The Good Bad Mother

The Good Not Great Drama

The Good Bad Mother: How true to its title. The mother in this drama is portrayed as having the best intentions for her son, wanting him to have power so as not to be hurt by others like she was. But while pushing him toward this goal, she indirectly and directly tells her son his life is not his own to live; he is being raised to fulfill a dream she couldn't.

Overall, I found this drama to be a genuinely healing experience. Through emotional gut punch after gut punch, this mother came to realize the full weight her abuse caused her son. When raising him, her intentional and painful choices were a gust of wind that would lead to a hurricane: The Butterfly Effect.

I am all for adults who have experienced abuse having the agency to decide how they move forward. Whether they attempt to heal that relationship with that parent (if it's even possible), keep them at arms-length, or cut them out of their life entirely. In this case, I could understand how Kang Ho found peace in maintaining a close relationship with his mother. For him, she understood what she did, and she had moments, even when he was younger, of her love getting across to him.

What ultimately held me back from rating this higher and embracing the message the drama was trying to convey was that I felt an in-depth, confrontational, and honest sit-down conversation with Kang Ho and his mother was sorely needed. Yes, she did apologize for many of her actions and express her regrets about how she raised her son, but, for me, I needed her to take 100% brutal accountability in person.

If you think humor would have no place in a story such as this, I don't think you'll enjoy watching this. I myself found many jokes out of place. Additionally, if you're not mentally in a place to handle watching scenes with parental abuse (including scenes where it is brushed aside or excused), I wouldn't recommend watching this. If you feel you can handle a topic like this and don't mind the mixing of serious with comedic, I think you'll find value in this.

Read More

Enjoyable but frustrating watch

I have mixed feelings about this drama. Although I thought the drama was an enjoyable watch, I don't think I was completely satisfied by the story at the end of it. I could not tolerate the mother most of the times esp when she was making such bad parenting decisions, although I know the drama is literally called The good bad mother. Sometimes it was so harsh to even watch those scenes, I would skip it. But other than that, I really enjoyed Kangho and Mijoo's story. Mijoo was my favorite character in the drama, along with the twins.
The acting was top though. Both Lee do hyun and Ra miran did so great.

Read More

Embracing Motherhood, Forgiveness & Redemption

This drama had me hooked from the start and took me on a wild emotional ride.

First off, let's talk about Seo Eun-ji, played by the amazing Lee Ji-eun. She brought so much heart and realness to the character. As a single mom, she faced all kinds of struggles, but her love for her child never wavered. It hit me right in the feels, man. I was rooting for her every step of the way. (and hated her at the same time initially)

The show really dives deep into the ups and downs of motherhood. It shows you the sacrifices moms make and the unbreakable bond they have with their kids. It made me appreciate my own mom even more, you know? It's a reminder of the love and strength that mothers have.

But it's not just about motherhood. "The Good Bad Mother" also tackles forgiveness and personal growth. It's all about second chances and learning to let go of the past. Seeing the characters evolve and find redemption was powerful stuff. It made me think about my own life and the importance of forgiveness in moving forward.

Now, I gotta be real with you, there were a few things that could've been better. Some side characters could've had more depth, and a couple of plot points felt a bit rushed. But you know what? Those things didn't take away from the overall impact of the drama. It still hit me right in the heart, man.

"The Good Bad Mother" is a drama that tugs at your emotions and leaves you reflecting on life. It's a reminder of the power of love, the strength of motherhood, and the possibility of redemption. If you're looking for a heartfelt journey that will have you laughing, crying, and cheering, this is the one for you. Get ready to feel all the feels, my friend.

Read More

Directionless and incredulous show with a psycho mom

The show started out pretty good. Initially, I figured the show would be about a prosecutor on a path of revenge or a path of corruption that took away his father’s life. Either way, both interesting. Then the accident happen which was an unexpected twist that could’ve made things more interesting.

But once Kang-Ho came back home, the story devolved into a bunch of country bumpkins acting like fools. There’s no clear direction and the writers just randomly tossed in every known K-drama cliche such as family car death, major illness and unnecessary misunderstandings. All happening at once! Once country bumpkins take over, we see less and less of two villains who are much more interesting. They’re wasting so much time adding incredulously improbable plot lines during Kang-ho’s “recovery” process, it’s gotten hard to watch. The show constantly switches from comedy to cringy drama trying to make you cry.

