One of my personal most anticipated kdramas of the 1st half of 2023 is here at last, let us discuss the premiere episodes of “The Good Bad Mother”!
Note: this article is a first-impression review, it doesn’t mean this is the writer’s final thoughts on the drama. This is a spoiler review.
When I tell you I was very excited to see the drama, you have no idea. I really thought that that combination of the actors and the story would make for something that was very interesting and guess what, so far, its AMAZING.
This marks Lee Do Hyun’s first project following the hit Netflix drama The Glory and I was admittingly very excited to see him back on screen after such a short time. I think he has the perfect acting style to fully embody the character he’s taking on, I think this will be his most challenging role to date.
So far, I really like this story. It follows a very typical plot of one of the sons or daughters of people who have been abused or killed in the past either join/seek out revenge from those higher ups who destroyed their lives. The story is very similar in that regard. It seems like it could be taken out of a one-week plot of the Taxi Driver series. Cases where construction Companies take advantage of poor people and step over them to get what they want in collusion with prosecutors and police officers.
I love the performances from everybody and I must say, I was surprised to learn that Lee Mi-Joo has twins and left her husband/boyfriend.
I didn’t expect it to move at such a fast pace, but it was done very well, straight to the point and emotional.
A part of me thinks that Choi Kang-Ho approached Song Woo-Byeok and Oh Tae-Soo on purpose, but then, I think about it for a bit longer and I believe I might have been wrong and that was not the case.
It will be one of two scenarios. Either he knew what they did to his father but sort of lost hope in the system and joined their hands to elevate his status, or he’s been stashing information about them to eventually take them down using himself as the biggest rat as he exposes their crimes later on.
If it’s the 1st possibility, I think the drama will focus on Choi Kang-Ho regaining his memories, realizing how much he f*cked up and taking revenge. If it’s the 2nd possibility, then I believe he’ll continue with what he did and carry out the mission.
I think it would be more interesting if it’s the 1st possibility as it would seem to be more than likely the logical outcome in this situation especially considering just how cold and calculating his mother was when raising him, she did not even allow him to eat with her so he could become a prosecutor.
Such neglect and emotional distress changes the child’s brain, it doesn’t take somebody with a psychology degree to be able to tell that.
I know many will sympathize more with the mother but it might be because I’ve been through similar situations, its not always easy to forgive or forget what your parent/s did to you, and sometimes, just because you’re related by blood does not necessarily mean they’re family. It also makes the pain worse.
Of course, if you come from a functioning household, I highly doubt this would be something you’d consider. Its not something that would be easy for people who have loving parents to ever comprehend, not that they’re particularly ‘wrong’ to think its too cruel to behave like this towards a mother.
It would be difficult for many to excuse just how cold Choi Kang-Ho is towards his mother, but I hope you can see just how cold she’s been towards him up until he grew up, she was cold towards a child who needed love as much as he needed to be taught how to become a prosecutor.
There is something that I’m a bit worried about, but it could be eventually unfounded, but I thought it’s an interesting topic to share with you guys and to see what you also have to say about it. I really hope that the mother character does not go this route, that despite the fact that his mother really screwed up his upbringing, that she was somewhat justified in her actions.
I mean, I don’t know what a 5- or 6-year-old is gonna do to your eventual goal if you don’t allow him to go on a picnic or have fun with other people every once and a while, this is like the classical way to raise a psychopath. And this is not normal.
This just festers deep mental trauma and issues that will carry on until adulthood, which I’m pretty sure we’re exploring in future episodes. I think what pains me the most is the fact that she actually, persistently, until he was 18 years old, carried on with this attitude, which tells me she’s not as much of a nice character as she’s been portrayed before her marriage.
She’s portrayed as a nice person who helps everybody and a hard worker. She’s also a very good artist and seems to be a very intelligent person all around. So, it is quite shocking for me that she would assume that growing up with a child while depriving them of the simplest happy fun activities with their closest friends is ever justified.
To me, this appears to be deeply rooted in psychological issues, something deeper than the death of her husband. I seriously hope the screenwriter elaborates on that.
The screenwriter is talking about how she is a good, bad mother and she was good at her role doing that, but I really hope that she doesn’t take the route of becoming overly sympathetic to the mother excusing her actions. Of course, I don’t know if that will happen yet, I am just slightly worried we’d head in this direction.
I have a feeling that I will be crying a lot watching this drama. I really enjoyed the premiere episodes and I am looking forward to seeing the next week’s episodes.
For some very weird reason, this drama has only 14 episodes, not 16 episodes. But I don’t complain when the drama’s runtime gets reduced.
The director behind this drama is the same director that the directed the Highly praised drama Beyond Evil, which was one of the best dramas of that year for me. I have high expectations for this one.
On the other hand, we have a screenwriter who mostly worked on movies writing a drama script for the first time. Writing for a 2 hour movie is very different from writing for a full on drama series that consist of 10 to 16 episodes. Regardless, I am very hopeful of the future. Lee Do Hyun’s choices have NOT disappointed me EVER.
I probably never said this on my blog, but I reaaaallllly like ahjussi Choi Moo-Sung’s acting, he’s amazing. He can be the best warmest character or your worst nightmare depending on the role. Its so much fun watching him, he makes for an amazing villain.
Have you guys seen the Good Bad Mother yet? What were your thoughts on the premier episodes? Let’s discuss in the comments section below.
