Angry Mom: Episode 6

by girlfriday

Woohoo, now that a certain split personality love triangle is off my plate, I get to join in on the Angry Mom party. I really love Kim Hee-sun in this role, not to mention the hilarity of watching her mix it up with a whole new generation of young actors and blend right in among the resident badasses. I swear I could watch the Kang-ja and Bok-dong Show all day, especially when they’re revising the social order one brawl at a time.

 
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Manju One Bag – “어른과 아이사이” (In Between Adult and Child) [ Download ]

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EPISODE 6 RECAP

A night at the library is full of surprises for everyone. Ah-ran barely escapes being caught by Teacher Jung-woo (in her defense she was just looking for clues and he’s the one who showed up with Ae-yeon), and when Ae-yeon turns around to investigate a noise, she comes face to face with Kang-ja.

She looks like she’s seen a ghost, but maybe confronting the person you sent to jail will do that to you. Jung-woo asks if there’s someone there, and begins to approach. Kang-ja freezes, and he rounds the corner… and finds Noah standing there with a flashlight. Oh phew. It’s like a clown car of good guys. Anyone else wanna come out?

Noah is then doubly shocked, because he’s the only one who has sight lines to both parties—Ah-ran shushing Kang-ja and grabbing her away, and Jung-woo lurking around the library like a creeper with Ae-yeon. Ae-yeon smoothly offers an apology for needing some last-minute documents for the foundation, and everyone safely disperses.

Kang-ja doesn’t wait long before railing into Ah-ran for sneaking around in the library, but they can’t really get far because Noah catches up to them. The way they turn to him with matching looks of exasperation is priceless.

He takes them out for smoothies and demands an explanation, and seems to believe that Ah-ran fell asleep at her desk in the library and was just scared about being caught at school after hours. She asks that he not tell Jung-woo about this, and Noah agrees.

He asks if Ah-ran still believes that Jung-woo did something to Yi-kyung, and Ah-ran lies that she doesn’t think that anymore. Noah tells her that suspicion is hard to shut off, but that there are more good people than bad in this world, and that she should try trusting others.

Kang-ja knows better, and on their way home, she guesses rightly that this is why Ah-ran has returned to school—to prove her suspicions right about Jung-woo. Ah-ran swears that that isn’t the reason, but Kang-ja knows firsthand how difficult it is to suspect someone.

Her take is quite different from Noah’s, and she calls it the loneliest feeling in the world to live with a truth that no one else knows. Ah-ran is terrified, but Kang-ja says that they have to find out the truth either way—if Jung-woo is really guilty, then he’s capable of killing another girl and must be stopped. Kang-ja tells Ah-ran to stay out of it with a final: “Mom will do it.”

With their blacklist files secured, Jung-woo and Ae-yeon are feeling good about their hostile takeover. He tells her that the washing machine has started, and all they have to do is sit back while Chairman Hong gets washed away and Myeongseong becomes theirs.

Kang-ja shares the latest updates with Gong-joo, who wonders if maybe there really is something to Ah-ran’s suspicions. Kang-ja doesn’t know what motive Jung-woo would have for killing Yi-kyung, but decides that maybe it’s time to meet with Ae-yeon.

In the morning, Ah-ran tries to talk her mother down from whatever crazy scheme she’s cooking up, but Kang-ja simply reassures her that she’ll do whatever it takes to investigate Jung-woo, because that’s what a mother does.

They stop short when they spot bully Bok-dong outside the school. He’s back! Is it wrong that I’m this happy about it?

Top dog Sang-tae is busy trying to look cool (while poking at his eyeballs through his lens-less glasses, keh), but he’s the last to hear about the big showdown between Bok-dong and Kang-ja.

Outside, Kang-ja is demanding that apology that Bok-dong promised. Ah-ran doesn’t think that he had anything to do with Yi-kyung’s death, but he refuses to apologize to Ah-ran anyway, and asks if she wants to be buried next to her friend.

Kang-ja grabs his collar and asks if he wants to die, but he growls back that killing someone isn’t so easy—she’d have to become someone like him to kill. They’re interrupted by Sang-tae, who saunters over and tries to take control, but it’s clear that he’s skating on thin ice.

By now a crowd has gathered for the war and impending power reshuffling. Bok-dong ignores Sang-tae’s welcome, so Sang-tae chooses to claw at a nerve and asks if he had fun playing around with Yi-kyung. Blech you really are a cockroach on a power trip.