What really gets me about this show is how Kang-ho’s mom comes across. I get that she’s had a hard life but she’s an absolute nut job! The way she treats Kang-Ho is way past child abuse and she should be jailed for it.

Speaking of child abuse, how Min-Joo lies to her two kids about their father is a next level psychological abuse. How will they recover from this?

We also cannot forget newly discovered ways to treat quadriplegic people. Starve them so they can use their own hands and then throw them in water so they can start walking. Someone actually wrote this crap.

Who else is so sick and tired of the main character losing her crap every other scene?

Read More

Greatness of motherly love drama

OMG watching ep 10 and don't want it to end!! It is such a good drama depicting how a mother can do anything no matter how life is so tough and hard with a son who behaves like a 7yo after an accident. You can expect to cry, laugh, feeling warm from the village's unconditional help.

I was expecting there's very harsh revenge plot but everything was subtle, the focus is on mother and son's rekindled relationship which is so heartwarming and touching.

Totally worth watching and pls prepare tissues!! Lee Do Hyun's performance is outstanding BUT I think Ra Mi Ran should win a Baeksang!

Read More

Heart wrenching and beautiful drama about how love isn't guaranteed, undermined by tonal whiplash

What does it mean to be a mother?

The Good Bad Mother explores that question through the relationship between mother and son. An untimely accident causes Choi Kang Ho (played by Lee Do Hyun) to become paraplegic and suffer amnesia. His mother, Jin Young Soon (played by Ra Mi Ran), must once again raise her son through the trauma of their past relationship.

Heartfelt and heart wrenching moments shape the drama, as it explores the traumatic past both mother and son hid away from each other. However, interspersed are some of the worst moments of tonal whiplash I can remember in a drama. Neighbours of the family are caricature hillbillies that are often meant to provide comedic relief. Instead, heartfelt and dramatic scenes will immediately cut to an attempt at comedy. A mom is hiding spousal abuse from their kid and neighbours? Well that's alright because the teenaged daughter is pulling the dad's ear to some lighthearted music right after! The first few episodes suffer from this heavily, with the later episodes toning it down, although not outright removing it. While I appreciate the attempt to be funny, almost all of the comedic scenes don't land, and their timing/placement are so terrible that it draws you completely out of the drama.

This drama could have been a masterpiece if not for the forceful nature of it's comedy. Inclusion of some of the most boring tropes also detract from it's messaging, including characters with amnesia, destined lovers, and political corruption. Ra Mi Ran steals the show in this drama, but even her outstanding performance is not enough for me to recommend this drama.

Read More

Not that great, but pretty good

The biggest weakness of the drama: We knew he would recover.
I wasn't a fan of the revenge plot, you find it in almost every crime/thriller drama.
I loved him being disabled for a while, even though I question how they portrayed his regression to a 7 years old. Is this even possible? Normally you forget things, but you don't change your personality until you have some unreversible brain damage. He basically behaved like a child just for the plot "mother has to raise her son a 2nd time". But this kind of plot was rather new to me and refreshing.
That said, series like Good Bad Mother or When Life Gives You Tangerines seem to be some kind of propaganda that romanticize suffering, especially the suffering of mothers/daughters. While as a woman, I appreciate that such series show us the harsh reality, it makes me giggle knowing that the birth rate in South Korea is the lowest worldwide. And no, this is not only because of economic reasons, in that case people would have one child and not two, since one is easier to afford. Instead, the number of childfree people raised. I will tell you why, even though countless scientists are scratching their heads and can't find the simpliest truth. It's because motherhood is suffering. Endless suffering. I mean it. You suffer until you die. Women don't want to suffer anymore.
Enough of the negativity. I love the male lead, but I'm not a fan of his childish and cute acting. He impressed me more in Sweet Home or Death's Game.
The mother is a great actress, and the female lead fitted the role. Korea didn't invent filmmaking yesterday: they know what they are doing, and they know how to create a beautifully filmed and well acted emotional scene. So yes, this was a tearjerker. *Sarcasm on*I found it very thoughtful of them to give us time to dry our tears, because after every emotional scene we got a silly stupid village people scene, that was just silly and stupid *Sarcasm off* I'm a bit fed up with those cliché village people and this very unfunny humor.
So yeah, it was worth my time for sure, but the revenge plot didn't interest me (I have seen something like this too often), the village people were annoying and not funny, the twins were cute, yes, but also rather bratty. In real life, those children would give me nightmares.
Well, this was the story about a strong woman. I'm glad such stories are told. I loved the son-mother dynamic, and I really liked the love story. Those two had a good chemistry, and their relationships seemed deep and genuine.
When the big secret about the twins was revealed, I was rather disappointed. I looked forward to the male lead discovering it, I looked even more forward to the mother discovering it - but there was not much of a reaction, especially from the mother. When the male and female lead got together, after he "came back" - that was also not very impactful.
I expected more. I thought my heart would beat faster, I would cry more. But yeah, it is what it is.

