The Good Bad Mother (2023)

what... a MASTERPIECE... just BRAVO!

“There’s a saying, ‘A mother can replace anything in this world. But nothing can replace a mother.'” – Mr. Son

In general, you know that a drama will be one of your all-time favorites as soon as you watch the first episode. I had this feeling with this drama. The pace is exactly what I love. In two episodes only, we already had a grasp of the situation. There wasn't one episode that was boring, and it's really hard to make an episode as thrilling as possible especially when it exceeds 1 hour.

First and foremost, let's talk about the story itself. It's mainly revolving around the utterly complicated relationship between a mother and her son. What I liked about this drama is that as the episodes go by, we felt like we grew up with them. We see Kangho's birth, his first steps, his traumas, his love-life, his true passion (drawing), his coldness, his cuteness, his kindness. It's really rare to have such a complete character. We basically know everything about him and it helps us understand him more and be more invested in the story. We also have a grasp of Youngsoon's story and her reasons behind her abusive behavior towards her son (I do not condone this type of behavior whatsoever and whatever the reasons may be) . Besides her bad acts, I still like her as a human being. She suffered way too much in her life. From losing her parents and brother, her husband, her pig farm, and almost losing her son, I'm really wondering how she was able to maintain a kind soul. She is a bad mother indeed, but she isn't the type to do it willingly and without any emotions. Kangho's accident was a way for her to redeem herself. "Please let me be a bad mother once again, Kangho", she said while teaching him how to eat after his accident. She is fully aware of her doings and isn't proud of it. When she hit Kangho's calves, she healed it while he was sleeping, when she ripped his drawing, she sticked it back. Kangho is fully aware of this and this is why he doesn't hate her this much.

“What I really wanted to avenge was your life they utterly destroyed, and the pain you felt living as a bad mother to your most beloved son.” – KangHo

However, what gives life to this drama are the supporting characters, especially the Jouri village. I really got a "Reply 1988" vibe from this, and funny thing is that the trio "Kangho-Mijoo-Samshik" is born in 1988! We had different families reunited in a tiny village growing together, bickering, laughing, crying, they truly rely on each other and love each other. Each character had its time to shine, even Tiger the dog and Lion the pig had their time to shine! I really like the fact that they put up the tiny-village-family-looking trope in this drama, it lower our heart rate and makes us laugh for a tiny while. I'm personally a big fan of dramas with a variety of genres, I don't remember liking many dramas sticking to a single genre. Hence, if you're like me, you will absolutely love this show. Thriller, mystery, family, life, romance, comedy, law, and i'm sure that I forgot other genres.

Let's get into the acting. Wow... just wow. Ra Miran, Lee Dohyun, Ahn Eunjin, Choi Moosung, Jung Woongin, Yoo Insoo... and the list goes on and on. The cast was perfectly chosen. Every single actor nailed their role, every single actor was able to depict the role and give life to it. A little thing I want to add, THE TWINS ARE SO CUTE. I wish them the best in their upcoming endeavours and hope they will become amazing actors in the far future! I hope this drama will get a lot of Baeksang nominations!

A good bad mother may not be perfect, but she does her best and sacrifices everything that she has just to see her child succeed in life. Taking a step back, Youngsoon loved Kangho to death and could do everything for him, her approach to show her love was wrong. I'm just glad that during that dark time for both Youngsoon and Kangho, Mijoo was able to be his ray of sunshine that made him believe that life wasn't that bad. Love can do wonders.

“One day, when everything ends and I can return to your side, I wish to lie in your arms and eat mung bean pancakes just as I did when I was a little boy.” – KangHo

"I wanted to become the best mom for you, but you only get one life and it was my first time being a mom, so I'm sorry that I wasnt good enough. I prayed that I'd become your mom once again, and if that ever happens I promised I'll do better" - Youngsoon

I hope that Kangho and Youngsoon will reunite one day and do as Kangho and Youngsoon wished, to eat his mom's pancakes and be pampered by her. After all, we will all always be little children to our parents.

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10/10 EVERYTHING!!

