Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020)

What do you do when you really, but really do not like an actor but would love to see the drama because the theme is supernatural and you love it? So you try watching it, even finish it! But you hate every second of it! Even though you tried liking it. Well, that's me with this drama!!!

So, I am really biased here, but I cannot stand the sight of Lee Dong Wook. He may be a very nice person but his acting is not! He ruined the whole drama for me! He always sports a sinister smirk, a cary half smile which is permanently glued to his face and is immuable like the universe. His only moments of grace, in my eyes, were when he slayed the bad supernaturals. But the rest of the series which he spent pining and swooning and crying ... it was just awful! The only moment I really liked the drama was the very last MINUTE of the very LAST episode. Up to that point, it was draggy and messy. Characters strutting around, being cooly dangerous. Or the main couple being all lovey dovey in the midst of all the chaos! Nice! Major events were being planned and plotted leaving tha main baddie enough time to figure them out and come with a counter attack plan! The main couple seriously lacked chemistry in my book and they were so evidently unhappy when they saw each other again but could not say anything because they spent 16 episodes pining for each other, and offering to die for each other frequently. When the banality set in, they were bored and not interested in each other any more. All those scenes of domestic bliss following the cringy nature wedding (rings made of grass! Original! What else?) felt so false, wrong. Which was proven in the last minute of the drama. Domesticity kills the romance. And the romance was high when they were risking their lives every day but not anymore....

I liked seeing the actor from To My Star being all young and eager: I almost did not recognize him, he was so different here! Well done!
I usually like Kim Bom but here his character felt off, his acting was all over the place.
I liked that grim reaper couple: the husband was so funny with his wife and their banter was great.

What else did I like? The money they obviously spent on sets, cinematography, costumes shows clearly which was nice! And that's it!

And the final remark about Lee Dong Wook: he should be in a vampire themed drama or a movie, as a vampire obviously! That I would watch!

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An Okay Watch

To be honest.. I really did not like the way the drama turned .. While the starting few episodes were really good but then there were lot amount of plot-holes in the story.. Kim bum acting really stood out in the drama and Lee dong wook too but other than that.. It was just one time watch , The chemistry between the leads really did not contribute, the longing love between them could not be felt anywhere.. The plot twists were the main reason making this drama somewhat better, The villain was strong, All side characters acting were notable. But other than this do not expect anything else. Anyways, It's just a one time watch

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Fit my drama taste perfectly.

This drama was even better than I expected.
I usually like when there is romance in a drama. There are very few times I would hate it and find it disturbing. It's just my preference. I don't like it when romance takes a long time to develop and then suddenly everything speeds up because the drama ends. So that's already one of the advantages of this drama.
Another thing I liked was the fairly quick reconciliation between the brothers. We were given hints from the beginning that they didn't completely hate each other, so it was a good choice to pursue this subplot this way.
The third thing I liked was that the creators showed from the beginning that they took a specific direction, but at the same time there were also several plot twists.
The side characters also contributed a lot to this drama. The whole thing just fit my drama taste perfectly.

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Confusing Story, Great Acting

The premise of this story excited me and I went all in, hoping for a better-than-Goblin experience with fantastic actors. While I wasn't completely let down, it was apparent that the writers struggled through the story, and come up with new concepts each week just to keep the story going -- whether it made sense or not.

I enjoyed the stories of the secondary characters far more than the two main. Kim Bum was fantastic throughout the series and expertly portrayed his dynamic character. Don't know if I would watch this series again, save for fast forwarding just to see the Kim Bum scenes XD.

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Kinda confusing but hella satisfying!

I did not understand the ending where Yeon was reborn (as a human) in less than six months time! It kinda felt unreal and unconvincing. But the rest of the story was awesome and I liked every bit. Rang dying was probably the stupidest decision ever made by the storywriters and his sacrifice was not felt by his people as much as Yeon's did. It was like Rang's life was not even important for them. He was in fact my favorite character and it broke my heart to end it without him. The last part where Yeon slices his umbrella again and goldens his eyes was so damn satisfying! I watched that scene over a million times! I'm totally waiting for the second season. And I hope I won't be disappointed again!

