Summary
Twelve gets off to a serviceable start in Episode 1, laying the groundwork for a simplistic mythological morality tale.
There’s something quite charming and simplistic about the mythological setup of Twelve, the anticipated Disney+ K-Drama based on zodiac signs about a dozen angels living among the humans of Korea and protecting them from an ancient evil. Episode 1 provides an engaging setup for all this and builds to a cliffhanger that introduces the Big Bad, but what works most about the premiere is the basic framework it adopts. Angels with unique animal powers taking on a nasty evil spirit? Nice.
It’s dead easy to follow, too. Twelve angels, given the power of the twelve animals of the zodiac, sent to Earth to ward off evil’s darkness, slowly banished evildoers to their source, the Hellmouth (cool name). Now they live in peace, among ordinary humans, just biding their time waiting around for evil spirits to return to kick off a season of television. Simple, but effective.
There’s a case to be made that it’s maybe too simple sometimes. Taesan the tiger, for instance, wears a tiger-print tracksuit, so it’s not like there’s any real ambiguity in the presentation. Taesan is a loan shark, which isn’t especially heavenly, but his company, Angel Capital Group – subtle! – only lends to criminals and thugs, which is pretty angelic in the grand scheme of things. We meet him trying to collect on a loan given to a man in jail, and the fact that he was able to get into prison to ask for the money back and throws a few stern threats around suggests that even though the angels apparently lost their powers in their defeat of evil, they still has some inklings of those old abilities.
This episode is very introductory, so along with Taesan, we also meet Bang-wool, Jwi-dol, Do-ni, and Mal-sook, all of whom work in the Taesan building in specific departments. We can assume they’re all angels, even if it isn’t entirely clear precisely who’s who and what their respective powers are. Bang-wool’s very serpentine, while Do-ni is clearly the pig, but beyond that, it’s all a little unclear, which is probably to be expected so early in the season.
Of particular interest is Mi-reu, who has been living in isolation for a decade and has some kind of complicated history with Taesan, since she won’t accept some clothes bought for her by a cop, Ma-rok, since they were bought with Taesan’s money. Mi-reu has a kind of soothsaying quality to her, and it’s implied that she has distanced herself from Taesan due to some kind of prophetic dream, but this is another thing that’s put on the back burner for the time being.
Along with this, Twelve Episode 1 also makes a point of establishing the angels’ age and how they integrate into the local community. It’s a bit cliché that a woman visibly much older than Taesan calls him ajusshi, a respectful term for older dudes, but it makes the point well enough. The angels have been around the block and seen their neighbours grow from children to old folks. They’re mission-oriented, and with so long having elapsed since the banishment of evil, it might just be about time for them to start living their own lives. Yes, these are famous last words. But, again, that’s kind of the point.
This idea sits with Taesan. It isn’t the idea of retirement, per se, but perhaps of finding some kind of purpose now that the old one is null and void. But, of course, that isn’t quite true, not if the people in black garb making sacrifices to open the Hellmouth have anything to say about it. According to these dudes, O-gwi has been found. And you know that doesn’t bode well, even before he emerges in person after a blood sacrifice with red eyes and giant black wings, like the quintessential image of the fallen angels expelled from Heaven; the antithesis of the traditional angelic form. Wings are always a bit of a clue, you know?
So, that’s going on. The angels are going to need to reunite once again to fight back the encroaching evil, and I’m sure their wills – among other things – will be tested by the ordeal, especially with their old powers on the fritz. This premiere is serviceable more than it’s anything else, but that’s also to be expected. It’ll be interesting to see things go from here, though.
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