This drama mainly focuses on the aspect of a broken relationship of a mother and it's child after the loss of their husband/father, and its healing journey. it has many emotional scenes as well as uplifting and bubbly comedy that is well executed. I liked the touched-on romance in this drama as well, as it's not really shoved in your face. ALSO TO MENTION!! the revenge plot was just SO GOOD!! it made sure every person got what they deserved!

the whole drama is amazing!! this drama is a pure example of how talented lee dohyun is, his character is very broad in this drama from acting as a student to a professional cold-hearted prosecutor to then a 7-year-old, is just so good. The relationship between the son and mother is so pure and emotional, and the wholesome atmosphere of the neighborhood makes you feel as if you’re part of their family. everything was so well made and shown!!! every cast member did amazing!!

if I could I would 100% watch this drama again if I had no recollection of it.

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I want to like this series, but I can't... She was a bad mother. Trigger warning parental abuse!

A single mother Young Sun raised her son Kang Ho with strict parenting despite her love for him. Kang Ho grew up and become a prosecutor while keeping his distance from his mother. An accident caused them to start a journey to heal their relationship together. The introduction with the cute pig running on a sunny day, is kind of misleading as to what was coming. I thought it was a very heartwarming cheerful family drama but it's not. Murder, trauma, and painful relationships.

The best part of this series is Lee Do Hyun as Kang Ho, he gives so many layers to his role. He went from a soft cinnamon roll to a cold-hearted prosecutor. He’s an actor that I always enjoy even if the drama he's in does not work for me. I am heartbroken for him, and this is not the first time I cried for his character. His moments with the twins are super lovely and believable. I love when they bicker together 💜

The main problem that steals my enjoyment from watching is parental abuse. From the beginning, Young Sun really did horrible things to Kang Ho. She was strict, she was mean, with the intention of "I want you to be successful", or "I want you to be good in your school", She threw his food away before he finished eating because she thinks he'll get sleepy after eating. She threw his artwork away because he wasn't studying enough for her. Even after the accident, she still did horrible things. She knows that he's basically in a handicapped state like he can't even move his hand, but she left him to feed himself. I'm seeing Kang Ho... Oh, he’s so pitiful, he’s hungry and helpless, but she's so impatient, she took his food away when he can’t even hold his spoon. I truly believe that realistically, this will trigger an eating disorder. Also, she threw him into the river to force him to walk, again and again... and he was screaming for help from her. Why she learns no lesson at all? While I understand she just wants him to grow up well, I saw her behavior is abusive and hard to watch. What's worse is that the scenes are given bouncy funny music, but it's seriously not funny to me. I know it's fiction but the writer really went bad there. She really went back and forth, and the good part is not good enough to redeem herself, because what she's done is too much.

I was conflicted the whole time with the pig plot. Yes! Pig is such an integral part of the story. There's this narrative about how pigs are such clean animals, the only reason why they're dirty is how we treat them, they can only look down and not up and such... Young Sun was raising them lovingly, but I can’t deny the fact that these pigs are sold and slaughtered for food in the end, especially because they showed us when the pigs are going away from her farm several times. I feel uncomfortable about it.

Another thing that detached me from the series is the villagers. I don’t get what the villagers' roles are in the story, and there's a face mask lady who every time she appears on screen, annoys me. Lastly, I don't feel this drama stick to its' ending. They wrapped up everything but it was rushed and wrapped up really quickly.

-Aug 2023, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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Not my cup of tea

This show did not work for me. First off, the mother, Young Soon is abusive. She was abusive when Kang Ho was a child and she was abusive after he became a disabled adult. The show puts in a lot of work to get you to sympathize with Young Soon. They even pull the terminal illness card to gain extra sympathy. Which was unnecessary in my mind. They show us why Young Soon was the way she was and the way she acts towards Kang Ho is understandable but just because I understand the why, it doesn't make her abuse okay. At some point she realizes she was a bad mother to Kang Ho and yet she continues to abuse him at every chance. Kang Ho becomes paralyzed and she abuses him multiple times over to get him to speed up his rehabilitation. She repeatedly abuses him and the show makes it seem like all this abuse is okay because Kang Ho needs to recover quickly so he can be okay on his own. So she abuses him out of desperation but again that doesn't make it okay. What about taking accountability? What about the Young Soon owning up to being abusive? What about the her using othe methods that don't involve abuse? Young Soon abuses Kang Ho at every opportunity but I guess it's okay because the end justifies the means. After all her abusive tactics have gotten her son to become a prosecutor and they've gotten him a speedy recovery, and he's not traumatized any of it. I have no problem with Young Soon being redeemed I just felt like she never did any of the heavy lifting it would take to realistically repair the mother-son relationship.

