We’re back with a new K-drama review, this time about the 2019 series ‘Black Dog’. TThis series has a stellar cast and an intriguing storyline. Let’s take a closer look
‘Black Dog’ was written by Park Joo-Yeon and directed by Hwang Joon-Hyeok. The sixteen episode drama was produced by TvN and is currently on Netflix.
Plot
The series follows the struggles of Ko Ha-Neul portrayed by Seo Hyun-Jin who is in the popular series ‘Why Her’ which is airing right now. Ko Ha-Neul is struggling to find a job as a teacher. The environment is cutthroat and a permanent job is like a golden ticket. It doesn’t come by very often.
She gets a one-year contract at Daechi High and has to join the Admissions Department. There’s a rumor that amongst the new temps there is someone who got in through their contacts, in other words a nepotism baby. A lot of fingers are pointing in Ko Ha-Neul’s direction because she has an uncle who works in the school as well. It gets her quite a lot of hate and disdain, with the other teachers downright ignoring her or avoiding her.
In the Admissions Department are three others. There’s the team leader Park Sung-Soon played by Ra Mi-Ran who was also in ‘Miss and Mrs Cops’. There’s also Do Yeon-Woo who is played by Ha Joon and Bae Myung-Soo played by Lee Chang-Hoon.
They have an interesting group dynamic and after a while have a very lovely and good team relationship. It was lovely to see.
The story follows along as Ko Ha-Neul goes through her first year of teaching. We see how she bonds with students and goes through the politics at the workplace.
Overall
I think ‘Black Dog’ was a very interesting take on the teacher profession. I think the script was well done and the performances really helped carry the story along. Here and there the pacing could have been a bit better, as certain parts seemed to drag on, while others went by super fast. Maybe it could have been an episode or two shorter.
Overall, I do think that ‘Black Dog’ is worth a watch, especially if you want to take a closer look at a realistic view of the profession.
Watch the trailer below.