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The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

Before they reach their happy ending, our mother and son pair have a few more tasks to finish. Thankfully, this time around they have friends and family to rely on, and for once, the world seems like a hopeful place filled with second chances. While not all wounds can be healed, our characters find happiness within their tumultuous journey as they learn to love and be loved.

 
EPISODES 13-14

Lee Do-hyun in The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

The reconciliation between Young-soon and Kang-ho happened prior so the show could wrap up its loose threads, but in the end, everything still leads back to their relationship. While the revenge takes a good portion of these last two episodes, the closure it brings not only helps Kang-ho move on but Young-soon, as well.

After locating his old boss, Kang-ho learns the truth about the night he sent the mistress away. He originally planned for a ship to smuggle her out of the country, but Tae-soo’s men got to them first. With nowhere to escape, the mistress jumped off the boat with her baby.

Meanwhile, Mi-joo and Sam-shik continue their rogue investigation and steal some disguises from the hospital laundry room. Pretending to be a doctor, Mi-joo slips past the guards and comes face-to-face with Ha-young. She tells the latter that they need to stop Tae-soo and offers her a chance for redemption. Ha-young scoffs at her lofty ambitions since no one will help them, but Mi-joo replies, “There is one person, Choi Kang-ho.”

Successfully convincing Ha-young to switch sides, Mi-joo breaks her free with the help of Sam-shik, and outside, Kang-ho waits for them with their getaway vehicle. They manage to escape the guards, but any hope for anonymity is out the window since the van has Sam-shik’s name plastered all over it.

Unable to return home, Sam-shik takes the group to the safest (and most dangerous) place he can think of: his debt collector’s hideout. As expected, the debt collector scowls at Sam-shik’s appearance sans cash, but his tune changes when Kang-ho plays the prosecutor card. He rescinds all of Sam-shik’s debts and allows the group to stay at his “home” indefinitely.

Lee Do-hyun and Yoo In-soo in The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

As the group settles in, Ha-young chats with Kang-ho for the first time since his accident and confirms with him that he always loved Mi-joo. From the doorway, Mi-joo overhears their conversation and locks eyes with Kang-ho. Their silence speaks volumes, and they no longer hide nor deny their feelings for each other.

With Ha-young on their team, all Kang-ho needs now is evidence to bring down Woo-byeok, so he takes off to continue his quest. As he leaves, Mi-joo chases after him and reminds him of the promise to marry him once he saved her a third time. She says that their children fulfilled that condition and tells him to come back to them once all this is over. He gives her a peck on the forehead before heading out, but Mi-joo yells at him, asking if her lips were too far down. Smiling, Kang-ho returns and gives her a proper kiss.

Lee Do-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin kiss in The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

Tae-soo hosts an event at an aquarium to launch his campaign, but as he meets his supporters, a familiar voice calls him from the crowd. Tae-soo looks up at the hand he is shaking, and his face falls as he meets Kang-ho’s gaze. The appearance of his greatest obstacle puts Tae-soo on edge, but Kang-ho makes his intentions clear: he is after his dad’s killer, Woo-byeok.

Kang-ho tells Tae-soo to testify in court against his old partner, and in exchange, he will overlook his crimes. When Tae-soo feigns ignorance about the allegations, Kang-ho mentions Ha-young and informs Tae-soo that he did not come here asking for a favor — this is a chance for him to betray Woo-byeok first or go to hell with him.

Once Tae-soo joins his team, Kang-ho begins setting his trap to catch Woo-byeok, and a familiar face appears to act as bait: the farmer stooge. Cutting ties with their old boss after he tried to kill them, the farmer stooges align themselves with Kang-ho, and the older one manipulates Woo-byeok into attacking him. As Woo-byeok threatens to throw the stooge off the roof, Kang-ho barges in and arrests him.

Back in the village, everyone learns of Young-soon’s illness, and they rally around her, keeping her company and lifting her spirits. In the middle of their get-together, they hear the news of Woo-byeok’s arrest and see Kang-ho resume his role as prosecutor. They celebrate his recovery, and Young-soon invites them all on a trip to Seoul.

The day of Woo-byeok’s trial arrives, and everyone from the village sits in attendance. In typical fashion, Woo-byeok denies everything and pins the murders on his farmer stooge. This goes on for a while until Kang-ho calls forth a new witness, and Woo-byeok’s eyes bulge as Tae-soo walks through the doors.

As planned, Tae-soo testifies against Woo-byeok, and he has the audacity to lie about the mistress having Woo-byeok’s child. While Woo-byeok laughs at the ridiculousness of his claim, Ha-young interrupts the session and announces her father’s crimes.

Both daughter and father take the stand, but all their statements clash. Having predicted this situation, Tae-soo pulls out Ha-young’s medical record and declares her unwell. She screams in frustration and grabs her father’s hand, begging him to stop. For a second, it seems that her pleas reached his cold heart, but Tae-soo looks away and maintains his ruse.

Undeterred, Kang-ho faces the judge and says that the death of Hwang Soo-hyun holds the key to this case. Following this logic, the father of the child is most likely the culprit. On cue, Kang-ho’s old boss enters, and next to him is a young boy. Flashing back to that fateful night, the mistress hid her son before taking her own life — unlike a certain politician, she chose to protect her child above all else.

Realizing that he fell for a trap, Tae-soo refuses to testify further, but he only makes it a few steps out before Kang-ho apprehends him. He accuses Tae-soo of conspiring with Woo-byeok, and Young-soon leaps from her seat to cheer for her son. The rest of the villagers follow her lead, but amidst the jubilation, Kang-ho only sees his mom proudly smiling back at him.

