The Good Bad Mother (2023) Episode 11

The Good Bad Mother episode 11 starts with Sam-sik getting an earful from his mother for trying to rob Kang-ho. We quickly move on to Mi-joo walking in a determined way with Ye-jin and Seo-jin to Kang-ho’s house to finally tell them about the kids’ father. Unfortunately, inside the house, Young-soon passes out, and Mi-joo and Hoang, Kang-ho’s potential fiance, help get her to the hospital.

Once Young-soon is safely taken care of, Hoang introduces herself to Kang-ho, and Mi-joo feels extremely awkward in this odd situation. Either way, Kang-ho finally learns about Young-soon’s diagnosis and immediately rushes to her mother’s side. He starts to plead with Young-soon to get up, even promising that he won’t like Mi-joo or become a prosecutor anymore. Listening to this, Hoang realises that this isn’t a place where she can find a match.

Still From The Good Bad Mother Episode 11

Mi-joo comforts Kang-ho, but right then, her mother reaches the hospital as well and beats her for being too close to Kang-ho. However, their conversation takes a backseat when they hear commotion from the hospital room – Young-soon refuses to stay there any longer and wants to spend the rest of her days in a meaningful way. She is caught by Kang-ho trying to leave, and he looks at her in disbelief. Meanwhile, Sam-sik finds the DNA test results and a memory card inside one of Mi-joo’s bags, while Young-soon is devastated to learn that Hoang has refused to marry Kang-ho.

Irritated, Young-soon rushes out of the house to meet Mi-joo and starts to blame her for Hoang breaking off the (one-sided) engagement. Hearing the commotion, Gum-ja comes out of the house and fires back at Young-soon, asking her why her daughter always gets blamed for anything Kang-ho does. The confrontation shuts Young-soon up while, at her house, Sam-sik takes everything that he has found to Kang-ho to ask him to open the memory disk, for some reason.

The memory card contains a voice recording of Tae-soo and Woo-byeok talking about getting rid of Soo-hyun and her baby. He further mentions that Kang-ho will take the fall if it ever comes out, so no one has to be scared about it. The recording leaves Kang-ho extremely scared, especially the implication that he might have done something to Soo-hyun previously. Sam-sik promises to find out everything on his behalf, probably thinking that he can blackmail the assemblyman or something, and takes all the evidence to “confront” Tae-soo.

Still From The Good Bad Mother Episode 11

Kang-ho visits his father’s grave later on to vent, and Young-soon finds him there. She shares stories of his father with him and how he takes after him. It’s an emotional moment for the two of them as Kang-ho comes to terms with his mother’s illness. Later on, Young-soon goes to meet Gum-ja and apologises to her profusely for hurting her and breaks down, asking her whether she will truly die and telling her that she wants to live. Inside the house, Mi-joo cries, listening to the two women outside.

The next day, Sam-sik threatens Ha-young with the DNA test results and promptly gets kidnapped by Tae-soo’s men, who beat him up and are almost about to murder him when Ji-suk and Cha get there to save him. The news of the recording reaches Tae-soo, who is left absolutely fuming, realising that Woo-byeok might be after this. He later meets Ha-young and threatens her as well but assures her that no one can do anything to him… unless she chooses to open her mouth.

On her wedding night, thus, Ha-young disappears, much to her father’s annoyance and anger. She goes to meet Kang-ho at the farm and is left heartbroken after seeing him once more. She is picked up later on and taken back home, where her father beats her for tarnishing his reputation. Meanwhile, Kang-ho and Young-soon go out for a nice meal and some karaoke and enjoy a night of peace. That night, Kang-ho and Young-soon sleep together, and he sings for her while at Mi-joo’s, Ye-jin tells her mother that she doesn’t have to keep up with her “cheating” husband because of them.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 11 Ending

Still From The Good Bad Mother Episode 11

That night, Young-soon is woken up by a phone call telling them that the farm is on fire. And sure enough, they go into the farm and find that everything has gone up in flames, including the pigs. Heartbroken, Young-soon refuses to leave her pigs, but Kang-ho convinces her to get out first but is himself knocked out by a falling piece of light. On the ground, Kang-ho remembers the moment he met his accident and watched Ha-young walk away from the car. It seems like Kang-ho got his memories back.

The Good Bad Mother Episode 11 Review

Well, what an emotional episode, as per usual. The episode did get on my nerves at some point, especially with Young-soon refusing to give up controlling every aspect of her son’s life. However, I think the series redeemed her character at last and made her aware of the things that she was doing. The entire conversation with Kang-ho and then apologising to her friend and going out with Kang-ho on a “date” are quite sweet to watch and give us hope that maybe, just maybe, she might change for the better in the future.

On the other hand, this whole mess with Tae-soo, Woo-byeok and Soo-hyeon is getting quite interesting, and I am left to wonder how they will get caught. I am fairly certain that Mi-joo and Sam-sik are going to get involved in this heavily and might be able to save Kang-ho from a truly horrible outcome.

That being said, the entire series wouldn’t be remotely as engrossing as it is with Lee Do-hyun’s acting. That man is the best thing about this series – he is just so good in every scene that your heart will break with him in every moment. He is equally good in the good and bad moments that his character goes through, and you can’t be anything but engrossed.