The Good Bad Mother is a 2023 South Korean dramedy.
The story is about a single woman named Young-soon who raised her son all by herself after his father tragic death. Throughout his life, Young-soon did her best to push her son Kang-ho to do his best with his studies and become a successful prosecutor. Her actions caused a strain on her relationship with him, causing him to distance himself from her. Suddenly, a tragic accident happens, leading to Kang-ho being paralyzed and suffering from amnesia. Young-soon seeks to recover her relationship with her son.
The Good Bad Mother provides examples of:
- Amoral Attorney:
- Oh Tae-soo, Hae-sik’s attorney against Woobyeok’s company, sells out his client for looking into other incidents where Woobyeok has vandalized other people’s property. His actions get Hae-sik to get killed.
- Tragically, Kang-ho also sells out a woman who revealed that her husband was threatened by Woobyeok, revealing that he has taken after the man who helped kill his father. Thankfully, Kang-ho subverts this later and becomes a moral attorney and outed Woobyeok in court.
- Education Mama: Young-soon meant well with wanting Kang-ho to focus on his studies. Unfortunately, this caused him to not eat properly and not have much of a social life.
- Love Triangle: Kang-ho and Sam-shik grew up together and have both been in love with Mi-joo
- Never Suicide: Hae-sik’s death is staged to look like he hanged himself. Hae-sik’s lawyer even backs up the story by lying to Young-soon and claiming that he came into his office drunk and talked about killing himself.
- Not What It Looks Like: While trapped in their high school’s utility closet, Kang-ho performs the Heimlich maneuver on Mi-joo to save her from choking on some candy. He’s able to get her to cough up the candy just in time for Sam-shik to unlock the door, leading to everyone thinking they were doing something else.
- Self-Made Woman: After her husband’s death, Young-soon sold the old farm, bought a new one, and did everything to set up the Happy Farm all by herself and while pregnant no less.
- Truth in Television: During the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Hae-sik’s chief informs him about the Olympics wanting to having the torch relay through his farm. He’s later informed by Woobyeok’s company that they want to tear down his farm for the run. This is tragically accurate to people in not just Seoul, but other parts of the world having people be forcefully evicted from their homes for Olympic redevelopment.
