Mask Girl – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Kim Chun-ae

Episode 4 of Mask Girl starts with Chun-ae narrating the story of her life and how she met Kim Mo-mi aka Mask Girl. She starts way back from her childhood and how she was an outcast in school because of her looks. After moving schools, she met a guy in her class named Bu-yong.

Chun-ae had a one-sided crush on the guy but never got a chance to confess to him because he was so unattainable. He was a to-be K-pop idol and preparing to debut. After graduating, Chun-ae started working as a cashier at a convenience store, and that was the first time she run into Bu-yong again.

Bu-yong first started taking favours from her like buying alcohol and cigarettes from the convenience store illegally, and eventually started asking to borrow cash from her. After years of loaning him money, Bu-yong disappeared from her life when he made his debut as an idol.

One day, Chun-ae tried to reach out to Bu-yong but he ignored her. Chun-ae overhears him talking to his friends about her and how he considered her to be his ATM. Bu-yong tells his friends that he had many such desperate girls fawning over him and that he’ll make them spend their money on him.

Chun-ae is upset by the revelation and decides to expose Bu-yong in front of the media. She posts an article about Bu-yong (alias Philip) being involved in underage drinking, extortion and more illegal activities and attaches photos as evidence. Following the incident, Bu-yong is left jobless while Chun-ae decides to change her life by getting plastic surgery.

Chun-ae runs into Bu-yong one day and he is shocked to see her new appearance. She takes him into her apartment and starts dating him. She asks him to start working but after his defamation, he admits that he doesn’t have the will to go out and look for work.

Bu-yong’s failure makes Chun-ae guilty and she starts working at a club in order to make more money for him and her. Chun-ae was the star of the club but things at home were not good, with Bu-yong playing video games all day and turning her house into a pigsty.

Following that, Mo-mi started working at the same club and the two women clashed from the get-go. Mo-mi’s stage name was A-reum and Chun-ae believes the new girl stole her spotlight and her clientele soon after she started working there.

She adds that Mo-mi had natural boobs while hers were silicone implants to make Kyung-ja see she was telling the truth. Chun-ae tells the old woman that she wants Mo-mi dead just as much as Kyung-ja, and promises to look for Mo-mi instead.

Chun-ae believes that Mo-mi could catch wind of the fact that an old woman was chasing after her and could flee. Kyung-ja buys into Chun-ae’s claims and decides to let Chun-ae look for Mo-mi. Chun-ae ends up right at Mo-mi’s doorstep and tells Mo-mi all about Kyung-ja.

In contrast to what Chun-ae had told Kyung-ja, Mo-mi and Chun-ae were actually the best of friends. Their past issues and struggles as outcasts  bonded them and they were inseparable friends until now.

One day, after Mo-mi got sick, Chun-ae tried to take her to the hospital. That is when Mo-mi confessed to Chun-ae that she killed Oh-nam. Chun-ae was supportive of her friend and understood where she was coming from.

Present-day, Mo-mi and Chun-ae decide to look for a way to get out of this mess. Meanwhile, Teddy who is on the lookout for Mask Girl, takes photos of Chun-ae coming out from Mo-mi’s apartment complex. Chun-ae goes back home and gets into an argument with Bu-yong.

Tired of his unwillingness to work, she decides to kick him out. However, Bu-yong beats Chun-ae up and decides that he had figured out that it was her who leaked his photos in the controversial article. He believes that Chun-ae ruined his life and is now going to pay by letting him have his way. He forces her to work as an escort.

Teddy follows after Chun-ae and believes that she’s Mask Girl. She threatens to have him arrested and goes to see Mo-mi. There, Chun-ae tells Mo-mi all about what Bu-yong is doing to her. Mo-mi asks Chun-ae to pack up her belongings and flee with her.

Chun-ae tries to sneak around Bu-yong who is asleep but accidentally steps on a squeaky toy that her puppy played with. Bu-yong wakes up and beats Chun-ae to a pulp for trying to flee. However, Mo-mi shows up in time and attacks him. She tries to strangle Bu-yong with a rope and Chun-ae wakes up at the right time.

The two women strangle and kill Bu-yong. They put his body in a suitcase and dump it into his good-for-nothing sports car. At the same time, Teddy sends photos of Mo-mi and Chun-ae to Kyung-ja claiming that he was not sure which one of them was the real Mask Girl.

Kyung-ja catches on to Chun-ae’s lie and decides to chase after her. She follows the two women and tries to kill them both with her gun. The gun does not fire off instantly though and both girls try to run towards Kyung-ja to disarm her. All of a sudden, a shot is fired and Chun-ae is shot. Mo-mo is furious and attacks Kyung-ja.

Chun-ae wakes up one last time to knock Kyung-ja out and ends up dying in her friend’s arms. Mo-mi dumps Kyung-ja’s car with her dead body inside a lake, and leaves Bu-yong’s dead body in the suitcase with her. She then turns herself in as Mask Girl. As the episode ends, cameras are flashing to capture Mo-mi walking into prison.

The Episode Review

While the first half of this episode was totally unnecessary, it looks like Lee Jun-young aka U-KISS’ Jun is Netflix’s new favourite cameo boy. After his successful stint in Love and Leashes, we have seen him in D.P. Season 2 for a cameo and now Mask Girl. 

The second half of this episode is an absolute tear-jerker as it highlights the beauty of female friendships instead of presenting the same narrative of women bringing each other down – something that the media has overused over the past few years.

The friendship between Mo-mi and Chun-ae was so deep that one sacrificed her life for the other while Mo-mi surrendered herself instead of fleeing away when she easily could.