Our drama does more genre hopping than usual this week because our latest demon takes our heroes channel surfing. But there’s a theme that ties everything together: brothers — both blood and found. Our fox’s relationships with his half-brother and his fellow mountain god are put to the test, and while one relationship comes out stronger, the other appears unsalvageable.
EPISODES 7-8
Last we saw Yeon, he and Moo-young had traveled to the Path of the Damned and unexpectedly found themselves on the set of a strange sageuk drama… which turns out to be a twisted playground that their latest demon friend, Jang San-beom, made especially for them. Jang San-beom was once a simple tiger, but his knack for impersonations helped him grow and became a powerful demon with one goal in mind: becoming a mountain god. Among his many worrisome talents are voice mimicry, shape-shifting, and mind-f**kery.
While Jang San-beom’s skillset doesn’t bode well for our heroes, it makes for amusing television — both within our nine-tailed universe and for those of us watching Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938. This strange (super meta) universe that Jang San-beom pieced together using memories plucked straight from Yeon and Moo-young’s time-traveling brains has our heroes battling K-drama tropes and cheesy PPL in their efforts to locate Hong-joo and sus out Jang San-beom.
Hong-joo is easy enough to find, as she’s been cast as the drama-within-a-drama’s leading lady. Unfortunately, she’s under Jang San-beom’s control and has no memory of her childhood friends. She only knows them as Male #4 (Moo-young) and Male #5 (Yeon — much to his annoyance lol). When they act out a scene together, Yeon finds himself on the receiving end of her dramatic slaps, of which there are many because the show won’t go on until they read the script properly. Yeon dials it in — LOL! He reads the stage directions! — and decides he and Moo-young would better utilize their time if they focused on finding Jang San-beom.
Although he has the right idea, he mistakenly assumes that the man behind the curtain is the sageuk’s director/script writer. Moo-young, however, correctly deduces that the young girl they first met is Jang San-beom in disguise — because the first person the hero meets in such K-dramas is always the suspect. I mean, he isn’t wrong — both about K-dramas in general and Jang San-beom’s identity.
Instead of changing into his true form, though, Jang San-beom takes on the appearance of Hong-joo, and Moo-young hesitates, unable to harm the mirror image of the woman he loves. (Idiot.) Yeon, however, is much better at discerning reality from fiction and plunges his wooden stake into Jang San-beom’s back, but wouldn’t you know it? The special, magical stake Moo-young gave Yeon is a fake, and as Moo-young runs to retrieve his real weapon, Jang San-beom uses the delay brought on by Moo-young’s duplicity as an opportunity to change the channel. But not before issuing a challenge: try and rescue Hong-joo within one hour.
After the channel change, Yeon and Moo-young find themselves on the set of a gangster biopic about KIM DU-HAN (cameo by Ahn Jae-mo), which has a new set of tropes and rules for them to follow in grainy, full-screened glory. Although the mountain gods easily fight off Du-han’s minions — not that Du-han’s pre-programmed dialogue acknowledges it — they get their butts kicked by an overpowered Du-han. (Cue: commercial for dental repair).
The scene changes again, and Yeon and Moo-young are now on the set of a talk show. When the host of the show appears wearing the face of Moo-young’s dead brother CHUN HO-YOUNG (Shim Hee-seop), things get spicy. Although Moo-young’s first instinct is to rage-quit, Yeon reins him in and tells him to suck it up and play through Jang San-beom’s little mind games in order to find and rescue Hong-joo. But, of course, once our heroes settle in and agree to play along, the Ho-young doppelgänger goes for the jugular and asks Yeon: Why did you kill Moo-young’s older brother?
The only thing this bit was missing was a cut to a live-steaming audience with a comments section exploding over this baited question, but overall this was an ingenious way for our drama to reveal our characters’ backstory. Yes, Yeon killed Moo-young’s brother, but he did it to protect Moo-young. In his last moments, Ho-young didn’t appear to be in his right mind, and in his madness he was going to kill Moo-young. Although it clearly pained Yeon, he stuck by his oath to protect Moo-young, and he killed Ho-young even though he had to have known the strain his actions would put on his friendship.
In the present, Yeon realizes that Jang San-beom is trying to widen the rift between him and Moo-young because the mountain gods are stronger together. After Yeon calms Moo-young’s temper and delivers an impassioned threat towards Jang San-beom, a quaking Jang San-beom changes the channel back to his sageuk production and expedites his wedding to Hong-joo. She is a puppet under his spell, and when Yeon and Moo-young follow a trail of rice puffs and locate her, she’s blank-faced and acting as Jang San-beom’s guard dog.
What ensues is a beautifully choreographed and emotional fight scene. Yeon and Moo-young go head-to-head with Hong-joo, fighting off her attacks even as they try to break through Jang San-beom’s mind control with their pleas for her return. Scenes of their childhood are intermixed with the present fight, and while Jang San-beom’s magic is strong, the power of love and friendship is stronger.
