Our leading lady and leading man deserve to find happiness at the end of this series. Do they?
brother in law Min Seok Hoon, replacement Seo Eun Ha, heir with issues Choi Min Woo, jealous boozy sister Choi Mi Yeon
The players: Brother in Law Min Seok Hoon is portrayed with relish by Yeon Jeong Hun. Our leading lady, the replacement Seo Eun Ha and dead Byeon Ji Sook is portrayed by Soo Ae. My favorite is our heir with issues Choi Min Woo who is played by Ju Ji Hoon. Can’t be a quadrangle without a jealous boozy half sister Choi Mi Yeon portrayed by Yu In Young who nails the snide looks.
Mask Episodes 19 & 20 Summary
Episode 19
Min Woo saves Eun Ha from the burning house. Seok Hoon finds them on the ground outside the house. Seok Hoon takes the unconscious Eun Ha. Min Woo wakes by the lake to find her gone. Then he finds a bloody cloth that is implied to be Eun Ha’s. The inference is that Eun Ha drowned in the lake. Public sentiment goes against Min Woo, suspected of murdering his wife and the former crazy antics are rehashed. Seok Hoon serves as his lawyer. Eventually Min Woo dodges the police who are chasing him.
Meanwhile, Eun Ha is unable to leave. She knows she’s being controlled by Seok Hoon. Mi Yeon enters the picture too. By the way, Mi Yeon confesses all to her mother who is stunned what her daughter did in conjuction with Seok Hoon. Eventually Eun Ha escapes. She’s on the road hoping the bad guys don’t capture her again, when Min Woo finds her. He takes her to a secluded house. He tends her wounds. She tells him this will be their last night together. She’ll have to leave to right the wrongs that have been done. Min Woo hates the plan but Eun Ha does not alter her opinion. Min Woo realizes he needs to use the time to be with Eun Ha. He gently traces her face (just like she did two episodes ago). They kiss.
Episode 20
The next morning, Min Woo tries to persuade Eun Ha not to leave him and disappear. Why can’t they disappear together? Eun Ha is resolute. She must do this and right the wrongs. They won’t be apart long she assures.
Mi Yeon tells Seok Hoon that she cannot stand by and watch him frame Min Woo as Eun Ha’s murderer. In a tense conversation, she tells Seok Hoon he’ll have to murder her with his own hands to stop her from exposing his treachory.
Eun Ha wants to see her family one last time before she disappears. She tells her father and brother she’ll must leave to take care of final details. They enjoy a meal together hopeful that when she returns they can be a real family again.
In a good twist, Min Woo asks Seok Hoon to defend him and prove to the world he is innocent of killing Eun Ha. Seok Hoon pledges to prove Min Woo innocent of murder.
Mi Yeon and the loan shark grab Eun Ha. She promises to neutralize Seok Hoon. Eun Ha does not believe Mi Yeon will be able to stop Seok Hoon. Mi Yeon admits she won’t be able to stop Seok Hoon. She admits she killed the real Eun Ha.
Seok Hoon declares he’ll pretend to defend Min Woo but really have him convicted. His enemey will be removed and no one can say he didn’t try to save Min Woo. A win win situation for Seok Hoon.
Mi Yeon meets Min Woo before the press conference. He urges her to confess what she did right – save Eun from death in the lake and confess what she did wrong – kill the real Eun Ha. He believes confessing will remove the weight of the secret. She apologizes for all she’s done. Hmmm, that sounded like a goodbye. Min Woo senses this as well but the police stop him from going after Mi Yeon.
At the press conference Seok Hoon tells everyone that Min Woo killed Eun Ha but because he has a mental illness and he should be remanded to a hospital not a prison. Not much of a defense if you ask me. When Min Woo takes center stage he apologizes for his wrong doing at the vacation house. Seok Hoon can’t supress a smile that Min Woo is admitting to murder. But in a twist, Min Woo apologizes for falling unconsicnes after saving his wife, for being used as a puppet by the real wrong doer, Seok Hoon. Bam! All eyes turn to Seok Hoon. Min Woo has proof. Eun Ha walks in the door and admits to being Ji Sook. Eun Ha’s father rushes to her. She confesses she is not Eun Ha but Ji Sook. She approaches Seok Hoon. He looks like she’s a ghost. She recalls Mi Yeon telling her that she drugged Eun Ha’s wine who then fell into the pool and died. Eun Ha takes the stage and tells the story admitting that she took on Eun Ha’s identity. She apolgoizes to Eun Ha’s family and friends. She states Seok Hoon was the puppet master behind the entire plan. She explains how Seok Hoon blackmailed her, killed the construction guy, tried to kill Min Woo by shooting him, tried to kill her by lighting and fire. Proof is handed over to the prosecutor. Seok Hoon is about to be arrested but he and the henchman run. The police catch the henchman. Mi Yeon arrives and offers him a ride.
Seok Hoon allies including the loan sharks are arrested.
Mi Yeon suggest she and Seok Hoon disappear. He realizes Mi Yeon saved Eun Ha. Seok Hoon tell her to run far away, alone, without him. You could argue odd timing but this is the final episode…Seok Hoon admits he married her to get revenge for his father who was in an accident. After the accident, there was another accident leaving his father paralyzed. Then his mother died. At the her funeral Min Yeon’s father arrived, paid the compensation cash, was photographed doing the good deed, then smiled. It was that smile that broke Seok Hoon. The smile that said her father had played the role, the minions were appeased, and he could return to real life. She begs him to disappear with her. No dice…revenge must be had. Resigned, Mi Yeon offers her car which contains his passport and a plane ticket. She asks that he tell her he loves her, even if it is a lie. Seok Hoon tells the truth…he doesn’t love her…their marriage was about revenge for his father. I must say I thought Seok Hoon would throw her off the bridge as part of his need for revenge but he leaves Mi Yeon standing there. I also wondered if Mi Yeon would throw herself off the bridge, but that didn’t happen either.
