Supernatural fantasy television has enjoyed plenty of hits in the 21st century, with BBC’s 2008 series Being Human setting a strong precedent for folklore creatures blending into society. However, nearly 20 years later, beyond Being Human’s spinoffs and remake, another corner of the world has been churning out stellar supernatural hits.
In the case of Netflix’s No Tail to Tell, the latest big K-drama out of South Korea featuring Lovely Runner’s Kim Hye-yoon, the story flips Being Human’s premise on its head with a powerful Korean folklore creature of its own. Eun-ho, a gumiho (nine-tailed fox) with plenty of moxie and contempt for mortality, refuses to accept a human life.
Being Human’s Premise Is Flipped on Its Head for This K-Drama
With a trio of Mitchell, a vampire; George, a werewolf; and Annie, a ghost attempting to integrate into ordinary life in Being Human, it’s a satirical take on how difficult even the most mundane human life is.
In the case of No Tail to Tell, Eun-ho, wishing to preserve her power, wealth, and youth, sees humanity for all of its flaws and actively shuns even close friends who choose that life.
“I’ll never become a human. I won’t love a human as you did. I won’t live in misery, and I won’t die in despair. I’ll never live like you.”
-Eun-ho
Eun-ho had a good handle on her life until a chance encounter. Meeting Kang Si-yeol, a young football striker, she arrogantly points out his lack of prospects compared to his star football prospect friend, Hyun Woo-seok. But everything changed after an incident with Geumsu heir Lee Yoon, who was among Eun-ho’s many wealthy clients but with a reckless streak.
But as fate would have it, even with Eun-ho’s delicate lawful evil balancing act of predominantly evil wishes with appropriate balancing costs, she eventually got backed into a corner. In saving a life from being snuffed out, Eun-ho soon loses her powers, being forced to integrate into human society, despite dangerous characters after her and her kin.
Soon dubbed as Kim Ok-soon, Eun-ho immediately blames the one she saved for her fate, but nevertheless must adapt to human life, while learning the mysteries of a supposed other nine-tailed fox, similar to the one from her past, operates in the background.
No Tail to Tell Swaps Horror for Greater Romantic Comedy Focus
Instead of the dark comedy and horror of Being Human, No Tail to Tell keeps the formula of folklore creatures integrating into humanity fresh with some classic K-drama slice of life romance. Alongside Si-yeol, she must adapt to her existence as Ok-soon, and grapple with human responsibilities, mortality and all, for the first time ever.
Without divulging too much for the sake of spoilers, everyone’s lives are soon changed, but not irreversibly, as Eun-ho attempts to strike a balance between good and evil wishes to prevent losing her powers as a gumiho. As circumstances unfold, and she is shunted into her Ok-soon identity, she finds herself entangled with Si-yeol.
It’s here that K-drama fans will see the vibe begin to shift around the 4-episode mark. Characters have been introduced, they can attempt to live their radically-changed lives, while darker conflicts brew beneath the surface and mysteries are slowly unraveled. On top of everything else, there’s a clearly-blooming romance between the freshly-humbled pair of Ok-soon and Si-yeol.
This mixture of supernatural K-drama formula into tropes familiar to fans of early 2000s TV results in a fresh, yet familiar glimpse at how jarring ordinary human life can be to those of privilege.
Much like vampires, werewolves, and ghosts in Western TV, nine-tailed foxes are popular in K-dramas, with plenty of gumiho-themed shows like Tale of the Nine Tailed being stellar additional recommendations.
While Eun-ho is on another level from the wealthy elite of reality, sometimes it doesn’t feel far off, and it can be reassuring to the viewer to see anybody, mighty or not, adapt to the fragile notion of an ordinary life. It can be humiliating, and painful, but it can be a ticket to greater self-discovery by allowing oneself to be vulnerable, all components of being human.
- Release Date
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2008 – 2013-00-00
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Lenora Crichlow
Annie Sawyer
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Russell Tovey
George Sands
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