“Mask Girl” (마스크걸)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
September 23, 2023

☆☆☆☆
Kim Mo-mi (played by Lee Han-byeol/Nana/Go Hyun-jung)
Kim Kyung-ja (played by Yeom Hye-ran)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

On the surface, it appears that “Mask Girl” is about beauty standards and how our looks are a catalyst for who we will become. Even in an office setting where plain-Jane Kim Mo-mi (Lee Han-byeol) doesn’t stand out, she covets her quasi-sleazy boss Gi-hun (Choi Daniel) — not because he’s a genuinely nice guy, but because he’s handsome.

By the end of the series, viewers will have been taken on a wild ride where subterfuge and revenge are the norm, rather than the exception, and everyone’s moral compass has been broken.

In its own way, “Mask Girl” is a makjang K-drama — a thrilling, over-the-top show with plenty of overdone plot lines that will entice viewers to keep clicking the next episode button.

It begins with an enthusiastic young girl happily singing and dancing. Her dream is to become a K-pop idol. But as she grows older, it becomes apparent she doesn’t have the kind of looks that will launch her into the celebrity stratosphere. In her 20s, Mo-mi makes due with a 9-to-5 job where all the men flirt with a pretty underling. At night, she goes home and puts on a tight dress, a blonde wig and a mask that covers her entire face (save for her eyes). There, she undulates for viewers who gift her with money. (Think OnlyFans.)

Mo-mi is either oblivious that her timid colleague Oh-nam (played with squirrely perfection by Ahn Jae-hong) has a huge crush on her or she chooses to pretend she is unaware. Coincidentally, he is also enamored with Mask Girl and eventually deduces that Mask Girl and Mo-mi are one and the same.

His affection for both women was a nice dramatic touch, because even though Mo-mi tried to hide her real identity when she moonlighted as a sexy webstreamer, there was something familiar about both sides of her that attracted Oh-nam.

Speaking of whom, he is a creepy mama’s boy who lives with blowup dolls and sports an unfortunate combover. He has a forgettable personality that’s memorable only to his hovering mother, Kyung-ja (brilliantly played by Yeom Hye-ran). What happens to him sets off a chain reaction of events that leads to a climactic finale.

“Mask Girl” is based on the webtoon by Mae-mi and Hee-se, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they chose the name Mo-mi for their protagonist. In Korean, 몸이 means body. And for Mo-mi, her body is the only thing she has that elevates her from corporate drone to internet star. Indeed, while Mo-mi’s face doesn’t fit the standard of what a South Korean celebrity should look like, she has a smoking hot body.

Mo-mi is played at various points in her life by the actresses Lee Han-byeol (right), Nana (left) and Go Hyun-jung. Each woman adds nuance to her portrayal of this conflicted character, who is neither a heroine or a villain. She is abused by the men who purport to adore her and addresses their crimes with vengeance. Do we feel sorry for the men? Not really. But we also don’t absolve her of her actions.

In just seven episodes, “Mask Girl” tells a full story from the viewpoint of not only Mo-mi, but also Jae-hong and his mother, and several other characters whose lives are intertwined with Mo-mi’s.

Airdates: Seven 50- to 64-minute episodes released on Netflix on August 18, 2023.

Spoiler Alert: At one point, Mo-mi agrees to meet a fan (username: Handsome Monk) in person. The man tells her she’s beautiful and doesn’t need to wear a mask. What she doesn’t know is that he plans on revealing who she is to all of his online fans. He tells them online that he has met Mask Girl and that she’s hideously ugly in real life. Watching this in real time, and feeling that he has a special connection with Mask Girl, Oh-nam tracks down where the two are to save her from being assaulted. Handsome Monk ends up dead.

Later, Oh-nam believes he is entitled to Mo-mi’s body and rapes her. Mo-mi kills him. When Kyung-ja figures out that Mo-mi is the one who killed her son, she vows to make Mo-mi’s life miserable. Her goal is to kill Mo-mi’s daughter. But Kyung-ja has no idea that the girl is Oh-nam’s biological child.

When Mo-mi gave birth to her daughter, she named the baby Mi-mo/미모, which is the Korean word for beauty. It’s fitting that a character so obsessed with looks would choose this name for her child.

© 2023 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved