The Good Bad Mother (2023) 나쁜엄마, directed by Shim Na-yeon.
Watched 27 April - 11 June 2023 — 14 episodes (DRAMACOOL)
A tragic accident leaves an ambitious prosecutor with the mind of a child — forcing him and his mother to embark on a journey to heal their relationship. (Synopsis: Letterboxd)
Starring:
Ra Mi-ran as Jin Young-soon
Lee Do-hyun as Choi Kang-ho
Ahn Eun-jin as Lee Mi-joo
Yoo In-soo as Bang Sam-sik
Hong Bi-ra as Oh Ha-young
*Finished the show recently and glad to say that I enjoyed most of it.
*Good performances by the lead actors Ra Mi-ran, Lee Do-hyun (he really did well portraying his character with the mind of a child) and Ahn Eun-jin. Ra Mi-ran brings enough nuance to her character to elicit some sympathy from the viewer, even though her bad side is abusive. I literally gasped when she threw her disabled son into the water. On the whole her motives might be understandable (helping her son gain the use of his legs), but her actions are not.
*Love Ahn Eun-jin. She’s not a classic Korean beauty, but I love her looks. Her character Mi-joo is a strong young woman and really likeable and I felt her hurt when Kang-ho abandoned her.
*Absolutely love the kissing scene! When Kang-ho gives Mi-joo a peck on the forehead, she yells at him, asking him if her lips are too far down. He then pushes her into a corner and gives her a proper passionate kiss. Swoon!
*A minus for me are the side characters. They are a bit cartoonish, some of them plain annoying. Fortunately they grew on me and in the end I liked them well enough, how they supported our leads through their difficult times.
*The kids! Great acting and so adorable and cute. The things they say may be stretching credibility but they had some great lines.
*It was too bad that Kang-ho didn’t get a proper reunion scene with his kids once he had regained his memories.
*I was happy with the ending but admittedly everything was wrapped up too neatly. Giving everyone their own happy ending was a bit superfluous but I did like Sam-sik (despite being a moron for the most part of the show) visiting Ha-young (the villain’s daughter and ex-girlfriend of Kang-ho) in jail and giving them the promise of a possible romance.
*I cried in the end when the mum died and Kang-ho reads the letter she wrote to him.
*It was nice to know more about pig farming.