With the bad guys behind bars, Young-soon celebrates her birthday alongside her loved ones, and all seems well with the world. She blesses the union between Mi-joo and her son — passing along the rings she and her husband wore — and tells them to love each other as if it were their last.

That night, Kang-ho brings his pillow to sleep next to his mom, and Young-soon asks him to sing for her again. She closes her eyes as she listens to his song, and without a word, she leaves his side one last time. As Kang-ho realizes what has happened, he finishes the song and gives her a final farewell.

During her funeral, Kang-ho remembers the lesson she taught him to prepare for this day, so he stands in front of her picture and follows her instructions. In the middle of his laments, Young-soon’s phone rings, and the words, “I am happy,” fill the hall. He sings along to it, and the rest of the villagers dance and sing with him, too.

Lee Do-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin in The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

As the show wraps up, love is in the air, and one by one, we see how everyone is faring. Sam-shik has moved on from his obsession with Mi-joo and now devotes his time to Ha-young who is paying for her crimes in jail. Mi-joo’s mom also finds love again, and unfortunately, it’s the annoying composer. Woo-byeok’s stooges have become successful lettuce farmers, and as it turns out, the village chief’s wife is actually a yakuza boss’s daughter.

With most of the characters getting their happily ever after, the only ones left are Kang-ho and Mi-joo. They redecorate the farm with the money Mi-joo saved from the time he dumped her, and she suggests how lovely a wedding photo would look next to his parents. With a sly smile, he tells her to get dressed, and Mi-joo rushes out.

While Kang-ho waits for her to get ready, he finds a letter from his mom hidden inside a frame and reads it alone. In it, Young-soon writes to her son and tells him that she will live in his memories even if they are physically apart. Her final wish is to be reborn as his mom so she can do better next time. She promises to not stop him from being sad, ignore his cries, or leave him so soon, but for now, she hopes he lives a long, happy life until the day they are reunited.

By the time Mi-joo arrives, Kang-ho has pulled himself together and enthusiastically proposes to her. Copying his dad, he presents a piglet with a ring tied around its neck, but as always, the piglet runs away. The couple gives chase, and as the sun sets, Kang-ho pulls Mi-joo into a warm embrace.

All in all, the show delivered a happy ending for our characters with the evildoers getting their just deserts and everyone, plus their moms, finding love. While I did find all the shoehorned romantic relationships at the end unnecessary, I understand the wish to give every little story beat a neat bow. However, in this case, I think less would have been more, but at least it was nice to see the two stooges settling into their new lives as farmers. They were one of the highlights of the show and turned out to be quite competent allies.

While I’ve aired my grievances about Young-soon aplenty and still think the show shouldn’t have glossed over her abuse as misguided love, I thought her ending was surprisingly satisfying. More than Young-soon finding peace, I’m glad Kang-ho was able to forgive and love his mom, allowing him to say goodbye without any lingering resentment. She knows that she wronged him, and I think that acknowledgement was enough for him to grow and move on from his past. At a certain point, the revenge was no longer about justifying his terrible childhood but about protecting his present-day family. Kang-ho realized that Young-soon’s methods were wrong, and she shouldn’t have pushed him to put his studies above everything else, to chase after his goals without caring for those around him. It’s a lesson both of them had to learn and experience firsthand. In the end, the show was about cherishing what we have in the face of loss and choosing to love instead of hate. While I can’t say this particular show was “healing” for me, I can choose to remember the good parts rather than the bad, and appreciate the show for its cute romance and stellar performances.

Lee Do-hyun and Ra Mi-ran in The Good Bad Mother: Episodes 13-14 (Final)

 
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Lots of things would have hit differently if we got a proper redemption arc for young-soon. But alas, the show went with the easy way out, giving Young-soon terminal illness and making Kang-ho not resent her. Actually if handled differently, the terminal illness would emphasize that sometimes we get hit by sudden happenings so we shouldn't postpone our apologies to the people we have wronged. Imagine how the drama could have turned out if the cancer trope was used to bring Young-soon to realize that she asked a lot of time being a bad mother while awaiting her revenge and now she is about to die without having any quality time or good memories with her son. Watching her making "the best" of her remaining time to make it up to Kang-ho would have been much better than the cruel and single-minded Young-soon we got.

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Did I cry when the village ladies were so sad about Young Soon dying, 100%. It is a testament to the actors because I felt nothing with her actual death. She was the worst basically until the end. I did enjoy the rest of the finale, plus that little boy was SOOO adorable. I am glad Sam Shik found a fellow ex-con to love, despite her attempting murder, lol. At the end Mi Joo was the best and I am glad they could be happy together. I knew poor Ye Jin would be mad her mom stole her man, lol, but she moved on quickly and I guess that is what counts.

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That scene with the village ladies were *chef's kiss*

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Also loved the scene with the village ladies. In fact, I enjoyed all of Ep 13 and 14, primarily because most scenes were filled with humor, antics and heroics, including Sam-sik and the lettuce guys.

As for the fact that you "felt nothing with her actual death"? As someone who has spent time with relatives with severe cancer (pancreatic, bone and lung), one does not stand up and speak at a party, look glowing and healthy, and die "peacefully" that same night. It should have been a scene a few weeks (or even days) later to be even remotely associated with the true reality of cancer. This was the stuff of fantasy straight up.

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So was the trial, that was just ridiculous.

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Ahh Show, the things that could've been. Still not a fan of Young-soon's ways and the show did somehow present that it's "good" type of tough love. But the performances were amazing from everyone and that's one of the things I'll remember the show for. The kids were definitely the highlight.

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I wish they have shown the twins and Jouri Avengers' reaction when they found Kang Ho is the appa. It would have been hilarious 😂

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There was a little bit of it. She is jealous initially but gets over it when she meets a cute new kid

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Not really sure how I felt about the whole ending so here are just a collection of thoughts I had. Maybe I’ll get myself together and write a coherent review later.