When Kang-ja’s anger flares up at that, Sang-tae orders Bok-dong to play around and dispose of her too. But to Sang-tae’s shock, Bok-dong balls up his fist and says that he can’t stir up any trouble while on probation. Sang-tae’s threats don’t seem to make the slightest dent, which seems to unnerve both boys, but it’s clear that Bok-dong is done taking orders.

Sang-tae screams that HIS word is law around here, but the fact that he has to argue it seems to take the bite out now. It’s telling that he’s the one who feels anxious about the crowd of onlookers, and he starts swinging a chair around to shoo them away.

He then chucks the chair at Bok-dong, who lets out a sigh before shedding his jacket. I love the Oh shit look on Sang-tae’s face when he realizes that he’s just poked the bear.

Bok-dong connects a massive punch to Sang-tae’s face, and Sang-tae rushes him, knocking them back into Ah-ran.

All hell breaks loose as the other kids start fighting each other, and Kang-ja starts throwing punches at both boys. Noah arrives to try and break up allllll of the fights, and yeah, that goes about as well as you’d think.

Cut to: Kang-ja, Sang-tae, and Bok-dong lined up across the table from Noah, all four of them looking like they crawled through a war zone to get here. The principal immediately slaps Bok-dong upside the head and blames him for stirring up trouble, and ushers Sang-tae away while kissing his ass.

Jung-woo warns Bok-dong that he could be expelled at the first sign of trouble, but plays the part of the benevolent teacher as he suggests that they keep this quiet to give him one last chance.

We know he has his reasons for keeping Bok-dong around, but Noah is happy about the leniency. Kang-ja is the last to be dealt with, and Noah says that her mother needs to come to school.

Once they’re alone, Jung-woo chides Bok-dong for starting trouble right away, and reminds him that he has one job at school: watch Ah-ran. Jung-woo tells him to use whatever means necessary to keep her from regaining her memories, and Bok-dong visibly quakes in fear.

Ah-ran asks Noah about what’ll happen to Kang-ja, and he says that her mom will have to come to school. At that, Ah-ran suddenly says that her mom has returned to Korea and that Noah should meet her.

Kang-ja tells Gong-joo to avoid being called to school at all costs, and decides to tell the school that her mother is going abroad on a business trip. Gong-joo says that Ae-yeon is on her way over right now, after hearing that this concerns Kang-ja.

The air is strained when Ae-yeon walks in, but Kang-ja is the first to go right up to her and grab her in a hug. Ae-yeon seems resistant at first but can’t resist Kang-ja’s warmth, and her eyes fill with tears as she lets Kang-ja hug her.

Gong-joo just eyes her suspiciously, still upset about how things were left back in high school. Still, it’s cool to see the three old friends sitting in one room now, and the girls bring Ae-yeon up to speed on Kang-ja’s crazy high-schooler cosplay.

She thinks they’re crazy, and Gong-joo asks pointedly if Ae-yeon plans to rat them out like she did in high school. Kang-ja is confident that she won’t betray them, and thanks Ae-yeon for not saying anything in the library.

But Gong-joo is still angry, and wants to know how Ae-yeon managed to go study abroad when she used to be so poor that she’d steal from the other kids. Kang-ja beat her up for that, but then took care of her and fed her from then on.

Ae-yeon doesn’t balk at that and admits that she did owe Kang-ja, but she can’t be happy about seeing them again even if she wants to, because of the trauma that they experienced together.

She gets up to go, and Kang-ja chases her out and surprises her again by saying, “Thank you.” Kang-ja says that she started a new life because of her, which is certainly the most positive way to look at jail time ever.

Ae-yeon’s eyes fill with tears again, and she spits back angrily that she’d rather have Kang-ja blame her and call her rotten names since she deserves it.

She adds defensively that she just did what she was supposed to, and Kang-ja calmly agrees with her that she sees that now that they’re adults. Kang-ja takes her friend’s hand and says one last time, “I have to protect my daughter.”

Ae-yeon has a drink alone, and remembers that horrible night when she saw Ahn Dong-chil crying over his brother’s dead body, and Kang-ja bloodied and crying next to him. She tosses back drink after drink and lets her tears spill.

