Tale of the Nine Tailed

 Tale of the Nine Tailed

6.5/10

Tale of the Nine Tailed

Genre:                                      Episodes: 16                         Year: 2020

Fantasy 

Romance

Synopsis:

Lee Yeon was a nine tailed fox who sacrificed his position of Guardian of Baekdudaegan mountain to reincarnate his human lover. He has spent the last several hundred years waiting and searching for her reincarnation. As he waits, he meets Nam Ji Ah, a producer who searches for supernatural stories as she hopes to find her parents who mysteriously disappeared when she was a child. 

Cast:

Lee Dong Wook (Lee Yeon)

Jo Bo Ah (Nam Ji Ah)

Kim Bum (Lee Rang)

Hwang Hee (Goo Shin Joo)

Kim Yong Ji (Kim Yoo Ri)

Lee Tae Ri (Imoogi/Terry)

Eom Hyo Seop (Kwon Hae Ryong)

Kim Jung Nan (Samdo River Gatekeeper)

Ahn Kil Kang (Hyun Ui Ong)

Kim Soo Jin (Bok Hye Ja)

General Thoughts:

This show started out really well but unfortunately just wasn’t able to last the distance. At the start the show felt sparkly and new and unlike any other K-Drama that I had seen. But the further into the story I got, I realised that there wasn’t actually anything all that new or inventive going on. It was just a run of the mill drama dressed up in extravagant fox fur.

Not as mystical as I was hoping

The writer is pretty new which can be a bit of a warning sign (but hey, everyone has to start somewhere), but the cast are not exactly actors to sniff at- and when so many great actors sign onto a project, I kinda assume there has to be something special about it. But that just wasn’t really the case for ‘Nine Tailed’. The main characters felt very stock standard, the plot stalled at its climax, and the world-building was very incomplete. There were sprinkles of greatness here and there, but once the shine from a new fantasy show staring Lee Dong Wook as a mythical creature wore off, we weren’t left with all that much.

Long lost loves doomed by fate- what's new?

 The plot line was really the show’s biggest weakness, as it wasn’t able to create a tense race against time that I think the writer was aiming for. The only buildup we really had was that either Yeon or Ji Ah was going to die. And then there were a lot of episodes of everyone talking about how much that sucked and how badly they wanted to change fate. But not actually doing anything about it. Yeah, yawn. When your plot is driven solely by conversations it becomes a bit of a drag, particularly when so many of those conversations are rehashing information that the viewers already know. Yeon finds out about their Imoogi fate. Then Ji Ah. Then they discuss it. Then they tell the Gatekeeper. Then they discuss it some more. Like jeezus, can we have some actual action here please? I found it particularly difficult to continue liking Yeon and Ji Ah as characters the longer the death-fate plot was draaaaaagged out, as my boredom with the plot naturally shifted to boredom with the main characters, who at time were moping about their sad destiny, and at other times were pretending to be a big ol’ happy family while completely ignoring the Imoogi danger. It was very frustrating. And it’s not like these characters had bad actors either. Lee Dong Wook is extraordinarily charismatic, and Jo Bo Ah has a delightful, bubbly energy that makes her easy to like. However even these two actors couldn’t quite pull their characters through the bogged down plot, try though they might.

I kind of wish we'd spent a bit more time in the past with god-Yeon

Yeon’s character was just painfully stereotypical. Aloof yet petty god-like being who hides his empathetic heart- where have a seen that before? Only in every fantasy K-Drama ever. And Ji Ah’s character, while a little less typical, just wasn’t that outstanding. Seriously, why is it that male characters can have so many different ‘attractive’ qualities but females just get stuck with only ‘bright’ and ‘innocent’. I’d love to see a drama where the female lead is aloof or petty. And audiences everywhere are desperate for heroines with a bit more than just innocent brightness- just look at how much we all love Moon Young from ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’!

It's a damsel and she's in distress

Ji Ah started out a bit more gutsy than she finished, but her character was only really included in the story so that Yeon would have something to save. Even though Ji Ah had a large part of the original Imoogi spirit inside her it gave her no extra powers, and she had absolutely no real way to alter her fate. Beyond just saving Yeon the trouble and killing herself that is. She was an interesting enough heroine, and I so wish the writer had given her something more to do than just being in love with Yeon. I like Ji Ah much better when she was fighting against fear-spirits or digging into supernatural mysteries- taking away her ability to really save herself or Yeon made her pretty useless, and any time she did try to do anything in the final episodes of the show it just made her seem stupid. Yes, call out the mystical, powerful spirit inside you for a chat, I’m sure that poses no danger to you or the people you are trying to protect. I appreciated that the drama kept Ji Ah’s fighting spirit going strong- she never just sat down and gave up, but I just wished she’d had a way to be more in control of her won fate. Even Yeon’s mystical magical abilities were very rarely used- I think maybe if the show had upped the special powers a bit, and had Ji Ah able to draw on her Imoogi powers and become a combined force with Yeon’s nine tailed fox power that could have been really cool.

