The Good Bad Mother (2023) Episode 5

Episode 5 of The Good Bad Mother begins with Mi-joo reuniting with her kids. Kang-ho arrives and she is shocked. She gets a flashback of their happy times together. But her last memory is of him dumping her because he has something he needs to do on his own.

Back in the present, she shuts the door on him. Young-soon finds him and takes him home. She is amused at his tenacity to find the ball. He says he has pain in his chest after seeing Mi-joo and Young-soon simply smiles at that.

Meanwhile, Geum-ja tells her daughter about Kang-ho’s situation and Mi-joo is shocked. She warns her kids not to hang out with him and Geum-ja tells her to stop scolding. After the kids go to sleep, they catch up as Mi-joo does her nails. Geum-ja guesses that she is in trouble and asks her to move back home.

The next day, Young-soon hears about the rain forecast and calls Kang-ho to warn him to stay home. It cuts to him outside Mi-joo’s place. He simply throws the bouncy ball inside and then leaves. On the way home, he spots Mi-joo and the twins admiring the dog of Mrs. Jo, the chief’s wife.

Meanwhile, the driver neighbour who is actually a composer is inspired by Kang-ho reciting the trespassing act and tries to write a song on it. As it starts raining, he goes to get his clothes and realises it smells of the pigsty which is nearby. He goes to confront the owner and is shocked to see it is Young-soon.

He claims her farm is ruining his career. She says if he has a problem, he can sue her and he heads to the Livestock Division. As he screams for the manager, a handsome guy (Shin Seung-ho of Alchemy of Souls fame) shows up and he is stunned.

It’s lunchtime and Mi-joo has pizza with her kids who hate it. They wonder if they have to go to USA and eat such food with their father and Mi-joo says no. They are relieved as they say he is scary. She then sees a closed-down nail salon and is curious.

As for the locals, they are busy harvesting pumpkins and Sung-ae cribs that Mrs. Jo never helps. Chief Son claims that she is the daughter of a Yakuza boss and they all freak out. He laughs and they scold him for joking but at that moment, Jo arrives with a huge knife. 

Meanwhile, the Division Manager calls Young-soon but they are amicable as she says she will do her best to cooperate. She then heads to the rehab with Kang-ho who asks if he can have a dog like the one Jo has. They bicker as she points out that owning a pet is high maintenance but she smiles as she finds him endearing.

In her free time, Young-soon decides to get an endoscopy as her stomach pain gets worse. As she is being led by the nurse she sees Oh Tae-soo on TV and smiles as she remembers him helping her.

Meanwhile, Ha-young is clubbing with a young guy (another starry cameo by rising idol actor Kim Ji-woong) and when he steps aside, she takes out a pill bottle. She sees it and remembers the accident. In a flashback, Tae-soo shows Ha-young a recording of Kang-ho pushing the mistress and her kid in the river. He claims that the woman had a kid with Kang-ho but he killed them to marry Ha-young.

They cannot call the police because Tae-soo is involved in Kang-ho’s father’s death and he is using Ha-young to get revenge. Back in the club, she laughs maniacally and breaks a glass. Tae-soo is having dinner with his party when she reaches home. She repeats that she roofied Kang-ho and Tae-soo is troubled. Meanwhile, Director Song is at his wit’s end and tells his men to find a hidden ace that can control Tae-soo once and for all.

In Jouri, Young-soon recalls the Manager’s words of neighbourly complaints cropping up despite farmers doing their best and she decides to call a truce with the Musician. As she cooks for him, Kang-ho keeps complimenting her. She knows it’s because he wants a dog and she smiles. She tells him to stay home as she takes the food to the Musician’s place.

However, the mischievous Kang-ho goes to the pig farm and takes their dog, Yellow to show it to Mi-joo. But it runs away and Andrea who was taking care of a piglet gives it to Kang-ho and runs after the dog. Of course, seeing the piglet in his arms, Kang-ho has an idea.

Meanwhile, Young-soon sees that the Musician is not home and leaves the food outside. She passes by Jo and her pet and inquires about its breed as she considers giving in to Kang-ho. Elsewhere, the Musician is complaining to the Manager who says he has done all he can. The Musician complains and inadvertently insults the Manager for doing a poor job. This angers the Manager who shuts him down.

