Mask Girl (Season 1) takes viewers on a gripping and emotionally charged journey. The series revolves around the life of Kim Mo-mi, a young woman leading a double life as an office worker and a provocative livestream performer known as Mask Girl. As the narrative unfolds, secrets, betrayals, and hidden connections are unveiled, leading to a series of tragic events that shape the fate of each character. In this intricate and dramatic tale, we are kept on the edge of our seats as we experience the story from different people’s perspectives and feel all the emotions.
This article contains spoilers.
Mask Girl (Season 1) Recap:
Episode 1: Kim Mo-mi
The episode begins with the introduction to the young Kim Mo-mi. Kim Mo-mi always loved the crowd and wanted to become a celebrity. The same dream continued even when she went to high school, but she became insecure about her looks. The people around her started calling her ‘ugly’, making her feel unlovable. Her mother once caught her dancing and asked her to stop it as she was going nowhere with her ugly face. Kim Mo-mi always loved the sound of cheer and applause. Kim Mo-mi lived a double life. At the age of 27, she worked in an office by day, and at night, she did a live stream as a Mask Girl. She was jealous of her co-worker A-reum as her male colleagues would give A-reum attention and not her. She has one good friend at her workplace who, according to society, would be called ‘ugly’. So they go through the same discrimination. She would finish work, go home, and do a live stream by wearing a mask and wig. She would wear provocative clothes and do performances. She would receive love and money from the people watching her.
Mo-mi has a crush on her manager Mr. Park. He is the only one who seems not to treat anybody indifferently. The only problem is that he is married. Mr. Park takes the team out for drinking but decides to leave early. Mo-mi goes with him. She assumes that Mr. Park also has feelings for her, but people on her livestream burst her bubble. One day Mo-mi leaves late and only A-rum is left to go. Mo-mi tells her not to take Mr. Park’s harsh words to her heart and leaves. She has forgotten something, and when he returns to the office, she sees that Mr. Park and A-rum are having an affair. This saddens Mo-mi. That night, Mo-mi gets drunk, goes live as Mask Girl, and strips naked. Her account gets suspended. She wakes up to this realization. She thinks A-rum is the problem and tells other female employees about the affair. Eventually, Mr. Park decides to quit, and A-rum is transferred. Mr. Park is drunk, and Mo-mi takes care of him and takes him to a motel. The following day Mr. Park sneaks out.
Mo-mi gets an email with her nude picture from the live stream that says that the person knows her. Mo-mi starts to get paranoid and accuses someone on the subway of groping her. Mo-mi finds comfort in talking to people on her live stream app. The person comforting her was is other than one of the people working in her workplace.
Episode 2: Ju Oh-nam
The episode begins with an introduction to Ju Oh-nam. Ju Oh-nam is the same man who worked with Mo-mi. As a child, he was constantly bullied for being petite and chubby. Things remained the same as she grew up and came to middle school. He was constantly bullied. So he decided to become invisible and be out of people’s way. In this episode, we see the story unfolding from Ju Oh-nam’s perspective. Ju Oh-nam would watch Mask Girl’s live stream and is a huge fan. He recognizes who the Mask Girl is by seeing the two moles on each of her hands. Ju Oh-nam is used to being lonely, and he has a crush on an anime character called Rem, and he once celebrated his birthday with that doll. Ju Oh-man, on the live stream, goes by the name ‘Once upon a Prince’, and he would leave encouraging comments on the stream. The day Mo-mi finds out about Mr. Park and A-reum, at first, Oh-nam assumes Mo-mi is sleeping with Mr. Park. Once, he saw Mo-mi go into a motel with Mr. Park and sent an email with her nude picture.
After her live stream had gotten suspended, she was chatting with her fans. She had asked to meet one of them. Through a forum, Oh-nam finds out where she is as in the forum, that fan had called her ugly but still wanted to sleep with her. This angered him. In reality, the fan calls Mo-mi beautiful and takes her to a motel. Oh-nam tries to reach out to Mo-mi, but she doesn’t answer. The fan tries to sleep with her, but he hits his head on a table in that fight and falls, bleeding. Mo-mi receives Oh-nam’s call and calls him to the motel. Oh-man asks her to leave as he promised he would take care of things. The fan wakes up, and in a hurry, Oh-nam kills him. Mo-mi quits her job, but Oh-nam tries to visit and talk to her. She does not answer. She goes on a live stream for the last time, and Oh-nam rushes to her place and asks her to let him in. Oh-nam forces himself on Mo-mi; he removes Mo-mi’s mask to find her all bandaged. She pushes him onto the bed and kills him.
