We spent this week in dismay at the quality of the content that we had been forced to watch. Starting with “Black Knight” and progressing to “Crater,” we were appalled at how little the creators cared about proper world-building. But as Saturday rolled in and we watched Episode 3 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, we felt like our palette was finally cleansed, leaving behind a wonderful aftertaste. Of course, it is all catering to the heroic image of Lee Dong Wook, but it is entertaining, and in the iconic words of Vidya Balan, entertainment to the power of three is all that matters. Let’s take a look at the recap of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 Episode 3 now.
Spoilers Alert
How Does Lee Yeon Lose His Sight?
Something that becomes clear to us is that Ryu Hong Joo can outdrink an entire army if she wishes to, and she has a tendency to think in terms of me vs. them, a lot. It might have something to do with her childhood, when she, Yeon, and Moo Young were the best of friends. But Yeon left behind his duties for the love of a woman; Moo Young was turned into stone by Taluipa, and Hong Joo was left all alone. The three of them had made an oath that they would protect each other as mountain gods, but Hong Joo had to fend for herself in her most distressing times. In fact, she lost her entire family to starvation, saying that they couldn’t protect themselves because of their niceness, a quality she has come to abhor now. On a lighter note, she clearly has feelings for Lee Yeon and is not just fooling around with the marriage proposal. The Lee brothers seem to have a certain luck with love since another woman has fallen in love, this time with Lee Rang. She met him when he had come to her dress shop, and in Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 episode 3, he ran into her at a singing club, where he was drinking after hearing his brother say that he was going to disappear after a month. He discovers that she is a half-blood mermaid and that her father was a fisherman. She is on land to pursue her dream as a singer. Since he rescues her from a tricky situation, she gives him one of her scales and tells him that she will protect him whenever he needs her.
On the other hand, Moo Young fights with some spirits to release a 500-year-old child ghost. He needs her for one purpose: to cause trouble for Lee Yeon. He sends the ghost to Lee Yeon’s dream, and the next day, Lee Yeon finds that he has gone blind. Hong Joo rushes to Moo Young to question him regarding his actions and finds that the child is called a “Saetani, “which is a monster created by a “Yeommae ritual.” The series defines Yeommae as the act of “starving a child for divination.” One thing we know is that Saetani is angry, and she is making us think of the film “The Grudge.” The anger of this child, which has festered for 500 years in a box, seems to be its power, and anybody who looks at her loses sight. Moo Young is doing all this to punish Yeon for breaking the oath they made in their childhood. There also seems to be quite a pathetic love triangle here, with Yeon turning down Hong Joo, who in turn rejects Moo Young.
Since Lee Yeon has gone blind, Shin Joo and Lee Rang set out to perform an exorcism. They don’t exactly succeed in it, but they are knocked down by a needle shot by Moo Young. As for Lee Yeon, Hong Joo sends some demons to attack him just for her own fun. Yeon is an adept fighter and is able to get the better of them, but a petty Hong Joo takes away his sense of hearing by playing some loud music. However, he is Lee Yeon, and he knocks down a pole that cuts off the electricity of the entire place, stopping the music and taking away the advantage of sight of his assailants due to the darkness. Yeon wins the fight, but now he must protect Shin Joo and Rang. An arrow is shot with some of those two’s items attached, which alerts Yeon to the fact that they are in danger. He doesn’t know what to do when he runs into Saetani waiting outside the inn. Yeon mistakes her for a regular child, and she also continues acting as one. She reads him the letter and guides him to the place mentioned in it.
Does Lee Yeon Get His Eyesight Back?
When Lee Yeon reaches the forest, he is constantly attacked by Moo Young, and the attacks make it clear to Yeon that he is just being toyed with. But we cannot say this enough: he is Yeon, and he has the last say when he gets lightning to strike him. A blind Yeon continues searching for his brother and best friend while they struggle to save themselves from drowning in the well.
While looking for them, Yeon runs into the kid again, and this time, he knows that she is the one who took his sight. She demands that he say her name, and that is when Yeon remembers her. Centuries earlier, she had saved a carp on his mountain, and Yeon had promised to protect her. But he was unable to do that. The girl had a twin, and when she had been selected by a woman to be taken away, the girl had changed places with her. She did not know then that she was being taken away for divination, and when she was trapped in the box, she suffered and hated everyone, including Yeon, for breaking his promise. Yeon hugs her and says her name, Lea, which softens the child’s anger and restores Yeon’s eyesight. Lea tells Yeon where his brother is, and with that, her spirit finally leaves the world. We bet Moo Young knew that Yeon would regain his eyesight either way. But he is trying to send a message regarding the consequences of broken promises.
As for Yeon, he rescues Shin Joo, and the mermaid rescues Rang. It looks like when she kisses him to give him air, both of them get magically engaged. What in “Legend of the Blue Sea” was that underwater scene? Looking at them, Yeon decides that while he hunts for the masked man, he also wants to make sure that his brother is not left alone when Yeon returns to his own world once again.
Meanwhile, Hong Joo is reporting to Taluipa for having killed a human. This is where she comes to know that Taluipa is not the one to free Moo Young from stone. In fact, she also comes to know that the reason he was turned to stone was because he massacred everyone and everything on his mountain. At the end of Episode 3 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, while Hong Joo is serving out her punishment in Ice Hell, she plans her next move.
Final Thoughts
It looks like in Episode 2 of Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, when Hong Joo was talking about being glad that Moo Young had come back alive, she meant his punishment and not the future. That was some clever writing, but we wish this intelligence had transferred to Yeon not getting sexually harassed. Barring that one thing, this was a good episode, and now we look forward to Hong Joo uncovering more of the mystery surrounding the men close to her.