Read More

it had a lot more potential, but it really is a good watch!

just watched tgbm for the insane hype on social media and I have to say I wasn't really disappointed, but I don't think this is such a big title as the people say online... of course it's not a bad drama, but some flaws storywise and plot holes made me question such a high rating to this...

story: for me, this is the weakest part of the drama. I've seen so many people saying that this seemed so slow paced and so long, but in my opinion this drama should have at least 16 episodes to be a better watch. I believe that this drama would move a lot faster with more episodes because this way there would be more room for other happenings rather than just the recover of Kangho (I do know this is the point and the most important part of the drama, but I would never thought he would stay sick until episode 11/12!). this drama also didn't really worked as a drama + comedy show in my opinion... some issues here are way more important than they appear in the episodes, like the abusive household Kangho lived in the childhood! the way he was left with no apparent traumas or resentment seemed quite unrealistic to me. I hope I don't sound sadic(?) with this opinion 😅 don't get me wrong, but I think Kangho would be a character a lot deeper than he actually was in the drama if he dealed with healing... I know he lived the way he did mostly because of his mother influence, but I was hoping it was better showed in the show.
personally some characters actions are what bothered me the most, like the sudden change of thought Mijoo had about Kangho, or the sudden personality changes Youngsoon had, but beside this I really felt connected with the families, and almost all situations showed made me relate with mine :)

acting: even with the medium development of characters the cast here is fantastic! I really like Lee Dohyun works and think he is such a talented guy. I didn't know the Jin Youngsoon actress before, but now I really am looking forward to see more of her works!! also kudos for the little twins, they are really charismatic and cute :)

music: I really pay attention to the OST in dramas and they really play a very big role for me, but this drama has a lot more dialogues or scenes with instrumentals. the OST only appears few times and shortly, but beside this, I think the songs are great!

rewatch value: I don't usually rewatch shows... so I'm voting in this based if I did lol
even with some issues relating especially to Jin Youngsoon character, I think I would like to rewatch this drama because of the cozy vibes. maybe the flashback episodes, or the ones with family reunions, or the 13th one to have some fun!

overall, I think the good bad mother had a way bigger potential... they had such important themes to explore and I think they could have done a better job script wise :) even so, this is not a bad drama! maybe this is all about my personal expectations and how my personal approach would be related to some parts of the story, so feel free to chat in the comments if you want to!

Read More

Half-half

My favorite part of this drama has to be the romance. Mi-joo is just such a lovable character, with so many heart-warming scenes between her and her kids. I loved every single time she was on screen and wish we got more romance — though I get it would've been difficult considering Kang-ho's amnesia and state of mind throughout most of the show.

The main selling point of this drama really is the relationship between Kang-ho and his mother, and while I do think it's written with a lot of depth and the gray area leaves you a lot to think about. I didn't quite connect with it on an emotional. The same could be said for the country-side gang in general, who are kind of your typical comic relief characters.

With that being said, I think I was actually much more intrigued by the high-stakes revenge plot, but it's pretty much glossed over by the end and the steps Kang-ho took to get there doesn't make much sense. I get it — this drama has a revenge plot but it's not a revenge drama; it's mostly a backdrop to the story of Kangho's relationship with his mother. So I'd just say to anyone going into this to have the right expectations.

Read More

Beautiful

I don't know how else to describe this drama other than beautiful. This was an absolute joy to watch. Don't get me wrong, bring the tissues because it's a ride. But in the best way. This one is for everyone that dreamed of moving to a small town/village to find friends so amazing they become your family.

The story - amazing. Lovely. Heartbreaking. Thrilling. Funny. It's somehow everything all at once. You will be crying and laughing at the same time.

The acting - truly amazing. Some of the best I've seen, and I've seen a lot. The characters are flawed in such a way that makes them feel real. I would move to this town in a heartbeat.

I usually don't review right away, but I really couldn't wait with this one~~~♡

Read More