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Enjoy the show!
18 Comments On “Tale of the Nine-Tailed: Eps 7 & 8 Open Thread”
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The thread is now open for your comments and analyses.
Gifs from alipeeps’ tumblr!
Enjoy the show!
Comments are closed.
Thanks @pkml3! Waiting for the episodes with subs now. (≧∇≦)
You’re welcome. 🙂
I remembered to bring my personal laptop so I could do some writing while waiting for my car inspection.
Have fun!
Thanks BBQ! 🙇🏻♀️☺️
Ooohhh Geomdoong is reincarnated too and he’s the cute boy who talked to Yeon before. I bet Rang wouldn’t be able to dismiss him straight away. 😁
I thought the lunch scene was funny. 😂 Did you noticed the octopus on the table? 😱
I’d like to get a hold of that eyebrows of Tiger too so I can see what or who I was before 🤔😄
You’re right @GB when you said Yeon sacrificed Ah Eum in order to kill the Imoogi before.
I think there was only one urban legend in episode 7, the fruit cherry hanging on a tree?
It seems that show is determined to tell us that it’s definite that either Yeon or JA needs to die as they’re never destined to be together, even the marriage compatibility test showed only 25%. 😂
I don’t mind that show is not secretive and that it tells us exactly what’s happening. I’ll just enjoy the times together of our leads.
@agdr03, I kind of like that this show chooses not to be so secretive or mysterious when in most shows, so many things are hidden when they do not need to be and it’s just to get the viewer’s goat or keep us coming back. That always felt manipulating.
I appreciate several aspects of these last 2 episodes. But before I post that part, I’ll post what I found bugged me.
The things that bothered me
The lonely little boy – Kim Soo Oh (in his past life, he was the pet puppy, Geumdoong) looks to be only 8 or so and is always alone, and without a caregiver. He does however get a clean change of clothes and is not afraid to attach himself to strangers. In the latter behaviour, perhaps he’s really like a pup. I’m wondering if he is not entirely human, because of the coincidence of him taking an interest first in LY and then in LR, and being the one to always initiate conversation. However there’s no clue given as to how human he is. If he is human, his being without an adult around to watch him bothers me.
The inconsistent supernatural abilities of LY and LR – We have been shown that gumihos can travel at lightning speed, and levitate themselves and objects at will. So why do we have scenes of LY or LR having to run like crazy, and fighting in limited fashion with just a weapon in hand.
The lack of accountability – The backstories are coming on fast and furious now, and the one of LY and LR is particularly interesting and it’s good for us to finally understand how and why LR was as devastated as he still is by LY’s ‘abandonment’. However, no matter how relatable show makes him, it cannot justify his killing several humans (and injuring others for fun) in his quest to get attention. Show seems to want us to feel all warm and understanding towards LR, but he’s never been punished or been made to understand the evil of his actions.
The amoral attitude – My gripe about LR might perhaps best be situated in an overall dissatisfaction with the indifference of the supernatural world towards humans, even when some of them want to become human or can care for others. In fact the brotherly disaffection between LY and LR, is precisely because there was care and regard between them. If regard is possible, then why is there such cold objectivity towards humans.
Although gumihos, spirits, and their ken, live among humans, and at the beginning there were some rules that say that they should not interfere or hurt them, but in effect they behave as if humans don’t actually matter. To them it’s ok to prey on humans, toy with them, use them and discard them like objects, and all done without sympathy, apology or recompense. Show seems to assume that the viewers are ok with this world view as well, but it does not sit well with me.
Together with that indifferent worldview of the supernaturals, is LY’s use of the Fox Bead only for one person, which is a selfish reason to use something meant for the protection of all. However the preview hints that LY is not as bad as he’s been thought by LR, so we’ll have to wait and see where LY is concerned.
Episodes 7 and 8 Random Thoughts and the Things that I Liked
The image of doors – Doors featured a lot in Episode 8. Doors are symbols of passages to past choices that needed to be relieved or to the fears that needed to be embraced.
Ji Ah’s hypnotherapy had her enter a door reluctantly, and once on the other side, her sleeping Imoogi self woke up to enjoy the deaths of Joseon villagers.
I liked the chilling sequence of Imoogi speaking through young Ji Ah and how she penetrated time to see adult Ji Ah. That was scary good.
There are the cupboard doors that led LR into his most frightening past, and the door to the stairway that led JA into hers. And of course the 2 doors confronting LY. In the past he had tried to choose both doors (ie he left the mountain to save Ah Reum and then returned to try to save LR), instead of committing to just 1, and had failed in saving both Ah Reum and LR. This time he chose clearly to commit to 1 in order to also save the other.