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I enjoyed the drama a lot because of the various folkfore included. It makes me curious since these folkfore differs from one country to another. The acting was good, I especially love the two brothers and Lee Rang with the kid, he's super cute. imo, the storyline was rather plain and common for a fantasy drama, kinda predictable in some way. at some point, it was really interesting and i want to know happen next, but then it went back to its plain plot. that being said, this is one of the dramas that the cast had to lead and really 'push' the drama. even so, i still enjoy the drama a lot, it was a fun ride. if you enjoy fantasy drama, give this a watch, it was good for me.

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Oh thank you Kim Bum for giving us the best character

Gonna use this review to adress things on a trope regularly used in dramas and series that is starting to get on my nerves. I named it the unnecessary brother sacrifice.

I need to say i often side with the "bad guy". First, because antagonists or second lead characters are usually the most interesting ones in term of development and psychology. Then, because i relate a lot with their emotional struggles, backstory and complexed feelings.

I'll take Rang character as an example. He has everything that i love in a fiction: charisma, sarcasm, deep and difficult feelings and a solid traumatic backstory. He's a character "forced" to be the villain but actually so soft he would cry for an animal or would save anyone too weak to fight for himself . His anger towards human and feelings come from the fact he was wronged and failed by the closest persons he had.

On the contrary, we have tragic lead characters who only exist through unnecessary melodrama. they lack nuances and are quite bland to me. I don't really like romance and every time i kinda root for the other characters and doesn't care much on the main storyline. It's also a reason why i mainly watch thrillers or dramas with no relationships. Still, as fans root for the romance, writers have to make everything to please them.

The role of the bad guy becomes some kind of redemption journey where the final act of service will be his death (or close). I hate that Rang has to sacrifice himself for the main couple to have a happy ending.
It doesn't make sense at all and it is in my opinion super cruel. Why bother give him a family , salvation and peace just to make him face death ? I always suffer a lot with those closures because it doesn't serve their evolution, especially when the character starts to live his own life, free from traumatic bounds.

I also find lead characters (not only in this drama) super self centred when it comes to their lovestory. They don't care much about other people life's and feelings. Here, Yeon expected Rang to be his "final weapon" to serve the purpose of his live story. I feel like the male lead often uses the love and dependency of the other character for his own sake. (Another example is in my Dearest)

And you'll tell me yes but he made mistakes, this way he can repair it. But i disagree. I think they bare and suffered enough. And i'd rather have a tragic sad ending for the couple than another sacrifice that the lead won't bother to stop. Why no one tries to bring him back ? Why writers consider the story ends once the lovers have reunited? I hate this one side thing so much.

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A good drama, but only if it's your cup of tea

A lot of people seem to hate this drama, but I'm here to give a very neutral opinion of it. I neither LOVED it, nor HATED it.
I feel like this drama will really appeal to some, and others might not like it at all. It's basically all about your preferences.
What I liked about this drama? The characters from Korean folk tales. As a person interested and fascinated by the Korean culture and folklore, this was a treat for sure! Various mythical characters were lifted right off the folk tales and these stories were spun around to suit the story in a modern setting and incorporated beautifully in the plot. I also loved the cinematography, the food shots, the friendship between the different characters. Loved the relationship dynamics between the side characters, and the relationship shared by them with the main character. And Lee Rang, Sin Ju. That sweet baby. Aah, basically all the characters.
What I wasn't a fan of all that much? I personally felt like the main leads could have made better choices, that could have prevented a lot of trouble from happening, but hey. There will be no drama without that I guess. Also, certain sub-plots were under explained, like what happened to Ji Ah's parents in the end? The mystery of the island was not really fully, properly explained. How did the Imoogi get all those people to come there at the same time?
All in all, an enjoyable watch. I kinda felt like it was a bit draggy in the middle, but episode 15 and 16 were a total rollercoaster. They did end with a bang!
Would recommend watching this drama if you're interested in fantasy and folklore. If you're looking for too much logic and less sap, this is not for you.