Breaking Ha-young out of the hospital and going into hiding was my favorite thing that happened this week. Nothing like a good old-fashioned prison break.

I thought it was a little unfair of Mi-joo to compare Kang-ho to her father. She has no idea what Kang-ho would have done differently if he’d known about the kids, whereas her father knowingly abandoned his family repeatedly.

That was such a good kiss scene between them. Honestly made swoonier by the backpack discarding we got to see in the security cam footage that Sam-shik saw later.

The end of the trial was really sudden to me. Like Young-soon just interrupted Kang-ho as he was reading Tae-soo his rights (I was like, “No! You have to finish or it doesn’t count!”, but maybe this is not a rule in Korea) and then everyone cheered and then it was over. So glad the baby didn’t die at least.

I wish the bad mothering had happened in the first two episodes and then she spent time trying to make it up to her son, occasionally faltering, but determined to do it better this time around and dealing with the repercussions of how she was before. Instead she just wrote a letter at the end, and Kang-ho doesn’t have any complicated memories of his mother, apparently. Oh well.

Was Kang-ho not a prosecutor by the end? Did he just decide to do pig farming instead? I was hoping he would become an artist if anything, or stay a lawyer and defend people who needed it. It’s not at all clear to me what his trajectory is, and if I was Mi-joo, I might remind him of my investment. Also, the Farming Thugs were driving the Happy Farm Truck at the end, (yay! They became farmers in lovely florals!) so does that mean that they have taken over the farm while Kang-ho does something else? Does he just own it while they work it? Why am I so hung up on this? I’ll stop.

Ha-young looked grateful to Sam-shik at first, and then super uncomfortable. Poor girl. I hope she gets some good therapy and becomes a ballet teacher or something.

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i was so invested in the trial only for it to be ruined with young-soon randomly shouting I was like damn shut up lady

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for sure, it was jarring.

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It wasn't a perfect show (what even was that trial?!) but definitely one where you really felt for the characters. I cried with Sam-sik's mom and Young-soon and pretty much in every scene where Lee Do-hyun cried 😭.

It was nice to see everyone get their happy endings and I liked they managed to still sprinkle a lot of humour into the ending. Some favourites -
- "A little lower and my lips were right there! Was it too far for you to reach down?!" was definitely written by a veteran drama watcher frustrated with all the forehead kisses 😂
- Sam-sik turning on a disco ball of glory in his van as they escape
- Lettuce boys' happily-ever-after!

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That trail was weird.

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You guys! No pigs died this week. I am so relieved.

“Just a little lower and my lips are right there”. Oh my heart. That was the cutest thing ever.

The lettuce farmers were hilarious in their fight with the assailants. Someone mentioned that it will be great if they turned out to help Kang Ho. The drama gods must’ve heard.
So masked lady was Yakuza. Someone called that too.

It’s a little hard to believe that hard as nails Oh Tae Soo, who has been doing this for decades, fell for Kang Ho’s plan to testify against Woo Byeok. All he had to do was eliminate Kang Ho when he came to see him alone. Makes no sense to me. The whole takedown of the bad guys was unconvincing.

I have had my problems with this show, but I learned to ignore the bad and focus on the Lee Do Hyun (his eyes!!) and the Ahn Eun Jin. They’re such great actors. I loved AEJ even in hospital playlist, but she was amazing here. The twins were great. I’m going to stop there.

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Yes Lee Do-hyun's eyes! He can say nothing, and let his eyes do the talking. Many good script dramas come his way, such promising actor.

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I’m not gonna lie, there were some truly touching moments but overall especially at the end I felt nothing.

Particularly the weird side-plots and characters that went nowhere, but now thinking about the drama as whole even the revenge plot felt pointless. If the focus is the relationship between Mother and Son, the cycle of trauma and abuse, why did we need the revenge?

The revenge won’t undo all the self-destructive behaviour Kang-ho learned to cope. I honestly don’t know if Kang-ho would be a good father or even a good husband? Especially as he constantly keeps Mi-joo out of the loop.

But then we get these raw emotional moments that feel so very human. When Mi-joo cries and yells at her mother that she’s exactly like her…loving a man who is constantly out of reach…

The genuine love Mi-joo has for Kang-ho but at the same time acknowledging the hurt and pain this love causes her…
damn that got me

There are these moments of brilliance in between all the craziness, so I wonder if the drama truly stuck to its theme, maybe it could’ve been a far more engaging story. Delved deeper into cyclical nature of trauma and abuse. Kang-ho confronting parenthood with all his baggage, needing to be and do better, unlearning all his self-destructive patterns…
And inevitably making mistakes but learning from them…

Because Young-soon is not truly gone, is she? Flawed and awful as she might be, she loved Kang-ho and he too loved her. Their love was imperfect and toxic no doubt, but the scene where Young-soon realises Kang-ho’s memories are back and welcomes him with a hello, brought tears to my eyes…
They’ll always have a connection and she still lives within him, however her death won’t magically cure him from all the trauma she caused…

So I’m felt hanging…

After all that’s happened…

What’s next for Kang-ho?

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Poignant and beautifully written comment. I am with you.

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In a year filled with so many dramas I just didn't like that much, I really enjoyed and am thankful for this one. Even with its flaws, I looked forward to watching it each week, and rarely finished an episode feeling dissatisfied.

I would have liked to have seen Kang-ho and Mi-joo telling their children he's their dad, or at least one more scene of them all together once the kids knew who he was. I think they could have wiped out the whole trot singer arc without any damage done. Sam Shik also have been slightly less ridiculous.

