Tale Of The Nine Tailed – Episode 2 Recap & Review

Jangsansa Cave

Episode 2 of Tale of the Nine Tailed begins with a history lesson. Lee-Yeon’s glory days saw him living as a free spirit until meeting A-Eum. This child grew up and as an adult, Lee Yeom fell in love with her.

The two were happy but this love story has a tragic end. Someone stole A-Eum’s life and this caused her to fade away. With the wellbeing of her spirit hanging in the balance, Lee Yeom freezes the boat she’s being carried away on and promises to find her again.

Fruitless searches through the years catch us up to what’s currently happening. Ji-A stabs Lee Yeon in the neck with a syringe. When he awakens, Lee Yeom finds himself in Ji-A’s apartment and promises to take her eyes.

She smirks, telling him it’s a deal and pressing the man over his true form. While she does, Lee Rang arrives at a funeral intending to use their sorrow to channel his own joy.

Cutting down to business, Ji-A admits that she remembers Lee Yeon 21 years ago. He’s the only clue she has to what happened to her parents. Lee-Yeon saved her believing the girl was A-Eum reincarnated but was mistaken.

Admitting that she’s desperate for the truth, she shows him the flash drive. Lee Yeon scoffs and grabs the girl’s face. As he does, she decides to outfox this fox, despite him temporarily blinding one eye. She promises to erase everything but in doing so, it would mean he’s indebted to her.

Back at the funeral, Lee Rang is recognized by a man he previous met at a wishing well in the past. Lee Rang wished for his older brother to suffer for the rest of his life. This man, meanwhile, wished to get married. in doing so though, it appears this 600 year old spirit killed both of his parents. Although, it’s obvious there’s no proof for this.

Back at the Immigration Center, Ui-Ong briefs a bus load of people about their fate in the afterlife or – more specifically – the five layers of the Underworld.

Lee Yeon arrives and speaks to Taluipa, convinced now that A-Eum has been reincarnated. She pleads with him not to go looking as it may well flip his fate completely.

Later that day, Lee-Yeon requests to meet Ji-A at The Snail Bride – the same restaurant he frequents. She’s shown to her table, which happens to be a secluded area away from the others. There, Lee Yeon admits that her parents aren’t dead. It’s comforting enough news to her but one that’s followed up by an equally surprising revelation – there are numerous foxes living among them.

After their meal, Lee Yeon leaves her with these bombshell revelations and hopes they never meet again. Partway through saying their goodbyes, Ji-A receives a call about her colleague Sae-Rom having a bad dream and her Mother dying. Given Jae-Hwan had an equally ominous dream too, Lee Yeon overhears and suspect it’s a “contagious dream.”

Sighing, he changes his mind and lets her see the world she’s living in. This brings Ji-A back to work as she follows a high-level executive at the broadcasting station to the basement.

She suddenly throws coins on the floor, just as an office worker glows orange and greedily gobbles up the coins on the ground. Thankfully Lee Yeon shows up and fights the man. Only, this man happens to be a Bulgasari – a creature feeding on nightmares. As Ji-A watches on in shock, Lee-Yeon tells the girl to follow him after capturing this creature.

Out on a boat, a group of fisherman find a skull with a strange metal tooth. Back on the shore, a young woman starts wailing for her Father, learning the skull belongs to him. Lee Rang shows up smirking, offering some help to her.

Ji-A immediately starts investigating the case while Lee Yeon keeps the creature locked up in his fridge. Shivering, he eventually agrees to help find Rang.

Yeon suddenly appears down by the shoreside sitting opposite his brother. They discuss the past – specifically how he abandoned Rang at the mountains – and admits he doesn’t know where the girl is for now. This brings a wide grin over the mischievous Rang’s face as the search intensifies.

On the back of this, both Ji-A and Lee Yeon head up on a boat to an island that may hold the clues they seek. On the way, Lee Yeon ponders the coincidences leading them both there.

Kyung-Hee speaks to Ji-A before the camera and plays her the last voicemail her Father left before he passed. Lee Yeon interjects though and admits that Kyung-Hee;s Father saved her from a fate that may have been meant for her.

Elsewhere, a couple of fisherman talk quietly by the shore about Jin-Shik. He hasn’t been seen since the incident with the net and as we soon see, he’s not of sane mind. Shaking, he cowers in the corner of his room.

While Lee Yeon tries desperately to find some mint ice cream, Ji-A heads down to the docks to talk to the fisherman about what they found. Only, they’re in no mood to talk – and seemingly neither are any of the residents there either.

Drawing a blank, Lee Yeom instead leads the way – and Ji-A – into a dead forest where they learn more about what’s happened there. Dark forces have consumed the island and the spirit of this guardian tree appears to be a remnant of those left behind. Cutting a rope from around the tree, she thanks Ji-A for freeing her and tasks the duo to head North given Ji-A has history there.

During low tide, Ji-A uncovers Jangsansa Cave on the Northern tip of the island. This happens to be a place her parents visited shortly after she was conceived. Although she technically has been there, she would have been inside her Mother’s womb at the time.

In the morning, Lee Yeon presents a gift to two of the old ladies. In order to hand it over though, she forces the duo to speak to Ji-A first. It turns out the human head isn’t the first time this has happened. There’s been four Jane Does on the island, going all the way back to 1954.

On the back of this, Ji-A heads into the forest. She follows an enraged Jin-Shik who tries hitting Ji-A with a hammer. Thankfully, Lee Yeon is there to block the strike.

Lee Rang gleefully calls Yoo-Ri and reveals the “haunted house” is open. As he does, multiple people seem to lose their mind but it’s fractured and unclear exactly what this means.

As we cut back to Lee Yeon, he patches up Ji-A who suddenly changes and touches his face. “It’s me, the one you’ve been searching for.” She declares ominously, as the episode draws to a close.

The Episode Review

Alas the plot thickens! Although the episode is ever-so-slightly slower than the first, this 70 minute segment certainly reveals more about the past. It appears this brotherly feud is central to whatever’s going on and lots of question marks surround the island and what’s happening.

Why are people turning up dead? What is Ji-A’s connection to Jangsansa Cave? And what does Lee Rang mean by the haunted house being opened?

Ji-A could well be A-Eum reincarnated but then again it could also be a trick too. It’s an intriguing opening set of episodes no doubt and one that throws this firmly into fantasy territory.

So far though this one is really shaping up to be a must watch Korean drama and quite what the future holds for our characters, remains a mystery for now.