their knees. This relationship, too, was no exception.
Later, we learn that Hae Na grows up to be a teacher, and the present-day Hae Na’s life isn’t going too well as she is greeted with the news of her ex-boyfriend getting married. To add insult to injury, all her friends are busy with their own respective relationships and thus can’t come to cheer her up.
She is notoriously known in the school as BUKC, aka Breaking up Kissing Couples. Her jealousy of being unable to kiss until she is 28 makes her spiteful towards the kids.
Although her love life isn’t all that dreary, she has a crush on one of her fellow teachers, Mr. Lee. He is cheerful and sweet, quite contrary to his friend Mr. Jin Seo Won, the maths teacher who is quite cold, if not downright rude, towards Hae Na.
Hae Na gets invited to join the barbeque with the other teachers. On the way to the barbeque spot, they come across a pet stop. While everyone stops to admire the adorable dogs, Mr Jin decides to stand a bit far.
Hae Na’s admiration for Mr. Lee increases when he admits his love for animals. Hae Na notices the burn on Mr. Jin’s hand, but when she tries to touch it, he flinches away, making her hate him more.
While at the barbeque, Hae Na receives a picture of her ex’s wedding, and she realizes that her ex had married her previous best friend. The heartbreak causes her to drink excessively.
Her friend, trying to help her to get a date with Mr Lee, asks what kind of girls he likes. Mr. Lee confesses he likes girls who approach him first. With this idea fresh in her mind, she sees a dream that she is confessed to by Mr. Lee.
On waking up from her alcohol-induced dream, she realizes that she is alone in the bar. Still determined to see her dream to an end, she leaves the place in search of Mr. Lee.
A very drunk Hae Na confesses to Mr Lee and even goes as far as to kiss him, only to realize that it is not Mr. Lee at all but rather Mr. Jin. On realizing her mistake, she profusely Mr. Jin and runs away.
In this situation, we are introduced to the conditions of the curse. The curse is such that after their first kiss, she would have one minute, after which she would turn into a dog. She would then have 100 days to convince the person who kissed her to kiss her in dog form to break the curse. If she fails to do so, she will permanently turn into a dog. During that time, every day from 12 am to 6 am, she would turn into a dog.
Her family history with the curse was not too easy. Her uncle, for example, failed to kiss the woman he had kissed, which ended up with him being stuck in the body of a dog for the rest of his life.
In addition to this, her sister also experimented with this curse to prove to her childhood best friend the validity of the curse, only for the curse to be proven true. However, she did manage to break it immediately.
Even so, going back to school proves to be a struggle for Hae Na, who gets flashbacks of the day before. Mr Lee comes to her table to inform her that Mr Jin did not take it to heart, and everyone realizes that it was a drunken mistake. Even so, advises her to apologize to Mr Jin. This results in a very awkward apology which still ends up closer to a fight between them than any genuine apologetic feelings.
Her home is shadowed by more gloom as her uncle’s failing health becomes a concern for the family. The fact that he is now a dog greatly reduces his life span and causes the family to be more concerned about Hae Na’s condition.
Hae Na’s sister still takes this moment to do a photoshoot of dog Hae Na to cheer themselves up. This gloomy mood leads to a long charade of tricks by Hae Na to get Mr. Jin to drink with her until he eventually relents.
Hae Na plans to make Mr. Jin drunk enough that he won’t notice the dog Hae Na turning into a human Hae Na when he kisses her.
Near midnight, Hae Na hides in an alley and calls for Mr Jin. By the time an intoxicated Mr Jin enters the alley, she has already turned into a dog and is ready to pounce on Mr Jin.
The twist in the story comes when Mr Jin, at the sight of a very cute dog, instead of picking it up, runs away in fear. It is only at the very sorry sight of a terrified Mr Jin that Hae Na realizes he is scared of dogs.
While breaking the curse under normal conditions wouldn’t have been easy, Mr Jin only makes it harder. While his personality obviously leaves much to be desired, the fact that he is scared of dogs definitely makes things more interesting. As to how Hae Na breaks the curse, that remains to be seen.
