The Good Bad Mother (2023) Episode 8

Episode 8 of The Good Bad Mother begins with Young-soon noticing Kang-ho standing. Shocked, she takes off the noose and tells him. He gets self conscious and falls back in the wheelchair. She is excited and tells him to stand again but he’s angry at her suicide attempt. She tries to explain but he runs out in the rain. He comes across Mi-joo who was waiting outside and cries. She sits with him and looks after his bleeding finger. He says his mother abandoned him and Mi-joo adds that she may have a reason. She wistfully adds that she was abandoned too but she will never know the reason. Kang-ho looks sad but is unaware that he is the one who abandoned her.

Young-soon comes looking for him and takes him home. Before she can explain, he asks her the reason for abandoning him. She says she never abandoned him but she is sick and someone would need to take care of her. She didn’t want to be a burden to him which is why she did what she did. He points out that she also took care of him when he was unwell and feels sad that it may have made him a burden. She realises that just like he is not a burden on her, she would also not be a burden on him as he says she is his mother. She apologises for her warped thinking and is glad that he can now look after her since he is better.

She asks him to stand up again and he tries but fails. After failing several times, her smile falls and Kang-ho begs her not to abandon him because of it. She angrily takes him out to the lake and pushes him in. He tries to reach for his wheelchair but she keeps pushing him inside. He begs her to help him but she shows him that the water is only knee deep. But as he fails, we then get a montage of him trying everyday till he finally is able to move his legs and float in the water and both mother son looking delighted.

Meanwhile, the locals feel bad for Young-soon and try to help. They see that she only dotes on Kang-ho and decide to get him an electric wheelchair as they notice that the old one is broken. 

As for Song’s men, they are now knee deep in disguise as farmers with So getting annoyed with Cha for getting too much into the roleplay. As he goads Cha to once again look for evidence at Kang-ho’s home, they are almost caught by Sam-sik who is searching for a new plan as the loan for So and Cha’s farm fails since their profession says conglomerate employees.

Elsewhere, a young man shows up at Mi-joo’s house and the two kids think he is their father. They are excited but it is revealed that he was the one who had lent Mi-joo money for her nail salon in Seoul. He threatens her to give back his money or he’ll alert her old customers who are targeting her for vanishing. A disheartened Mi-joo is then caught in the middle when the locals spot her and think she is accompanying them to gift Kang-ho his new wheelchair. They make a huge hullabaloo and on seeing them, Sam-sik runs to hide only to end up in the same hiding spot as Song’s men. 

Meanwhile, the locals call Young-soon out and followed by a warm speech, they ask to see Kang-ho. On being called out, Kang-ho comes walking out and everyone is stunned including Sam-sik. To celebrate the miracle, they all hold a feast. They notice Hoon-ah is missing and Young-soon brings him some food. She says she would have left the farm to him but she is terminally sick and wants to leave something for Kang-ho. He is somber and she hopes he won’t tell the other villagers about her sickness. Kang-ho, meanwhile, ends up bumping into Mi-joo and while apologising, he stops her. He says his mother did not abandon him and this possibly means that Mi-joo was also not abandoned.

As Cha enjoys himself, So tells him to investigate when no one’s looking. Sam-sik asks them about their profession and they almost mess up by revealing they work for Woobyeok Group before So says they are retired. Kang-ho finds them odd but doesn’t say anything. He plays with the twins and Mi-joo looks at them wistfully while Sam-sik looks at her with doubt. With everyone busy, Cha searches for the bathroom and accidentally finds a locked shed with Kang-ho’s files. Excited, he alerts So but before they can go to it, Kang-ho remembers them as the two men hiding in his closet. He tells everyone and the locals are shocked. But Sam-sik’s parents remind them that they are the new farm owners and in the confusion, the men run away. They update Song who is running out of patience as Ha-young is soon to marry into the rival chaebol family. She, meanwhile, can’t stop thinking about Kang-ho when they were preparing for their wedding before his accident.

Back in Jouri, while Kang-ho plays with the twins, Mi-joo stays back to help Young-soon. She worriedly asks her if she’s okay and Young-soon assures her that she won’t attempt anything again. As Mi-joo heads home with the twins, they come across a drunk Sam-sik who tries to play with them the way Kang-ho did. They find it odd and run inside. He is hurt and asks Mi-joo if she likes Kang-ho. She doesn’t answer at first and he says that he wants to marry her and be a father to her kids. She is sarcastic as she says she’s busy trying to pay off her debt that she doesn’t have time to daydream. He scoffs that if debt is her only worry he will be back.

The next few days, Young-soon continues to teach Kang-ho everything from how to handle the farming license, records and bank work. She also takes a photograph of the two of them and herself for her funeral and tries to teach him how to mourn. He is confused and scared but she says she’s just teaching him a life skill. 

She then gets a call from the security guard from Kang-ho’s old Seoul apartment and she goes to meet him. He reveals that Kang-ho had written a letter after she had brought him the food and he was to give it to her should she ever come to collect his things. She is surprised at this and the letter is even more confusing. The letter has a loving tone as Kang-ho says he misses her and always thinks about the memory of them and his father. She takes it home and asks Kang-ho but he doesn’t remember why he wrote such a letter. Later at night as they look at their photo together, Kang-ho looks at the picture of his first birthday in which Young-soon added a cutout of his father. She suddenly understands what his letter means and takes the photo out. As she opens its frame, she sees that there is a memory card hidden inside.

The Episode Review

The Good Bad Mother’s episode 8 has been extremely emotional and the beginning must have hit a tender spot for a lot of people. While it is sad, it is true that a lot of elderly people feel like a burden to their children after they reach old age. And so it’s refreshing and hopefully inspiring to see Kang-ho accepting Young-soon and her problems not as a burden but something normal that he won’t mind helping her with as she is his mother. 

And while our time in Jouri has been fun, full of laughter and tears, it is time to get back the cold but calculating prosecutor Choi Kang-ho and the mystery that was established from the very first episode. We do hope that all the bad things he did may be justified and make up for whatever revenge he has planned.