We spent this week being shocked at the caliber of the media we were made to watch. We were horrified by how little attention the developers paid to basic world-building, starting with Black Knight and then on to Crater. However, when Saturday arrived and we watched Episode 3 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, we felt as though our palate had finally been cleared, leaving a delicious aftertaste. Even if everything is obviously designed to enhance Lee Dong Wook’s heroic image, it is nonetheless enjoyable, and in the immortal words of Vidya Balan, entertainment to the power of three is all that matters. Let’s review the recap of Episode 3 of 1938’s Tale of the Nine Tailed.
Warning: Spoilers
How Does Lee Yeon Lose His Sight?
We learn that Ryu Hong Joo has a propensity for thinking a lot in terms of me vs. them and that she can out-drink an entire army if she so chooses. She, Yeon, and Moo Young were her closest friends when they were young, thus this may have something to do with it. However, Yeon abandoned his responsibilities out of love for a woman; as a result, Taluipa turned Moo Young into stone and Hong Joo was left by himself. Even though the three of them had sworn to defend one another as mountain gods, Hong Joo was left to fend for herself during her most trying times. In reality, she claims that her entire family perished from famine and that they were unable to defend themselves due of their niceness—a trait she has since learned to detest. On a lighter note, it’s obvious that she cares for Lee Yeon and that the marriage proposal is not a prank. Another woman has expressed her love for Lee Rang, showing that the Lee brothers do appear to have some luck in the dating department. She first saw him when he visited her clothes boutique, then in Episode 3 of Tale of the Nine Tailed (1938), while he was drinking after hearing his brother announce that he would vanish after a month, he ran into her at a singing club. He learns that her father was a fisherman and that she is a half-blood mermaid. She is on land to pursue her singing career desire. She gives him one of her scales in appreciation for saving her from a precarious circumstance and promises to defend him whenever he needs her.
In contrast, Moo Young engages in a battle with some ghosts in order to free a 500-year-old kid ghost. He only needs her to trouble Lee Yeon, and that’s all. The following morning, Lee Yeon discovers that he has lost his vision as a result of the ghost he sent to his dream. Hong Joo runs to Moo Young to confront him about his conduct and learns that the youngster is referred to as a Saetani, a monster forged by a Yeommae ceremony. Yeommae is described in the series as starving a youngster in order to perform divination. We do know Saetani is upset, and she is reminding us of the movie The Grudge. Anyone who glances at her loses sight due to the child’s rage, which has been trapped in a box for 500 years. All of this is being done by Moo Young as retaliation against Yeon for breaching the childhood oath they made. A really pitiful love triangle also appears to be developing here, with Yeon rejecting Hong Joo, who then rejects Moo Young.
Shin Joo and Lee Rang decide to perform an exorcism because Lee Yeon has become blind. They don’t quite successful at it, but Moo Young knocks them down with a needle shot. For her own amusement, Hong Joo summons some demons to assault Lee Yeon. Although Yeon is a skilled fighter and can defeat them, a petty Hong Joo drowns out his hearing by playing loud music. He is Lee Yeon, though, and he knocks down a pole, turning off the electricity for the entire area, stopping the music, and denying his attackers the benefit of being able to see him in the darkness. Yeon prevails in the duel but now has to defend Shin Joo and Rang. Some of those two s objects are tied to an arrow that is shot, alerting Yeon to the fact that they are in danger. When he encounters Saetani standing in front of the inn, he is at a loss for what to do. She keeps acting like a typical child when Yeon misidentifies her as one. She reads the letter to him and directs him to the location it mentions.
Does Lee Yeon Get His Eyesight Back?
When Lee Yeon enters the woodland, Moo Young attacks him nonstop, making it obvious to Yeon that he is merely being played with. We must emphasize that he is Yeon and that he has the final say when lightning strikes him. Yeon, who is blind, keeps looking for his brother and best friend as they attempt to get out of the well before they drown.
Yeon stumbles into the young girl again while searching for them, and this time he recognizes her as the person who caught his attention. Yeon only recalls her when she commands him to utter her name. Yeon had vowed to look out for her after she had saved a carp on his mountain centuries previously. He was unable to do that, though. When the girl’s twin was chosen by a woman to be taken away, the twin and the girl switched places. When she was locked within the box, she suffered and resented everyone for betraying Yeon’s vow because she was unaware that she was being taken away for divination. Yeon gives the young girl a hug and calls her by her name, Lea, which calms the child’s rage and improves Yeon’s vision. Lea finally departs from this realm after telling Yeon where his brother is. We bet Moo Young was aware that Yeon would eventually regain his vision. However, he is attempting to convey a lesson about the repercussions of unfulfilled pledges.
In terms of Yeon, he saves Shin Joo while the mermaid saves Rang. She kisses him to give him breath, and it appears as though they become engaged magically. What was that undersea scene from Legend of the Blue Sea? Taking in his surroundings, Yeon determines that in addition to looking for the masked guy, he also wants to make sure that his brother is not left alone when he returns to his own world.
Hong Joo is informing Taluipa that he killed a person in the interim. She learns at this point that Taluipa is not the one who will rescue Moo Young from the stone. She discovers that he massacred everyone and everything on his mountain, which is why he was turned to stone. Hong Joo makes plans for her next move as she serves out her sentence in Ice Hell at the end of Episode 3 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938.
Final Thoughts
It appears that when Hong Joo expressed her happiness that Moo Young had survived in Episode 2 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, she was referring to his punishment rather than the future. It was a very smart piece of writing, but we wish Yeon hadn’t been subjected to sexual harassment. With the exception of that, this was a solid episode, and we now eagerly anticipate Hong Joo learning more about the mystery surrounding the guys who are close to her.
