The Good Bad Mother (2023) Episode 2

Now that he’s working for Woo-byeok, Kang-ho has to deal with his antics and smile no matter what. While discussing the matter of the election campaigns, Woo-byeok starts going soft on him and talks about how things would’ve been like if Kang-ho had been his son. Keeping the previously secured evidence against the man aside, Kang-ho indulges him by playing catch with him and starts calling him his father, taking Woo-byeok’s word for it – either hit a home run or a strikeout”.

Meanwhile, back home, his mother gets injured while trying to get hold of a food container out of her reach. Kang-ho reviews everything about the case, while Ha-young tries to reach him repeatedly. As if being ignored by him didn’t rile her up already, she even gets a minor injury while getting her pedicure done by Mi-joo. This soon erupts into a class-based conflict, and Mi-joo is compelled to get on her knees and apologise.

Still from The Good Bad Mother Episode 2.

However, she doesn’t let the incident pass by as she demands an apology from Ha-young, too, for her mistreatment of her. But when Ha-young doesn’t accede, she provokes her a little, with her ultimate decision resting on not voting for her father running for President. She also plans on opening a salon of her own with her savings.

Young-soon comes by Kang-ho’s place to drop off some food, but the latter gives her no response. The scene soon shifts, and we get pulled into a flashback. Returning to Kang-ho’s old days at Law school, where Tae-soo addresses his batch, we see how Ha-young and Kang-ho met each other.

Later, upon becoming a prosecutor, an incident compels the two to cross paths again. Having been tipped off about drugs being used at a club, Kang-ho brings in Ha-young and her friends and goes to great lengths to check her belongings for traces. With the tests coming out negative, he has no choice but to apologise to her, and the two get off on the wrong foot. Ha-young, however, is equally helpless and apologises to him for her rude behaviour so that he doesn’t reveal anything about this incident to her father, Assemblyman Tae-soo.

Still from The Good Bad Mother Episode 2.

After that, Kang-ho takes the opportunity to get closer to Ha-young and his plan to dig dirt up on Tae-soo. But even if it’s not so, the Assemblyman humiliates him at their official meeting and compels him to break up with his daughter so that she can marry into the Dosang group as planned.

Later, Kang-ho does hit the homerun with his approach to aid Woo-byeok in his case. His findings lead him to narrow in on Tae-son’s illicit relationship with Hwang Soo-hyun, who eventually also birthed his baby. However, the truth is that Tae-soo, too, doesn’t know about the child yet. Kang-ho withholds the original copy of the DNA test from Woo-byeok, and the older man catches on and asks what he wants from him. The final revelation is like a frame within a frame. He wanted Woo-byeok to legally adopt him so that he could marry Ha-young, which would further allow not only Woo-byeok but also him to be close to the Assemblyman.

Taking up the matter of Tae-soo’s illegitimate child to him, he warns him about Kang-ho and how they both need him on his side. Woo-byeok conjectures that Tae-soo’s disapproval of him as his daughter’s boyfriend is what ticked him off against him. All three of them convene and devise a plan, leading Kang-ho to commit a heinous crime as he drowns Soo-hyun and her newborn baby alive.

Still fromThe Good Bad Mother Episode 2.

Mi-joo’s ‘Nail and Nail’ shop finally opens up and she lists down a new agenda of bringing back her kids with her.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 2 Ending

While back in the village, Young-soon and the rest of the Jou-ri clan prepare for Kang-ho and his fiancee’s homecoming. However, things are equally sour for Kang-ho, and he pulls out the adoption agreement for Young-soon to sign. She reluctantly leaves the seal mark on the document, but before doing so, she asks him if he was forced into doing this. However, his silence says everything for him that he doesn’t otherwise.

When Kang-ho leaves without even tasting any food, Young-soon prepares a small package for them to take along with them. When alone in the car, Ha-young makes an issue about the food’s smell, and Kang-ho stops to fling it out. Since Kang-ho appears stressed over everything, Ha-young decides to drive from thereon, but soon her scarf flies out the window. She makes a pitstop while Kang-ho is asleep in the passenger’s seat. Once she gets out of the car to grab her scarf, a truck passes by the side and collides with the car, further pushing it off the cliff with Kang-ho in it.

Still from The Good Bad Mother Episode 2.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 2 Review

Episode 2 again reminds us that it is barely the story’s beginning. While the ending moments of this episode have granted Kang-ho and Young-soon another chance to come together and amend their relationship, one can’t help but go over how things worsened between the mother-son duo to such an extent that he wants to be adopted by someone else. At this given point, it doesn’t look like Kang-ho is aware of the consequences of his actions and how he’s devising all these schemes with his father’s enemies.

Witnessing it all unravel with him at the centre of the story will be quite a ride. His silence and suppressed emotions seem to be killing him from within too. We can hope his transformation arc finally sets in place following this accident. With the idea of Woo-byeok willing to adopt him now in full swing, matters are likely to worse on that horizon as well. While the first episode may have mapped out a brief history of Kang-ho’s family’s past, only a little of it helps us dig into his behavioural pattern and choice of actions. 

By doing so, the series has caught my attention as I can’t wait to discover what secrets have been swept under the rug for now. I can’t get the image of Lee Do-hyun’s character in 18 Again out of my mind, and with that vision clashing with his character’s personality in The Good Bad Mother, it’s equally a terrifying and funny instance, but even more so goes to prove his range as an actor.