In the twelfth episode of The Good Bad Mother, Kang-ho regains his memories and decides to finish what he had started before his accident. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.
Recap
As Hwang Soo-hyun’s murder is being investigated, Assemblyman Oh joins hands with Chairman Song. Once he wins the election, Woobyeok Group will be protected by him. They decide to kill Kang-ho and make it seem like he was the father of Hwang Soo-hyun’s child.
When Kang-ho and Young-soon hear about the fire and go to the farm, they are followed by Sam-sik, his parents, Mr. Cha, and Mr. So. Sam-sik is attacked by the men who started the fire but is once again rescued by Mr. Cha and Mr. So.
The other villagers also find out about the fire and arrive at the scene. Since Kang-ho helped Young-soon get out through the window, she tells the villagers that Kang-ho is still inside. Sam-sik goes inside to save Kang-ho, but it is Kang-ho who carries him out safely.
The two of them are taken to the hospital, and Sam-sik’s parents tell him that they only care about his well-being. When the police question Sam-sik and Young-soon, Sam-sik informs them about the man who set fire to the farm and attacked him.
However, Young-soon lies and tells them that she is responsible for the fire. Mi-joo overhears this and questions Sam-sik about it. Sam-sik has no choice but to tell her that it was the work of Assemblyman Oh’s men and that Kang-ho is in danger.
Mi-joo then tells Young-soon about the DNA test, and the two of them figure out that Assemblyman Oh is trying to kill Kang-ho because he is scared that Kang-ho might regain his memories. Mi-joo wants to report this to the police, but Young-soon stops her.
Going to the police got Kang-ho’s father killed, so Young-soon does not want to repeat the same mistake again. She wants to go into hiding with Kang-ho.
When she tells Mi-joo that she had to be a bad mother to make Kang-ho a powerful man, Mi-joo assures her that Kang-ho never resented her and that he was able to endure everything when he was preparing for the bar exam because of Young-soon.
Young-soon realizes that the woman Kang-ho mentioned in his journal is Mi-joo. Young-soon apologizes to Mi-joo on Kang-ho’s behalf, and Mi-joo finally tells her that Ye-jin and Seo-jin are Kang-ho’s children, not knowing that Kang-ho is awake and listening.
Young-soon then reveals that Kang-ho never abandoned Mi-joo. He left her because he wanted to keep her safe while he got revenge for his father’s murder. Mi-joo now knows what happened to Kang-ho’s father.
As soon as Kang-ho wakes up in the hospital, he is arrested by the police for Hwang Soo-hyun’s murder, as someone sent pictures of Kang-ho with Hwang Soo-hyun to them. They know that Kang-ho visited her and her son at the postpartum care center.
They think that Kang-ho was the father of the child and that he killed them to hide the truth about his illegitimate child in order to marry Ha-young. Kang-ho then pretends to be mentally ill, and the police have to let him go.
However, Young-soon knows that Kang-ho has fully recovered and has regained his memories. Young-soon apologizes to him for everything that she did in the past, and Kang-ho forgives his mother.
He now needs to find evidence against Assemblyman Oh and Director Song, as Young-soon burned everything. He cannot go into hiding because he knows that they will keep trying to find him until he is dead. He needs to send them to prison before they kill him.
He thinks about the time when he went to check up on Mi-joo after their breakup. He saw her with the twins and her friend’s boyfriend. He was heartbroken because he assumed that Mi-joo had children with another man.
He now knows that the twins are his children and apologizes to them for not recognizing them sooner. He also meets Mi-joo and tells her everything, but she cannot hate him because she knows that he was also suffering back then.
Baek Hoon-ah and Young-soon mend their differences, and Young-soon invites him to her dinner party. He thanks the villagers for everything that they have done for her and plans to live with them happily.
Mr. Cha and Mr. So find out that it was Chairman Song who tried to kill Kang-ho, and Chairman Song learns that Kang-ho did not kill Hwang Soo-hyun. It was Assemblyman Oh’s men who killed her.
While Kang-ho starts looking for Cho Yeong-jae, the man who took Hwang Soo-hyun on his boat the night she died, Mi-joo finds a video of Ha-young drugging Kang-ho’s water before the accident on the twins’ phone.
Mi-joo then takes Sam-sik with her to meet Ha-young and discovers that Ha-young has been sent to a hospital. She then remembers the name of the hospital that Ha-young threatened to send Mi-joo to when Mi-joo got into a fight with her at the nail salon. She decides to go to that hospital with Sam-sik.
Meanwhile, the investigation officer, who used to work with Kang-ho, helps him look for Cho Yeong-jae and keeps Kang-ho’s recovery a secret because Kang-ho helped him when his mother needed surgery in the past.
Review
- This episode prepares the two sides before the final confrontation between Kang-ho and the people who killed his father. Unlike before, Kang-ho now has his mother, Mi-joo, and Sam-sik, who certainly make the episode more entertaining.
- Sam-sik’s character is meant to provide comic relief when things get too heavy in the show, and Yoo In-soo’s performance as well as the show’s writing get it right. Sam-sik trying to save Kang-ho from the fire is an amusing scene that provides comic relief without breaking the flow of the narrative.
- The episode also has plenty of emotional scenes, but Kang-ho apologizing to the twins is the one that stands out. The scene also highlights the difference between the kind of father Kang-ho is and the kind of father Assemblyman Oh is.
Also Read: The Good Bad Mother season 1 episode 11 recap & review