Cheesy sounding, I know, but it’s much more badass in the drama. Hong-joo’s fight to regain control of her mind and body is palpable, and when she finally breaks free and sends her sword sailing through the air and straight through Jang San-beom’s chest, it’s very much a “You go, girl!” moment. And then, when Yeon and Moo-young also stab their swords through Jang San-beom, it’s as though the Three Musketeers have reunited. Except they haven’t… because Moo-young still has his own agenda.
The door to the Path of the Damned closes, but Moo-young stays behind. He delivers the final blow that destroys Jang San-beom and reveals the magic crystal Moo-young needed to heal the parts of his body that were still stone. Yeon, who also lingered behind to see what Moo-young was up to, is unsurprised (but disappointed) to confirm that Moo-young is the man in the red and white mask. And despite their recent alliance and begrudging friendliness, Moo-young hasn’t faltered from his villainous path of vengeance.
Although the found brotherhood between Yeon and Moo-young is still broken, the bond between Yeon and Rang has grown stronger, even during Yeon’s absence. You see, while Yeon and Moo-young were traversing dramaland, Rang fought his own heroic battle against the demons coming through the door to the Path of the Damned. They torture his mind and body, enticing him to let go of the string tying him to his brother. At first, even Rang is confused by his loyalty and unwillingness to let go of his brother’s life-line, but the experience helps him realize just how much he loves Yeon.
So, of course, it’s all the more frustrating when Rang survives the gauntlet of demons (with a lot of help from his mermaid) and rescues Yeon in the Path of the Damned, only to have Moo-young plant a seed of doubt in Rang’s mind. Before he runs off to practice his necromancy, he tells Rang that, in the year 2020, he died saving Yeon. Naturally, Rang assumes the time-traveling Yeon has only been nice to him out of guilt. Ugh, of all the dirty, low-down things Moo-young has done, this is actually my least favorite.
Rang hits a new low point, as he second-guesses Yeon’s motives. Was he really used and discarded by Yeon in the future? His doubts trigger an unexpected emotional reaction, which he perceives as a weakness. He spent most of his life building walls around his heart to protect himself, but in such a short time Yeon, Yeo-hee, and his new friends have made those walls crumble. He felt happy and loved, but the doubt that creeped in after hearing Moo-young’s words has shaken him and made him feel vulnerable. His instincts kick in, making him want to push everyone away, even while his heart craves the happiness and support that comes from his new relationships. Ooof! My heart can’t take much more of this, which is why I’m happy when Yeo-hee steps in to give him some tough — but unconditional — love. She’s going to cling to him like a barnacle, so he better get used to it!
Sadly, her love declaration (and marriage proposal?!) can’t silence Rang’s doubts. Feeling recklessly apathetic, he gambles away his life (literally) in a game against one of the many demons who have recently taken up residence at Myoyeongak while Yeon and Hong-joo, under Taluipa’s orders, try to mediate and help the weaker gods and demons with their problems. Although Yeon is concerned about the number of demons who have gone missing recently, his main priority is Rang, so when he learns that Rang only has a few hours left to live, Yeon becomes a gambling man.
Yeon isn’t very experienced at gambling, and since his opponent is a goblin and a cheat, he has a rocky start — until he cuts off the goblin’s hand when he catches him palming cards. In exchange for getting his hand back, the goblin agrees to reset their life balances and play fairly, but Yeon only has a mere 52 years to gamble away (because he signed the contract that would allow him to die with Jia). The goblin takes advantage of the imbalance, going all in on every hand, causing the cautious Yeon to fold every time. Unfortunately, time is not on Rang’s side, and so Yeon is forced to play his hand when Rang’s candle begins to flicker dangerously. Yeon goes all in, but ultimately he wins the game by taking a page out of the goblin’s book. In short, he cheats.
With his life restored, Rang works up the courage to ask Yeon about their relationship in the future. Yeon — without any concern for the time-space continuum — grabs his cell phone and lets Rang watch the video 2020 Rang recorded before sacrificing himself to save Yeon. While this drama disregards all the rules for time travel — and I still can’t quite wrap my head around how Yeon’s little jaunt to 1938 will play a part in the longer timeline — I’m happy to see that our bromance is back on track.
And now that our brothers are going steady again, their next task is will be taking out Kato and his new team of assassins — the Shinigami Mercenaries, who look like they’ve spent the last decade moonlighting as the antagonists of a popular shōnen anime. As eyebrow-raising as the Shinigami Mercenaries are, I’m curious to see what they will bring to the table — especially the guy with the giant mallet — and how they will play into our remaining episodes. They’re delightfully manic, and I hope we’re in for some more epic fight scenes leading up to a final battle against Kato, who I suspect will be this season’s endgame.
Meanwhile, the story with Moo-young is too complex to resolve in four episodes, so it had better carry over into Season 3 (?!) where it can get the proper attention it deserves. There are so many layers to Moo-young and Yeon’s relationship — and Moo-young and his brother are too good a foil for Yeon and Rang — that it would be a waste for the writers to try and rush through a resolution for that plot line and take down Kato in our final four episodes. After the lackluster romance of Season 1, I think we deserve two solid seasons of bromance, don’t you?