And did so many pigs have to die? I realized that Lion was likely killed in that last fire, and my heart broke all over again.

But there was so much to appreciate in these final two episodes. Although unrealistic, I'm glad Young-soon got a peaceful death with her son next to her (and the actress was so wonderful in the toast and letter scenes). In the end, I did believe that she understood she had expressed her love and concern for her son in ways that were deeply emotionally damaging, and that's more insight than most parents ever gain. The resolution of the revenge plot was compelling, too, although if this were a more realistic drama the lettuce farmers would be buried in their own fields and Kang-ho would have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. But in the end, this wasn't meant to be a gritty drama--if I wanted to see one, I'd check out "Glory"--so I'm good accepting the happy resolution we were given.

As always, I was impressed with Lee Do-hyun, but it was Ahn Eun-jin who caught my attention in so many scenes. She took what could have been a bland, long-suffering love interest and imbued Mi-joo with strength and dignity, even when life broke her heart. The only thing I didn't love was Mi-joo comparing her steadfast devotion to the decent and loyal Kang-ho to what drove her mother to stay with her cheating lout of a father. I know what Mi-joo was trying to say there, but the two relationships are really not comparable. Their love story was tragic, funny, moving, and ultimately extremely happy at various moments, and it was my favorite relationship of the show.

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Strong agree about Mi-joo's comparison. And I didn't realize it until you said it, but it would have been really easy for Mi-joo's character to be boring and flat. I've thought that Ahn Eun-jin was doing a great job this whole time, but your comment really drove home the fact that I might not even have liked her character in someone else's hands.

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I must confess I felt nothing for this ending... well in truth I felt relief when Young Soon finally died. She was despicable for most of the drama. But you know, that would have been okay. It would have been an interesing story, having a son resent his mother because how she had treated him all his life. Working on that messy relatioship wuould have been very interesting. But instead we found out that Kang Ho had never really blamed his mother. He undestood her perfectly and loved her just the same. I mean, okay, Kang Ho, you are a saint. But saints make very boring characters. And she actually never really changed. So that was seriously frustrating.

For me the show fell apart half way. Too many characters I really never cared for (Sam Sik you are one of them), a few too many things that made no sense, too many pigs killed and a weird balance between tragedy and humor. This one is another delusion for me, another drama that had a really interesting beginning and ended in a disaster. Way too many this year...

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What the hell was this final week?! I've never, at least I don't remember, saying an ending ruined or changed my takeaway from the show as a whole but this final week is dangerously close to bringing me to that line. I don't even remember much of anything which is kinda sad considering I just saw it yesterday but maybe that's part of the problem.

Hmm, what I do remember: the antagonists' "comeuppence". I guess the villians were just too powerful to have their endings be organic and satisfying. It doesn't help that much of the evidence Kang Ho had was destroyed so the show needed to include some deus ex machina to do anything remotely cathartic regarding the villains. I wasn't all that surprised about the baby surviving because he was literally the only proof they had of motive. I was more surprised the baby stayed quiet long enough for the bad guys to leave and for the good guy to notice its presence. Sidenote: it's not funny but it's funny how that the corrupt candidate really said the thug ceo was the father haha. Gotta laugh just like he did at the audacity haha

Once again, the story suffered due to the lack of twin shennanigans and what we got wasn't all that great. I was not a fan of the "he's my dad? I refuse to accept this. How could she steal her own daughter's man". Ugh, no likey that at all. That was kinda ick to me. I'm not sure what else could've been said to get the childish petulance across until she met the new boy in town and "fell in love at first sight" but I wish there were another line.

I liked that the henchmen became apart of the village but again, feels weird considering shouldn't one or both of them have been imprisoned for their crimes? The guy said he was told to carry out crimes including murder. That aside, did they buy Young Soon's truck or do they work for that farm now or do they still have their own farm?

The village chief and his yakuza bride. I don't even know what to say about that. Totally speechless.

I still don't know what was the purpose of the musician in this story or why we were supposed to care about his success or failure. He ended up inspired by Kang Ho and wrote a hit song and this matters why? He's now dating Mi Joo's mom and again why would we care? Is it because we're supposed to care about Mi Joo's mom? I don't care about her love life.

It was sweet that Kang Ho tried recreating his dad's proposal but it certainly hits different from the original and after all the pig deaths.

Again, I don't even know what to say about Sam Sik. One thing I will say about that actress who played politican's daughter: she was good at conveying thoughts with her eyes & expressions. I think she barely spoke in her final scene but conveyed appreciation, amusement, and discomfort.

I cried over Young Soon's death as I knew I would.

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god the village chief & yakuza bride was SO weird im so curious to know the writer's thought process behind those two

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I appreciate the happy ending, but did it really have to be in such a cheesy way? These two last episodes were the weakest ones of all.

Dramatic licence went too far:
Kang-ho going back to being a prosecutor just like that, immediately.
Young-soon giving a big speech, then going to bed and dying in her sleep - cancer patients do not die like this, unfortunately.
The judge allowing this farce of a court case. And the baby miraculously still being alive.
Mi-joos mum being behind of the singer's new success.

Thank God, the masked lady was finally unmasked. That was a very good guess from a Beanie that she had a Yakuza connection.

The proposal was really nice and there was one surviving little piglet, too. The acting was great and made the drama watchable despite its many weaknesses.

