Cha Eun-woo performs better than his previous outings in A Good Day to be a Dog. But is that enough? Here is our review of the ongoing K-drama.
A Good Day to be a Dog has an interesting premise rooted in fantasy. But the execution fails short and more often than not the past lives of the characters are cringeworthy than their present lives. The show fails to bring in that suspension of disbelief in the viewers.
A Cringeworthy Plot
The back-and-forth narration suffers from the lack of a tightly written screenplay. It feels more disoriented than the entire plot itself. The plot is the shallowest of any K-drama.
Some scenes are written unnecessarily, a childhood bully is coming back for what in the hell? But it doesn’t have any impact on the viewers. The relationship between teachers and younger students is a bit problematic (for example, the teacher waking up naked in a student’s room; it’s creepy as hell).
Characterization and Performances in A Good Day to Be a Dog
Characterizations are even worse. What kind of a woman in their late twenties, that too a teacher acts cute and dumb to look attractive? The way the female protagonist is interpreted is painful at best.
Here, as in many K-dramas, the second leads are better than the main leads. The best moment in the entire drama is their first meeting in episode 6.
Lee Hyun Woo is a wonderful actor. He gives a layered performance though there is nothing on paper.
But as in other K-dramas, you cannot just like the main characters. To top all that they have zero chemistry. Many moments between them don’t feel organic.
I never thought I would say this but Cha Eun-woo performs better than the female lead here. He has tried his best to bring some nuances to the character (though he still falls short in some scenes).
Park Gyu Young is a good actor and I like her understated performances, especially in The Devil Judge. In A Good Day to be a Dog though she lacks nuances. She has only one set of expressions in the entire series.
Most of the time she wears a deadpan expression which is more or less annoying. We cannot believe her when she says she has feelings for the guy. This character needed a more nuanced performer.
The Hidden Star: Ryu Abel as the older sister is phenomenal. We feel her struggles and pain because of the curse. She also appears in a different avatar in The Atypical Family. Somebody, please give this woman a more meaty role.
In short, A Good Day to be a Dog doesn’t offer anything worth your time.
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Arya is a curious soul and nerd who loves books and cinema. You can read her articles on Medium. You can also follow her on Instagram where she talks about her favourite books and movies.