On top of that, and these are just my own personal feelings but the show felt very ablelist to me. Lots of characters went around calling Kang Ho a fool and an idiot. Young Soon acted like Kang Ho needed to learn how to walk right now, right this instant because how could he live if he stayed in his chair and she wasn't around? There were several implications that Kang Ho being disabled was the mom's punishment. The harmfulness to imply that someone who was once able bodied becoming disabled was a punishment for someone else's behavior, or punishment at all for that matter was not it for me.

I skipped over the villagers because I didn't find them funny or useful, though admittedly they were kind of funny in the last two eps.

Despite the amount of things I didn't like, the show was okay. I can understand why others enjoyed it. I personally continued to watch to for the acting and some of the interactions. I enjoyed Mi Joo as a character and I enjoyed her and Kang Ho's relationship. I also loved the twins. They were so adorable and I love their scenes with Kang Ho. I was just disappointed that what I thought would have been a pivotal moment happened offscreen.

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A decent drama

I have mixed feelings on this drama to be honest. While I enjoyed some aspects of the show, there was also a lot that I didn’t.

I will start with what I enjoyed. I absolutely loved Mijoo and Kangho’s relationship, they were truly the best part of this show for me. I really liked the fact that they actually acted like a couple and did miscellaneous and mundane things that an established couple would do. As much as I love kdramas for the build up to relationships, they often lack any substance afterwards or throw about 15 problems the couple’s way to keep them apart. Which, after 12 episodes (at least), of waiting for a couple to be together can be quite tiresome. This made Kangho & Mijoo such a breath of fresh air, because even when they weren’t together, the longing they both had for each other and the life they could have was very apparent.

The acting in this show was also fantastic! Not that I expected any less from the three leads. I don’t think this show would’ve been as successful if the actors who portrayed the main characters were not who they were. Also shout out to little kids who played the twins! They were adorable and hilarious and I am impressed that they could act so well at such a young age.

I also thought the finale for this show wrapped everything up nicely which definitely does not always happen with kdramas. Now, there are still some things that I did not enjoy or felt frustrated by in this show that kept me from giving it a higher rating.

First, Youngsoon. While I appreciate a complex character and like the fact that she wasn’t one-dimensional, I am left wondering what the writer wanted to portray from her character. It took up until the final few episodes for Youngsoon to admit any wrongdoing that she did to Kangho and when she did admit to it, the drama made us feel like she was doing it only because she loved Kangho. While I believe that Youngsoon loved Kangho very much, that doesn’t excuse her actions and rectify anything she had already done. Youngsoon also never seemed to grow as an individual in the show. I mean she was still blaming Mijoo for things out of her control in episode 12! Any time she would show any progress in her behavior, she would go back to doing the same thing not even 30 minutes later! I just don’t know what the writer’s ultimate goal was with Youngsoon’s character. This is also no hate against Ra Miran, she did an excellent job with what she was given, it’s just the character she portrayed that I struggle with.

Also, the side characters. I really did not care about any of them for the majority of the show. None of them really stood out to me or had interesting depth to them whatsoever. They were kind of just…there, in my opinion. I did warm up to Sam-sik by the end of the show but I don’t know if that was due to me liking the character or liking the actor who plays him. Also, the two henchmen turned farmers were fun, but that was about it.

Overall, I did enjoy this show despite my grievances and looked forward to it every week. It’s not one of my favorites but I don’t think I wasted my time on it either. Mainly due to Kangho, Mijoo, and the twins lol.

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A not bad but very good drama

Admist the title, I know that it has its purpose.

The first episode I've seen sets up the story very well. So far it provokes so many feelings and it's hard to truly find anything wrong with it so far. Lee Do Hyun is an amazing actor and is the main reason I am watching this, I find the man has no faults and is a pure soul, I support him in everything he does.. so this drama is the same for me. Although I won't be shy to point out its faults.