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Oh, this show. I have such conflicting feelings. There are pockets of good, even great, things in it, but the overall result left much to be desired. Till the very end, I saw very little of the "good" in the titular 'Good Bad Mother'. While acted brilliantly throughout the show by Ra Mi-ran, I could not bring myself to warm up to Young-soon nor the show's approach towards her lifelong abuse of her son. It wasn't simply tiger parenting or putting pressure on him, there were times she deprived him of food and physically threw him in a dangerous river while he was still mentally and physically disabled. And that's before getting into how she continually kept denying him the right to make decisions about his own life. Ugh, what a mess. It's a shame because the scenes with her and the villagers were really emotionally strong, but I still couldn't make myself sympathize. I'm just glad Kang-ho managed to find the peace in himself to forgive her, but the show definitely cheated by making Young-soon be terminally ill instead of doing the hard work of healing from acknowledged abusive behaviour.

On to the things I liked: Mi-joo. Mi-joo. Lee Mi-joo. The highlight of the show, easily the best character from this large ensemble. I honestly don't know how Ahn Eun-jin does this time and time again. She imbues this magic into her performances, where she can take characters who on-paper sound generic or simply supporting players, and makes them fully-realized and lived-in. Mi-joo in any other drama would've been this self-sacrificing, long-suffering girlfriend character with little depth, but here she was strong and smart and dignified. I loved her to bits. No wonder Kang-ho loved her for most of his life - I would too. And that kiss in the stairway! Ahhh, be still my heart! Lee Do-hyun/Ahn Eun-jin fluffy romcom drama when???

Small side note, though: THANK GOD I wasn't the only one who thought the comparison between Kang-ho and Mi-joo's abusive father was really odd. Kang-ho abandoning his longterm girlfriend is undeniably shitty behaviour, but he was never physically abusive and so equating the two feels incredibly callous. Somehow felt like downplaying intimate partner violence and making Mi-joo out to be some abused girlfriend returning to her abuser, which really wasn't the case, I don't know, maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but it really bothered me. Seems like the writer is bad at writing abusive relationships of all kinds.

As for the rest, I don't really care about the villagers and I'm disappointed that annoying producer guy didn't die a painful fiery death. The trial was silly and I had to stop myself from cracking up multiple times. I wish Kang-ho and the twins had more screentime together. Also, is Kang-ho supposed to be a farmer now or is he back to his original job? Why is this show so bad at giving concise answers?

Anyway, bean collected. I hope Lee Do-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin work together...

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Damn you, mysterious DB word count. Did it have to be my last comment?

Lee Do-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin please work on a romcom together one day, pretty please. Yoo In-soo was WASTED on this show.

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I came away liking Yoo Insoo less which isn’t fair but it speaks to how irritating and unlikeable Samshik’s character was for me.

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The only time I found him somewhat tolerable was during the hospital hijinks with Mi-joo. I thought Ahn Eun-jin and Yoo In-soo worked very well together, the great actors that they are. But Sam-shik quickly goes back to being a nothing character soon after that and remains so till the end.

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I agree on pretty much everything you said. Comparison between Kang-ho and Mi-joo's abusive father was sooo akward. There is nothing okay about staying with a man that treats you so badly (Mi-joo's father). But I also think Mi Joo was a bit too quick to forgive Kang Ho. As usual maybe talking and explaining would have saved everyone a lot of pain.

And did it make any sense to have Kang Ho back in a court when he was suspected of murder? They had a picture of him pushing a car in the sea! And well, it was because of his revenge and he promised to fix everything but he still sent innocent people to jail. How did that work?
The list of things that didn't make any sense could go on and on...

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Apparently Conflict of interest (COI) is a foreign concept in the Korean legal system. 🤔

I really do not expect an accurate portrayal of the Korean legal system from a television show, yet the dramas sure show some crazy stuff. 🤪
I take the portrayal with a huge mountain of salt 🧂

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I know that many tv shows and films the world over take ridiculous liberties in depicting the realities of many professions include the law but the last ep here really upped the ante. And, it might be safe to say that apart from the robe, there was nothing else that had any relation to the Korean judicial system in RL.

As for me, I have developed drama fatigue and am seriously considering watching far fewer from now on. I have watched about 10 new ones this year so far and 8 have been bad to terrible. Since, I don’t have that much time to waste and the cumulative effects of these bad dramas have been frustrating if not irritating, I am going to be far more selective from now on.

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I watch a wide variety of stuff in YouTube
Old B&W films, history , audio books too
Watching Japanese or Chinese dramas may or may not help.

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Damn I forgot about the violence, I guess that scene resonated with me because it’s one of those few times Mi-joo was vulnerable. Yes Kang-ho is far better than her father but that doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt her and cause her pain. Last week’s comment from @Netfret really put their relationship into context for me.

He left…
Regardless if he knew about the children or not, he left Mi-joo the woman who loved and supported him unconditionally to pursue revenge. And hurt not just her but others for his goal. His ex-fiancé didn’t deserve to be used either…

Mi-joo is incredibly forgiving, and I wanted so badly to see Kang-ho change and to rely on her this time, but from what I’ve seen I can’t really say if Kang-ho is good for Mi-joo anymore…

So I guess that scene, where she was truly honest, where all her pain and hurt came rushing out in her defence of him…
It was heartbreaking to watch, she knew she deserved better but was beholden to her love for him…

I hope Kang-ho changes, takes her seriously as his wife, his life-partner and mother of his children because she definitely deserves better…
Waaay better…

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Oh, I absolutely agree that Kang-ho has been a horrible partner to Mi-joo and that she definitely deserves better. I was actually extremely irritated in the previous episode when Young-soon tried to justify Kang-ho’s abandonment by saying how it was actually for revenge and therefore somehow not him cruelly dumping the love of his life and their unborn children. I was completely baffled by how that was not an act of extreme cruelty and callousness by Kang-ho and why the show seemed determined to twist it into some act of noble justice. Kang-ho should’ve had to grovel and beg for Mi-joo’s forgiveness and she should’ve held out on him for way longer. She should not have taken him back so easily with the excuse of “oh, you were actually suffering even more than me” (he wasn’t, btw). My only problem is that I find it kind of icky to equate it to literal physical violence perpetrated by a husband to his wife.

