K-drama midseason recap: A Good Day to Be a Dog – charming fantasy drama with Park Gyu-young and Cha Eun-woo at risk of wearing out its welcome

This article contains spoilers.

Lead cast: Park Gyu-young, Cha Eun-woo, Lee Hyun-woo, Yoon Hyun-soo, Kim Yi-kyeong

Latest Nielsen rating: 1.8 per cent

Romantic dramas usually have a clear destination, but they do not always end once their protagonists get there.

In Korean dramas, fate brings characters who do not seem to like each other together, time breaks down their defences, and they eventually fall into each other’s arms, intentionally at least – normally, by this point they have tripped into each other’s arms at least a few times.

But what happens after that? This is a question K-dramas often force themselves to answer, as their protagonists tend to get together around the two-thirds point of the season.

A Good Day to Be a Dog: fantasy romcom K-drama with a fluffy twist

While this is one of the ingredients that typically differentiates Korean dramas from other romantic narratives, it can also be a serious stumbling block, even for those that have worked very well up until that point.

A Good Day to Be a Dog has been charming and undemanding entertainment over the past two months, and the big moment we were all waiting for happened at the close of episode eight: teacher Seo-won (Cha Eun-woo) kissed fellow teacher Hae-na (Park Gyu-young) while she was in her dog form, and finally lifted her curse.

Episode nine invites us to bask in the glow of Hae-na’s double accomplishment – lifting the curse and landing the dreamy Seo-won. She celebrates with her sister the fact she will no longer turn into a dog every night. Instead, she turns into a giddy teenage girl in the first throes of romance.

Among the first cautious steps of the relationship is a moment when Hae-na and Seo-won, each at home under their respective blankets, text each other about how they will change their names on each other’s phones.

Seo-won suggests affixing a heart to hers, but she cautions that they must keep their relationship on the down low at school. However, in this puppy dog stage of their relationship, they find it hard to keep away from one another, with secret glances, nods and – gasp – hand-holding.

Their incautious behaviour quickly draws the jealous attention of both student Song Da-eun (Jo A-young) and co-teacher Yoon Chae-a (Lee Seol-el).

Since the school vice-principal has just cautioned his staff against public displays of affection between faculty at school, it seems as if Hae-na and Seo-won will be outed before long.

While this is a cute interlude to fill up the vacuum created in the wake of Hae-na’s dog curse ending, it is hardly sufficient to replace the drama the show needs to continue. So A Good Day to Be a Dog switches to the other fantastical element in its arsenal, one that has been brewing unevenly all season.

Perpetually grinning fellow teacher Lee Bo-gyeom (Lee Hyun-woo) was initially the object of Hae-na’s attention but, after Seo-won took over, he was quickly sidelined as a love interest – yet remained an important part of the show.

Bo-gyeom was revealed to be a supernatural character with vague powers connected to the distant past. He has not served a very clear narrative function since, but kept popping up to remind us that he existed and that he has a mysterious backstory waiting to be revealed.

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This backstory involves student Min Ji-a (Kim Yi-kyeong), who transferred to Garam High School a few episodes ago and has been on the fringes of the story, even though she does not interact with anyone.

This is because Ji-a is connected to Bo-gyeom, but the show waited for the lifting of Hae-na’s curse before delving into their story. Bo-gyeom appears to be some kind of spirit who has an axe to grind owing to events that took place in the past, events that involved characters who looked like Ji-a and Hae-na.

While A Good Day to Be a Dog has been a fantasy show since the beginning, it was a light and bright kind of fantasy that did not require too much in the way of explanation.

As the show steps into a broader world of mythology and seeks to bridge the present and the past, the show’s erstwhile simple delights are being swept out in favour of heavier elements.

We all still want to see Hae-na and Seo-won waltz off together into the happily ever after; hopefully this additional fantasy detour will not prove too great a distraction.

A Good Day to Be a Dog is streaming on Viu.