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a disappointing ending

I would call the ending trash but that's me being biased because I kinda stop paying attention to the episode after what happened to my favorite character, but to be honest it was overall pretty disappointing. I was hoping for a big final battle with the antagonist and it was meh. They had 16 episodes to build it and it ended in like 5 minutes I think? or at least that's what it felt.
Back to how they wronged my favorite character: why would they give him a family, a will to live, only to snatch it out in a snap??? And maybe I'm just dumb and I should've known with all the years I've been watching kdramas of what to expect about his ending but i did not see that coming AT ALL. I guess it was necessary for the main characters to have their happy ending but still...
I loved the plot, the casting, and the acting but idk I'm still hurt about the ending. It's worth watching it but I don't think I'll rewatch it anytime soon.

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Frustrating because it could have been so much better!

MAJOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT

I wanted to like this so the fact it fails on so many levels is disappointing. Even Lee Dong Wook - and I count myself as a kind of fangirl a isn’t enough to save this unfortunately.

The main thing I liked was the brother bromance and basically Lee Rang as a character, and acted well and a character with depth and layered. I think the story was compelling enough to want to know what happened next, even if there were plenty of plot holes and unanswered questions, especially those last 30 seconds (like, WTF?!) and there was plenty of action to keep it going up.

My main problem with the whole drama is that’s it’s kind of boring. The hero is played with dash and flair by LDW but why do I care about him? He’s all mysterious and all knowing and powerful but suffers from lots of “telling” but little showing. So we keep being told the heroine is his big love. Why? No idea. They float around in period costumes (stylistically they even manage to make LDW look bad by dressing him in red voluminous robes and bad ombré hair) gazing at each other. But what is so special about her that a mountain god falls for a mortal? We see more of the reasons why but not till much later episodes but all the ones before mean I don’t care. Their romance feels rushed and the emotion forced.

He keeps not telling his people he’s meant to care about things - mainly for plot points not because there seems to be a reason to it - so that he didn’t actually try to kill his brother and he actually does love him. And doesn’t tell heroine about their real backstory until we’ve had some mopey noble idiocy (which he gets over pretty quickly and we don’t know why).
The central couple for me lack chemistry so again I don’t really care if their supposed epic love story ends happily or not. Like, I admit I think we are spoiled by LDW and Yoo In Na levels of chemistry in previous dramas but even setting that aside I’m not feeling this. Not even in the bedroom sexy scenes. Sigh.

The side characters are ok - the second leads are cute and their story is nice but I don’t love them.

The boy and villain isn’t very scary, he just feels stroppy. I found the elders a bit annoying until the end. Kudos for cute puppy boy who is seriously cute.

The whole pacing and tone is kind of weird, it takes a lot to juggle fantasy, drama, emotion, romance, humour and a little bit of horror and I’m afraid the times it transitions between these all are clunky.

The main thing I did like though was that it was quite unpredictable, sometimes (though not - ah it’s just started to rain and there is Lee Yeon with his umbrella after wandering in the wilderness of his unconcious ready for a kiss or oh here’s heroine crossing a road so she’s about to nearly get hit by a truck) - but there are some genuine plot twists, though the later one with the wooden sword was one too many - and it’s mainly this curiously over how it ends and how the my resolve the whole evil serpent thing that keeps me going.

The last 2 episodes did wring it out for me a bit and did make me feel, and I did enjoy them but I could have easily not finished it before to get to that point.

But sorry way too many problems for me and I wouldn’t recommend to others - I know lots of you loved it!!