What I like about this drama is the setup, as that is all there is for the first episode. The characters are fully effected by the setup that has been done, and that leaves Lee Do Hyun's character, Kang Ho, resentful towards his mother for treating him harshly. There is no gaps as to why she treated him as such, she kept her husbands life work and wants more for her son. It is pretty straightforward but the acting is done so well that you don't need solid explanations that are in your face. So Kang Ho is incredibly resentful, and he fulfills her wishes, but there seems to be a twist. I like the cliffhangers at the end and its just interesting to me.

The characters are likable, but gladly they are human and have faults. Lee Mi Joo might be a sore spot for this drama, but she has her own backstory with her family that I hope she isn't fully put into a girlfriend spot, or someone that just liked Kang Ho. As of now they have had their time together, and I think she is a good friend to Kang Ho, who hasn't really got to make any friends of his own. She is interested in him because she was young and they shared the same birthday, sort of a hopeless romantic like they share some fate together. It is child-like, but I can see a more adult relationship between the two of them as the story really unfolds.

Unfortanely I am iffy about their relationship and the closure that comes to it. I don't like Mi Joo for lying about her kids not being his, I think he deserved to know. I think she is immature and their relationship is immature. I don't know Kang Ho that well other than himself being in his injured state. I think the drama spent too much time with him like that. I understood that it was to show him and his growth with his mother, but not a lot of that happened while his mind was all there and that frustrates me. The plot with the legal stuff moved too fast because of this. I liked the comedy, but at times I was feeling it was out of touch at times.

The revenge plot fell flat entirely, but I don't believe that is what this drama was going for.

With Kang Ho being left in the state he is after his accident, it is both touching and heartbreaking. The main selling point of this show is the mother and son relationship- I won’t pick it apart as I could for a while.. it’s just really good and wouldn’t be able to be that way with bad writing- and acting. So the acting is amazing (as expected). What I again see as a sore spot is Mi Joo and Kang Ho developing a romantic relationship. With things as they are I don’t see it being ok because Kang Ho is really underdeveloped mentally atm. I hope and pray to god it stays on the route it is going, that being mother and son relationship growth over any romance.

Again. What was there I wasn't too fond of.

Finishing up this drama I can confidently say that the highlight is the mother/son relationship. I also give the drama credit for going through with the storyline of Young Soon having cancer. Still I think it was dumb for that to come up, to me it was to give Kang Ho a reason to 'grow up'. I wanted to see them truly reconcile and see their relationship as mother and son more while he was an adult.

This drama did drag at times and there were unnecessary parts. It's no masterpiece or anything, but there are glimpses here and there.

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Average at its best!

The reason is that it felt superficial and like it was making fool of the viewers. It didn't stir up the emotions I was expecting to feel from a stressed single mother-son bond. Maybe on paper I get it but intellectually I am not convinced.

A rather simple example to prove that would be the story of the pigs. Like the whole show the mother was preachy about how she cared about her pigs especially mother pigs. But logically if you think they were raising them to sell and have them slaughtered for food. So how am I suppose to enjoy the metaphorical relationship between the human mother and pig mother which is present throughout the drama. It is funny and a petty example, I know but I can't get my head around it (you will know how serious they were about their pigs through the drama!).

So besides this major point (haha) there was hardly anything in the script to comment. If you are an avid drama watcher then the story is guessable from ep 1 itself. The suspense element is not that strong really. The relationship between the leads thought started angsty get fuzzed out pretty quickly and there was nothing to explore. If at all the son felt too much of a mumma's boy to be enjoyed as a manly ML . As much I loved all the actors and was hyping up for the show, it didn’t deliver.

The villians again felt cartoonish not evil. Again one of the villian was supposed person with high power and whatnot but it was quite convenient to defeat him which contradicts the fact that he is like the most powerful person to beat.
I mean there are serious consequences to that in real life if the President is impreached and I know drama is suppose to be fiction but having some logic won't hurt. K-dramas needs to up their king/President characters in my opinion.

Overall I don't regret watching it and the acting was fine but I'll forget about it quickly. It recommended only if you want a filler drama for timepass.

