His excelency: Tale of Nine-Tailed

I've heard billion of a good reviews about this drama and my expectations were super high. Thus I was afraid to start watching Tale of Nine-Tailed and destroy this illusion of a brilliant drama. I was fighting with the urge to see it for a good few months but in the end I lost. And for this one time in my life, I am happy that I lost 😲 Because the show is as brilliant as they describe it 😍 Characters, story, background, scenery, music ... everything perfectly planned and executed. This series is an equal to Crash landing on you and even though Crash is my first ever kdrama, Nine-Tailed takes first place on my Asian drama list. And believe me.... for a sentimental person such as me, this is a big thing to not to put sentiments as first.

Before I start to praise my beloved Lee Dong-Wook I will shortly explain what the drama is about 😇 All starts one dark night when Nam Ji-A and her parents have an accident. She is the only survivor but her parents are not dead. They are gone, they disappeared. Since then, the girl has been dependent on her extended family and life luck. Whole her life she was searching for an answer to why and how her parents disappeared. Now she is working as a PD of documentaries and writes stories about supernatural events and being. Somehow Ji-A still emembers a mysterious man that saved her at that odd night. When she notices a familiar face on a CCTV footage from a wedding hall where the bride disappeared, Ji-A does everything to find him.

Him, that means Lee Yeon, to humans he is just an another weird unemployed but rich person on the planet. But Lee Yeon was once a mountain spirit of Baekdudaegan and he sacrificed that holy position to his love so she could life once again and they could finally have a happy ending. Before that happens, lives his life as a nine tailed fox in human form and waits for her for hundreds of years.

 

I started to watch Tale of Nine-Tailed  and felt like rating it already at 8/10, when I was in the mid-way it grew to 9/10 but when I finished it - I couldn't give it less than 9,5/10. The further the show goes, things were getting better and better with a major plot twists. This drama deserves every high praise possible and there are plenty reasons of it.

1. LEADS
   I became obsessed with Lee Dong Wook after his performance in Goblin. In Touch Your Heart he was adorable but here!? My oh my my myyyyy... I'm even more into him now and it's not because of his handsomeness, he is so good in acting. All of his roles are superbly played and it feels like this person is real, even though he is supernatural characters. Both Death Reaper and Nine-Tailed Fox felt incredibly realistic. But moving to Jo Bo-Ah. It is my first drama with her and I must say, I liked her from the very first moment. The way Bo-Ah acted was very convincing and the emotional presentation of her character was TOP. She exceeded my expectations. So far she is the only equal for Dong-Wook. Lee Yeon & Ji-A together with Captain Ri Jeong Hyeok & Yoon Se-ri from Crash Landing on You and Kang Mo Yeon & Yoo Shi Jin from Descendands of the Sun are my top couples. 
   
   
2. CAST
   You're gonna come across characters you love and hate, and when the plot gets thick, it still holds it's perfect structure. This isn't a typical supernatural romance. There is no delicate girl here who needs to be saved from the oppression of a animal-like-monster by prince on a white horse. We have a strong girl, a monster in a human body and a fox with a magic umbrella 😆😋 But apart from the protagonists, we also have a huge number of other characters as interesting and complex as they are. Some are more positive, some are more negative.
   Lee Rang is one of my (and probably not only my) favorite characters. He is Lee Yeon's brother, also a fox who hates him most of his life. He and his assistant Ki Yu-Ri do everything to make Lee Yeon unhappy and end his life. The Nine-Tailed-Fox team consists of an adorable couple of ruler of the underworld Taluipa and her husband (Hyun Ui-Ong) and veterinarian friend Goo Shin-Joo. Their antagonists are a monster who wants to destroy people and the world - Imoogi. But I don't think I hate him as much as I hate Kwon Hae-Ryong. The character played by Eom Hyo-Seop is so repulsive in terms of character and decisions that he could easily haunt people in nightmares 💀
   
   
3. PLOT
   The story shown in the drama is one of a kind, along with the characters that appear in it. Their great acting made this imaginary world for a moment real. I love series that go through several eras, in my opinion this is the best and most interesting way to show that a character is immortal (and old 🙈🙊). Whoever created this series had an amazing imagination and a fantastic ability to combine all the plots and characters 😍 I found no gap in history, there are just certain characters or situations that only appear for a second and we don't hear about it anymore, but that doesn't make the story incomplete. On the contrary, it gives a broader view of it. Nine-Tailed Fox is a character from Korean folklore (and maybe East Asian in general?) And although she was already personified many times before, it was said that it was always a woman. I am very happy that they changed this tradition 😁 The only thing I would like to see more on the series is the story of the ruler of the underworld and her beloved Hyun Ui-Ong. I wouldn't be angry about creating a spin off 😅 Nor will I say anything about sacrificing one character .... my heart is still broken😭😭

I honestly cannot say a bad word about Tale of Nine-Tailed as I like even the villains here 😅 Obviously I recommend this drama as everything from costumes to backstories were flawless. There are moments to love, to laugh, to cry, to hate and it's all in amazing balance. The multidimensionality of each character is perhaps the best part of the show. There's many cute scenes but luckily its not filled with it so much to puke a rainbow puke 😌

10.11.2022 UPDATE: While checking some random news on my phone I saw an amazing news! THERE WILL BE NOT ONE BUT TO MORE SEASONS OF TALE OF NINE-TAILED! and aparently both next year 😱😱 According to MyDramaList second season will be emited already in 6 months (April 2023) while next one probably at the end of the year. I'm really curious (and scared) how will they manage to make it as interesting and flawless with not ruining the original drama. I bet there will be soon more and more news as 2022 is finishing.