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Lovepark, thank you for the recap !

What impressed me the most about the show was Ahn Eun-Jin . Hope to see more of her. ❤️🥰💕

My pitch for the story would have had Kang-Ho having to come back to the pig farm after he had strived for a better life outside of the farm. Not sure for the need of him to be a prosecutor, if his father wasn’t killed. Also, not sure about the need for amnesia.

Especially amnesia that is cured by another knock on the head or tumble in the ground🙄

Oddly enough, I was watching a J drama, it too featured amnesia, which was semi cured by the ground tumble. 🙄 PPL from a corn beverage as well as a song on a CD also helped.

The whole crime/revenge aspect of the show should have been cut from the script. ✂️
No need for crooked politicians, thugs, murders or court scenes

The Unstoppable Korean Love Triangle , although in a weaker, watered down form, still found its way into the story. 😢

The Korean Drama Love Triangle trope is a parasitic worm that infests the brains of the K drama writers. There is no escape. 😵‍💫

Oh, yeah, no need to kill all the pigs, x3 either. 🐷🐷🐷
What happened to their random farm hand ? 🫥
The masked yakuza lady …. What was that all about ? 🥸

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So till the end we don’t know why that lady is always with a face mask? Or this masked yakuza lady is a different character?

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She was the village chief’s wife . No explanation as to the tie in to the Yakuza.
Was the gangster that Sam-Shik was indebted to a yakuza ?
Perhaps that lady was the gangster’s daughter ?
Facemask wife in contention for useless screen time award.

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I thought she was "useful" in calling the villiagers out. Useless screen time award goes to the trot musician haha

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The ending in my opinion, lacked depth and was a bit unrealistic.

1. Young-Soon's cancer wasn't realistic. They didn't show how she was slowly deteriorating and dying. She wasn't even gaunt or pale. She wasn't struggling or gasping for air. She wasn't in a lot of pain either. Instead, we were shown a glowing, happy woman who died suddenly. She didn't even have the opportunity to introduce herself to the twins as their grandma. Imagine being called halmoni before closing her eyes. That would've been dramatic and great.

2. Why was Oh Tae-Soo carrying a medical certificate proving his daughter's insanity during the trial? Who does that?

3. Why didn't they show the kids being told that Kang-ho was their dad? That would've been fantastic.

4. I was right. She was a Yakuza daughter.

Overall, 7/10

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That's a cancer in K drama with many characters choose for no treatment.

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‘ I was right. She was a Yakuza daughter’ 👈🏾thank you so much for posting it here because I was about to go scrolling to find the comment to congratulate you, well done for calling it🥳😊. I genuinely don’t get why she had to hide out and then return to her dad just because he had set up a new branch. At her age surely she could choose where to live and none of his old rivals would still be looking for her in a small village in another country! Her dad took his time calling her back as she was in the village when the kids were born and they are 35 now.

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The kids were delightful catnip and while I am hoping child actor labor laws accounted for why they weren’t featured much more, I would have loved to have seen more of the kids by themselves and with Kangho and Mijoo.
There was so much absurdity in the last few eps that I couldn’t get past tgem. At least, when a drama includes super-natural elements, I can suspend my disbelief depending on how good the series is but when it is supposed to be RL, I just can’t deal with the nonsense.
Some of the actors by far outshone the writing and directing, and, I have a new found liking for Ahn Eunjin and Lee Dohyun.

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How do I miss K drama with 16 eps or more 😅

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Sigh... I wanted to like this show so much. And I did for about half of it. The villagers, the humour, Ahn Eun-jin and the kids made this a lot of fun. But Episode 8 was that definitive moment when in the name of cancer madness and tough love, Mother crossed a line that I couldn't unsee. From then onwards a dark cloud fell over this show for me. Like others have already said, there are nuggets of gold and flashes of brilliance here and there but it lacks coherence all throughout to rise above the makjang tropes.

On hindsight I don't think the show condoned Mother's abusive antics but the tendency to handwave or whitewash the consequences gives me pause about the way K dramas blend genres of late. The material suffers from an identity crisis and seldom rises above tropes.

The trial near the end was obviously a farce. The only thing that surprised me was that Song Woo-byeok didn't leap out of his seat and throw punches at everyone.

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‘ The only thing that surprised me was that Song Woo-byeok didn't leap out of his seat and throw punches at everyone’👈🏾 it’s so true he was uncharacteristically contained for someone who was beyond coldly detached when it came to taking people down.

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Thanks @lovepark for the weecap. The show managed to wrap up the loose ends whether it was in the most realistic way that’s another question. I didn't know how the Scooby do approach was going to help Kangho pull it all together, but they made it work. The acknowledgment of abusive parenting, the lettuce boys turned good, the distraction for broken hearted Samsik, the masked woman, the temporary farm assistant’s future, the corrupt legal system, the vengeance against Kangho they made it all work. Were there a lot of unanswered questions…Exhibit 1👇🏾

I don’t think Samsik and the corrupt politician’s daughter was going anywhere she didn’t even look interested and she had no lines. I don’t think he thought through who his father in law was going to be even if he rots in prison. His mother in laws absence showed she was clearly playing the disposable ‘downtrodden woman’. It would have made way more sense for her to be shown getting a divorce and her and the daughter having therapy in their new life post the dad’s imprisonment than including the annoying trot singer in yet another scene.

This year has been the year of watching dramas with unlikeable characters brought to life by outstanding acting and a story that keeps me interested week to week despite significant loop holes and random genre mixes. I was expecting more Once upon a small town than Glory. Nevertheless, I loved Kangho’s little family and their happy ever after in the village. This was a top drama for me and I am glad that I invested time in it.