This was AMAZING, but it only happened once. And in like...episode 3...

But that would probably have come with a hefty special effects budget which this show might not have had.The acting in the drama was pretty good all around, and our leads were consistent throughout the show’s run. I didn’t feel like it was Lee Dong Wook’s best performance ever, and did think that perhaps he was getting a little complacent towards the end there when the drama reached the height of it’s emotions with Rang saying his video goodbye. I’m not sure if Lee Dong Wook was struggling with the character or the script, but I just wasn’t feeling the heart-wrenching emotion that I know he can deliver. He was perfectly petty when the show required it, and he really delivered on the cool and mysterious aspects of his character. His simmering rage the few times he let his powers lose to defend Ji Ah was done wonderfully, and I think a lot of the believability of the romance came from Lee Dong Wook’s portrayal.

I did have a chuckle at how hard Jo Bo Ah seemed to grip Lee Dong Wook's neck

Jo Bo Ah didn’t wow me as our heroine, but I think that was more from the show’s writing than her acting ability. She certainly did the role well, and her transitions between Ji Ah and Imoogi Ji Ah were very smooth. I liked the determination Jo Bo Ah gave Ji Ah’s character, and similarly to the character itself, I think Jo Bo Ah would have shined a lot more if she’d been given something a bit more interesting to do to drive the plot forwards. The chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah was…nothing sensational.

Absolute King of Chemistry

They were believable enough but they didn’t really get that spark going that makes  K-Drama couple feel really special. Kim Bum on the other hand, they both had wonderful chemistry with. The love-hate relationship between the brothers was ripe with tension and was always fascinating to watch. The quiet ways they showed they cared were definitely the best and were more heart-fluttering than any big declaration. The two had a great rapport and were endlessly entertaining. Yeon was kinda a bit of a butt to Rang though, and while it was easy to see how Rang misunderstood Yeon’s intentions and ended up thinking that Yeon abandoned him, Yeon kind of did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to fix the situation. Instead of just having one simple, frank conversation with Rang, Yeon let Rang's wounds fester and his hostility grow for 600 years give or take. Which is a pretty sucky thing to do. Kim Bum and Jo Bo Ah had a really interesting chemistry too. While they didn’t share a lot of screen time in the middle stages of the drama, the hostility from Rang was really interesting to watch unfold, and Ji Ah’ s bad*ss candid responses to him were really cool and helped bolster her character and give her a bit of uniqueness. The petty, competitive bonding the two had after Yeon’s death was also really fun, and was full of humour and heart, and did make you wish they’d had a bit more of a chance to interact throughout the drama's runtime.

100% would watch a spin-off about this rag-tag fam

Kim Bum absolutely smashed his role and it was such a delight to see him back in Dramaland after his long hiatus. He certainly didn’t feel rusty, and he once again delivered a wonderful ‘bad boy’ tope persona, squishy centre included. Rang had a much more interesting storyline and development than Yeon (who was pretty boring if we’re bring honest), and Kim Bum had a big range of emotions that he had to deliver on. He slayed every single scene, and I ended up wishing that the drama itself had actually been about Rang rather than Yeon. The plot started off at a fairly decent pace, but just after the halfway mark it really slowed down.

Terry killed a LOT of people while Yeon *ssed about

It felt like there should have been another event and a bit more buildup to the final Imoogi confrontation, because as it stands, after Rang declares for Team Yeon, not a lot happens. Terry reveals himself as Imoogi (which Yeon didn’t tell everyone about already because…that would make too much sense?) and then there’s like 5 episodes of everyone standing about talking about how much it sucks that Imoogi is here and now how sad it is that either Yeon or Ji Ah has to die. It was very stagnant. Due to the romance being more on the lukewarm side, I found myself not really caring if they were separated or not, and just wishing that one of them would hurry up and die already so that innocent people would stop being killed by Imoogi’s plague. Seriously, over 900 people died in the 3 days Yeon took to formulate any sort of plan. Nine. Hundred. All because he wanted to save one girl. I’m kinda on the Gatekeeper’s side on this one- let the one die for the sake of the many. Brutal? Kinda. Best course of action? Definitely. Those poor 900 dead people are pretty quickly swept under the rug and forgotten, and the drama totally glossed over that Yeon and Ji Ah were ready to let basically everyone on the planet die so that they could live happily together. Kinda selfish in my books. On a positive note, something the drama did really well with was the overall look of the show. It was very pretty and very glam. Even though the plot was a bit slow, it’s hard not to get sucked in by the pure beauty of the show.

