Unmasked Episode 1 Review: An Interesting Start

In this Disney+ Kdrama series, a fierce investigative reporter, O So-ryong, and her no-nonsense crew fight crimes and various injustices and bring the truth to the public through their show called Trigger. Through their work, they try to solve a 24-year-old cold case involving a missing actor. Will the crew find the truth?

The crime-comedy series is all set to have 12 episodes.

Unmasked Episode 1 Recap

The first episode opens with several things happening together – a man’s body is found bloodied and bruised in a public toilet and Trigger gets a call about a young man’s body being allegedly cremated by the Heaven of Trust much to the chagrin of his mother. This call pushes So-ryong into action and she immediately travels to Heaven of Trust to get all the information. The Heaven of Trust people, all religious nutcases, are clearly afraid of the truth coming out, which has something to do with a drug called Halloween.

However, this triggers a brawl between management and the Trigger team, resulting in Lee Sang-mok collapsing. It’s a mess all around and while the police clear everything up, a nasty post is written in the Trigger forum about So-ryong and Sang-mok, and it makes him quit his job to get a break from the nastiness thrown their way. With a teammate down, So-ryong must find someone to replace him and the search lands her with Han-do, who is transferring from the soap operas department.

Together, they paraglide into the Heaven of Trust to figure out what is going on in the compound. Na-hui learns that Han-do was fired because he urinated on Jang, while Han-do and So-ryong are appalled to see a man being kept almost as a slave and forced to work. So-ryong finds more people locked in different rooms. As she goes deeper into the premises, she finds freakier stuff, while Han-do desperately tries to get out.

In the end, they are able to get a recording of the horrifying ordeal inside the compound as well as the police’s unwillingness to get a case going people the Heaven of Trust people have ties with several prosecutors. In the end, thankfully, they are able to register a complaint because Han-do also recorded the entire thing which he hands over to the police. Meanwhile, back at the office, the team start to go through the footage that they have gathered and they also get confirmation that the plants are opium poppy seeds.

With new vigour, So-ryong, who had also gotten her hands on a flower as it turns out, goes off to air her episode after giving Han-do a piece of her mind. After tireless work by everyone on the team, it’s a wrap for everyone. After the episode airs, the pastor and his wife are immediately arrested for growing and distributing banned substances on her premises and we see that So-ryong has already used a drone to take footage of the huge poppy-growing facility.

As So-ryong drives home, however, she finds a shocking post on the forum by Dr Trigger highlighting how the “cheating mafia member” is still working at Trigger and they further release a sex tape that they recorded by hacking into their laptop camera. So-ryong is left speechless at the video.

Unmasked Episode 1 Review

What a chaotic start to the new series. The Disney+ Kdrama is a mix of thrill and humour and I have to say that I am intrigued about the overarching storyline. The series will clearly be quite fast paced if the first episode is any indication and I hope that the show holds on to this pace for the remainder of its runtime. All in all, I enjoyed the first episode – it’s moral compass, comedic timing, characters and the mystery are quite interesting and are added in the right amounts.

Also Read: All Unmasked Season 1 Reviews