Kdrama and Ramen

A young teacher has avoided dating her whole life because of a family curse that makes them turn into dogs if they kiss someone.  But following a work drinking party, she kisses a fellow teacher, mistaking him for the man she has a crush on.  Now every night for 100 nights, she turns into a cute little dog.  And after that time she will become a dog forever, unless she can break the curse.  Breaking it requires the same person who kissed her to kiss her again in dog form.  But she has two major problems. First, the guy she kissed doesn’t seem interested in her and second, he is deathly afraid of dogs.  So she sets out to befriend him, help him overcome his fear of dogs, and eventually gain his help in breaking the spell.  And as she gets to know him, she will discover that this teaching rival that she had once despised as cold and uninteresting actually has a sweet, charming side.

Park Gyu Young as Han Hae Na

Han Hae Na is a high school Korean language teacher.  She avoids romantic relationships because of a family curse that causes her to turn into a dog if she kisses someone.  But when she gets drunk at a work party, she finally decides to take the risk and confess her feelings to Bo Gyum, who is a fellow teacher. Unfortunately she ends up kissing Seo Won instead.  Now every night she turns into a dog until morning.  But there is a simple way to break the curse.  She just needs Seo Won to kiss her while she is still a dog.  But as luck would have it, Seo Won is deathly afraid of dogs.  So she is going to have to help him get over that fear if she is going to avoid living the rest of her life as a dog.  And she has 100 days to make it happen.  But more important than the spell itself is the story of how it all began and who else had a part in the original curse.  

Han Hae Na is friendly and outgoing.  She has always found Seo Won’s cold personality to feel condescending and rude.  But when she is forced to befriend him and spend time with him, she begins to see that he is not at all the person she had assumed.  And her desire to help him with his fear of dogs becomes less about saving her own destiny, and more about helping him heal from his past trauma.  Park Gyu Young plays this kind of spunky, optimistic character well.  I liked her in this role, and I enjoyed watching her relationship with Seo Won develop.

Yoon Hyun Soo as Choi Yool

Choi Yool is Seo Won’s nephew.  He is also a student at the high school his uncle teaches at.  And when Yool accidentally discovers the truth about Hae Na’s curse, he vows to do whatever he can to help her break it.  Yool develops a crush on Hae Na but in the end, he has to concede to his uncle, Seo Won, who finally succeeds in winning her heart.  

♥ Choi Yool

I really loved the character of Choi Yool.  The way they handled his crush on Hae Na made him come across as mature and well-grounded.  And the relationship between him and Seo Won was touching and fun.  I did wonder at first if they would put him with Ji Ah, but that didn’t work out for him either.  I think it would have been really easy to paint him as childish and jealous, but I am so glad they gave him more depth of character than some of the average “second leads”.

 ♥ The Dog Story

I enjoyed the concept of the dog curse, and although the story sounded a little weird, it was well told.  I especially liked the first half of the show when they were focused on the curse, how to break it, and how to keep it a secret.  I think this portion of the series was easily the strongest and most interesting.  I didn’t like some of the other elements quite as well as the central story itself.  

Uncle’s Story

I loved the idea of an uncle who had been unsuccessful at removing the curse.  He is the cautionary tale of what happens if you don’t get your second kiss.  But his storyline was strangely non-cohesive.  The scenes of the very old, sick dog are heartbreaking, but then we move on to his miraculous transformation back to a human and he just seems fine.  Then he loses his voice but mysterious gets it back again with absolutely no explanation.  I’m not sure what the point of his character is most of the time, and they did nothing to explain any of it in a way that makes sense or makes me care.  

Flashbacks and Repetition

Even with only 14 episodes, this drama seemed a bit too long for the material they had.  The use of repetition in the story and endless flashbacks to the the same scenes over and over began to lose their appeal over time.  Particularly toward the end of the drama, there seemed to be more memories then new material.  Which is a shame, because I think there are other parts of the story they could have focused on if they had removed some of the overused scenes.

Pretty much everyone gets a happy ending in this one.  The final episode starts with Hae Na getting all her memories back.  Then we jump forward one year to catch up with all our characters.  Now that the curse is broken and Bo Gyum’s revenge is complete, he and the Vice Principal have disappeared.  Dong Cheol finally is back to being a human with a voice.  After a rough patch, he and Ms. Yoon get back together and are moving forward in their relationship.  Yoo Na and Woo Taek officially define their relationship and get engaged.  Once Ji Ah graduates, she goes to find Bo Gyum and confess her feelings for him.  The couple share a special time together as they release lanterns into the sky.  I hope Bo Gyum can be honest now and return her love.  After hiding the fact that they are dating, our lead couple decide to go public.  Seo Won has overcome his fear of dogs and he and Hae Na adopted a dog of their own.  The drama ends with Hae Na’s voiceover about how they are learning to enjoy the normal things in life together.