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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.  

A young athlete makes his living on the county ssireum team for traditional Korean wrestlers.  He has grown up with a father and brothers who have all been ssireum champions.  But despite his early reputation as a child prodigy, he has never been able to win a championship.  Just when he is ready to retire from the sport a new manager comes to town who looks just like his childhood friend and first love.  And when she encourages him to continue working toward his dream, he begins to believe in himself again.  But the new manager has a secret past that threatens to shock their small community and cast a shadow on some of it’s respected members.

Lee Joo Myung as Oh Yoo Kyung/ Oh Doo Sik

Oh Doo Sik is Baek Doo’s childhood friend and first love.  She is forced to leave town when she is young after her father is accused of murder.  Although he is acquitted, many in town still believe he is guilty, so they move away to find a fresh start.  But Doo Sik always believed that her father was purposely framed for the crime he didn’t commit.  Now as an adult, Doo Sik has followed her dream of becoming a detective.  And when a case similar to her father’s comes into her department, she begs her mentor to let her go undercover to investigate.  Posing as Oh Yoo Kyung, Doo Sik takes a job as the county ssireum team manager.  But of course her old friend Baek Doo immediately recognizes her. And although she tries to maintain the secret of her identity, she is eventually forced to confess and swear him to secrecy.  Now the pair, with the help of Doo Sik’s partner and their childhood friends, will try to solve the current case and clear Doo Sik’s dad once and for all.  

Oh Doo Sik is tough and outspoken.  As the only girl in their friend group, she took charge of every situation and beat up anyone who disagreed.  As a “tomboy” whose father was the ssireum coach, Doo Sik grew up loving the sport and her friends who competed.  Because of this, she is thrilled to have a chance to come back to the hometown and friends she has always missed.  I enjoyed Lee Joo Myung as Oh Doo Sik.  This character would have been easy to overplay, but I thought she kept the role balanced and consistent all the way through. I especially loved how her character could go from mature police detective to overbearing and immature leader of the pack in the blink of an eye.  It gave her character a nice, yet understated complexity.

Kim Bo Ra as Joo Mi Ran

Joo Mi Ran runs the small cafe in town.  No one knows where she comes from and her habit to randomly close the shop whenever she wants seems like a confusing business model.  But little do they know that Mi Ran also grew up in Geosan.  Although she was younger than them, she used to follow all of them around and try to play with them when they were kids.  Mi Ran’s father was the wrestler Doo Sik’s dad was accused of killing.  Mi Ran is also back in town hoping to find closure from the trauma of her past.

♥ The Sport

I am not a huge sports enthusiast, but Netflix seems to have found a formula for sports dramas that draws me in.  And while I knew nothing about ssireum, I am a huge fan of sumo, which shares some rules and strategies.  So I loved watching their training and matches.  The focus on the sport gave the drama a unique appeal and I felt like I got to learn a bit about it.

 ♥ Baek Doo and Doo Sik

I loved this sweet romance.  Their characters reminded me of one of my all-time favorite couples from “Fight My Way”.  The childhood friend to lover trope can be tricky, but I really enjoyed the way this one is written.  Yes, there is a huge amount of head hitting and silly childhood games, but I feel like this fits two friends who haven’t seen each other since middle school.  They are fast forwarding through the adolescence they missed together so they can get to know each other as the adults they have become. 

Culprit

It seemed like the actually murderer was pretty obvious from the beginning.  First, because Lee Gyung Myoung’s character was so grumpy and unlikable. And second, because Ahn Chang Hwan is so good as a criminal.  I don’t know why, but he just felt like the natural choice from the start.  I mean, even his on-screen wife, who coincidentally is also his wife in real life, doesn’t seem to like him much. The revelation of the cause for the crime is interesting enough to make the mystery fun, but I wasn’t surprised by the culprit himself.  

Poor Mi Ran

You have to feel for Mi Ran.  First her father is killed and she is left alone in a new place.  But when she comes back to her hometown, none of the kids she used to idolize even remembers her.  Yet Doo Sik comes to town with a new identity and they still figure out its her.  Mi Ran is left, as usual, watching from outside of the inner circle and wishing they would be her friends.  Of course, she does finally get the friendship and healing she deserves, but I sure felt for her during the early parts of the show.  

“Like Flowers in Sand” comes away with a sweet, satisfying ending.  The real killer is revealed, bringing restoration to Doo Sik’s dad’s reputation and closure to Mi Ran for the wrongful loss of her father.  The killer, Lee Kyung Moon, the owner of the rice cake shop, is caught and arrested.  Baek Doo finally wins his championship after a hard-fought match that again comes down to a last minute decision.  Luckily, this time, the decision goes his way.  And after the match, he finally gets a confession from Doo Sik that she does have feelings for him too. The couple finally share a kiss before meeting up with the gang at the coffee shop.  At the shop, the friends joke and reminisce together before going out to take a walk and play along the beach.  In the end, we find out that Baek Doo’s dream for his future self was much more than wrestling or his love for Doo Sik. He wished he could spend time together with all his friends. It looks like he is going to have to start a new bucket list, because with his recent win, Doo Sik’s confession, and his friends suddenly closer than ever, he has achieved everything he has ever wished for.