Posted by Mask Girl is the new kdrama series that landed on Netflix in August 2023, continuing a booming trend of South-Korean productions that included Celebrity, Bloodhounds, Black Knight, and The Glory, all released in the same year. Based on a popular webtoon, the series has a plot full of events, and a recap is necessary to have the ending explained. What’s the story of Mo-mi, and what’s the meaning of the TV show? Let’s discover it together.
You can watch the official trailer for Mask Girl here on Youtube.
Mask Girl plot recap & ending explained: The story of Mo-mi
In Mask Girl, we follow the story of Mo-Mi from childhood to her adult years. As a child, Mo-Mi has always wanted to become a celebrity; she loved dancing and was happy when the audience applauded and cheered on her. But as she grows up, she discovers she has a great body but an unattractive face, making her dream of becoming a star impossible.
As the plot of Mask Girl continues, she gets a regular office job, and this recap needs to highlight one specific aspect: in all social contexts, Mo-Mi plays the part of the invisible girl, the one no one notices. However, in parallel, she developed a second life as Mask Girl, a popular online dancer with many fans. She dances wearing a mask, so everyone appreciates her body, leaving the mystery about her face.
Many things happen in the plot of Mask Girl, every episode focuses on a single character, and far before the ending arrives, many aspects need to be explained in this recap. Mo-mi falls in love with Mr. Park, but he doesn’t seem attracted to her. When Mo-Mi discovers that Mr. Park is cheating on his wife with an attractive girl in her office, Ah-reum, she is shocked. That night, she gets drunk, and in her online show, she shows her body naked, causing the suspension of her account.
Her life seems already over. She spends a period of solitude, while we discover that her colleague, Joo Oh-Nam, is in love with her and knows she’s Mask Girl. At this point, things in the plot of Mask Girl change quickly: Mo-Mi dates one of his fans, but she discovers he only wanted to have sex with her. After a fight that night, she involuntarily kills him. Joo Oh-Nam, who followed Mo-Mi’s movements, finds out what’s happening, reaches her, and helps her, taking care of the dead body. Unfortunately, the story tends to repeat itself: Joo Oh-Nam forces Mo-Mi to have sex with him, and she kills him. Police are, therefore, looking for a serial killer now.
The plot of Mask Girl continues with more characters in the game until the ending, and some of them need to be explained in this recap. Oh-nam’s mother, Kim Kyung-ja, is seeking revenge after his son’s death. Meanwhile, after a plastic surgery, Mo-mi has a pretty face, too, and she starts working as a dancer in a nightclub. Kyung-ja manages to find her and tries to kill her. Kyung-ja fails, but ultimately, Mo-Mi turns herself in, spending many years in prison.
At this point, we discover that Mo-mi had a daughter, Mi-mo, who grew up with grandma. Her fame precedes her everywhere she goes: everybody knows she’s the daughter of the serial killer Mask Girl, and all her schoolmates bully her. For a big part of the plot in Mask Girl, we don’t understand how everybody learns about her mom, until we see what really happened: Kyung-ja has dedicated her whole life to getting her revenge by ruining Mi-Mo’s life. She pretends to be an old lady who cares about her, and at some point, she will also raise her as a young woman. Meanwhile, she did everything to turn all people against her.
The ending of Mask Girl has explained to us how this long story of revenge finishes. Kyung-ja plans to kill Mi-Mo and show her death to Mo-Mi, so she will understand what losing a child means. But Mo-Mi manages to escape prison and, with the help of her mother, saves Mi-Mo. Mask Girl has a sad ending that explained a lot about its meaning: Kyung-ja shoots Mo-Mi, killing her, and the police kill Kyung-ja. All the characters dedicating their lives to unhealthy goals die, which becomes the real meaning of the kdrama.
Mi-mo is alive in the ending scene of Mask Girl. She overcame her nightmares; she no longer hates the world she lives in. In the last scene, Mi-mo watches an old tape of her mom, Mo-mi, dancing and saying she wanted to become famous. Mi-mo smiles, learning to absorb her mother’s good side in her personality.