When I watched the trailer for Mask I figured I had a pretty solid idea about where this show was going. I was expecting some serious murder mystery business. I was expecting all kinds of violence and political maneuvering across a Korean cityscape. I had high hopes for a series that was making use of some pretty solid actors who have all had some critical acclaim at some point prior to their work on Mask. I thought I knew what was what. I was horribly wrong.
That's not to say that there isn't a lot of the stuff that I just talked about, but that stuff has begun to take a backseat following the first ten minutes of first episode. During the first five minutes I had decided that I really didn't like this show nearly as much as I thought I would. The sheer lack of realism, and the cliched plot line was giving me a mild migraine. Somehow I managed to persevere through that period. It took sometime, but story began to pick up. I only pray that there will be no revisiting the first five minutes of this episode.
Park Soo Ae plays a double role as the main heroine. On one side, we have the Byun Ji Sook, a poor girl who struggles to make ends meet because she just isn't very good at her job. It doesn't help that she's perpetually taking care of her mother, father and younger brother all of whom have their own personal issues when it comes to managing their finances. On the other side, we have Seo Eun Ha, a rich girl who is in the midst of setting up her arranged marriage to the series hero Joo Ji Hoon. As a doppleganger it only makes total sense that Seo Eun Ha is horribly rude and snobbish in her mannerisms while Byun Ji Sook displays for docile and plaintive qualities. Yeah, it IS that cliched.
Fortunately hero Joo Ji Hoon is one of those super germaphobes. In his mind even the smallest blemish or sneeze appear to grow and propagate this gooey blackness across once pristine surfaces. This of course means that he runs around providing comic relief from an otherwise serious as hell drama. As of yet, he has undressed twice and had a shower scene. From this I think it's safe to infer that there will be a lot more of that kind of stuff. Luckily for those of us not into men, it's funny too watch him running simply because someone sneezed next to him.
From the trailer and plot synopsis, we know that Byun Ji Sook will be taking over Seo Eun Ha's life, because let's face it, that's just what dopplegangers do. Psyche! Turns out that Joo Ji Hoon's brother-in-law, played by Yun Jung Hoon, has decided to set up Byun Ji Sook as some kind of scapegoat. For what purpose is still kind of unclear, but from the sheer amount of soft music and standstill shots that have taken place I think it is safe to assume that Seo Eun Ha is in love with Yun Jung Hoon. That's pretty sweet except for the fact that Jung Hoon's character is already married to Yoo In Yung's character! As such, both Seo Eun Ha and Yoo In Yung are extremely catty towards one another.
In addition to the fact that his character is a germaphobe, it turns out that Joo Ji Hoon's mother is also an important side character. From what we've seen, she is horribly dead and it's because of her that he now suffers germaphobe. No, I know it's weird, but that's what it looks like. Combine that with the fact that he needs to take medication and has a psychiatrist and we can see that he has some kind of trauma resultant from her death. Apparently, her death was also a murder and the murderer was never caught because people didn't believe it was a murder. The only person who has supposedly seen this murder is Joo Ji Hoon, and since he's on medication nobody can really take him seriously.
Yoo In Yung's character, as sister to Joo Ji Hoon's, is also suffering from trauma. We don't know the cause as of yet, but it is clear that she is trying to edge her younger step brother out of the family business because even when you are super wealthy, rich people just don't believe in sharing. Combine that with her character's vicious personality and we've got the classical snooty heiress stereotype down. Her husband, played by Yun Jung Hoon, also isn't very supportive of her poor attitude though apparently he finds that extremely hot. Yeah, there relationship is kind of confused.
Now all of that might sound really depressing, angsty, and just down right dark, but the truth is that this show has a lot of comedy going for it. When a serious show comes on, comedy is usually employed sparingly throughout the series, but this first episode ended up being a hilarious one. Despite all the dark and unruly plots that filled the span of sixty minutes it was the comedy factor that made this episode well worth the watch.
There is a lot of stuff going on in this first episode, and keeping track of it all is a little tough. Still, it does make for an interesting watch for the most part. Yes, this does mean we forgive the misleading trailer and the first five minutes of this first episode. At least for now. I'll admit that this was not the best pilot episode of a series, but it was enough to at least peak some interest. Tomorrow the second episode comes out so let's pray that the romcom qualities will continue to break through this dark melodrama.
Read our in-depth review of episode two of Mask here.