We’re getting a whole lot of much needed backstories. Finally we are able to start piecing together what our protagonists did and faced in the past, that has returned to haunt them very actively in the present. And of course the past explains the motives of LY and LR today, plus we see what relationships they had then with each other and Ah Reum, that inform their current affection or disaffection with each other now. We even get to understand the attitude of Taluipa towards LY, who seems to have become a de facto son to her.
In the earlier episodes, LY had believed that there was a better side to LR. In Episode 8 we see that LR had been an affectionate child, and that LY had spent a lot of time with him and raised him, like a parent. In the future episodes, I expect to see that LR does turn over a new leaf. I hold out in hope!!!
The revelation of the reason LY is so adamant – I thought at first that LY was just being pig-headed. It is Ah Reum’s backstory that explains more clearly what drives LY. It wasn’t just that LY loved Ah Reum, but that she had chosen to save her father by allowing Imoogi to possess her, and she had trusted LY to sort out the solution to her predicament. Perhaps her trust had been misplaced?
In 2020, she had done the same thing with the Fortune Teller… she bought back LY with the Fox Bead, and trusted that LY would still be able to help her find her parents. In the past, LY’s solution was to sacrifice Ah Reum, which was a betrayal of her trust (he had his own reasons for doing this which I guess show will reveal later). This explains why LY is so adamant about ignoring the warnings of keeping away from JA, and insists on protecting her. It’s a matter of honour and pride and what he owes her, because she had trusted him and he had failed to live up to her faith in him. Since he feels he owes her a long life (gumihos can’t abide owing someone anything), he is trying to repay her with a long life in this lifetime.
More of What I Liked
Good point on which to end Episode 8 – It’s very good that show does not leave us on a week-long cliffhanger before LY made his choice of door. From other shows’ cliffhangers, I actually expected that we’d be left wondering which door he’d choose. Letting us see his choice, makes it a more powerful ending, with lots of hope that the brothers’ relationship might turn the corner, and increases the stakes for the salvation of Ji Ah. It is also eminently less annoying, so I applaud show heartily for a less stressful end to Ep 8.
Shin Joo tries to rehabilitate Yoo Ri – Although I don’t really like that YR has not been held accountable for the bad stuff she did, it’s nice to see that SJ judges her with compassion and strives to correct her imbalanced impression of life. It was very sweet that he said “I don’t care how your life has been, or for what purpose you approached me. I’ll show you that the world is not all evil.” In the same way, LY should have tried to see things from LR’s perspective and helped him grow up a bit more, before judging him too immature.
Family bonding – I thought it was insightful to see the brothers actually talk more these episodes. It was funny how everyone considers LR as never having outgrown puberty. The unexpected and best part, however, was having the brothers coming on board to work/fight together (I hope it lasts beyond 1 episode!) and this means there will be a team of Shin Joo, Yoo Ri and Ji Ah against Imoogi et al, which will even up the balance quite a bit.
In Ep 7 after LR beat up Shin Joo and LY came to save SJ, LR had said: “Let me ask you something. What if I was the one in danger? If my life was at stake. Would you come to rescue me?”
LY had replied : “Save yourself.”
However, I like that LY had been flexible enough to change his mind by the end of Ep 8, and that he had chosen to save his brother.
LY had failed to see that his cavalier treatment of his brother had been the cause of LR’s disaffection and feeling of betrayal. It was this, that had directly led to what is happening to Ji Ah now. I don’t know if he’s wised up, but I like that LY finally considers that he can work with his brother rather than forever regard him as immature or as an antagonist. I always felt that it was LY’;s great weakness to go it alone, rather than enlist support. I was rooting for him to go to his brother’s side. If the brothers work together, there will still be much enjoyable argument (for us viewers) but also more possibility of success. Also, I hope that a better relationship means LR will give up his desire to kill JA.
LY did say to Hyun (husband of Taluipa) that he’d do anything to save himself and Ji Ah, so maybe bringing LR over to his side is part of this plan. However I want their brotherhood to be deeper than just a quick fix way to fight Imoogi.
Other Thoughts
Little prophecies – there were words said that came to pass. LY had told Ah Reum to lay down her bow (and arrow) and to focus on longevity. She didn’t and died young.
LY told Ah Reum that “If I ever betray you,… drive an arrow through me.” This happened ie he did appear to ‘betray’ her, but the wrong person was killed since he drove his hand into her to kill her. Now in 2020, will she be the one to shoot LY?