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You are right. If not for Ra Mi-ran, Young-soon would have been unbearable. Also, Lee Do-hyun's phenomenal emotional expressions with his eyes alone are on another level. The cast saved the show while the writing was subpar, especially in the last two episodes. All of a sudden we get to the revenge and then get it solved pretty quickly to give everyone their happily ever after. The drama promised a lot but failed to deliver on many fronts.

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It is really seems like good writing and directing is as rare as hen’s teeth in the KD world where by comparison there are many outstanding actors (as well as mediocre and terrible ones). Exhibit one: this drama.

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K drama writers are the weakest link !
Korea has wonderful actresses and actors.
Most often you will have 4-8 “good” episodes. After that, all bets are off. They usually flub the 2nd half of the show.
It’s as though some lame AI software takes over.
Japanese and Chinese drama writers run circles around K drama writers, which is a shame , as the actors deserve better.

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I agree. Btw, I was using “actor” inclusively so please don’t think I only meant men.

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Despite all the lazy writing and plot holes, I liked ending episodes more than middle ones (because I hated the latter). Sam-shik and Mi-joo's teamwork was so enjoyable, Mi-joo and Kang-ho were so sweet and Young-soon was nice to her son.
Overall I didn't know what this drama was going to say. Young-soon confessing to her mistakes in a letter was not enough for me. And Kang-ho never hating his mother was weird.
Also the villains were so subsidiary and easy and stupid

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I loved this show and it got a few tears from me the last episode. I was not in it for the plot so much as the evolving growth and learning from the different people. I thought the actors were very cohesive together and played off each other which made swallowing the plot holes doable. I loved the actors. By the end they had me believing they were who they were playing in the drama.The yakuzi woman was pretty annoying however. The pigs grew on me and I was sad at all the fires killing them off over (and over). But hey, the bad guys needed something to be bad for, right? (besides killing all who got in their way). This hit a few personal notes for me as I have had many hard things to deal with in life and I know that these things hopefully help you grow and mature in life.

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I also loved this show and shed tears at the end. I thought it was entertaining, funny and heart-warming....so glad we didn't have to go through a long trial to review what we already know, and that all the arcs concluded with a happy bow--"I am happy!"

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J-drama watchers did y’all catch the village chief when he was chasing after his wife, yelling “wait wait”? He was saying “chotto matte” ahahahahaaa!! For me that made the completely ridiculous yakuza-daughter-in-hiding-for-30-years arc with the unfunny running sight gag of facial masks worth it. I’m easy like that.

The worst part of the insane and ridiculous court scene I thought was the coughing fit that Youngsoon had. She should have—and as a character she absolutely would have—left the courtroom so that she wouldn’t distract her son during the most important moment in his life, putting his father’s killers away. Yet the writers have her just sitting there with her face turning purple. And then what , she’s completely fine during the celebration, gives her speech and dies painlessly in her sleep. W.t.f.

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I enjoyed the Good Bad Mother, and I recommend it to others to watch.

Originally, I was only familiar with the ML and some of the supporting actors, and I didn’t set my expectations to high based on synopsis of series at AsianWiki.

Ra Mi-Ran is very good especially her birthday speech.

Lee Do-Hyun is very good. I’ve enjoyed his work in Glory and Hotel Del Luna.

I didn’t feel the Kang-Ho resented his mother. I felt Kang-Ho knew his Mom’s position and why she was hard on him. Kang-Ho carried out his mission to completion even with a couple of bumps and obstacles along the way.

Highlights for me…
-Young-Soon’s birthday speech
-Kang-Ho’s superhero entrance into court room
-Interaction of father and daughter on witness stand in court room
-Baby is still alive
-Young-Soon’s final letter to Kang-Ho
-Ye-jin addressing new boy’s Mom as Mother
-Face of Yakuza princess
-Kang-Ho + Mi-Joo + twins

I was expecting a different ending to Hwang Soo-Hyun’s story. Very sad.

I was hoping Kang-Ho and Sam-Sik would have called each other fiancé on more time. When I first heard them used it I LOL.

Overall, final episode was a good ending to a good series.

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Why does this show make me so angry?

I agree with everyone saying that Young-Soon had not an ounce of a redemption arc. Nada. Nothing. The writer just went on and killed her, not even in an effort to save someone's else life which would have been part of her redemption, but of cancer. Also, on a side note, I have rarely seen terminal cancer patients looking so plump and healthy and dying so peacefully. The delicate little plop of the head falling on her side (true sign of death in K dramas) and there it was for Young-Soon's pointless arc of pointlessness. Truly, the character deserved so much better. Writer-nim, why did you value her life so little that you didn't give her, the very character who inspired the title of the show, a chance to justify her presence in the K-drama?

The pigs are another character that has received the same loveless treatment as Young-soon. They feature heavily in the credits at the start of every episode, and then they are joyfully slaughtered not once, but thrice. The beauty of those pigs is that they respawn magically out of nowhere whenever the story needs them. We're never shown how they respawn, but they're like some Minecraft zombie pigs of doom that refuse to stay dead. Endless supply of bacon, and also endless supply of proposal material. The pig proposal at the start was very cute and meaningful for both characters. The pig proposal at the end got me scratching my head. Kang-Ho, my man, where does that piglet come from (another magical respawn or did Lion not grow?) and why did you think a pig proposal would have been meaningful to you and Mi-Joo when we have not seen any of you have anything of value to do with pigs at any point in the story? I say Kang-Ho, but I'm just thinking, Writer-nim stop forcing connections that were not there. The show was painful enough to watch without those.