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If you had nothing to do during your weekends , you might have been catching up to the two episodes of this show being aired every week , most likely you would have been doing something else with your time , but if you were me , trying to find some Korean dramas to watch on netflix after the usual months long breaks from them , you could have stumbled upon this show .
The good bad mother is your typical romantic comedy korean drama with a revenge plot , which can be entertaining and enjoyable if done correctly , but even with two episodes less than your typical kdrama this still manages to feel lengthy and repetitive , I'm not sure I would have been able to finish it if I wasn't watching it on release , and/or had something better to do with my time . Not to make a completely negative review , but I did have some hopes for this series that were utterly crushed in barely a few episodes and made me come vent out my frustration in this review .

The start was okay , and I was genuinely shocked with the way the son treated his mom , as unsurprising as it was yet unexpected from this kind of series , it made me curious to watch more , and so I stuck through all the episodes that felt like an amateur repetitive slife of life comedy .
In just a few episodes in you can already accurately guess how this was going to end , and I felt like a fool for thinking there would have been a better done "redemption" for the mom and that they would have show a gradual improvement in their relationship , but no , of course not , this series spends the first episodes depicting the mom as nothing but a stubborn “bad” mother and spends the rest of it as a sympathy party for her and that actually even her son didn’t really hate her anyway . Where is the conflict in this? I wanted to see some genuine anger and conflict resolution and actual dialogue between them that felt human, but what’s the point if he “actually did all of that to focus on his masterful revenge plan” . Their relationship which was the main focus and you would have expected to have been explored gradually was eventually really underwhelming . And of course she is sick , to make the last viewers who hadn’t changed their minds after the endless pitying done on her finally see her as a likable character . It’s done really poorly and is an obvious manipulation of your emotions as a viewer which every tacky sad movie can do with the right audience .
The relationship with the rest of the cast is not that interesting either , we’re shown how they all want to betray her but of course they change their minds last minute , what was even the point of that? It doesn’t seem to be consistent , one day the characters all don’t like each other and the other they actually have always been best friends , I would expect better from something that’s trying to be a character focused slife of life .

Talking about inconsistencies , apparently the protagonist knew that his drink was probably spiked , then why on earth would he go and drink that? He was smart enough to get there on his own and knew the kind of men he surrounded himself with , he was careful enough to leave clues to his mom but was so stupid to risk fucking up everything and for what ? What was the reason exactly ? Because of course this kdrama wouldn’t exist without it and the screenwriter couldn’t think of anything better to move the plot . In writing , the characters should be the ones pushing the plot and not the other way around, because when it happens , you will end up with your own characters acting out of character , which is exactly what happens here . It just comes off as lazy writing just for the sake of making a drama that would sell .

The romance part is severely underwhelming , it seems like Lee do hyun can't make it work with just any older female costar , although I can't say it's really their fault , they didn't have enough to make with , and from their other works I believe they could have done a better job with a better story .

This review is getting lengthy , and although there could be more to discuss , I’ve said most of what made this unenjoyable for me , and I hope in the future to see a better work from the director of beyond evil . To not leave this completely negative , I really liked the introduction talking about pigs and the music was good .

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CRIED LAUGHED AND CRIED AGAIN

To be honest I started watching this out of pure boredom and had absolutely no expectations for the story line. It took me probably 3 days to get through the first episode because I didn’t get where it was heading but you quickly see the tragic story. It gets sad and it gets even sadder before we even have a glimpse of happiness. But albeit we get it. I know the writers worked hard for a redemption arc from the mother I can’t say I truly empathized with her even to the very end but I grew to love her character, nonetheless, there is some romance not a lot and even though the drama is mostly serious it also has very lighthearted moments.

I think the writers did well balancing it out. All the actors did great. They had amazing crew I fell in love with every character and their stories no one is perfect and the show truly showed everyone’s humanity.

I’ve become a fan of Lee Dohyun, Ahn Eunjin & Yoo Insoo through this drama & I can’t wait to see them all in new dramas!

I everyone worked so hard this drama brought me so much happiness week after week and though I’m sad it ended I’m excited for the actors new projects!

If you’re thinking of watching this please do so you won’t regret.

Very sweet fitting ending !

