“Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938” (구미호뎐 1938)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
July 3, 2023

☆☆☆☆
Lee Yeon (played by Lee Dong-wook)
Lee Rang (played by Kim Bum)
Ryu Hong-joo (played by Kim So-yeon)
Cheon Moo-young (played by Ryu Kyung-soo)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

According to Korean folk-lore, nine-tailed foxes (구미호) are cunning creatures who live to be about 100. As they age, they grow an extra tail. 구미호 are usually young women who seduce men to eat their livers or hearts. But in the K-drama “Tale of the Nine Tailed” and its recently released prequel “Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938,”  the alpha fox is a much older male protagonist named Yeon (Lee Dong-wook). Once the mountain God of Baekdudaegan, he was kicked out for sacrificing everything for a human woman. That was the thrust of the 2020 series.

In this second action-packed and swashbuckling season, Yeon and his servant/assistant Shin-joo (Hwang Hee) are sent back to the past to recover some artifacts that will have an impact on the future. All the main characters from the first season (save for Yeon’s love interest Ji-ah) have prominent roles here as well. The Snail Bride (Kim Soo-jin) owns a boutique rather than a restaurant; Shin-joo’s wife Yu-ri (Kim Yong-ji) is now a reporter and freedom fighter Eun-ho; King Yeomra’s younger sister Taluipa (Kim Jung-nam) — who’s kind of an equalizer between the living and the dead — and her henpecked husband Ui-ong (Ahn Gil-kang) are aware of which century they’re in and why Yeon has been sent back to 1938. Why she didn’t share this bit of info with him, though, is beyond me.

But this series is really about the camaraderie and love that Yeon has for his half brother Rang (Kim Bum), who was unwanted from birth by his human mother and his powerful but careless 구미호 father. Only Yeon tried to protect him through every era. In the first season, it took about half the series for Rang to realize that he didn’t want his brother to die. The realization comes much quicker in “1938” and in many ways serves as Rang’s redemption arc.

Honestly, even if there was no plot, I could watch Rang and Yeon banter for hours. Unlike the debut season where Rang was so despicable that I initially had a difficult time warming up to his character’s eventual change of heart, he is like a wounded puppy here. Though he doesn’t understand how and why this Rang is so much more brotherly than the man he knew, he begrudgingly accepts it.

This K-drama does a good job weaving together history along with fiction, and includes some fun meta moments. In the second episode, one of the Miss Joseon beauty contestants took the train from Busan to enter the pageant. After she wins, she turns into a yacha, or a demon that can only be satiated from human flesh and blood. Kind of like the zombies in … “Train to Busan” and “All of Us Are Dead. ” But in this case, only beautiful women make up these yacha.

“1938” isn’t exactly subtle about the demonization of Imperial Japan, which colonized Korea during this period. The most frightening and brutal demons are the Japanese overlords, led by Kato Ryuhei (Ha Do-kwon of “The Penthouse” trilogy).

There is some romantic pining, but not for Yeon. He just wants to return to the modern world to see his beloved Ji-ah again. But back in 1938, his childhood friends (and fellow mountain Gods) are embroiled in unrequited love. Hong-joo (Kim So-yeon) is giddily and possessively obsessed with Yeon, while Moo-young (Ryu Kyung-soo) wants nothing more than to win Hong-joo’s heart. Oh, and to revive his dead brother. (I could’ve done without this subplot, which dragged on and on and on.)

There are some plot inconsistencies. For instance, Yeon can move at the speed of light and attack dozens of mortals and demons without so much as getting a cut. So near the end of the show, when a series of explosives go off, why does he just stand there and wait for collateral damage instead of tossing them at Kato?

Airdates: Twelve episodes — ranging from 60- to 75-minutes each — aired from May 6 to June 11, 2023 on tvN. I watched this on Prime Video. You may also read my review of the first season, “Tale of the Nine Tailed.”

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