I liked this episode which put our heroine straight into the web of deception, murder and money. We see her struggle through this but I can see light at the end of this dark tunnel she is walking through, as she and our hero finally have to come together, which gives hope that they will be each other’s hope to happiness.

RECAP

Ji Sook wakes up in the hospital. Suk hoon makes her write a note saying “If your creditor dies, your debt disappears. It’s the only way.” He also tells her to pretend that she has a temporary memory loss after she fell down from her fiancé’s pool and became unconscious. She is worried about everything, including Eun Ha but Suk Hoon tells her that he will do all the thinking, she should just do what he tells her to.

Min Woo tries to convince himself that he did not try to strangle Eun ha. Mi Yun comes there and advises Min Woo to cancel his marriage with Eun Ha, eluding that what happened can happen again. He says that he will ask her himself about the truth and nothing will change whatever it is.

Eun Ha’s parents visit her (Ji Sook) in the hospital. Later, we see that she is her step mom and her dad has always been busy, so they didn’t have normal parent-daughter relationship, with no warmth.

Turns out, Suk hoon and his lackey had hidden Eun Ha under the bed. Now they proceed to take her out through a stretcher with Ji Sook, who is in shock on seeing her. She tries to avoid this whole situation but Suk Hoon has enough cards under his sleeve. He has made a perfect plan to frame her for murder of one of the guys of her lender. He has a key to her house, marked with blood and he has the story ready for police — she killed him with the key but they both ended up dead as the car fell into the river. So if she escapes, she will be caught as guilty for murder. He has the key and her hand written note.

Min Woo comes to the hospital. Suk Hoon tries hard to stop him but fails. Min Woo is informed about her memory loss. He just wants to check the marks on her neck that he saw during his hypnosis session. But when he is not able to do so, he starts shouting like crazy, asking her to tell him that he isn’t one who tried to kill her.

Ji Sook’s family is worried that she hasn’t come home and they can’t call her either as phone is off. Ji Hyuk then receives that message Ji Sook recorded before falling with the car. He suggests that she might be drinking somewhere.

Suk hoon brings Ji Sook to Eun Ha’s lavish flat. When she argues that they have lived different lives and it would be difficult to take her place, Suk Hoon answers that Eun Ha lived abroad mostly and she isn’t close to her dad. Her biological mother died 20 years ago.

There is a scene with Min Woo’s servants when they accidentally spill some juice on his carpet but he says nothing.  Later he again sees a body floating on the pool and blood on the carpet. His condition turns bad and he takes lots of pills, gasping and reaches for a key inside a book. Later we see him writing a diary about what is happening with him and if he is crazy.

Suk Hoon gives loads of things for Ji Sook to study — English and French learning books, photo albums, etc so that she can get acquainted with her. He avoids her question about how he knows so much about Eun Ha, even her password. When she tells him that she can’t be alone in the house with his assistant, he starts choking her with a purse, warning her that he saved her from death. If she wants to be Ji Sook, she can just die here. She says that she knows better and she will not run and so to take him with him.

Suk Hoon and his assistant take Eun Ha’s body and throws it down the cliff, in the river. He is clearly sad about what he is doing.

Ji Sook tries to run from the house but sees that lackey is keeping a  watch on her. But later, when he is inside his car, not paying attention, she runs away to police station. But with each step, Suk Hoon’s words start coming to her mind. She is about to tell the inspector about everything but when she steps back, she bumps into Suk hoon, who is standing there with the same key in hand. LOL.

Min Woo comes to meet Eun Ha at her house. He is standing outside when he sees Ji Sook returning, very dispirited. He forcefully removes the scarf from her neck and it has marks from the earlier time when Suk Hoon was forcing the strap on her neck. Of course, Min woo thinks he really tried to kill her.

We find out that the psychiatrist is actually implanting false memories into Min Woo’s mind (which also includes the one where he is strangling Eun Ha) and he is gaslighting. And we know this because Suk Hoon is recalling his conversation with the doctor — he is after this, as expected.

Ji Sook’s family goes to police station to file her missing report but then they come to know that they have found her body. They identify the body.

Family meeting takes place where Min Woo refuses to marry Eun Ha, saying that he can’t take care of her. But Ji Sook says that she wants to love him her whole life. He later pins her down (when alone) and tells her to tell the family she doesn’t want to get married and not show up on the wedding day.

Wedding day. Ji Sook is getting ready when she sees a mother-daughter duo and remembers her own happy memories with mom. She runs to meet her family as she becomes emotional. There her funeral is taking place. She sees that loan shark taking away all the condolence money. Suk Hoon also comes there and tells her to make decision.

As the bride is called at the altar, to Min Woo’s surprise, Ji Sook is walking with Eun ha’s  dad. When he takes her hand, he warns her that he will kill her. But she says that they will tell everyone that she slipped and fell into the pool. He asks why, she answer — because they are family now.

THOUGHTS

Yay! They got married! Let the romance begin — under unwilling cohabitation. What I really like about Mask is that Ji Sook is such a brave lady. Just look at the number of attempts she made to run from the messy situation. I like that she didn’t straight away accept the circumstances. It was the step by step build up of each and every thing and thought that made her to finally take the big step of marrying a stranger who is telling her that he will kill her. Our hero and heroine are actually in the same place now — both totally alone and no one to tell their hearts to. I’m so looking forward to how both heal each other. Suk Hoon proved to be the man behind gaslighting of Min Woo, as we all expected already. But I think there are lots of layers we still need to find out about him. He loved Eun Ha but did he love money so much that he killed her just like that, even if she was brain-dead but alive. I didn’t think that he would go to this length and was expecting her return to consciousness later. What are his plans now? Only time will tell.

On an additional note, I really loved the metaphor of frog and scorpion that they used in this episode, especially the way Ji Sook gives it a final positive touch. That itself is enough to prove that this marriage is the best thing Min Woo could have received.