Tale of the Nine Tailed (Season 1 review)
Tale of the Nine Tailed is a fantasy romcom aired by Korean tvN in 2020 which is now getting a sort of second season in announced prequel series of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938. tvN definitely loves this genre, one of their dramas with best viewership ratings, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, is popular among netizens to this day, and recently they had a success with Alchemy of Souls. Tale of the Nine Tailed didn’t have ratings comparable to these shows though, so it’s interesting it’s getting a prequel series.
The premise of the first season is that the former deity and a nine-tailed fox (gumiho), Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook), is waiting for his long-lost love, Yi Ah-eum (Jo Bo-ah), to be reincarnated. He meets her again in modern-day, as Nam Ji-ah (also Jo Bo-ah). The fate of these two is nevertheless tragic: the tragedy which caused Ah-eum’s death in the first place is set to repeat again. The evil being behind all of this is Imoogi or Serpent (Lee Tae-ri), and he is yet again conspiring against Lee Yeon and Ji-ah.
The plot of the series is based on tropes extensively used by most fantasy K-Dramas: main leads are joined by fate (together with second leads and whoever else), they’ve met in the distant past and meet now again, and so they have to fight the evil forces to stay together. We’ve seen some of the same tropes in recent dramas like Island and Kokdu: The Season of Deity. So, the Tale of the Nine Tailed is not particularly original here. Nevertheless, it has a charm the shows like Island lack, and Kokdu desperately wanted to achieve but wasn’t able.
The plot of the series, besides the ongoing romance between main leads, is structured around several “mysteries” or cases the characters in the show are working on and trying to resolve. Nam Ji-ah is pursuing these cases as a TV producer making a TV show about supernatural events, while Yeon just tags along. The few last episodes focus on final showdown between our heroes and Imoogi, though. As usual, bit by bit we’re learning about Yeon’s and Ji-ah/Ah-eum’s past in a series of flashbacks throughout the episodes. In addition, in the first episode we learn that Yeon works as a sort of hunter hunting supernatural beings who abuse their powers and the order of things, but this pretense is quickly abandoned in the show.
The main focus of the show, and its strength lays in the main leads and their relationship. Both, Lee Dong-wook as Yeon and Jo Bo-ah as Ji-ah offer a compelling performance, and throughout series of events we grow fond of them. Both of them are instantly likeable, and while the drama doesn’t rise beyond stereotypes and typical tropes, you would be hard-pressed not to get teary-eyed from time to time, especially during the final climax of the show and its aftermath. Another relationship worth mentioning is that between Yeon and his brother, Lee Rang (Kim Bum). They start as antagonists, but they slowly move towards reconciliation in a sort of redemption arc for Lee Rang. Both actors are set to reprise their roles in the prequel, so I wonder what their relationship is going to be like this time.
Besides that, we have a plethora of likable characters, some serving as comedic reliefs, usually representing some mythical beings who occasionally help Yeon and Ji-ah, I am sure we’re going to meet them again in the prequel too. The main weakness of the show is the main villain, as it often happens in K-Dramas (rarely villains are very compelling), although his female “version” (not too spoil to much) is much more interesting and should’ve been a focus of the series instead of one-note villain in Serpent we’re dealing for most of the show.
Despite decent writing and pretty good storylines fantasy K-Dramas often struggle with low budget and poor-quality vfx, which is visible here too. The vfx are quite cheesy and not very compelling, taking us out of the experience. For the most part, the mythical beings in the show are just regular humans, they do not transform into mythical creatures or monsters or whatever, in apparent effort to lower the costs. Some of the newer shows, like Alchemy of Souls or Island, had less problems with that, although their budget is still not on par with even mid-budgeted American series like Supernatural. Hopefully, with the increasing popularity of K-Dramas, this is something that they can improve in the future.
In sum, Tale of the Nine Tailed is a successful and charming fantasy drama, with a somewhat stereotypical and predictable plot.
Tale of the Nine Tailed on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
