[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Mask" Episode 15
By Lisa Espinosa | Published on
The struggle to adapt to secrets is often as difficult for characters as it is to keep those secrets. Now that Ji-sook's major truth has been made known to Min-woo, other truths have begun to leak, dragging down loved ones as the secrets attempt to remain hidden from the world.
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Ji-sook's truth causes Min-woo to real for most of the episode . He fluctuates between anger, disbelief, and missing Ji-sook. His need to avoid her is quite natural and easy to understand. I appreciate that it isn't a means to force the two apart, but a way for Min-woo to come to terms with her identity and the lie. The time apart allows for Ji-sook to take stock of her feelings for him, to decide to come clean to him even though he already knows the truth, and, perhaps most importantly, come to know Eun-ha better.
In her search to discover what to do about Seok-hoon's plans to murder Min-woo she delves into Eun-ha's past. She learns that Eun-ha was a lonely woman in need of parental affection. This rounds out the rigid, snobbish Eun-ha of the earliest episodes and allows us to understand her and her relationship with Seok-hoon more deeply. Perhaps we'll better be able to understand Seok-hoon's rage the more we get to know Eun-ha and what she meant to him.
Mi-yeon is on a downward spiral with very few wits about her. She says she had no choice but to do what she did (tell Min-woo the truth about Ji-sook), which is quite untrue. She is driven by emotion and guided by a keen intelligence. It makes her a dangerous opponent and a worthy partner of the murderous Seok-hoon. The couple is guided by distrust.
Min-woo and Ji-sook also share distrust, but more than that they have a previous bond of love and trust that can still prevail. As of now, it does not, showed best by the piano/violin duet they played at the end of the episode - a duet that was supposed to embody their emotions for each other, but was instead turned into a business venture, the opposite of their marriage contract. I'm not quite sure what is to come, but I know that I am looking forward to it.
Written by: Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'
"Mask" is directed by Boo Seong-cheol, written by Choi Ho-cheol, and features Soo Ae, Ju Ji-hoon, Yeong Jeong-hoon, and Yoo In-young.
Lisa Espinosa
Journalist, drama lover, and foodie, Lisa enjoys exploring Korea, speaking the language, and soaking in all that dramaland has to offer. Her Korean husband laughs that she knows more than he ever will about dramas and K-pop. Lisa Espinosa can be contacted via lisa@hancinema.net.