A controlling mother who conditioned her son to become a great person confronts the reality that raising a son with restrained love can backfire really hard in The Good Bad Mother.
In the small town of Jouri, family relationships, forgotten friendships, and discovering the essence of functioning connections are topics and messages jTBC’s new Friday-Saturday series aims to present.
abbyinhallyuland watches The Good Bad Mother on Netflix
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02| 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 | Finale Week + Series Review |
Opening Week Rating:
PRESS CONFERENCE: “The Good Bad Mother” To Turn Downside Into Happiness
The Good Bad Mother Opening Week Story
Meeting a good man who sincerely loves her, Jin Young-soon (Ra Mi Ran) looks forward to a life with her family.
Her husband Choi Hae-sik (cameo Choi Jin Woong) runs a pig farm and she supports him the best way she can. However, when her husband got to the bad side of a construction company run by Song Woo-byuk (Choi Moo Sung), he became one of the many casualties the evil company mercilessly killed for its selfish reasons.
Apparently, Woo-byuk conspires with Prosecutor Oh Tae-soo (Jung Woong In) who covers the dirty act done by Woobyuk Group and concludes it as suicide.
Alone and about to give birth to her child, Young-soon finds a new place to run a pig farm. In the refreshing Jouri village, she meets new people who helped her as a single mother raising her son Choi Kang-ho.
“Hit a home run or strike out!”
Unfortunately, the injustice she experienced made Young-soon push her son hard into studying well at school. Her goal is to make him an amazing prosecutor.
Kang-ho obeys his mother despite the strict and robotic study regimen that he had to go through. His only solace is his friend, Lee Mi-joo (Ahn Eun Jin).
Years later, Kang-ho achieved his mother’s goal for him to become a prosecutor. But his heart had been hardened by his relentless goal to claim what his mother envisioned and it had made him a cold and distant prosecutor present.
Since briefly dating Mi-joo when they were young, they led their respective lives. Her mother made up a story that she was in the US when she was really working in Seoul.
She has also mustered the strength to open a nail salon with her friend with the goal to get her children back with her.
Kang-ho has since curiously acquainted himself as a prosecutor who cleans up the mess of Woobyuk Group. He also got closer to Tae-soo’s daughter, Ha-young.
Proposing to Song Woo-byuk that he adopt him so he can marry Tae-soo’s daughter and sealed them as a family; the two friends agree. Using his knowledge of Tae-soo’s illegitimate child, he cleaned up the mess by making the child and his mother disappear.
To complete the adoption, he needs his mother to sign the paper so he went to Jouri village with Ha-young.
After getting Young-soon to sign the documents, he leaves right away. Sensing he is not in a good mood, Ha-young offered to drive back.
But when her scarf was caught by the wind, she awkwardly parked the car. A truck unfortunately hit it and the car got pushed to the roadside with sleeping Kang-ho in it.
The Good Bad Mother Opening Week Musings
For a drama marketed to be a healing one, the opening week of The Good Bad Mother felt emotionally heavy.
Characterization-wise, we can’t find anything to gripe on the stellar cast of the drama. It now boils down to how the characters would go through a process of healing and reconnection while staying in Jouri village.
Kang-ho’s closeness to the people who caused his father’s death, we don’t know if it is part of his filial plan to avenge his father.
As previously imparted about Kang-ho’s character change from a ruthless prosecutor, the accident he met will cause his cryptic reversal to be a child again
That disheartening action of leading innocent lives to death which he did to seal the deal with Tae-soo and Woo-byuk, ironically became his very own fate. Whether it is intentional or accidental we are yet to find out.
The aftermath of this accident would place Young-soon to have another chance of being the mother she was not to Kang-ho. Hopefully, Kang-ho’s childlike state will not excessively linger.
Small-town dramas have this unique charm that draws viewers easily, and JTBC’s new offering has made a decent introduction to its featured quaint town and the characters living in it.
With villains strongly drawn, it raises an unlikely combination but enough intrigue to see how it will play out in the narrative.
Watch how Young-soon mends her relationship with her cherished son Kang-ho in The Good Bad Mother every Friday and Saturday on JTBC. International fans can watch the series on Netflix.
Photos: JTBC Drama
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