Episode 3: Kim Kyung-ja
The episode begins with the introduction of Kim Kyung-ja, the mother of Oh-nam. Kyung-ja married young through a matchmaker; all she cared about was her husband’s need for a stable job. A few years after their wedding, her husband cheated on her, leaving her with an infant Oh-nam. Kyung-ja worked hard to put food on the table and send Oh-nam to school. She did all kinds of odd jobs and eventually opened a small restaurant. Whenever Oh-nam would come home after being bullied, she would question her parenting methods. She would take the priest’s help from her church to help Oh-nam. Eventually, Oh-nam got a job and left the house as he wanted freedom. She would be hurt and angry when he would not call or let her near his home. One day she called the cops as he was not reachable. She freaks out seeing the life-size anime doll in his house. The cops find a cut-up body in his refrigerator. Kyung-ja assumes its Oh-nam and faints. At the hospital, the cops confirmed it was someone else and asked her if Oh-nam had enemies. Kyung-ja told them that he got along well with everyone. The cops visited his office and realized some connection between Oh-nam and Mo-mi. A couple of days later, they find Oh-nam’s body, and Kyung-ja is devastated. The cops visit Mo-mi’s old house, and the landlady tells them she probably had plastic surgery. After the cops don’t find any leads, she takes it upon herself to find Mo-mi.
She understands how to use a computer by taking classes; then, she joins the Mask Girl fan club and learns the jargon used by the youth. She is in constant touch with the manager of one of the fan accounts. From here, she gets a lead on someone who looks like Mo-mi. At first, Kyung-ja visits Mo-mi’s mother’s house, but she does not get any leads there. She then visits the mall, and they give her an agency’s number, and she visits the agency. She finds someone resembling Mo-mi while waiting in a street food stall. She follows that girl into a hotel. That girl’s name is Yu-mi. She keeps an eye on her for a few days and follows her around. One day she decides to join as a cab driver and goes out and buys herself a rifle. She makes sure Yu-mi gets into her cab and uses a Taser to knock her out. She drives her to an unknown location and tortures her. Finally, Yu-mi tells her that she isn’t the masked girl and her name is Kim Chun-ae, but her colleague might be the Mask Girl.
Episode 4: Kim Chun-ae
The episode begins with Chun-ae telling Kyung-ja about how she knows Mo-mi. In school, she had a one-sided crush on a boy from her class called Bu-Yong. She was an outcast in her class because of the way she looked. Bu-young was practicing to be a K-pop star, and she never dared to speak to him. After graduating, Chun-ae started working as a cashier in a convenience store. One day Bu-yong visits the store and recognizes her immediately. His friends buy alcohol and cigarettes, and Bu-yong is happy she worked there as they could illegally buy them. Bu-yong sends his friend to bring Chun-ae to the party on his birthday. At the party, he asks her for money to pay the bill. Eventually, he would visit her only to borrow money from her. He disappeared from her life after he became a K-pop idol. One day she visits him and overhears him talking to his bandmate about how he had used her for money. Out of spite, she posts pictures and images of him before his debut leading him to be kicked out of the boy band.
Chun-ae gets plastic surgery to look pretty. One day in front of the mall, she sees Bu-yong and takes him home, and they start dating. She lets him move in with her. Chun-ae starts working extra hard to make money for two people. In the club, she meets Mo-mi. From the beginning, they had a clash. They never got along. Kyung-ja lets her go and agrees to take her help in finding Mo-mi. Chun-ae had lied about every single detail to Kyung-ja. Mo-mi and Chun-ae were very close. Chun-ae informs Mo-mi about the situation and asks her to run away. Mo-mi had told Chun-ae about her killing Oh Nam. They try to find a way to get away from the place. The fan page manager Teddy finds Mask Girl and clicks on her pictures. Mo-mi decides to leave and run away somewhere.
