Tale Of The Nine Tailed – Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Two Fireflies

We begin episode 5 of Tale of the Nine Tailed with Yeon seemingly resurrected thanks to Ji-A’s tears. On the back of this, she takes him home and starts nursing the nasty knife wounds across his body.

While patching him up, Ji-A discusses the past – and specifically moments involving two fireflies that reminded her of her parents. Only, as we soon see from a flashback it was actually Yeon from afar.

In the morning, we cut across to a cluttered room full of interesting objects. A young boy with scales on his neck kneels before a small table. He sifts through a book on Abstract Algebra, seemingly with murderous intent.

When his nanny shows up to check on him, the boy touches her wrist and the infection appears to spread across to her. The TVC President downstairs hears the screams but isn’t phased, seemingly hinting that he knows all about this.

Meanwhile, Yeon is awoken by the sound of Shin-Joo charging in, telling him he’s really worried. Given Ji-A is there though, she’s shocked to realize he’s also part of Yeon’s world and a fox.

With tears stinging his eyes, he embraces Yeon and eventually introduces himself as the bodyguard and housekeeper for him in this world.

Eventually Shin-Joo leaves but not before giving some additional tips and tricks for Ji-A to follow. When he’s gone, Yeon eats his mint ice-cream and gets talking about his first love. That, of course, being A-Eum.

On the back of this, Ji-A takes Yeon back to the morgue where the spirit twin sisters Yeon and Min Seo appear. They comment how Yeon is a fox before the true nature of their past comes through.

A story surfacing in the newspaper about child neglect seems to hint at an unfinished past between them. That neglect is eventually admitted in person and the twins, watching on from beyond this realm, embrace their Father as they’re freed from their prison.

Rang continues to cause mischief, deciding to cause misery at a watch shop by playing on the desires of the shopkeeper inside. Afterward he heads out fingering that same watch, and eventually throws it out the car window.

On the way home, Rang overhears a dog whimpering and confronts a group of youths tormenting the animal. Along with Yu-Ri, they make swift work of them, stabbing each of them multiple times with thin needles. Afterward, they’re all tied up and tormented, with Rang making them pick cards and contemplating breaking their arms.

Eventually our pair walk away as the dog – with blood over its neck and an injured leg – follows after them. Rang is reluctant to take it along with them though, hinting back at his past.

It turns out Yeon got a dog for Rang long ago but it unfortunately passed away. This brings back a lot of pain for him to deal with, hence why he doesn’t want anything to do with it.

Yu-Ri instead brings the animal to Shin-Joo at the vet. The animal is not in a good way, suffering with malnourishment and skin disease. The bone in its leg is also crushed. Shin-Joo is impressed with her though and tells Yu-Ri that she did well bringing it there.

Meanwhile, Yeon and Ji-A hang out together, going on a dinner date and discussing their similarities. It turns out that’s not very much… although they both prefer Korean food so that’s enough for Yeon to clink glasses and cheer. After walking her home, two fireflies show up and she realizes that it was Yeon all along.

Yeon returns to the Academy where the twin sisters from before are seen off before arriving in the Underworld. There’s talk of a Goblin here (hint, hint) before Yeon speaks to Taluipa and asks her to use clairvoyance to find someone. She refuses though, causing Yeon to bemoan his luck.

Getting nowhere, he instead speaks to the old totem – the same one who originally spoke to Ji-A before she got a taxi. After smacking him up a bit, he finally reveals that the man in the picture is the Governor.

Only, he’s not the only one looking. Rang also grabs the old totem some time later and holds him up over the rooftop. What could they both be looking for so urgently?

Meanwhile, Ji-A meets the TVC President who’s none too happy about their greeting. As he walks away, a visible scowl spreads across his face. Afterward,  Ji-A sits with her work friends and they comment on her tenacity in managing to speak to the President. However, Yeon suddenly shows up and takes her away, promising to make her dreams come true.

As they head up to a temple together, Ji-A gets dressed up in traditional Joseon clothing. Spotting her from afar, Yeon charges up and kisses the girl.

The Episode Review

With a slightly slower episode this time around, Tale Of The Nine-Tailed continues to produce intriguing drama, building up a much bigger mystery. What could be going on with the governor? And is Ji-A really A-Eum reincarnated?

The resolution with the twin sisters this week is good, and reminds me of Hotel Del Luna and Mystic Pop-Up Bar in the way this cases has been resolved.

We’ll have to wait and see what these sly foxes have planned though, especially involving the governor, but this drama continues to deliver a pretty decent level of fantastical action.

What could be next for our characters? We’ll have to wait and see!