Yes, noble idiocy has reared its head, but somehow I find it quite understandable and acceptable. Knowing the person that Ji Ah is, LY has decided to play the role of bad guy. If he had justified what he had done to her in the past, she’d exonerate him and want to protect him in return. This would have led to a 2nd early death for her. LY had promised that he’d enable her to live a long life, and was keeping that promise, (by not justifying what he did in the past). Of course, he should have had a caveat to say that it should also be a happy, long life.
I did hope, however (and this may happen next episode) that the always perceptive JA would guess that LY was hiding his true reasons for killing Ah Reum. I thought it was ironic and revelatory that when LY said those cruel words and left her, the PPL rice cooker announced that “Your rice is cooked”. He had bothered to cook the rice for her before she got home, so that she’d get the aroma of fresh rice. Something an uncaring person would not do.
Perhaps by his noble idiocy, LY also hoped that by distancing himself from her, Imoogi and LR might stop using her as a chess piece in their games.
Note: He does not seem to know about the other part of the ‘deal’ with Imoogi, on how Ah Reum had been promised as a sacrifice to be offered to Imoogi, and was considered by Imoogi to be his bride.
Mystery – We get a brief idea of how Imoogi came to be, but we still have no idea why a deal was made with Imoogi to give Ah Reum to him as sacrifice and by whom that promise was made. A sacrifice is generally offered to appease a difficult, powerful, and likely belligerent authority. It has to be given in exchange for something. So far I can’t see what the Imoogi offers to people that they’d want to give him the sacrifice of a human bride.
@GB I agree aith you..I want to see LR turn over a new leaf too. The show keeps hinting that he truly feels affection for his elder brother (when he realized LY is his most precious thing), but then at the next moment he overturns everything by doing something that will harm LY. I also agree with you that LY’s insensitive treatment of LR is aggravating this resentment. Yet I feel LR is like this petulant child who is kept from his favorite person and hence is trying to get back at that person without realizing the consequences. At this point, like you, I’m still holding out hope of LR truly reforming instead of going over to tje dark side.Same goes for Yoo Ri. I’m also holding out hope that our star crossed lovers will find a happy ending somehow in this lifetime 😍🤞🤞
Hi @Phoenix, while reading you I suddenly thought about the irony of how Imoogi started out as a babe and grew so fast but was mature all along, while LR had time to grow but never went past his teenage angst, me-first, mentality even after 600 years.
Imoogi, it seems, had been created in the cesspool of an ‘Underworld’ on earth. In the person of a young Ji Ah it said: “I was born in a cave on a leap day. The grave of people who died of plague. Where the living and the dead intermingled together.” Imoogi too had been waiting patiently for hundreds of years for the one promised it, and did not go around throwing tantrums when it had been thwarted. It is not shown to have killed for sport, but in order to feed, however in the person of the king, it had allowed the king’s subjects to starve to death. So we do not know the full extent of Imoogi’s evil, but in terms of being mature, Imoogi beats LR hands down.
Something else that I noticed is that this show has quite a lot of child actors. Not only do we get the boy-dog Geumdoong/Kim Soo Oh, but there was Ah Reum as a child, Ji Ah as a child, Imoogi as a child, the girl whose balloon LY saved, the ghost children, and LR as a child. So the idea of whether the children were cared for or abandoned, or abused arises, with the effect that may have had.
We see the issues with LR, and that the abused Yoo Ri cannot allow herself to be weak and does not know how to accept love. However Ji Ah who was not abused is a happier adult.
Previously I mentioned that show was making a comment about parent figures, so perhaps by extension, it speaks of how good, bad or faulty parenting have an impact, as well.
@GB Interesting that you brought the issue of parenting up..and I know you had mentioned this previously too. I have been thinking too about how the show emphasizes the way parental figures bring up children and the impact of that on the maturity of the child, whether the parents/ guardians are around or not. We see Ji Ah become a strong and emotionally mature individual even in the absence of her parents while LR remains immature even in the presence of LY. I think that LY was too stricken by grief, guilt and remorse after what happened to really take care of LR who was immature to begin with.
Another theme I feel this show explores is how all our characters are gray. Our heroes are not all good, like LY makes mistakes regarding Ah Reum and can’t see how he is pushing LR over to the dark side. On the other hand, we see LR, Yoo Ri and even Imugi are not all black but have redeeming qualities like their care for animals. The dichotomy exists in Ji Ah as well when she is possessed by the Imugi and we don’t really know when her dark side will resurface.
Remains to be seen how the drama wants to show the tipping point at which a character has to make a choice to let his or her good side take over or vice-versa.