The police give Eun Ha and Min Woo a moment together before they take her away. She tells him the real Eun Ha was right, you can’t be happy in life if you wear a mask.
Seok Hoon reads a letter from Mi Yeon while he waits to board in the airport. Oh no, Mi Yeon stands at the cliff. In the voiceover of the letter Seok Hoon reads, Mi Yeon recounts their honeymoon happiness. She admits she loves him. In the present, Mi Yeon steps off the cliff to her death. In the airport, Seok Hoon tears up at his wife’s genuine love for him.
Mi Yeon’s mother is grief stricken. Seok Hoon shows up at the ceremony. With tears in his eyes he bows and apologizes. Mi Yeon’s mother hits him in her grief. Mi Yeon’s father orders him to leave. Min Woo punches him. Min Woo tells Seok Hoon, prove your affection for his sister and confess.
Min Woo and his father have a guilt off about their actions. His father states long ago Min Woo’s mother mistook his desire to meet his son as an agressive action to take Min Woo from her. Then the accident happened that lead to her death. Min Woo says his father failed to protect his mother. Min Woo vows he will lead a different life and protect those he loves.
Eun Ha reads letters from Min Woo in prison. Min Woo reads letters from Eun Ha wrote in prison.
Min Yeon’s mother tells her husband she wants to join the company.
Seok Hoon tells a prison guard gazing at a picture of Mi Yeon, that she is someone he’ll be joining soon. So he did confess. Or there was enough evidence to send him to prison.
Four year time jump…
We are at Ji Sook’s birthday party. Everyone is there and sings Happy Birthday.
Now we are at a family picnic with Min Woo and Ji Sook. They have a daughter. They are happy.
Ji Sook’s final voice over: What is love? What is happiness? What do we live for? Where are we headed? Climbing the mountain of life, we think about the struggles to get to the top. We need to smell the flowers on the way to the top. I’m happy with my family and smelling the flowers with them. That is the goal of my life and I will live it accordingly.
My thoughts:
Pretty good wrap up to this series. Episode 19 didn’t do much for me but it set up the finale. The pluses of the finale:
* Seok Hoon is exposed. He goes to jail. He seems sorry for his actions.
* Eun Ha is able to live as Ji Sook. She pays her debt to society by spending some time in jail.
* Min Woo and Ji Sook live a happy life. A life with a lovely daughter.
The minuses of the finale:
* Mi Yeon’s death, was is necessary or was it done for the melodrama of it? I realize her death was the cataylst for Seok Hoon to come to grips with what he did, but I’m not sure I believe it was necessary.
* Min Woo’s father’s explanation that his mother’s accident was simply his men trying to arrange a meeting with his son…lame. Dude, give the woman a call. Arrange a visit in the daytime. Don’t send 15 guys after her, chasing her in the dark. Again I say, lame.
* Seok Hoon’s confession that he married Mi Yeon for revenge on his father seemed out of place in that scene. His father’s story supposed wrong done by Mi Yeon’s father seemed weak. Disfigured hand, paralysis after another accident, his mother’s death, Not lame, but weak. Mi Yeon’s father smiled after paying compensation? That why you worked your whole life to revenge this perceieved slight? Weak.
I will write a series review. Here’s two thoughts:
* Mask’s premise was excellent and much of this series delivered cliff hanger after cliff hanger, a heroine you liked and a leading man you wanted to overcome the obstacles others had cruelly created for him.
* The series got muddled in the latter third with the flip flop loyalties of Mi Yeon – did support her brother or her husband? Frankly it depended on the episode. Seok Hoon also managed to gain too much power as our couple gelled and gained evidence against him.
The fifth song of the OST is “I Hope This is a Lie” by Navi. Check it out via the link or the embedded video below:
Episode 1-7 | 8-12 | 13 – 16 | 17-18 | 19-20 | Series
Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.
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ι’ll wait for your series review but I think the writer suffered from considerable script alteration once more. Too much PPL, more melodrama than “noir” and annoying ffw the last two weeks (the writer needed to tell some of the story he had in mind, didn’t he?) got the drama off the track. I enjoyed it anyway, but lots of “what ifs” are still inside my head. Nevertheless, Mask was the absolute winner in its slot in terms of ratings and the writer gets a perfect score.
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I agree with your assessment. The pluses outweighed the minuses, but the minuses were there. Did you watch the first drama from this writer, Secret Love? How was that?
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I think Secret was better, the story was less complicated but not the characters. It had very poor ratings during the first 2 weeks, Heirs were just around the corner, the writer was a rookie who had just won a one-act writing competition, KBS assigned another writer to the project…well, everything was not going smoothly at first. From episode 4 though, audiences started paying attention and the rest is history. Secret beat Heirs in terms of ratings, acting was going from fine to superb and however strange this revenge-romance story was, it had one unique appeal. It was addictive just like Mask but unlike Mask, no one knew what to expect.
I recommend Secret even in this hot summer weather – might get hotter, though. Be prepared! 🙂
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Now you’ve intrigued me. I will definitely watch it!
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Watching the two dramas backwards, you will probably have a different point of view. It’d be lovely if you share your thoughts with us. The differences as long as the similarities between them may be obvious but the overall “fun” will surely be varied. It will be so interesting 😉
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I will share my thoughts when I watch. As I appreciate when you share your thoughts.
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