Such pretty, much wow

It was lovely to look at, from the costuming to the sets, and there was a really lovely soundtrack to accompany all the pretty on screen. None of the supernatural elements felt tacky or looked like bad CGI, and the show felt really professional and smooth. The actual world building, however, could have used a little more work- we only get introduced to a handful of supernatural beings, and even then they are explained rather poorly. I never quite understood how the afterlife/supernatural system worked- Rang has been ‘wanted’ for hundreds of years even though everybody always knows exactly where to find him when they need him.

Did someone forget to tell 'evil' CEO that this wasn't a comedy?

Who goes after the wanted people anyway? Clearly not Yeon- Yeon doesn’t seem to have any sort of supernatural job. He’s just immortal. And rich. I do wish a bit more detail had been put into the world building, but there were a few elements of detail that I liked- the nine tailed fox favour bonds as a way to bind the foxes extreme power was an interesting take, and I did like how that played into the story with Rang being unable to break away from the evil CEO and Ah Eum forcing Yeon to kill her by returning a favour. I liked the added complexity it gave the fox powers and was glad that it was a recurring detail and not just thrown in at the last moment. While the show as a whole wasn't exactly the heart-stopping entertainment I was hoping for, there was certainly enough in it to keep it interesting. The final few episodes with the slow in pace really hurt the show, but it was otherwise an enjoyable watch. I think my high expectations left me feeling a little let down, which is why I seem to be focusing more on what I didn’t like over what the show actually did well.

What Was Great:

Sassy Sides:

So better get onto what the show did well. The side characters were wonderful. More specifically, the fox side characters. They had a lot of humour, heart and personality, and they were always fabulous to watch on screen.

Yes, please, thank you

While I didn’t exactly like Yoo Ri when she was first introduced (she seemed snappy, selfish and a tad too happy about violence) she grew on me pretty quickly and actually ended up becoming one of my favourite characters. As the plot started to drag, I found myself wishing that Yoo Ri had been the heroine of this show. While there was nothing wrong with Ji Ah, Yoo Ri was just SO unique and fun. And Yoo Ri got sh*t done. Admittedly, she didn’t really think things through, and she also didn’t really care about what happened to people that weren’t Rang or Shin Joo, but I actually found that to be one of the entertaining and endearing parts of her character.

I didn't expect to, but I adore Yoo Ri

While I admit it may not really work for a heroine if she doesn’t care about anyone else, it was quite refreshing to have a character who thought that way, and not only thought that way but really owned it. Yoo Ri didn’t pretend to be righteous or pure- she knew who she was and what she wanted and never pretended about anything else. The way her flippant, remorseless attitude caught others off guard was really fun, and it was a pure delight seeing Shin Joo start to pull her out of her hurt and direct her forward, determined attitude into other things- like taking care of Soo Oh. Shin Joo was another character that was fun to watch on screen. Similarly to Yoo Ri he had no hidden motives and was extremely loyal. He had great banter with Yeon, Yoo Ri and Rang, and could always be counted on to deliver backhanded humour with a charming smile. His innocence was endearing, and watching Yoo Ri fall for that innocence and warmth was really sweet. Throw Rang (who is easily the best character in the show) into the mix, and you’ve got such a fun, entertaining group of side characters. After Yeon’s death when Shin Joo and Yoo Ri get married, it was such a fun and unexpected dynamic to see all three of them (plus Soo Oh) living together. They all had fantastic chemistry and owned every scene that they were in, no matter who else was in the scene with them. 

What Wasn’t:

Convenient Reincarnation:

So many times in this drama we are told that reincarnation is random. It’s not a guaranteed way to see someone again. They will likely not look the same. They could be a different gender. Yeah, so that was a lie.

So if you look really closely, Ah Eum and Ji Ah are EXATLY THE SAME

Literally every person in this show who we see has been reincarnated looks exactly the same as they did in their past life. Except for the dog who is now human. But apart from that. All the same. So it’s evidently not as random as the show would have you believe. It was also miiiiighty convenient. Yeon dies, and then Rang sacrificed himself so that Yeon can be reincarnated and have another life. It’s all supposed to be very bittersweet and sad. And then Yeon is back. Not as a baby, not even as a child. He is back as a full grown adult with all his memories and even all his nine tailed fox power. So that’s less of a reincarnation thing and more of a resurrection thing.

Those expressions are basically how I watched Yeon's 'reincarnation' play out

It made no sense and it was quite lame. All the conflict the show tried (and I would argue it didn’t necessarily succeed) to gather is just…undone. It all seems so pointless if Yeon just gets a free pass and a second shot at life- what were all those episodes of worry for then? Like, sure, the characters didn’t know that it would pan out that way, but it felt like a huge cop out, and felt more like the writers didn’t know how to wrap up the show in a satisfactory manner after killing Yeon so they just brought him back. At the expense of Rang. If we’re all being honest, we knew Rang wasn’t making it out of the drama alive. Bad boy brothers that turn to the good side never make it out alive. It’s like the brooding bodyguard best friend in Joseon dramas.

