The Good Bad Mother Episode 1 Recap and Review: Emotional Storytelling Leaves You Heartbroken

The Good Bad Mother (나쁜엄마) is a Korean comedy-drama slice-of-life TV series directed by Shim Na-yeon, written by Bae Se-young and stars Ra Mi-ran, Lee Do-hyun, Ahn Eun-jin and Yoo In-soo in main roles. The series is all set to release on JTBC and Netflix (in select regions) and will take over JTBC’s Wed-Thurs 10:30 PM timeslot previously occupied by Interest of Love.

The Good Bad Mother episode 1 has a runtime of 80 minutes.

The slice-of-life series follows Young-soon and her son Kang-ho who share a tumultuous relationship with each other thanks to her strict parenting when he was a child. Now an adult, Kang-ho is a cold-hearted prosecutor who chooses to keep his distance from her mother and lives in the city. However, when a tragedy strikes, Kang-ho is forced to return home to the village, wherein he finds a new lease of life and rebuilds his relationship with his mother as well as with his childhood friend Mi-joo.

– The Good Bad Mother Episode 1 Review Contains Spoilers –

The Good Bad Mother Episode 1 Recap

The Good Bad Mother episode 1 starts with a description of pigs’ lives and how humans have destroyed them and turned them into the dirty and savage creatures that they are known to be these days. We then follow Young-soon as she makes deliveries to different farms and gets stuff back from these farms as a thank you. Although her boss isn’t too happy about it, he does get happy when she tells him that Eun-ju has sent something specifically for him.

Soon after, a man comes to the store and from the looks of it, both he and Young-soon know each other and like each other. That fact is proven right when Hae-sik proposes to her with the piglet from earlier. The romantic moment, however, is interrupted by Young-soon’s boss, who opens the door, and the piglet runs away. After a funny chase, Young-soon agrees to marry him, and everyone is left happy in a heartwarming moment.

We then see Hae-sik excited about their baby’s arrival, so much so that he has already started picking out names even though the baby still has some time to arrive. His excitement gets a little dampened when he learns that one of his pigs is hurting herself, but they soon come up with a solution for it and Hae-sik returns to his excited state.

Unfortunately, they get some more bad news – the relay race for the Seoul Olympics will take place down their road, and for that to happen, they will demolish their farm so that it doesn’t portray a bad impression of Korea to the outside world. Young-soon is oblivious to this and happily makes flags and banners for the race while Hae-sik tries to negotiate what to do about the farm. In the end, he refuses to sign the form and give his land up.

Unfortunately, things don’t turn up fine for the family and Woo-byeok and his men set the farm on fire as retaliation. Hae-sik goes to court with the evidence but doesn’t win, as is the case with so many similar incidents. Hae-sik goes off the deep end and starts getting evidence against Woo-byeok and his company. He urges his lawyer Tae-soo to do something about this incident and bring the guilty to justice. Tae-soo promises to do so, but as it turns out, he, too, is working with Woo-byeok.

That night, he apprehends Hae-sik on his way home and stages his murder as a suicide, leaving Young-soon devastated. She goes to Tae-soo, who gives her a bunch of lies to convince her that her husband did commit suicide. Devastated at her loss, Young-soon promises to live for her child’s sake and moves to Jou-ri Doldam Village to start a new life with the only pig that was able to survive the vicious attack.

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Although she is happy to start a new life with her baby and her husband watching over them, the villagers are apprehensive about pigs coming to the farm. Their first meeting is full of problems, but their issues turn into a moment of camaraderie when Young-soon goes into labour. The women help her deliver the baby, and everyone is so happy for her. She names her baby Kang-ho, the name Hae-sik had chosen for him months ago.

Funnily enough, another villager also gives birth right after Young-soon and soon after, we see all three of the babies grow up and in school. Of course, Sam-sik, the oldest of the three, bullies Kang-ho for living on a pig farm, not having a father, and always studying. Young-soon punishes him for cursing at Sam-sik and then tries to make him understand that he needs to study in order to become a prosecutor so that no one can look down on him.

He, thus, fills out the form for his school picnic and mentions the reason for his absence as his mother being bad.

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On the other hand, Mi-joo has problems of her own. Although a child as old as Kang-ho, she is adept at quashing bullying, which includes sticking up for her mother and giving her abusive father a run for his money.

We then skip to them much older and in school – Mi-joo continues to be a positive presence in Kang-ho’s life, who has started to question his life and decisions and wonders what his own dreams are. Meanwhile, Sam-sik is still a bully who locks people in rooms. Either way, when the two kids don’t return late at night, Mi-joo and Kang-ho’s mothers go out in search of them. They go to Sam-sik for information, and when he realises that he locked Mi-joo as well, he understands he’s going to be in big trouble.

Meanwhile, at school, Mi-joo tries to get Kang-ho’s attention and even tells him that she likes him, but Kang-ho doesn’t pay any attention to her. She tries to force him to give her attention, but in the end, it doesn’t work in her favour. Frustrated, she starts to play with a hula hoop, chokes on her candy, and as he tries to give her the Heimlich manoeuvre and just as the candy comes out, Sam-sik and their families find them in a rather weird position.

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Although things get sorted in front of everyone, things are icy between Kang-ho and Young-soon. The next day, at the exams, after his mother wishes him well and gives him a list of things not to do, Mi-joo wishes him well and gives him a list of things they will do after the exams. Just as he’s about to go inside, unfortunately, Mi-joo gets hit by a bike, and Kang-ho stays by her side at the hospital, although Mi-joo is absolutely crestfallen at him missing the exams for her.

Kang-ho and Young-soon get into a horrible fight that night, and Kang-ho lets out his pent-up frustration all at once. Young-soon, too, refuses to understand her son and having had enough, Kang-ho tells his mother that he will become like the snobbish powerful people whom she wanted him to become for so long in order to get some power through him.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 1 Ending

As we time jump forward once more, Kang-ho has finally become a prosecutor, and his mother is praying for him to win once more. After the trial, Kang-ho gets a piece of evidence against Woobyeok Group, but as it turns out, he, too, works for them.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 1 Review

What an interesting and depressing episode, all at once. I think the series’s choice of giving us an important backstory about Kang-ho’s life and circumstances really makes us root for him and Young-soon and gives us a unique perspective. Shows usually slowly introduce us to this information but this time around, I am glad we got to know it beforehand.

I am totally rooting for Young-soon and Kang-ho to reunite and find a middle ground. Although that’s where the show will go and, I am also guessing, towards Kang-ho taking revenge against Woo-byeok I am gearing up to see how these relationships end up. The first episode is devastating, with a lot of information to process, but I hope it’s going to be a little light as we move forward. Let’s also hope Kang-ho and Mi-joo are endgame!

I really enjoyed the first episode, it totally pulled me in with its emotional storytelling and good acting. Let’s hope it keeps up with everything for the next 11 episodes.

The Good Bad Mother is streaming on Netflix.

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