2020 Round Up
Day 9 – the drama you watched just because and ending up loving

I wasn’t planning to watch Tale of the Nine-Tailed. I don’t usually go for fantasy but after the heavy boots that was DYLB, I needed something that wasn’t going to jump my heart and mug it for all its feelings. A story set in non-reality seemed like the way to go. So with my Lee-Dong-wook-lensed Tiger’s Brow (er, rose-colored glasses, I mean) in one hand and a ticket to ride in the other, I boarded the roller coaster of Zero Expectations – and then Lee Yeon cocked his eyebrow and I turned into That Girl in the front with her hands up in the air screaming at the top of her lungs on the big drops.

Yes, so it had a paper-thin premise and plenty of plot holes, CGI from 1999 (and not in the Prince way) and some randomly thrown-in parental cardboard cut-outs. But wasn’t that part of its charm, that it didn’t take itself too seriously? We can soberly pick apart those points on the recaps, but here I’m celebrating it for the delightful bromance, a scrappy PD, and colorful not-quite-humans who dealt us a number of surprises and laughs. When you break it down, it was a swashbuckler of a tale with a lot of heart and just a little camp – and I enjoyed it plenty. In the Year That Is 2020, it was a welcome escape into a world where more things were possible than are “dreamt of in our philosophy.”

I’ll remember TONT fondly. I’ll miss our foxes, and I’m glad they got their family in the end, bittersweet thought it was. I’m glad I decided to give this one a go.