Tysm for reading this review! Let’s all be happy!

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A MASTREPIECE!!

so far I've watched all the episodes that have aired (11) and must I say, Lee Do-Hyun and Ra-Mi have done a spectacular job! At first, I was a bit hesitant to watch since romance has to be a strong point for me to watch a show but I'm so glad I decided to watch it. The drama grips you into the screen from the very first episode and every episode ends with you wanting more. So much keeps happening but it's not too much because it's written so perfectly and well sought out. I've cried for both the main characters multiple times now and I feel so bad for both the mother and son, I hope they have a HAPPY ending. The acting is SO GOOD that you feel every character's pain and just hope they catch a break. The revenge plot is also there which just keeps unraveling in such mind-blowing ways that you will audibly gasp multiple times throughout each episode. There is also a bit of romance but it's not the very main focus (still there though.. a childhood friends to lovers and sunshine x grumpy trope). Along with everything else this drama doesn't become too boring because it has the transitions from sad to happy and there are tons of light-hearted, funny, and swoon-worthy scenes. I wasn't that big of a Lee Do-Hyun fan before this but I am NOW!
Overall I fucking love this drama and it's going in my TOP 3.
I 100% recommend it TO EVERYONE!!!

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GOOD intention, BAD execution!

First of all, the writer seems unsure about whether they want this story to lean toward comedy or serious plotlines. The scenes outside the village are filled with suspense and gravitas, but once we enter the village, the tone shifts, and the characters become comedic. Additionally, there are moments in this series that could be disturbing for some viewers and definitely warrant trigger warnings, particularly the mother’s attempt to take her own life.

And then we have the rushed ending, highlighted by the unrealistic and dramatic courtroom scene. It felt forced and lacked the depth the story desperately needed.

Throughout this series, the thing that bothered me the most was that there’s no guilt expressed for any of the wrongdoings. Instead, the narrative implies that people always forgive the abuser simply because they work hard, they bring food to the table and, surprise, they have a terminal illness. The mother was the son’s source of trauma, which is incredibly sad. She was abusive and selfish, showing kindness only after her son became successful. I understand that the mother only wanted the best for her son, but after how she treated him in the past, now she expects her son to willingly come to her and put on a happy face?

On a brighter note, there are some redeeming qualities in this series, particularly the relationship between Kangho and Mijoo, as well as the dynamic with the kids and Samsik. I initially thought Samsik was just there for comedic relief, but he ultimately proves to be the key to resolving much of the chaos, which was a pleasant surprise!

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"우리가 끝내지 못한 그 재판 우리 아들이 끝내로 갑니다."

🐽 The story of prosecutor Kang Ho struggling with amnesia and the traffic accident consequences gives a slight feel of Woo Yeong Woo but on a pig farm. It is darker than I expected and lighter than I thought.
This is a big step for Lee Do Hyun acting-wise. I feel like he always looked held back and reserved in past dramas, and The Good Bad Mother is finally the room for him to flourish. He has to play three different states of one character: shrewd cold attractive prosecutor, confused childish Kang Ho in a wheelchair, and healthy mother's son in the end after all the challenges he's been through. And Lee Do Hyun does it damn well! The ratings started with 3.6% on the first episode ending with 12% on the final.

"내가 망가지면서 하는 복수는 복수가 아니야. 진짜 복수는 복수하려는 이유조차 생각 안 할 만큼 깨끗하게 있고 보란듯이 잘 사는 거야."

🐽 While the criminal storyline is well-waived, the most heartfelt part of the drama is the life in the village and the characters interactions. I couldn't help but rolled on the floor chuckling anytime Sam Sik or the two Woo Byeok secretaries-turned-salad-farmers appeared on screen. (Yoo In Soo needs more recognition, he's hilarious) I also adore the child actors duo of Ye Jin (Kim So Yoo) and Seo Jin (Park Da On). It's never easy to work with kids, especially to get such a sparkling chemistry from 5-6 year-olds.

The ending didn't make me cry neither of sadness nor of happiness, but The Good Bad Mother will remain one of my favorite dramas memorable for its soft humor, attention to details, engaging plot (who killed WHO?), loveable and energetic characters, and, of course, the cute piglets. 🐖

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