So far, this show has me intrigued..
I have a question..in ep.4, I think, both LY and LR extract some information from the one-eyed tree totem (who had saved JA earlier). Has it been revealed what that relates too?
Also, for some reason JA didn’t tell LY that she had paid his price by foregoing the fox bead. I think it protected her (in addition to helping LY recognize her reincarnated form), and this will come back to bite our leads on day.
@Phoenix … I do not recall LR directly speaking to the Totem, however I have in my notes (Episode 5, 54:00 minutes onwards) that LY asked Taluipa to use her powers to find JA’s parents. She said they were neither in the Living nor Afterlife Realm and therefore she couldn’t see them, but that he should ask those who initially took them.
That led LY to seek out the old totem of Yeou Gogae. He was present at the place of the accident and LY wanted to know if he had seen JA’s parents and who had taken them. Poor Totem got beaten up by LY for not knowing directly about them, but he was the one who told LY that the Governor/Magistrate/Sato would have some information. It was after this that LY and JA went to the Korean Folk Village to meet Sato.
I thought it was pretty mean of LY to beat the info out of Totem. He was telling the truth in that he had not seen them.
Yes, I agree that the villains and the ‘good’ guys are in various shades of grey. No one is a 100% blameless hero in this show.
As for that Fox Bead … Ji Ah didn’t know that she had it and did not value it. As long as she could get LY back, she was prepared to let it go. It was so value-less to her that she didn’t even bother to mention it to LY. Again, this was partly LY’s fault, because he could have told her that she had the Fox Bead protecting her, and that she should not part with it, but he obviously didn’t.
If without the Fox Bead JA takes on more of the Imoogi persona or gets drawn to Imoogi, that will definitely be a big problem for LY. He won’t dare to distance himself from her afterall. If he finds out that she’s supposed to be the bride of Imoogi, he’ll definitely go into crazy protector mode.
It occurred to me that Imoogi does nothing much and things just get worked out, or done for it/him, smoothening the path before it/him. Even the loss of the Fox Bead was not because Imoogi had tricked her or engineered it, but because LR had been greedy for the Eyebrow of the Tiger, (and jealous and spiteful) and had allowed LY to be exchanged for it.
Like an immature kid, LR was his own worst enemy too, because he was prepared to lose the brother that he prized, and by playing with Imoogi, he was putting himself and LY into grave danger. (I find it hard, though, to take seriously that 2 gumihos, or 1.5 gumihos – since LR was half human – cannot despatch a bunch of zombies).
By not addressing the root cause of LR’s misbehaviour, LY is also immature. He may be righting that now, at the end of Ep 8, but it took 600 years!!!
Thank you, @GB. I think thr totem told LR about going to the village too. There was a scene where LR dangles the totem from the rooftopbof a tall building and threatens to drop him if he doesn’t give LR some info. I was wondering what that was about, but now that you mention it, I think it was about finding the Tiger’s brow to look into past lives. I still don’t know why LR would need that though – to find out if JI AH is rall Ah Reum maybe.
I agree that LY and JA have lack of communication problems. LY doesn’t tell JA about her past and JA too doesn’t tell him of her dreams or losing the fox bead. If they are working together against the imugi, they should coordinate better by sharing each piece of important info they possess.
LR is somewhere jealous that he was replaced by Ah Reum (and by extension, Ji Ah) in his brother’s affections. LY can still right that, but I feel it is too little, too late. He needs to make more effort to right his neglect of LR of 600 years.
@Phoenix, yes, you’re right … I forgot how LR had tortured poor Totem. Yes he was looking for the Eyebrow of the Tiger. Presumably he had already planned that he’d throw a spanner into the works of LY’s and JA’s relationship by sending the Eyebrow to her.
I need to go back to check though… but why is it that LR knew from the beginning to keep tabs on Ji Ah? Did he always guess that she was the ‘chosen’ one with Imoogi in her? Or if he knew, how did he know? He approached her really early on, in answer to the TVC Station’s appeal to give information on the man with the red umbrella … and almost got her killed on the bus. I guess this is one of those plotholes.
Thanks for the mention in your much earlier post on the urban legend of that Ground Cherry plant. I need to add that to the list. Show has pretty much stopped showering us with urban legends, so I hope we get a lot more character development and meaningful interactions, sans much noble idiocy.