Meanwhile, Bu-yong finds out Chun-ae had posted photos of him after his debut and starts physically abusing her. She and Mo-mi decide to run away together. While Bu-yong attacks Chun-ae as she is trying to leave the house, Mo-mi comes to the rescue, and they kill him. Teddy had sent pictures of Chun-ae and Mo-mi to Kyung-ja. She follows the girls. In a fight, Kyung-ja shoots Chun-ae. Mo-mi puts Bu-yong and Kyung-ja in a car and pushes it to a lake. In the last scene of the episode, we see Mo-mi as the Mask Girl going into the prison with lights flashing on her, making her feel like a celebrity.
Episode 5: Kim Mi-mo
In this episode, we see Mo-mi’s daughter Kim Mi-mo. Just before Mo-mi got arrested, she requested her mother to look after her daughter. Mi-mo knew nothing about her mother, and her grandmother refused to say much. One day at school, rumors spread that Mi-mo was Mo-mi’s daughter. Initially, she looked up Mask Girl and everything that went down, and she would imitate being a masked girl. Her grandmother caught her doing role-play and punished her. She had to change many schools because at every school she went to, rumors started to spread about her mother. She would take to violence once she was unable to bear the bullying. Eventually, her grandmother shifted to another locality and she joined a new school. She had decided to stay low-key and mind her own business, but she became friends with one of her classmates, Ye-chun.
Their friendship grows, and it almost seems they are having a romantic relationship. Ye-Chun tells Mi-mo that her father is a drunkard and would hit her mother, but her mother was not her birth mother; she was her stepmother. Mi-mo empathizes with her, bringing them closer. Mi-mo confides in Ye-Chun and tells her about her mother. Ye-Chun and Mi-mo decide to run away together and find ways to make money.
School bullies catch hold off Ye-chun for selling idol’s photo cards to kids. We see Ye-chun talk about Mi-mo’s mother. Mi-mo commits another crime and kicks her out of the house. Mi-mo tries to seek refuge in Ye-chun’s house, but Ye-chun has lied about the state of her family and can’t take her in. Mi-mo does not attend school the next day. Her grandmother tries looking for her but cannot find her. Ye-chun is getting worried. Mi-mo watches Ye-chun with her happy family, and once they go home, Mi-mo calls her to an underpass. Ye-Chun comes rushing, but Mi-mo starts hitting her and accusing her of spreading the rumor. In the last scene, we see Kyung-ja looking towards the camera and laughing sinisterly.
Episode 6: Kim Mo-mi
In this episode, we see Mo-mi entering the prison after turning herself in for her crimes. At first, she is by herself, minding her own business and talking to her cell-mate. During a recreation day, her cellmate shows her Ahn Eun-suk and tells her that she is the prison queen and is close to the warden. Mo-mi experienced this when Eun-suk made a rule for adulterers to starve as her husband had cheated on her. Mo-mi helps the adulterer by giving her food, and her cell-mate warns her that she is taking a dangerous path. When Mo-mi is doing laundry, Eun-suk’s gang threatens her, and Mo-mi fights back. She was put in solitary confinement for three days. After she got out, she went looking for the woman that threatened her and attacked her again. This time she was sentenced to 15 days of solitary confinement. The pattern repeats, and we see Eun-suk talking to the warden about the situation. Eventually, Eun-suk steps in and asks her to call it a truce and never fight with each other, and Mo-mi agrees.
A new warden is assigned, and she seems more like a cult leader preaching than a warden. A new inmate arrives, and she is a massive fan of Mask Girl; she promises to brag about her to her friends once she is out of prison. Mo-mi gets a letter from Kyung-ja with news articles about her daughter being a monster and taking after her mother. There was also a note that read .’I hope you feel the pain of a mother now.’ Mo-mi decides to escape prison to save her daughter, but she is caught and put in solitary confinement. The new warden sends a Bible to her, and Mo-mi starts praying. They let her out of the confinement, and she is set as an example for someone who had changed because the lord had spoken to her. She even agreed to give her kidney to Eun-suk’s daughter saving her life.
One day a group of volunteers were called to help the inmates to show the path of the lord. There Kyung-ja introduces herself to Mo-mi, and she is panicked. She reveals that she acted as the owner of the tteokbokki truck and lured her daughter into confiding in her. She even told her that she had spread rumors about her, and because of that, her daughter was isolated. Mi-mo had found her way to Kyung-ja’s house and sought shelter. Kyung-ja tells her that she will kill her daughter so she can feel the pain she went through. Mo-mi tries to stop her, but the wardens hold her back. She tells them that Kyung-ja will kill someone, but they ignore her.
