Trailers and marketing lie to us all the time, and such is the case with Mask Girl. What was pitched as a mystery and a psychological thriller is little more than a pretentious, too-episodic meander through the shallowest meditation on a theme--if it's even a theme and not a coincidence.

There is no real story to speak of, though the series of events does come around to neat, connected conclusion. (And whether that conclusion needed the six episodes it took to get there is a debate unto itself.) Yes, the characters are the same and, yes, there is a steady stream of cause and effect, but, just as no one would ascribe narrative to a literal set of toppling dominoes, there is no real through-line for the show.

The episodes progress as a snail's pace, fill time with needless character backstory as a way to justify their actions that tie directly to the cause-and-effect events, and take you nowhere.

The lone saving grace to the series is the acting, with every actor--and particularly the different actresses playing the same character over time--giving a solid performance, regardless of how well or poorly written their characters are. (And, really, there is maybe one interesting character and maybe two or three specifically likeable ones. That the cast can outshine this issue is a real compliment to them.)

Ponderous, dull, and (assuming it was trying to say something) pretentious, this one is a miss in nearly every way. So miss it, if you can.