Kang-ja comes home to find Noah sitting on her couch, and they’re both confused to see each other there. He guesses that she came over to see Ah-ran, and tells her that he’s waiting for Ah-ran to return with Grandma, as they wait for Mom to come home.

Without a second to spare, Kang-ja just grabs Noah and drags him outside. Of course that’s exactly when Grandma returns, and she calls out to Kang-ja in the street, calling her “child.” Kang-ja has no other choice but to grab Noah and run, and she quickly blurts out this story about this neighborhood grandma who lost her child and went crazy, and roams around calling everyone her child.

She manages to get him away and into a coffee shop, where she spins yet another tall tale about Ah-ran’s mother having severe depression with suicidal tendencies. She says that’s why Ah-ran’s mom was abroad, for treatment, and she heard all this from her mom, so Ah-ran doesn’t know.

Noah says that what Ah-ran told him about her mother makes sense now, and we flash back to her going on endlessly about how he should ignore everything her mother says because she never listens to other people and might even threaten him. Kang-ja rolls her eyes quietly.

Noah belatedly wonders why that crazy grandma called her Kang-ja, and guesses that the child she lost must’ve been named Kang-ja. It’s a good thing he’s so clueless and trusting.

Ae-yeon is drunk by the time that Dong-chil comes by, and he assumes that she’s drinking because of Jung-woo. He tells her not to get mixed up with that guy because Chairman Hong will be rid of him in no time.

But her mind is on something else entirely, and she asks, “Oppa, you didn’t kill him did you—Bum? Kang-ja killed him, right?” He shoves her menacingly and tells her never to speak about his brother’s death again, leaving her more terrified and confused than ever.

Ah-ran and Kang-ja have it out again over her thwarted attempt to out Mom’s secret, and Kang-ja tells her in no uncertain terms that she’s breaking the law to do this. That’s enough to stop Ah-ran, since she doesn’t actually want to see Mom in trouble with the law.

Grandma is pissed about Kang-ja ignoring her and running off with a strange man, and Ah-ran blurts that it was her teacher. So then Kang-ja lies that Noah came here looking for a bribe, and that she heroically shooed him away. This is one fancy web of lies we’re building here.

Noah’s dad Judge Park puts ointment on his back, and chuckles that he used to come home with bruises as a student and now he’s coming home with bruises as a teacher. Noah says that he has a lot of troubled students that come from troubled families, but when he mentions the principal’s obvious favoritism for the kids of rich and powerful families and wonders how he even became a school principal, Judge Park stiffens a little.

The principal has another conniption at school the next day, and demands that Bok-dong and Kang-ja’s parents be called in for a disciplinary hearing, for daring to put a scratch on precious Sang-tae’s head.

Bok-dong doesn’t have parents and Kang-ja’s mother is away, but the principal won’t hear it, and says that kids who don’t have parents shouldn’t cause trouble then. Um, seriously, how did you ever get a job working with children?

Ah-ran is either stupid or brave, because she goes back to the library in broad daylight to search for the trap door. She’s so engrossed that she doesn’t even notice someone creeping up on her until a hand is on her shoulder, and she gasps to find Bok-dong looming over her. Ohthankgod. I thought it’d be Jung-woo.

He takes her out to the construction site and yells at her to leave it alone—they aren’t supposed to know or remember anything, so that’s the way it has to stay. But Ah-ran asks how she can forget her friend, when she was just here laughing beside her a week ago.

Ah-ran steels herself and asks again if Jung-woo is the one who killed Yi-kyung. Bok-dong takes a step closer until he’s towering over her and answers, “Do you want me to tell you the truth? She didn’t commit suicide. She was killed. By you. You killed her.”

He gets emotional as he says that Yi-kyung would still be alive if Ah-ran had just left her to huddle alone in fear, but she had to come along and stir things up. Bok-dong: “So I killed her.” His eyes brim with tears.

Ah-ran slaps him across the face and says that Yi-kyung actually had sympathy for him, that he just took orders from above and that deep down, he might actually be a good person. But she thinks that Yi-kyung was wrong about him: “No, you’re just a pathetic dog.” A tear escapes just as she brushes past him, and he wipes it away with an angry fist.

After doing her background search on Ae-yeon, Gong-joo is sure that she’s not telling them everything she knows, and has her minions bring her to the club again. Gong-joo lets Kang-ja talk to her alone, and nearly has a panic attack when Noah calls to ask her to attend the disciplinary hearing. Gong-joo’s response? To go shopping, of course.

