Stream It Or Skip It?

No Tail To Tell, the new Korean rom-com on Netflix, involves a lot of mysticism interacting with the real world in the current day. Given the history of romantic K-dramas, though, it doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch for a nine-tailed fox to fall for a soccer player, right?

Opening Shot: Back in the Joseon era, we see a man searching the woods for a flower to make medicinal tea out of.

The Gist: The man encounters a young woman named Eun-ho (Kim Hye-yoon), a mystical nine-tailed fox who has taken human form. She grants wishes but is fascinated with the human condition. She grants his wish to find the flower, then she goes to the wedding of her friend, another mythical fox who did good deeds, became human, and married the love of her life.

But what Eun-ho learned from that is that humans are bound to live tough lives, not find happiness, and die, which she sees through snippets of future events she sees in her mind. So she decided to never become human. She’s lived for hundreds of years this way, getting paid by wealthy people to grant their wishes, spending without consequence, and being able to snap her fingers and get humans to bend to her will.

One example is Lee Yoon (Choi Seung-yoon), a scion of the Gemsung Group, who utilizes Eun-ho to get a massive real-estate development deal. But he arrogantly thinks she’s an employee, and she reminds him that she acts at her own whims, doesn’t do good deeds, and will not do bad things that take away her mystical power.

One night she encounters two top high school soccer players: Kang Si-yeol (Lomon), who works part-time jobs and lives with his grandmother, but is very confident in his abilities, and Hyun Woo-seok (Jang Dong-joo), who already has a spot on the national team and a shoe contract. She envisions Woo-seok becoming a massive star, and she takes pains to tell Si-yeol that he’ll be a nobody.

Earlier that night, she encounters Pagun (Joo Jin-mo), the diety of the Big Dipper. He’s there to inform her that the gods are waiting for her, the last nine-tailed fox, to become human, and that the balance she’s spent hundreds of years carefully maintaining is starting to tip, though he doesn’t say which direction it’s tipping towards: her becoming human or her being anhiliated.

After Lee Yoon gets into an unfortunate accident, he summons Eun-ho again to help him get out of it. But that brings her back into Si-yeol’s orbit, where she suddenly sees a different future for him.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? No Tail To Tell isn’t the first Neflix K-drama to explore the mythical world of the nine-tailed fox; there’s also the 2020 series Tale Of The Nine-Tailed.

Our Take: It’s not a stretch to say that the story of No Tail To Tell is going to involve Eun-ho becoming human, whether she wants to or not, and how it affects how she helps Si-yeol. We get a lot of setup and exposition in the first episode, mainly involving the “rules” behind Eun-ho’s existence: How she maintains the balance that keeps her as a mystical creature, why she doesn’t want to become human, and the benefits she derives from staying above the fray.

Eun-ho starts off the story as somewhat arrogant, mostly blunt, but very secure in what she’s wanted out of her endless life. She finds human existance entertaining to observe, and we see examples of her being able to bend people to her will through the decades. But there is a reason why mystical foxes become human, and it’ll be fun to watch her come around to the concept, even if she’s doing so reluctantly.

Si-yeol’s story is also interesting, because he goes from such humble beginnings to becoming a superstar pro athlete. Will he know or acknowledge Eun-ho’s role in this? Eventually, we guess, but on the way, we’re pretty sure the adult version of Si-yeol and the evolving Eun-ho are going to start falling for each other.

Performance Worth Watching: Kim Hye-yoon seems to have a lot of fun playing Eun-ho, especially when she’s manipulating “weak” human beings.

Sex And Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Eun-ho gets floored by a mystical blow to her chest, meaning she lost some of her powers. Si-yeol catches her, and her fox tails come out.

Sleeper Star: Choi Seung-yoon does a good job of making Lee Yoon the closest any Korean romcom character comes to being pure molten evil.

Most Pilot-y Line: A scene where Si-yeol’s coach repeatedly hits him with a stick for taking the spotlight away from Woo-seok was a bit much, and hard to watch.

Our Call: STREAM IT. No Tail To Tell has fantasy, a little bit of whimsy, and a redemption story that should set it apart from other Korean romantic comedies.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.