Episode 6 of Mask Girl really ties up things very neatly and truly embraces the revenge thriller genre. It may not have as big a twist as Oldboy, but it’s just as exciting and almost as shocking. We’re left with a few questions after the sixth episode and are hoping the finale will tie it all up neatly with a bow and leave no questions unanswered. Episode 6 has a large time jump from 2011 to 2023, and we see a huge change in Mo-Mi’s character as well as her appearance as she is older and has been in prison for years. We see the prison system and how some people are influential, but Mo-Mi manages to stand her ground and make her own space there too.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In the Episode?
Finally, we’ve returned to Mo-Mi’s side of the story after four episodes of new perspectives. Episode 6 of Mask Girl begins with her new life in prison. As soon as she’s inside, her prison bunkmate asks her about her plastic surgery and what she’s done. She shares it with the whole ward, and they all cheer her on. Outside, when they have some time to get some fresh air, they all ask Mo-Mi for advice on what they should get done to their faces. They ask for her surgeon’s contact information because they plan on going to the same one. But they all disperse when an older woman and her posy come out to play. An Eun-Suk is like the big lady of the prison. She has more power than the warden, too. Eun-Suk is in prison because she had her husband and his mistress killed and chopped up. When she sees Mo-Mi, she finds her looking very similar to that mistress, so she tells her to stay out of her sight. Immediately, Mo-Mi begins to rebel. Any adulterer in prison has to starve for three days (Eun-Suk’s rule), but Mo-Mi gives one of the women food in front of Eun-Suk.
During laundry day, Eun-Suk’s sidekicks try to teach Mo-Mi a lesson. Mo-Mi, on the other hand, doesn’t take it lying down; instead, she fights them hard and gets violent quickly. She gets put in solitary confinement for her behavior, but every time she gets pulled back out, she continues to get violent with Eun-Suk’s friends. This is Mo-Mi’s plan to make sure Eun-Suk stays away from her and lets her live the way she likes in prison. After all, they have a very long way to go. Ultimately, Eun-Suk gives in and makes a truce with Mo-Mi. We skip to 2023, and Mo-Mi is old now. She’s silent and minds her own business. It seems her roommate is quite close to her. With a new Jesus-loving warden in the building, things are still looking the same for the prisoners. The only difference is that she now gets everyone to say I love you instead of “Yes, ma’am.”
After all these years, Mo-Mi receives her first letter since she came to prison. It’s a letter from a fan of Mask Girl, but inside is a newspaper clipping of the article that speaks about generational violence. It shows how Mi-Mo, Mo-Mi’s daughter, has become a violent child and questions if this is a genetic issue. Written in hand are the words, “Now you can feel what it’s like to have a messed-up child.” Mo-Mi suddenly feels the urge to get out of prison. She makes a plan and uses all the things she can do through the work she does to get out of there. But as she tries to climb over the fence, she falls hard and gets thrown into solitary confinement for one month. This is considered illegal, but the new warden, who thinks she’s being too kind to the prisoners, doesn’t care. In there, she gets handed a Bible, and this changes things for Mo-Mi dramatically. One month later, when the warden is called to have a look at her, Mo-Mi is seen praying on her knees. The warden wonders what’s wrong, but the prison guards tell her that this is what Mo-Mi has been doing for a month now. When she gets out, she’s a new person. She preaches to her fellow prisoners about how the Lord spoke to her and told her she deserved redemption. Some of her friends think she’s faking it, but Mo-Mi really looks like she’s changed.
One fine day, Mo-Mi finds Eun-Suk crying. She asks what the problem is, and her roommate tells her that it’s because Eun-Suk’s daughter needs a kidney transplant, but she’s not a match for her daughter. Mo-Mi decides to help Eun-Suk, to the shock of everyone else. It turns out her blood type matches, and after three tests, it is confirmed that Mo-Mi can give her kidney to Eun-Suk’s daughter.
How Did Kyung-Ja Instigate Mi-Mo?
During Bible studies, some people from outside come to visit the prison. Mo-Mi tells her partner that for the first time in her life, she feels happy. Her partner says anybody who has sinned can be forgiven, and Mo-Mi feels satisfied after the talk. But this all changes when she’s faced with a woman who looks somewhat familiar to her. Kyung-Ja has finally shown up in front of Mo-Mi, and she tells her how she escaped and lived all these years. Kyung-Ja had not died at Chun-Ae’s hands, and when she was drowning in the car, she somehow managed to wake up and get herself out of there. She too needed to change her face so she could escape the police because there were two bodies in her car when they were found in the lake. Kyung-Ja searched for Mo-Mi everywhere but couldn’t find her. Finally, she visited her mother’s home and found Mi-Mo, her daughter. Remember that “teokkbokki” grandmother that Mi-Mo was so fond of? Well, that was Kyung-Ja. Since Mi-Mo’s childhood, Kyung-Ja has been keeping in touch with her.
Kyung-Ja was the one who told Mi-Mo to become violent whenever someone insulted her. She was the one who spread the rumors amongst the kids and told the news about where Mi-Mo was all the time because Mi-Mo would readily give her that information. The person Mi-Mo thought was protecting her was actually the one ruining her life. It wasn’t Ye-Chun who spread the rumor at all, but Kyung-Ja, who told the other girl that Mi-Mo was Mask Girl’s daughter. After beating up Ye-Chun, Mi-Mo finally went to Kyung-Ja’s home because she had nowhere else to go.
Now, Kyung-Ja tells Mo-Mi in prison that she will know how it feels when her child goes missing. Mo-Mi suddenly becomes emotional and puts her hand out to stop Kyung-Ja from leaving. Kyung-Ja pretends to be hurt by her, and the guards tackle Mo-Mi and put her to the ground as she screams that Kyung-Ja is Ju Oh-Nam’s mother and will kill somebody. How far will Kyung-Ja actually go, and will she really have it in her to kill somebody’s daughter for revenge? Yes, Kyung-Ja is extremely hurt because Mo-Mi killed her son, but would she really kill an innocent child or make her disappear for revenge? Let’s find out in episode 7 of Mask Girl.