We had already accepted that banging your head in a farm on fire is the sure way to get all your memories and abilities back. I am still looking for a fire and a farm myself so I can finally unlock my full potential as a bestselling fantasy author/mesmerising Kpop dancer/full-time Jedi with cute ponytail. I haven't quite made up my mind as to what this imaginary potential should be, but you just wait until I find my own farm and a lighter. So, I guess, we are to fully accept that the judge in the court of law will happily go on with the display of whatever-the-eff-that-was: Kang-Ho literally bringing one witness after the other (endless trump cards supply, more importantly unannounced trump cards, which I am surprised the court accepted blindly), some witnesses apparently inviting themselves (the more, the merrier, Ha-Young), witnesses having their pockets packed with convenient evidence that can be displayed at the most convenient timing (Tae-Soo, what else do you have in those big pockets of yours?), and we also now replace scientific DNA evidence with a literal baby. I did wait for an impromptu pig, but...

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... but the judge would not let any bacon take the stand (which is a pity because they would have had so much to say). The only complaint the judge seemed to have was that the villagers were a lit loud. Apart from that, everything is permitted, and I was half expecting a shot of the judge enjoying the sh*t show (referring to the messy trial) while munching on a ginormous bag of popcorn. Scrap BTS post 2025 concert, I'm getting myself tickets for a trial in South Korea. This looks entertaining.

I found it incredibly hard to feel for any of the characters. When the face mask finally fell, I can't say I felt anymore more elevated to get a character's backstory confirmed. I still struggle to figure out her role in the story. Was she the voice of reason? Was she a comical element?

The same goes for the rest of the villagers. When they finally learned about Young-Soon's condition (approximately 10 minutes before she died the most beautiful death any terminal cancer patient would pay to have - "Oh, by the way, she's dying" - "Oh, she's dead now" - if I had cared, it'd have been an emotional whiplash so thank you Writer-nim for keeping all of your characters uni-dimensional, thus preserving my emotional health) it was hard to connect with those loud (I mean LOUD; hell if there is no emotion in the script, go for decibels, that would have been my solution too) tears and screams. Did I feel sad? Nope, I feel annoyed and angry because everyone had been robbed of the opportunity to build meaningful bonds on screen and make the moment matter. Their scenes together felt empty and devoid of emotional depth, but this is not something I can blame the actors for. They work harder than they needed to inject life into the story.

I am angry at the writer. This could have been so much. But the writing made it a painfully frustrating experience where all characters are assigned a single label that define both their personality and role in the story. Thus, they are unable to grow and change, they remain the same whether we are in the 80s or in 2023.

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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[takes deep breath]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

THANK YOU! This is the righteous rant this show deserves. What a waste of a great main cast - and of a lot of tasty bacon.

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🤣 Howls of laughter, Cecee @darkcc. Howls.of.laughter. I’ve not even seen, nor need I ever now see, this show.

If I could find a farm on fire in which to bang my head, what would I ask for? I would ask for it to unlock my ability to shout at my screen loud enough to convince characters not to walk aimlessly into crosswalks, in the rain, at night, where they will assuredly meet…well, you know.

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🤣 Howls of laughter, Cecee @darkcc. Howls.of.laughter. I’ve not even seen, nor need I ever now see, this show.

I read your comment on the beanies page and came immediately to see what @darkcc has written and I howled too. 🤣

Thank you Cecee for the laugh. You write BEAUTIFULLY.

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EPISODE 13: WHAT A LOUSY EPISODE!

This is my least favorite episode so far. And it’s the penultimate episode! ABSURD is not enough to describe how I feel about it. There’s ANDREA pretending to be KH under a blanket. Is this scene even necessary?

Then that ridiculous spiriting away of OH’s daughter.

Followed by an equally ridiculous “safe haven” scene with Samsik’s earlier tormentors.

Then there’s our two bumbling henchmen who earlier beat up a group of gangsters using only garden tools. Now, they did it again using a farm vehicle. Sure.

I’m hoping the finale will not be as ridiculous as this episode.

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June 2023, 1st watch. I just loved this show!
-I liked the mix of comedy and drama, good guys and bad guys, young kids and elders, light and heavy, etc.--and especially the slice-of-life format with lots of feels.
-I liked how all the details of the political plot were wrapped up without a lengthy and detailed trial.
-I thought the leads did a fantastic job--just love Lee Do-Hyun and Ahn Eun-Jin.
-I liked how the last episode gave us a happy end to all the arcs, tying everything up with a beautiful bow. I loved how the proposals were bookends to the story.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this show and highly recommend it!

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Ok, overall I liked the show and most of the characters were very enjoyable. I'm actually pretty impressed with how the writer finished everything off on the last 2 episodes as long as you take a few leaps that have no logical basis. My two beefs were: the court scene. The judge was running a pretty tight ship but when Tae-Soo and his daughter came in, they were allowed to speak-up whenever they felt like it. I would think the judge would ask Kang-ho to control his witnesses. And then to arrest Tae-Soo. One big leap. The other... I was looking for a dramatic scene where the twins are told Kang-ho is their father by Kang-ho and Mi-Joo. Instead, I suppose they found out by listening in and figuring it out themselves. So, I was robbed of possibly a great emotional scene.

Sam-Shik came thru nicely though I think he will be disappointed in a couple of years with his jailbird girl. Also, I was very surprised when the chief's wife was leaving so I was laughing when that turned around.

There are a lot of comments how awful the mother was..... Yes she was nasty and the childhood ruined but wasn't that the whole reason he went to prosecutor classes and when asked why he was there, his reply was to find out himself, why he was there?

My final thought? I hope they don't become pig farmers.

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Those poor pigs ! 🐷 🐷 🐷

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