As the story entered its final act, it was clear that there were four queens of masks, the quartet of friends Jae-yi and Yu-jeong, Go Yoo-na (Oh Yoon-ah) and Yoon Hae-mi (Yoo-sun).
Given the type of show this is, there was little doubt that it would end with a strong show of solidarity between this leading quartet, who have been betrayed time and again by men. Thankfully, the slalom to that final stand hit all the right buttons.
For much of the season, we were led to believe that the big villain was whoever was behind the mask. That was eventually revealed to be Song Je-hyeok (Lee Jung-jin), who, in his words, deliberately targeted all four “queens”.
Je-hyeok was about as nasty as they come. Beyond raping Jae-yi, he also fathered with, and then stole a child from, Yoo-na in America, and fathered another with Yu-jeong while stealing her charitable foundation, which he used to run the illicit Angels’ Club.
This club, operating in an orphanage, is a playground for the elite where they can have their way with underage orphans and partake in illegal drugs, served to them by even younger girls.
As with any good soap opera worth its salt, Queen of Masks did not settle for just the one big bad. Je-hyeok may have been a monster but, after being caught by the queens in episode 11, its story is turned on its head.
Rather than Je-hyeok escaping their clutches, which we might expect with five episodes to go, he winds up dead.
This resets the table and returns the show to its opening scenario: Je-hyeok has died in the same room in which Yu-jeong’s fiancé died all those years ago following her hen night.
Back then, Yu-jeong and all three of her friends secretly returned to the hotel and visited that very room after the party, giving us lots of red herrings to sort through.
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Queen of Masks puts us through the same routine, as it is quickly revealed that all four of the leads individually visited Je-hyeok’s room after they all left him unconscious on the sofa.
Someone else knows this as well, as each is sent a picture of them taken as they returned to the building in the early hours of the morning.
With Je-hyeok out of the picture, it is time for the queens to figure out who the story’s ultimate villain is. And since Jae-yi is the top queen, that means it needs to be someone around them, which leaves only two real options: hunky restaurateur boyfriend Choi Kang-hoo (Oh Ji-ho) and her secret father, the conglomerate chairman Kang Il-goo (Song Young-chan).
Given how sweet and doting he is, Kang-hoo seems an obvious candidate. When someone is too perfect there is usually something to hide. However, the show immediately tosses him under the loop of suspicion and, given the amount of time remaining, that lowered the odds on him.
This is when Queen of Masks pulls its greatest trick. Kang-hoo crawls around in the night, secretly investigating things for Jae-yi without her knowledge, and he discovers that the real culprit is in fact Il-goo, who is revealed to be the founder of the Angels’ Club and the real culprit behind the murder that kicked off the series.
Kang-hoo escapes Il-goo’s clutches to return to Jae-yi, but before he can fully cross the street into her arms, a car passes. No, it does not hit him, but a slick red line has appeared on his neck. His jugular has been sliced open and he bleeds out right before his beloved.
Following this stand-out moment, the deranged Il-goo bribes Jae-yi’s three friends to sever ties with her and then – in an epic bit of gaslighting – he attempts to convince her that everything he did was for her, including murdering Yu-jeong’s fiancé, who he believed at the time had attacked her, and Je-hyeok, who actually did.
What the power-hungry Il-goo does not count on is how deep the ties run between Jae-yi and her friends. Though they pretend to go along with it, in actuality they deceive him and all four reunite behind the scenes to take him out for good.
Any chance of getting out handcuffs is waylaid when he goes out the same way he took out Kang-hoo.
Although more modest and a lot less buzzy than other recent K-dramas, Queen of Masks soared past them by doing what they could not: it stuck the landing.
Queen of Masks is streaming on Viu.
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