Mask Girl: Season 1: Full Season

August 19, 2023 12:19 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

An office worker who is insecure about her looks becomes a masked internet personality by night until a chain of ill-fated events overtakes her life.

Kim Mo-mi always wanted to be a star. As she grew up, others harshly made it clear she didn't have the looks for a star and so she settled for a humdrum office job. But she still longed for that adoration. To satisfy her craving for attention, she makes sexy live streams while wearing a mask. Everything seems to be going well until Mo-mi accidentally discovers her office crush, a married man, having sex with a coworker.

The fall out of this revelation causes decades of trauma to three generations of people who all come into contact with Mo-mi.

Starring Elaine Wang, Yeom Hye-ran (Memories of Murder), Harrison Xu (American Horror Story) and Aria Song.

posted by miss-lapin (3 comments total)

The structure of the series is that each character essentially gets their own episode so while the story continues to move forward, the viewer gets different perspectives on what happened and who these characters are. Sometimes the show structure allows major changes to happen to main characters off screen with little indication of how this transformation occurred. Mo-mi, for example, at one point, goes from traumatized murderer on the run to happily befriending a coworker at a cabaret. It's difficult to understand how she went from the last scene we see her in to being well-adjusted enough to form a healthy friendship.

In addition the show shifts its focus-initially being all about appearance (mainly the struggle of those who are not conventionally attractive) to being about love (mainly motherly of love). Over all, I really enjoyed it although I felt like some of the writing was facile.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:39 PM on August 19, 2023

worth watching, if only for the opening graphics, which are gorgeous.

the show itself is uneven, but unlike any others i've seen - but i am only 2 eps in. experiencing minor difficulty in cultural differences from my own, but it is also one of the most compelling aspects. she is not ugly!

warning: there is sexual violence, not just murder.
posted by lapolla at 12:13 AM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yeah the show does that thing where they use an actor, play down their attractiveness, and then have everyone call them ugly.

In terms of content warnings: sexual violence, murder, bullying, domestic violence, as well as the attempted murder of a child.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:34 AM on August 21, 2023