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Worthwhile but flawed

It seems most reviews for Tale of the Nine Tailed are either praising it as a masterpiece, or saying it was "ruined" by the ending.
The truth is somewhere in between.

What we do get is an overall decent series, with too much dull filler and too many plot holes.

I think the creators were aiming for something along the lines of A Korean Odyssey (blending the Drama, Supernatural, Comedy and Romance) but whereas AKO kept me consistently engaged, I was snoring through far too much of TOTNT.
To me it seems like the concept was greenlit and rush-produced before there was time to flesh out the background fully, and the show unfortunately didn't live up to its potential because of it.

I think, overall, casting was good..
Dong Wook Lee (playing ML Yeon, a Gumiho in humanoid form) is always solid, but the real standout of TOTNT is Bum Kim (Rang, Yeon's half-human brother), who steals every scene he's in.
Some people here didn't really like the casting of Bo Ah Jo (as FL Ji Ah, producer of a Television program on Urban Legends), but I thought she turned in a solid performance - I think the problem here may be that the character of Ji Ah isn't written as particularly likeable, and - as another reviewer pointed out - is a bit of a Mary-Sue.
Jung Nan Kim was great in her commitment to a role that I think was written as too cartoonish.
Special mention to Hee Hwang and Yong Ji Kim, whose characters could have ended up creepy and hateable respectively, if played by somebody else.
The rest of the cast were fine, but not standouts.


The Bad:
-FAR too many boring scenes of Yeon and Ji Ah strolling down the street together, looking into each others eyes etc. It's like they decided a couple of episodes in to turn this Supernatural mystery into a sappy romance?
-FAR too many boring past-life flashback scenes. Most of these were essentially the same as above (sappy romance) and added nothing to the show
-SO. MANY. PLOTHOLES. I won't list spoilers here, but there are so many thanks that, on reflection, don't make any sense.
-There are other parts of the story that don't necessarily not make sense, but should have had some further explanation. (like finding out that Ji Ah's parents traveled to a mysterious island years ago - but no explanation as to why???)
-The creepy, almost Horror-like vibe we open with in the first couple of episodes just disappears - it would have been good if this had continued through the series
-Under-utilisation of the Supernatural/Fantasy elements - we could have seen Yeon and Ji Ah encounter and deal with different different mythological beings through the series, but instead are almost immediately introduced to the big arch-nemesis, and the rest of the series is focused just on him
-Almost all of the Gatekeeper stuff felt cartoonish and ridiculous, and was only saved by Jung Nan Kim's performance

The Good:
-Bum Kim as Rang was just fantastic, I have to say it again
-Shin Joo and Yoo Ri's romance was cute and quirky and good to watch (AS OPPOSED TO THE BORING YEON-JI AH ROMANCE)
-The mysteries the show presents are pretty interesting, even if some of your questions are left unanswered after the series ends
-The action scenes are pretty good, though they wane after the first couple of episodes

Overall:
I think it was worth watching, despite its flaws, if you're into Fantasy/Supernatural-tinged K-Dramas.

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A good story with bad ending

I started watching this drama with no expectations but after a few episodes i really had a good feeling about it, this drama was really something.

The story was interesting and it was exciting to watch. It always happened something in each episode that made you want to watch more of it, until the last few eps where it all went down. The ending really disappointed me, maybe it was because i really liked the two brothers and i wanted to see their relationship develop more.
Some things were too excessive, like Yeons love for Ji Ah. I understand his actions but some of the things he did was too much. He did everything for Ji Ah and I didn't feel like she "returned" his love. The couple lacked chemistry and therefore I was rooting for Yeon's relationship with his brother instead.

The acting in general was good, I love Lee Dong Wook and he was the reason I watched this drama. The only thing I disliked about the cast was Ji Ah because her character was annoying and too much for me.

I dont think it's worth rewatching but if you want to watch a fantasy romance drama with a good story and acting this is definitely worth your time. Even though the ending is bad, the other things make up for it.

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