@GB That cheery tree urban legend mention was from @agdr03😊. I’m glad we are all watching this together so that we can discuss all these thoughts, as always 😃😃🙌🙌
Also the magistrate points out that Ji Ah was the target of the childhood accident..so I’m unclear why were her parents taken and not her – was it the fox bead which protected her..are her parents being kept somewhere as a safeguard or collateral to bargain with her when the imugi comes for her finally? But that implies people were working for the imugi even before it reincarnated. Was it that CEO who shelters the child imugi now, who is said to be from pre-Joseon era? (incidentally that actor is also in Startup..busy guy indeed!)
I hope the show wraps up all these loose ends satisfactorily in the end; else us bitches will keep having questions 😛
@agdr03 @Phoenix, true, I’m very glad I’ve you to chat with and ask questions of, about this somewhat absurd but fun show.
You have brought up salient points. We should tabulate our questions too and see if we get answers by the end of this series!!
Your idea about the parents being held as collateral is interesting and possible. It also sounds plausible that Ji Ah was protected by the Fox Bead.
The sequence of the accident events were 1) Ji Ah saw the doppelgangers of her parents come to the overturned car – blacked out for some reason – woke up at home. So she had actually been taken and the parents had been replaced.
I’m guessing that the original intent was for her to grow up with the fake parents until the right time when the Imoogi could be ‘resurrected’ from the well on that island… and she was to be the sacrifice to be thrown into that well and/or the ‘bride’ of the Imoogi. This part of the logic baffles me. It’s like her blood is supposed to bring back the Imoogi, but since she has a part of the Imoogi, she is not supposed to die but to be married to it to make it whole again. I’m not sure that to the Imoogi marriage also means that he’d suck her life out of her, but anyway, she seems to be both the sacrifice and the bride.
2) However JA realised that her parents had been replaced and fortunately LY was around to save her. He could not sense the Fox Bead at this stage. Therefore, it does not seem like the Fox Bead protected her.
However, Imoogi already knew that she was going to be the ‘bride’, and that’s why she had been targeted. I wonder then, if Taluipa knew as well.
3) LY returned JA to the scene of the accident with her memory supposedly wiped, (but I’m not sure if she actually ever forgot the fake parents), but her parents had already been taken because with the fake parents in place, they were thought to have been unnecessary extras.
It’s interesting (or narratively necessary) that they were not just killed and left to be found… that would have closed the case for Ji Ah and no more need for a lifelong quest to find her parents. And no drama LOL.
Taluipa says the parents were in neither the Living nor the Afterlife Realm. There is one ‘Underworld on earth’ place, at the cave of the island. That sounds like an in-between Living and Afterlife place. Perhaps her parents are stuck in there.
So now, if we assume that Imoogi is keeping her parents somewhere, with the help of the TVC President (whose name is not listed), then a threat to parents can be the lure to get her to cooperate. That TVC Pres was also the Joseon guy who came to bring Ah Reum to the palace.
Interesting sequence of events, @GB. Also shows that Team Imugi is one step ahead of LY always, because they somehow knew that Ah Reum had been reincarnated and planned to kidnap her, failing which replaced her parents. Do they have a spy in the afterworld office who went through the reincarnated souls records? Intriguing that Taluipa must have known too.
The TVC President is the one with thief/murderer (I forget which exactly) written on his forehead from Joseon times, as mentioned by the Magistrate friend of LY’s. So they all presumably knew the TVC President was in league with the imugi, but didn’t know he has been reincarnated too. Seems that Team LY doesn’t know a lot of things. Brings me back to another failing of LY’s that you had pointed out – he is too much of a lone warrior who needs to have more collaborative approach and working with allies to be able to win against team imugi.
Great comments @Phoenix and @GB! It made me understand it much better. ☺️
I agree that the TV President might be holding Ji Ah’s parents somewhere. Maybe he approached LR and told him about Ji Ah being saved by LY when her fake parents attacked her and of course he knew that they need Ji Ah as a sacrifice for the Imoogi to be resurrected so they used LR.
Did the Imoogi liked Ah Reum by any chance? When she offered herself to take him to LY? I sort of saw that glint of admiration from the Imoogi? That’s why he chose her?
I want the brothers to fight the Imoogi but yes let’s hope it’s more than just reconciling. LR needs to be punished for his slaughtering of humans. 😬
I feel bad for Shin Joo after getting beaten up by LR. ☹️ I’m not sure if I’m onboard with the romance with Yoo Ri. I want show to show me how she’ll become a good fox.
Yes, I heard it too, ‘the rice is cooked’. ☺️Hopefully Ji Ah will realised that there might be more to her being killed by LY.
I was sad their cohabitation was cut short. 😩
I can’t believe where on episode 9 and 10 already.