Ae-yeon scoffs when Kang-ja shares the rumor that Jung-woo had an affair with Yi-kyung and that he might’ve killed her. Kang-ja picks up on Ae-yeon’s defensiveness about Jung-woo having more refined taste, and guesses that Ae-yeon is romantically involved with him. She denies it, but it doesn’t sound very believable.

Jung-woo is busy toasting the foundation’s newest construction with a few key employees, Ah-ran’s father included. Ae-yeon joins him after a little while and eyes him suspiciously out of the corner of her eye when he isn’t looking, as Kang-ja’s “just a rumor” floats around in her head.

Meanwhile, Chairman Hong is busy dusting his safe for fingerprints, because he’s a total paranoid nutcase like that. He knows right away that it’s Ae-yeon’s doing, but he wonders if he should deal with her or let her dig her own grave next to Jung-woo, especially when Jung-woo’s father calls him to start funneling a ton of money through the washing machine.

Oh crap, Dong-chil arrives at school as Bok-dong’s guardian, which means he’s bound to run into Gong-joo and Kang-ja at the disciplinary hearing. Noah sits Kang-ja and Bok-dong down to have them write their apologies, and as soon as he leaves them alone, Kang-ja asks if Yi-kyung really killed herself because of him.

He gives a noncommittal, “And if she didn’t?” and Kang-ja picks up on that right away as his version of a denial. She gets up in face and asks eagerly if that means Jung-woo killed her. When he evades her questions, she clasps his hand to ask it again.

He yanks his hand away and suddenly gets all fidgety and weird, overreacting about the handhold. Kang-ja peers at him curiously and surmises that he’s never even held a girl’s hand before. That is so cute. He gets defensive at that, but she realizes straightaway that he couldn’t have fathered Yi-kyung’s baby. He moves over to a different table to avoid her, calling her crazy (since his orders are to keep up the ruse).

An hour passes and Gong-joo still hasn’t shown up, and thankfully Dong-chil gets bored enough to leave before she gets there. Noah suggests that Dong-chil stop by and say something to Bok-dong, even adding that a guardian shoulders responsibility for a child’s behavior.

Dong-chil looks like he might pop him in the mouth, but does as asked. Kang-ja hears him coming and scrambles under the desk just in time to avoid being seen, and Bok-dong interestingly covers for her without knowing why she’s hiding.

Kang-ja watches from her hiding place as Dong-chil kicks him for making trouble and orders him to just do as ordered. He adds that he takes care of his people, while Jung-woo doesn’t, and Kang-ja is more suspicious than ever.

Gong-joo finally arrives at school in her princessmobile, decked out in her best version of mom-wear and flanked by two minions. Dong-chil is on his way out as she heads in, but he only sees her from a distance, thank goodness. Ah-ran goes slackjawed when Noah greets her as Bang-wool’s mother and takes her inside.

Once she’s alone with the principal, she gets on her knees to beg for another chance, but when the principal wants a bribe instead, she pleasantly walks over to the door to lock it before beating him up. Jung-hee and her friends watch in awe as Gangsta Mom schools the principal.

Ah-ran and Kang-ja come tearing down the hall, and this time it’s Kang-ja’s turn to be mortified at her mom showing up. Kang-ja tells Gong-joo to clear her schedule tonight, because they’re going into the lion’s den.

So that night she arrives at Jung-woo’s house with instructions for Gong-joo to put their plan into motion. Kang-ja thinks that there’s definitely something suspicious about him, and is hoping that there’s some evidence.

Jung-woo is a little surprised to see Kang-ja at his door (under the pretense of needing his advice about a problem), but he seems to appreciate her best attempt at pouty seductive aegyo. Though obviously the act is hilarious to those of us who know what she’s really like.

She lays on the compliments pretty thick, about how he’s popular with the kids because he’s handsome and charismatic, and asks if he’s ever dated a student before. He halts for a split-second at that, but smoothly asks if Kang-ja has a crush on him.

She does her best impression of coy and asks if that’s okay, and he gives a vague, “It’s not not okay” in response. When he hands her an espresso, she purposely spills the whole thing on her shirt and asks for something to change into.

Jung-woo goes to his room to find clothes for her, and chuckles to himself that she’s bolder than he thought. Kang-ja sighs when Noah calls to nag her about the apology letter she’s supposed to write, and he happens to overhear Jung-woo offering her his clothing.