Episode 7: Mo-mi and Mi-mo
The episode begins with Mi-mo waiting for Kyung–ja at home. She is happy to see her, and they have a good time together. Meanwhile, Mo-mi is begging the prison guards to help her daughter. Kyung-ja tells Mi-mo to call her grandmother and talk to her while continuing to treat her nicely. Mi-mo does what she is asked to do, and at the same time, Mo-mi gets a favor from Eun-suk and gets to make a call. She calls her mother, asking about Mi-mo and Kyung-ja, but her mother hangs up. Eun-suk continues to help her; she allows her to call her Mi-mo’s school and shows her kids’ photographs. But Mo-mi is apprehensive about the whole situation. Eun-suk was using people outside to comfort Mo-mi by tricking her into going for a kidney transplant.
Mi-mo trusts Kyung-ja completely; she even celebrates her birthday and tells her that she considers her as her real grandmother. Kyung-ja had prepared everything needed to kill Mi-mo in the storage cellar. Mi-mo’s grandmother starts to get worried and suspicious about Kyung-ja, and to affirm her doubts, Ye-chan tells her that Kyung-ja has spread rumors and there is something off about her. They find her address and rush to the location. She also calls the cops. The cops turn up at Kyung-ja’s location and search the place but find nothing suspicious. Meanwhile, Mo-mi goes to the surgery but attacks the cops and escapes. She takes a ride from a stranger until mid-way, the stranger realizes she is the masked girl from the radio news. She rushes towards Kyung-ja’s location. Mi-mo begs Kyung-ja not to kill her, but she does not budge.
Mi-mo’s grandmother arrives at the location along with Ye-chan. Mi-mo’s grandmother fights Kyung-ja and asks Ye-chan to get Mi-mo out. Ye-chan apologizes to Mi-mo and helps her out. Mo-mi reaches the location when Kyung-ja is about to attack Mi-mo.
Mask Girl (Season 1) Ending, Explained: A Web of Vengeance and Redemption
Can the Past Ever Be Erased?
Mo-mi attacks Kyung-ja and asks Ye-chan and Mi-mo to hurry outside. Before they do, Kyung-ja takes the rifle to shoot them. Mo-mi somehow stops her, and the kids run up. They have a brutally violent fight tiring each other out. In the end, we see Mi-mo going to school along with Ye-chan. Ye-chan’s parents were her temporary guardians, and Mi-mo had stopped feeling hatred towards others. The last scene of the season ends with Mi-mo watching her mother’s kindergarten dance performance.
What happens to Mo-mi’s mother?
Kyung-ja had stabbed her, leaving her bleeding to death when Mi-mo found her. Mi-mo apologized to her and begged her to stay alive. Kyung-ja gets back up and holds the rifle at all of them. Mo-mi hits her before she pulls the trigger. Mo-mi’s mother eventually died.
How does Mo-mi save Mi-mo?
After the girls escape, they get out, and Mo-mi attacks Kyung-ja and rushes out. The police surround them, and they tell Mask Girl to put her hands up as her game is over. She does as told, but Kyung-ja comes outside with a rifle. Everyone is panicking, including the cops. They warn her to drop the gun, but she points the rifle at Mo-mi. Before she pulls the trigger, she shifts the rifle towards Mi-mo and tells Mo-mi that she deserves to feel the pain she felt when pulling the trigger. Mo-mi comes in front of her daughter and saves her but dies on her coughing up blood. The cops pull the trigger and shoot Kyung-ja.
Mask Girl is an intense show with many twists and turns. There is a great deal of chaos towards the end. But one question remains – Why did Mo-mi or her mother not tell Kyung-ja that Mi-mo was Oh Nam’s kid as well? There would have been a possibility for all the murders to be avoided as Mi-mo and Kyung-ja already had a certain bond. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the true expressed feelings from Mi-mo towards the end. Nevertheless, the ending seemed fitting. With both Kyung-ja and Mo-mi gone, Mi-mo can finally have a fresh start.