On seeing Geum-ja sporting a fancy manicure, all of the local women crowd at Mi-joo’s to get their nails done. The twins see the ball and are excited that Kang-ho brought it back. However, they are sad that they are not allowed to see him again. But as he shows up with the piglet, they run to him.

He introduces it as Lion and while gushing over it, they accidentally let the piglet go and all three start running after it. Young-soon comes home and on hearing that Kang-ho ran away with the piglet she goes searching for him. 

On the way home, the Musician is on the call while driving. He suddenly sees Lion and the three kids running after it and trying to avoid them he crashes into a ditch. Kang-ho simply apologises and continues chasing the piglet. After a while, the twins are tired but Kang-ho cheers them. They sit on his legs and with all three in the wheelchair, they continue with their chase.

Meanwhile, Mi-joo and Geum-ja say goodbye to their ‘customers’ and Mi-joo wonders if she should open a nail salon. Geum-ja is a bitter realist as she asks about the funding and walks away. At that moment, the three kids show up as they scream at her to stop Lion who is headed straight for her.

From the other end, Young-soon who is talking to a pet adoption agency arrives and shouts at Kang-ho who takes Lion from Mi-joo and runs away. Mi-joo is confused at the whole interaction but on seeing Young-soon the two women catch up. Young-soon goes back home and while nursing the piglet, she explains to Kang-ho why it cannot be let out.

She says that Lion is anyway the runt of the litter as it has no mother so as not to make things difficult. Kang-ho says he can take care of Lion and repeats what she had said about pigs being naturally clean animals who are forced to live a dirty life. 

At that moment, the Musician shows up and throws the food that Young-soon had left for him. He claims he is jobless because of the pig and she should pay him a billion won in compensation. Having done her research, she claims his career is not worth that money and he is furious. He grabs Young-soon and is about to get violent when Kang-ho sees them and runs his wheelchair into him.

It ends with all 3 at the police station and the Musician claiming that Kang-ho assaulted him first. With Young-soon being friendly with everyone, the cops try to get him to settle but he refuses. Kang-ho suddenly remembers that the Musician was on the phone and had no seatbelt and recites the violations he committed. 

Meanwhile, Sam-sik is messing around with the customers he is waiting on at the gambling den. He suddenly recognises that one of the gamblers is the man who scammed him. He confronts him and the gambler says he thought Kang-ho would be able to help him. Sam-sik scoffs and beats the gambler.

At home, Sung-ae tries to show off her nails while her husband is busy watching the news about a fight at a gambling den and flexing that Sam-sik would never get into such trouble. 

As for the bad guys, Ha-young is grounded but she doesn’t care. Tae-soo says he won’t tolerate her getting in his way and she claims he has nothing to be afraid of. But she hints that could change if Kang-ho regains his memories. Angered, Tae-soo puts out a hit on Kang-ho.

Young-soon is driving Kang-ho back home and asks about the Road Traffic Act he recited. He doesn’t know what she is talking about and she is confused. She tells him to look after Lion and while he is busy, she visits Chief Son and Jo. He gives her the medicine for her stomach cramps but the couple are worried about her health. Son promises to resolve matters with the Musician for her and Young-soon is grateful.

In the meantime, Tae-soo’s assassin arrives. Inside, Kang-ho is busy cleaning up after Lion who has made a mess. The man shows up and is about to stab Kang-ho but suddenly the two men of Song pop out from his cupboard.

The Episode Review

And while Ha-young may be feeling guilty over what she did to Kang-ho, she is really bad at executing her plans. First, she couldn’t kill Kang-ho properly and now her trying to goad her father has ended up with him thinking of killing the poor boy for good. Weird since her father is so good at manipulating people. With him sprinkling in the truth about how he is involved in Hae-sik’s death, it makes it that much more difficult to spot his life.

However, the relationship between Kang-ho and Young-soon has completely made a 180 from what was shown at the beginning of The Good Bad Mother to now in episode 5. Even when he makes mistakes, she is patient with him and is always supportive of him.

He on the other hand is finally allowing himself to be friendly and mischievous with his mother which his actual 7-year-old self could not. While it is funny to see their new dynamic, we cannot help but dread the hidden angst and confrontation that is surely going to arise when Kang-ho gets back his memories.