The Good Bad Mother (2023) Episode 10

The Good Bad Mother episode 10 starts with Young-soon burning Kang-ho’s evidence and hard disk to start a fresh new life. Just then, two men rush into the farm and start beating the two of them up, followed by Woo-byeok, who starts to taunt Kang-ho and hurt him badly. Young-soon tries to intervene, but she is stopped by Woo-byeok’s men. Young-soon starts to plead for mercy and explains that Kang-ho’s accident has resulted in him losing all of his memories, and thus he won’t be able to harm him.

Woo-byeok refuses to accept her words, and she promises that she has burnt everything that Kang-ho had in order to stop him from ever going back to his old life. She further tells him that he doesn’t know what went on between them. A curious Woo-byeok asks her what that was, and Kang-ho suddenly gets up and declares that he will tell him everything.

This scene could’ve been phenomenal, but rather it turns out to be Young-soon’s dream which she had right after unceremoniously burning all of Kang-ho’s work in a drum.

The next day, Young-soon gets the bright idea to focus on marrying Kang-ho off in hopes of maturing him a bit and then tells her son that they will be getting new pigs the next week, and he will be running the farm from now on. Kang-ho asks her whether he will ever be a prosecutor again, to which Young-soon tensely tells him that he must forget about that life and focus on living happily on the farm from now on. Kang-ho agrees but is filled with curiosity about her mother’s behaviour.

That night, Young-soon asks the villagers to help her set Kang-ho up with someone so that she can marry him off. She mentions that it will result in him being more stable and happy. The villagers are sceptical at first but eventually agree to help her out. Meanwhile, Mi-joo learns that Kang-ho has inherited the farm and might just be trying to find a wife.

The next day, Young-soon gets her son ready to meet a potential wife and presents it to her son, whose mental age is that of a 7-year-old, that they will find him a friend who will live with him and they will take care of each other and run the farm together. Kang-ho innocently asks her whether she is someone like Mi-joo, to which Young-soon chides her son and tells him that Mi-joo already has someone to love and that she will find him someone better than Mi-joo.

Either way, Young-soon and the village women dress him up in his prosecutor’s outfit, and he looks absolutely handsome. He even wears a tie that has a special significance to Mi-joo. Either way, the wife finding goes as well as you can imagine, and Kang-ho rushes to meet Mi-joo as soon as it all gets over. However, Mi-joo is, unfortunately, getting sexually harassed by a creepy old man and gets into an uncomfortable situation which eventually ends in Kang-ho intervening and helping her get away from him. While doing so, however, he remembers a few fighting techniques from his past that leave him confused and shocked.

Mi-joo is also shocked at Kang-ho’s sudden prowess as well as his tie but quickly recovers and makes use of the situation, calling Kang-ho ‘babe’ and asking him to put the creep behind bars. In between this, a motorcycle rushes towards Mi-joo and Kang-ho immediately gets flashes of her accident. He pulls her in, which results in them falling on the ground and him getting injured.

She starts to freak out about his injury, but Kang-ho, remembering everything from that encounter in the hospital back when they were young, assures her that he can take the exam next year and proceeds to kiss her. Relieved, Mi-joo hugs him and kisses him again, which Young-soon witnesses from afar and immediately runs away.

Later on, she broaches the topic to Kang-ho, who is drawing hearts on pigs’ faces. When she realises that Kang-ho is hurt from running into the motorcycle, she chides him for being reckless. Kang-ho mentions that Mi-joo would’ve gotten hurt otherwise and then blurts out what Young-soon had told him all those years ago about the accident. She sits down to think about it later on and realises that she must have hurt him deeply for him to remember all this still but wishes for Kang-ho not to regain his memory until she can get him married. In her mind, that will stop him from trying to avenge his father’s death.

Meanwhile, Kang-ho confesses to Mi-joo that he likes her, leaving her stumped.