My heart did hurt for Rang here

 Always gonna die. But the way they did it was so….not cool. Okay, so the actual scene was great. Kim Bum slayed the emotions, and the fact that time ran out just before Yoo Ri could reach him and say goodbye was absolutely heartbreaking. Rang’s death was always going to hurt, but it hurt that much more seeing Yoo Ri so close to being able to be next to him when it happened, but not quite. So the scene was wonderful, but how we got there wasn’t. Rang and Ji Ah are arguing about which one should sacrifice themselves to get Yeon back. And they decide on Rang. Rang who has a whole new family and finally has a chance of living a life where he can love and be loved freely. Ji Ah has…her parents? Two friends? The show spent a lot of time and effort making us believe that Yeon was everything to her. So why didn’t she let Rang have his well earned happiness and just take a shot in the dark and hope that she and Yeon cross paths in their next life? Sure, I can understand Rang’s argument that her dying negates the sacrifice that Yeon made…but as she didn’t know that Yeon was going to come back as an adult man with all his memories…why would she just continue on like that? It felt like a quick and easy way to just switch the dead brothers, and it wasn’t satisfying at all. In my mind, either Ji Ah should have sacrificed herself and she and Yeon could have been born again and grown up knowing each other and falling in love all while being looked over by this weird fox family of Rang, Yoo Ri and Shin Joo. Or Rang could have taken the Imoogi inside himself somehow and sacrificed himself for Ji Ah and Yeon both, thus completely changing their so-called ‘fate’.

If you'd switched Yeon and Rang here I would have literally downed in my tears (in a good way)

Rang would have a bittersweet ending, and Yeon and Ji Ah would have been together. The only perk of actually having Yeon die would be so that he could be reincarnated as a human and live a human life with Ji Ah like he wanted. But then the show backtracked on that too and he was still a nine tailed fox in the final scene! The way this show handled death and reincarnation was just so sloppy and so all over the place, and was definitely a big weakness in the writing.

Ji Ah, Ah Eum...Ah Well, doesn't matter anyway

 It also felt like the love-line suffered a bit because of the show's over-reliance on the reincarnation theme. Because the writer was leaning so heavily on 'fate' being what drew our hero and heroine together, it kind of missed out on developing their own special connection. A lot of the time it felt like Yeon was seeing Ji Ah and Ah Eum as the same person- but they weren't! Sure the soul is technically the same, but Ji Ah didn't have any of the memories of Ah Eum. Sure, she then saw her past life played out- but that was more like watching a movie than anything else, and Ah Eum and Ji Ah remained completely separate entities. At first when Ji Ah wasn't reacting to Yeon calling for his fox bead I thought it meant that Ji Ah might not actually be the reincarnation of Ah Eum, and that we would discover Ah Eum somewhere else. Preferably happy and in love with someone else and living her best life away from Yeon. And then Yeon would really have to pick between Ah Eum and Ji Ah because they wouldn't be the same person! But no, the show went the typical cliche route of the heroine being the main man's reincarnated love. 

Secret Plans:

Does anyone ever sit down and watch a show and just be like ‘oh man, I really hope the main couple in this show don’t communicate well and keep lots of secrets and just make life so much more complicated by keeping everything to themselves and not sharing their pool of knowledge around so they can work together and come to better solutions’? No? Me either.

Wow this blindside could have been totally avoided

So why do K-Drama writers keep making their characters act this way? Golly gosh it is just so annoying. Everybody in this show thinks they know what is best for everyone and act on what they think will work out best. Only instead they aren’t sharing what they know and are putting each other in more danger. Like, it would have been so helpful if Yeon had told Ji Ah what the Imoogi looked like so she wasn’t taken by surprise. And Yeon and Ji Ah both knew for like a whole two episodes who the Imoogi was, what his plan was and neither of them thought it would be a good idea to let Ji Ah’s parents know? That’s how you end up in situations where they are unawares and being friendly to the evil guy. Like jeez, just TALK it’s not that hard!

This really should have been their strategy a lot sooner

It was tricky and tiring to keep track of who knew what and what different plans were being formulated. So many people were caught off guard and ended up having an Imoogi spell put on them just because Yeon didn’t tell his immediate circle of friends what was going down. Just pure bonkers behaviour, it really was. In my opinion, you deserve to get Imoogi’ed to death if that’s how you strategise. 

Recommend?

Ehhh, I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this to people. Though I would probably say that if you really loved ‘The Lonely Shining Goblin’ or ‘Bride of the Water God’ (though I haven’t seen that one), you may want to give ‘Nine Tailed’ a go. 

So is Yeon just hoping Ji Ah never notices that he isn't ageing and is in fact still an immortal, magical being?