Mask Girl Review – Wicked Web of Delusions, Deception & Vengeance
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The year is 1989, and a cute little Korean girl is dancing on the stage to a pop song, thrilled by the applause of the audience. Her name is Kim Mo-mi, and she dreams of becoming a dancer, but she grows up to be a corporate drone who is often mocked by others for her plain appearance. She doesn’t fit into Korean beauty standards, is insecure about her looks, and thus moonlights behind a mask as an online performer called “Mask Girl” after office hours. When Kim Mo-mi finally gathers the courage to meet a fan in real life, things go awfully wrong and her life spirals out of control.
Spanning seven episodes, “Mask Girl” (Maseukeugeol) is based on a webtoon of the same name by Maemi and is a genre-bending Netflix series that blends multiple elements. There’s comedy, tragedy, love, lust, revenge, suspense, bullying, violence, trauma, fractured family relationships, and lasting friendships. The first episode, titled “Kim Mo-mi,” introduces Lee Han Byul as the protagonist. She loves the spotlight but struggles with her mundane desk job, even though she lives out her dreams on the internet behind a mask in the evenings. This contrasting double-life creates an intriguing comedic clash of two worlds, the differences enhanced by the cinematography. The office setting is pristine yet lifeless, with monochromatic colors pervading the scenes, while Kim Mo-mi’s house, the backdrop for Mask Girl’s performances, is all about glitter, bling, and color pop. Lee Han Byul is absolutely arresting as the protagonist, even though she is only featured in just the first two episodes, she captures the duality of Mo-mi, who is insecure, subdued in the day, but self-centered and hedonistic once behind the mask.
Each episode is cleverly named after a crucial character, providing them with a titular privilege and laying the groundwork for viewers to better understand their personalities. Episode two, titled “Ju Oh Nam,” introduces viewers to the socially recluse Ju Oh Nam, portrayed by actor Ahn Jae-hong. He is Mask Girl’s number one fan, and he obsessively adores the online performer, going as far as stalking her when he cracks her real identity. The episode features a colourful animated sequence where Ju Oh Nam hilariously envisions dancing with Mask Girl. This brief change in art style instantly evokes memories of the animated Korean series “Lookism,” which also explored the impact of physical beauty on a person’s life. Ju Oh Nam ends up rescuing Kim Mo-mi after another fan attempts to assault her. Shaken by the events, Mo-mi quits her job, undergoes drastic plastic surgery, and tragically ends up murdering Ju Oh Nam after he assaults her sexually. With a new face, she leaves the city to start anew. Unbeknownst to her, Ju Oh Nam’s mother is determined to track down and kill Mo-mi.
While the main theme of “Mask Girl” might seem to be the unfortunate effects of South Korea’s unrealistic beauty standards on the lives of those who don’t conform, the series also exposes the violent and patriarchal nature of the country’s society. It portrays how men feel entitled to bully, harass, and assault women who don’t submit to them. But it’s not just men, we also witness how women themselves perpetuate deep-seated misogyny by validating men around them. For instance, Ju Oh Nam’s mother labels Kim Mo-mi with derogatory terms like “bitch”, “whore”, “monster” despite mounting evidence of her own son’s problematic behaviour which led to his brutal death. Alas, the notion that “women are women’s worst enemies” remains true worldwide.
Ahn Jae-hong is eerily fitting as the socially awkward Ju Oh Nam, who becomes pivotal in transforming “Mask Girl” from a commentary on societal beauty standards into a saga of revenge. He elicits both pity and disgust in his portrayal of an obsessive fan with distorted notions of love and boundaries. Episode three introduces one of the primary antagonists, Ju Oh Nam’s mother Kim Kyung Ja, portrayed wickedly by Yeom Hye-ran. A hard-working single mother, she is deeply religious and unconditionally devoted to her son. This episode provides a comedic backstory to Kim Kyung Ja before she embarks on her own investigation into Ju Oh Nam’s mysterious death, aiming to eliminate Mask Girl. In a different story, Kim Kyung Ja could have been protagonist due to her fiercely independent personality who is relentless in pursuing their goals, but in Mask Girl’s narrative, she is undeniably a villain.
The beautiful Jae Hi-Yan takes on the role of “Kim Chun-ae” in Episode four. Kim Kyung Ja believes her to be the Mask Girl after her facial surgery. The pace of the series wavers in this episode and some of the plot co-incidences become too farcical to be enjoyable. The episode begins with a flashback story of another unattractive character who is bullied due to her average looks and exploited by her crush, who is on his way to becoming a K-pop idol. Just as interest wanes in the episode and the new character, a clever twist revitalizes the narrative’s intrigue. For the first time, “Mask Girl” showcases the strength of female friendships, a rare positive theme in the otherwise murky tale of beauty, bullying, violence, and vengeance. Despite the dark themes, the writers consistently inject moments of comedy through the runtime to keep the story largely entertaining.
Episode five leaps forward in time, shifting the focus to schoolgirl Kim Mi-mo (Shin Ye-Seo), raised by her maternal grandmother while her mother Kim Mo-mi languishes in prison. This segment of the story delves into generational trauma and how the young child grapples with the aftermath of her mother’s actions. Kim Mi-mo has never met her mother, but frequently changes schools due to bullying as the child of a murderer, often responding with violence to those who mock her. Child actors Shin Ye-Seo and Kim Ha-Neul, portraying Mi-mo’s only friend, take center stage, highlighting how friendships can offer solace in a harsh world. Episode six shifts gears to the past, depicting Kim Mo-mi’s life in prison. Engagingly portrayed by former K-pop idol Nana, Mo-mi now sports an unrecognizably pretty face thanks to surgery and faces persecution due to the unfortunate turn her life takes. A lot of the prison scenes are in black-and-white, distinguishing the past, and some aspects evoke memories of the prison power dynamics in the Bollywood series “Scoop” starring Karishma Tanna, whose character undergoes similar experiences during incarceration. However, Mo-mi’s journey is grittier, as she relies on violence, deception, and wits to navigate her perilous life behind bars. Nana passes on the baton to actor Go Hyun Jung to play an older Mo-mi AKA Mask Girl, who is completely hardened by her years in jail.
Episode seven, the finale titled “Mo-mi and Mi-mo,” concludes the series with an emotionally charged chapter that feels almost like a different movie from what you initially started watching. It revolves around settling old scores, with a sinister and farcical twist altering the course of the narrative once again. After all the bloodshed, violence, and tears, viewer expectations are high for Mask Girl’s final chapter. However, some may find it slightly underwhelming due to exaggerated elements and plot changes that seem a touch too convenient to be fully satisfying. Led by a fantastic female-led cast, “Mask Girl” is a rollercoaster ride that doesn’t adhere to a single overarching theme. While it does address the negative effects of the beauty industry on the lives of those not deemed conventionally attractive, the series goes beyond appearances to reveal the problematic ways society objectifies and reduces women to sexual instruments. Besides that, it underscores the unsettling reality of how women are often blamed for “inviting” violence, highlighting victim-shaming. One can hide behind a mask, but for how long?
You can stream the series on Netflix.
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