Grudge ~ The Revolt of Gumiho | Never Trust a Human
“Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho” (aka “Gumiho: Tale of the Fox’s Child”) is a 2010 Korean drama series, with 16 episodes, categorized as Historical fiction, Historical Period, Costume and Period, Revenge, Romance, Horror, Thriller, and Korean folklore; streaming on KOCOWA+.
SUMMARY: What happens when lovers must choose to save their relationship or save the lives of their children? The result is usually a tragedy and in particular, a tragic love story. A gumiho is a creature from Korean folklore. Sometimes these creatures want to live as a human. There is a way for them to become human. But if you are a human, you should never betray them.
♦ I Want To Be Human, but Humans are Cruel
In “Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho”, Koo San-Daek is a gumiho (a nine-tailed fox) who is so close to becoming a human. She looks like a beautiful woman on the outside, but when she transforms into her natural state … she’s quite a frightening sight to see! But she’s not evil, and like any mother, she only wants the best for her child. Her daughter, Yeon-Yi, is half-human, half-fox. Her human husband betrays her, and they have to run for their lives.
Yeon-Yi, “the little fox child”, doesn’t know yet that she can transform and has powers. She is as sweet as can be, a very talented artist, very polite, courteous, and you can’t imagine anyone wanting to harm her. Unfortunately, there were those who did want to do her harm. Their righteous justification for their act of violence was: They wanted to save the life of another child, and for that child to live, they had to kill her! Is that sick, sickening reasoning or what?
Yoon Cho-Ok is the child who will live only if the little fox child dies. Yoon Cho-Ok is a sick child. The parents are not sure what she is dying from, but an evil shaman guy told the parents that if they want their daughter to live, they have to kill another girl who was born on the same date, time, etc. Take out that child’s liver and feed it to their daughter, so that she can live. Of course, Yoon Cho-Ok’s mother will do anything for her child. Yeon-Yi is the unfortunate girl who shares the same birth date, etc.
Koo San-Daek and Yeon-Yi both look like humans and are simply trying to make a happy life for themselves in the world of humans. Even though the mother warns her child that she must NEVER TRUST ANY HUMAN, they both fall into the trap of trusting the wrong human, Yoon Cho-Ok’s father. By the time they realize they were lured, deceived, and trapped, horrible things have happened to them. The mother fox justifiably has a grudge and revolts. She sets out to get her revenge. It is not pretty.
Main Characters:
- Koo San-Daek (Gumiho) (played by Han Da-Gam, “Celebrity”)
- Yoon Doo-Soo (played by Jang Hyun-Sung, “The Art of Negotiation”, “Flex X Cop”, “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area Part II”)
- Yeon-Yi (played by Kim You-Jung, “Thread of Lies”, “Lovers of the Red Sky”, “My Demon”, “Dong Yi”, “The 8th Night”, “Commitment”, “Chicken Nugget”, “Love in the Moonlight”)
- Yoon Cho-Ok (played by Seo Shin-Ae, “Incarnation of Money”)
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 7.7 of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 7.5 of 10 stars
- Amazon customers shared a pubic rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My personal rating is 9 out of 10 stars.
The plot for “Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho” is very interesting and keeps you absorbed from start to finish. However, if I’m being honest, I thought the ending SUCKED! On the other hand, if they were trying to make a point that humans are more cruel, evil, and ruthless than animals, they succeeded in making that point.
Why my high rating? Two reasons. (1) Kudos to the child actors in this series. They were fantastic. For the 2010 KBS Drama Awards, both Kim Yoo-jung and Seo Shin-ae won for Best Young Actress. (2) The make-up artist deserves an award for turning Kim You-Jung into the cutest little gumiho I’ve ever seen.
- TRIVIA: Kim Yoo-Jung’s roles in many of the Korean historical period dramas have earned her the name “Sageuk fairy”. In “Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho”, which aired on KBS2 from July 5 to August 24, 2010, she is a couple of months shy of her 11th birthday.
In a blog post as recent as 2024, KOCOWA+ suggested this K-drama describing it as a hidden gem. AGREE.
This series is also included in a Lifestyle Asia listing published in 2024. AGREE.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
‘Gumiho’: The Fox Spirit of K-Dramas | Rolling Stone India
Have You Ever Seen a “Nine Tailed Fox”? | puddingpost
“Gumiho: Tale of the Fox’s Child” after “Secret Agent Miss Oh” | Korean Drama Choa
TRAILER/TEASER:
KBS WORLD TV. “[Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho] Trailer (구미호: 여우누이뎐).” YouTube, 3 Aug. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=0ZuNrSUCwVA&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD.
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