Noah’s mind immediately leaps to terrible places, and he’s not wrong, except for the whole sting operation part. He hurriedly looks up Jung-woo’s address.

When Kang-ja seems reluctant to go home, Jung-woo confirms that she’s a year older than her classmates. He puts a hand on her shoulder and says gently, “That’s why you seem more mature and adult than the other kids.” EWWWWWW. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. I mean, I know we knew this about him, but still, eeeeeeeeew.

But then after one long awkward beat, he quickly tells her that no matter how mature she is, it isn’t right for her to be acting this way with a teacher. They’re interrupted when he gets called downstairs by Gong-joo, who’s managed to somehow tip Kang-ja’s truck right into his car. Those are some strong minions.

Jung-woo is annoyed and tells her that they’ll just let insurance handle it, but Gong-joo asks for his help to climb out of the truck, successfully occupying him for a short while.

Upstairs, Kang-ja snoops around, but when she finds nothing out of the ordinary, she chides herself for being so suspicious of a nice teacher. She’s about to walk out of the bedroom when she spots the envelope that was delivered today, with no sender.

She starts to pry it open when Gong-joo calls that he’s already on his way back up, but Kang-ja stubbornly continues to peel the package open. She finally does, and out comes a positive pregnancy test and a handwritten note saying that by the time he reads this, he’ll know that if he messes with them again, she won’t just stand by anymore. It’s from Yi-kyung, though the note itself is unsigned.

Kang-ja’s eyes are open wide, literally and figuratively, as she takes in what this means. She only has a second to react though, because Jung-woo is already at his door, about to walk in on her.

 
COMMENTS

Okay, this show does a good job with the cliffhangers, because I’m always leaving every episode with an, “Aaaack! Ruuuun!” on my lips. It’s probably because they’ve done a good job with the villains, especially Jung-woo and Dong-chil—they make my blood run cold, and even when I know what they’re capable of, I’m newly horrified at every turn. Sometimes I’m screaming at Kang-ja or Ah-ran to stop being so goddamn brave and making me nervous all the time, but it’s a nice feeling to experience suspense at every turn.

I’m really enjoying the Kang-ja/Bok-dong parallel, and really how much Kang-ja identifies with all of the students since she’s seen her fair share of teen horrors. I just want so much for Kang-ja to save Bok-dong, because he’s starting to show signs that he’d really like for someone to believe in him. His breakdown at Ah-ran’s words was so sad, and it just made me want a mom-daughter tag team rescue so badly. They could make him a better person, and feed him food, and be a family. Okay, baby steps—first turn him into a decent human being. Is it bad to hope that he hits Sang-tae a few more times first? It was so satisfying to see him rebel.

I’m beginning to realize that this is Kang-ja’s pattern—she makes good people out of everyone she comes into contact with, though obviously not everyone repays the favor with kindness. I find her friendship with Ae-yeon so interesting because Kang-ja doesn’t hold a grudge at all when she easily could, while Ae-yeon seems to hate herself and carry a host of guilt. She rightly should, even if Kang-ja has learned to be very accepting and grateful of how her life turned out. But it seems that Ae-yeon has always had a chip on her shoulder about her parents losing everything and becoming dirt poor, and that she’s been quite mercenary her whole life. She really only seems to have remorse over testifying against Kang-ja, though now we know that she believes the lie that Dong-chil told her. I’m hoping that once she learns the whole truth, she’ll end up making it up to Kang-ja in a big way.

And though the characters keep the darker parts of the story engrossing, I’m so grateful for Noah’s brand of sunniness and his constant hijinks with Kang-ja. They’re such a bright spot, and it’s especially fun now that Ah-ran is back at school and complicating things. He’s such a thorn in Kang-ja’s side, but he means SO well that you can’t ever be mad at him, because he really just does care that much. I can’t believe how quickly Kang-ja walked right into Jung-woo’s house (and I can’t wait for the fallout), but I was mainly relieved that Ah-ran wouldn’t have to carry this secret alone anymore. It really did make her seem so alone, and I know that Kang-ja is a fiercely protective mom who would do anything for Ah-ran, but I think I had just been waiting for the moment when she took Ah-ran’s word for something and started to trust her daughter over everyone else. It feels like a big step for mom and daughter, and perhaps they can actually begin to communicate and work together.

 
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