Popular 2023 comedy thriller drama Mask Girl delves into a unique storyline based on a webtoon. Directed by Kim Young-Hoon, the drama stars Lee Han-Byul, Nana, and Go Hyun-Jung in the lead. Based on a popular webtoon of the same name, the story is written by Maemi and illustrated by Hee Se.
The storyline of the drama revolves around Kim Mo-Mi’s (Lee Han-Byul) life, who works at an office. However, because of her looks, she battles her insecurities. She becomes a masked personality on the internet until someone pokes it to stir up her life. Slowly, back-to-back ill-fated incidents start to unfold, creating a lot of chaos.
Mask Girl: Cast, plot, and streaming platform
The narrative of the comedy crime drama Mask Girl revolves around Kim Mo-Mi’s life. All she ever wanted was to be in the spotlight. She has always loved to dance, but because of her appearance, she never could.
Years later, she still faces backlash at her office because of her looks. She hides her identity and goes under a mask on the internet. She shows off some seductive dance moves and slowly gathers the audience. One of her fans is Joo Oh-Nam (Ahn Jae-Hong), her office colleague. Soon, Mo-Mi’s identity is revealed, making her undergo plastic surgery and killing Oh-Nam.
After changing her looks, she takes up a new identity as A-Reum. She became a cabaret singer and made a new friend, Kim Chun-Ae (Han Jae-Yi). They together track down Oh-Nam’s mother, Kyung-Ja (Yeom Hye-Ran).
On the other hand, they further murder Chun-Ae’s toxic roommate. They skip town until Kyung-Ja throws new problems at them. However, Kyung-Ja and Chun-Ae both get killed in a struggle. However, how Mo-Mi escapes the scene, leaving the bodies, and ends up in prison is shown in the drama. The K-drama further unravels more secrets, engrossing the audience with the plot.
The cast of Mask Girl includes Go Hyun-Jung, Lee Han-Byul, and Nana in the lead roles. Apart from them, Shin Ye-Seo, Choi Daniel, Moon Sook, and others play different supportive characters. The drama streams on Netflix.
Mask Girl: How different is Netflix’s adaptation from the webtoon?
There are a few differences between the drama adaptation and the webtoon. The first is the timeframe of the drama’s setting. While the webtoon was written in 2015, the drama is set in the backdrop of 2009.
This is why the characters are using Cyworld instead of Facebook. From showing the contrasting relationship dynamics between Kim Mo-Mi and Joo Oh-Nam to portraying the murders in a different light, the drama also shows a friendship between Mo-Mi and Chun-Ae that is quite opposed to what is written in the webtoon.
The ending of the drama is also changed. While in the original written work, Kim Mo-Mi manages to escape, and Kyung-Ja kills herself in guilt, in the drama, Kyung-Ja murders Mo-Mi. Later, a police officer shoots her soon after she kills Mo-Mi.
Mask Girl is a K-drama that delves deep into the societal issue of appearance and looks. The show talks about the taboo of beauty standards that is still very much present.
