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 13 has a runtime of 63 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 on life and rebuilds his relationship with his mother as well as with his childhood friend Mi-joo.
– The Good Bad Mother Episode 13 Review Contains Spoilers –
The Good Bad Mother Episode 13 Recap
The Good Bad Mother episode 13 starts with Kang-ho greeting the driver of the boat after waiting in anticipation of it. Unfortunately, although he’s excited, the driver runs off looking very guilty. Kang-ho eventually catches up to him, though, and he divulges that Soo-hyun was abducted by a group of thugs and jumped into the water to get away from them. So, technically, it was suicide, but in actuality, it was something else.
Either way, he apologises for everything that happened and mentions that he has been living in hiding in fear of the men who tried to murder Soo-hyun. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Sam-sik and Mi-joo try to figure out where Ha-young is admitted but come across one of Tae-soo’s henchmen. Sam-sik tells Mi-joo about the guy and assures her that wherever the guy is, Ha-young will also be close behind.
Either way, they break into the laundry room using Sam-sik’s odd talents and steal a couple of uniforms from there. Back at the farm, Young-soon scares the two detectives straight with the help of Andrea, who screams under the covers in order to give the impression of Kang-ho’s declining mental health. However, the police don’t give up easily and start to question the other villagers about Kang-ho’s condition.
Meanwhile, that night, a fun card game turns into a moment of sharing feelings after a stupid fight results in Sung-ae finally learning of Young-soon’s ailment. Elsewhere, Kang-ho meets the investigating officer and gives him Park Cheol-su’s phone to run tests on. The officer, however, refuses to go through with his request and mentions that he is unsure about who Kang-ho is and whether he is a good person or not. Disheartened, Kang-ho promises to provide to him what kind of a person he truly is.
Hearing his impassioned speech, the officer agrees to his request. On the other hand, Woo-byeok asks his men to get rid of Kang-ho so as not to complicate matters further. At the hospital, Sam-sik and Mi-joo hatch a plan to get Ha-young out, and Mi-joo is able to get into the hospital room and, after fighting with a scared and confused Ha-young, calms her down enough to tell her what is going on.
Also Read: The Good Bad Mother Episode 12 Recap and Review: Emotional Reunions and Some Investigations
Mi-joo shows her the video of Ha-young drugging Kang-ho’s water and tries to take her out of the room so that she confesses to her crime. However, Ha-young refuses to comply with her and, in turn, tells her that her father is capable of killing his own child. To this, Mi-joo tells her that Tae-soo has already murdered his own unborn child, leaving Ha-young shocked. She further mentions that Tae-soo tried killing Kang-ho again and that she will not back down this time.
In the end, the three of them hilariously run off with Ha-young with the bad guys running after them. Kang-ho meets up with them outside, and the four of them rush out of the hospital premises leaving their captors behind. Although Sam-sik is extremely happy with the way things have turned out, everyone else seems to be quite scared about what they have done.
In search of a safe place to stay, the four end up at the gambling boss’s hotel wherein, after a little light threatening from the prosecutor, he leaves Mi-joo, Sam-sik and Ha-young in his care. That night, as Mi-joo and Sam-sik look at the fireworks in the sky, Ha-young and Kang-ho get time to discuss their past and present, and Kang-ho apologises for the part he played in dragging her into his mess. She further asks him whether he ever loved her, and Kang-ho tells her that he has always loved one person – Mi-joo. The latter overhears this and is overcome by emotion.
The Good Bad Mother Episode 13 Ending
Later on, Kang-ho leaves the two women and Sam-sik in order to find the last piece of evidence against Woo-byeok but not before Mi-joo makes him promise to come out of this alive and live with his family forever. Kang-ho promises to do so, and the two share a passionate kiss before he goes out on his mission. Mi-joo gets an earful from her mother later on, but she assures her so well that Gum-ja is left at a loss for words. It’s a sweet moment between the mother and daughter, and it ends with Mi-joo telling her mother that she wants to be like her.
The next morning, Tae-soo attends an event at an aquarium, and after reading a story to the children, he starts giving autographs. Much to his shock, however, Kang-ho walks up to him and shakes his hand, leaving him speechless.
The Good Bad Mother Episode 13 Review
What a delightful episode this was. Although filled to the brim with fun moments and without too many important revelations or plots, the episode gives a sweet escape to the funnier personalities of the characters. Sam-sik brings in most of these gags, and his facial expressions are priceless – I couldn’t help but laugh during the elevator scene when they are trying to outrun Ha-young’s captors.
Meanwhile, Kang-ho and Mi-joo’s relationship is finally back on track, and we couldn’t be happier. It’s nice to finally watch Kang-ho being happy because we have either seen him angry or depressed… or as a child. Thankfully, things are looking up. Young-soon is also amazing in this episode and has found the character growth that we have been looking for for quite some time.
That being said, the real shots will be fired in The Good Bad Mother finale, wherein we will finally see Kang-ho exacting some sweet revenge and probably getting engaged! What an exciting wait this is going to be.
The Good Bad Mother is streaming on Netflix.