The next day, Kang-ho, confused about whether he is a pig farmer or a prosecutor, goes off with Sam-sik to share a drink. Although he refuses at first, Sam-sik goads him on, and the two get drunk pretty soon. Oddly enough, they get on quite well, but it’s probably all a ploy concocted by Sam-sik, who, soon enough, asks Kang-ho for the ring that he has set aside for his fiancee. Not knowing any better and having had lies fed to him, Kang-ho rushes off to get it for him.

Elsewhere, Woo-byeok gets ready to meet Kang-ho face to face while Soo-hyun’s body brings up questions for the police, who realise that this is no accident or suicide. Meanwhile, Young-soon meets another potential wife for Kang-ho, who is duped into liking him, but only Young-soon realises that the drawing he has made of ‘her’ is actually Mi-joo’s.

Later on, Sam-sik gets caught selling the diamond set, and the villagers are heartbroken at their 20-year crime-free streak getting broken like this. However, Kang-ho tells everyone that he gave the set as a gift to Sam-sik, which clears his name and makes everyone happy… except Young-soon. She comes back home and admonishes Kang-ho for giving his things away. But Kang-ho, in turn, tells her that he wants to be a prosecutor and doesn’t want to get married or run the farm.

Young-soon is left speechless and immediately starts to hit him once more, telling him to take back what he said and do as he is told. However, this time Kang-ho fights back and tells her that he has endured extreme hardship over the past few months to get better, and it was only to make her happy. Then why won’t she let him do what he wants? He ends the conversation by asking her whether she, too, finds him to be an idiot. The experience leaves her shocked, and she immediately goes to meet Mi-joo.

At the nail salon, Young-soon lies to Mi-joo about the “blind date” and stages the situation in such a way that she makes her responsible for Kang-ho’s feelings. She asks her to talk to him and convince him since he must get married as soon as possible. Mi-joo realises that something is going on and asks her to spill the truth – it’s the only way she will agree to help. Without many options, she tells Mi-joo the truth, which leaves her devastated.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 10 Ending
Mi-joo’s truth, unfortunately, is that Kang-ho is Seo-jin and Ye-jin’s father, and no one knows this truth other than her and a friend. With two babies and without a job, Mi-joo finds out that Kang-ho has been in a relationship with Ha-young. Eventually, without any money or a place to live, she leaves her kids with her mother. In the present, Mi-joo finally tells her mother the truth, who is obviously confused and thankful that no one knows about it.

She implores Mi-joo not to tell anyone and not stay with Kang-ho since it would be exhausting to take care of someone who is unwell. Eventually, an angry Mi-joo asks her mother not to pity them and, the next day gets them ready to tell Kang-ho the truth… maybe. Meanwhile, Young-soon tries to get Kang-ho ready for his blind date.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 10 Review
Ok, guys, my liking for his drama isn’t unknown, but what is this sudden direction we are taking with it? The entire premise of this episode is Kang-ho’s marriage without his knowledge or consent which is just problematic in so many ways. And I get it; young-soon just wants Kang-ho to be taken care of. But even then, getting your son, whose mind is stuck as a 7-year-old, married to an adult woman is incorrect and possibly illegal in several different ways. Plus, Kang-ho doesn’t want to get married!

Young-soon is a complicated character, no doubt. But she’s not so complicated that she doesn’t understand basic consent? Like, what is happening? Are we supposed to hate her instead of understanding her predicament? Sure, she has every right to be extremely worried about her son, but getting him married to a person without their knowledge of his condition is absolutely wrong and, honestly, just an unnecessary addition.

Either way, Kang-ho standing up to his mother and asking some real questions was a great watch. He makes some really good points that will hit you deep, especially if you have been in a similar situation. Seo-jin and Ye-jin are as adorable as ever, and Mi-joo and Kang-ho’s slowly budding romance will make you happy, although we should probably wait for Kang-ho to regain his memories before we go further down that road as well!