[Drama 2019] Shady Mom in Law, 수상한 장모

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I would love if Man Soo come against shady mom to keep her in check. I do wonder what is his true agenda because it’s clear that he seem to know things about shady mom. He had his men watching Jenny so I wonder if they also saw shady mom on the scene. It would be interesting if he’s the one sending her threatening text messages.

[nohamahamoud2002]

Lee Dong Joo is a wonderful father and caring brother, I like him very much.

 

The shady mom is a nightmare

[msmy]

I'm surprised at the pace of this drama in that most dramas give you at least 20 or so episodes of "scenarios" of the evil deeds without the leads knowing what's going on, and then it moves to the next phase.   But this is peeling back the Mom "onion" pretty fast so that even Jenny is thrown off base.  ES is so upfront with his findings, I can't even imagine what episode 50 will bring.  I only hope the writer resists the typical kidnapping, beat 'em up, mental institution confinement, or other "accident" creations that are pretty standard in dailies.

[celebrianna]

@msmy, I’m with you. I’m quite worried about the pacing since it’s 120 episodes but I’m hoping the writer continue to show the morally fit characters as sensible. ES has been so sagacious about the terrible acts orchestrated by shady mom that it actually makes me a little nervous about if the writer can keep this up.

 

However, I was reading a blog yesterday about Korean dailies and it said that Ugly Alert had much better development and character growth than the more modern dailies. Ugly Alert was my first daily and Love Til The End was my second daily. The latter daily reminded me very much of the US daytime soap operas I used to watch. Ugly Alert however was very enjoyable for me for the most part. The blog writer mentioned that old dailies actually had better development starting with the “falling in love” stage to the having kids stage and the evil characters got punished.

[joccu]

this daily's start has been really good that I'm actually scared that long the way it goes haywire.

In the old days( 2000-2012) they actually made good dailies and the dailys were like 150 episodes or more. There's been only couple good daily dramas in the past five years. 

 

MAnsoo is really intresting. What does he really want?

 

 

 

 

[celebrianna]

@joccu, yes Man Soo is currently an intrigue. When he first appeared he seemed harmless and fully deceived but the later episodes reveal that he has men tailing Jenny and his soliloquy often give the impression that he knows something about Shady Mom. He also seem to want a connection with J Group and shady mom/Jenny. I keep wondering if he is the one sending the anonymous text messages to Shady Mom and somehow wants her to come in contact with the chairman of J Group considering the chairman’s son was killed by a female criminal that very well could be shady mom. Or, is his agenda about revenge for something in the past. If he own hotel chains I don’t see why he arranged the deal between Jenny and J Group unless it’s really for Jenny’s benefit.

[lu09]

The preview, don't tell me she got caught by Shady lady? Is that why she dropped the phone?. And what's with the fake tears? I knew it was too early for Jenny to get out of her fake mom's control.

[Lmangla]

11 hours ago, msmy said:

I'm surprised at the pace of this drama in that most dramas give you at least 20 or so episodes of "scenarios" of the evil deeds without the leads knowing what's going on, and then it moves to the next phase.   But this is peeling back the Mom "onion" pretty fast so that even Jenny is thrown off base.  ES is so upfront with his findings, I can't even imagine what episode 50 will bring.  I only hope the writer resists the typical kidnapping, beat 'em up, mental institution confinement, or other "accident" creations that are pretty standard in dailies.

great point @msmy; @joccu @celebrianna ~ this daily is interesting because the point of the drama does not seem to be whether shady mom is shady. in fact, right from the get go, we are told shady mom is no good. so now that all these characters are slowly finding out, it looks like the point of the drama is not about discovering the villain but rather about how the villain will get punished.

 

so whatever this black rose case is, it is a cold case. 25 years ago was when she kidnapped jenny but the crimes they wanted her for was done before that. so is there a statute of limitations that would prevent her being charged? or has she committed other crimes during these 25 years that can be used to jail her. how did she keep her secrets for 25 years? shady mom seems like she also has people working under her and so what exactly does she do. so all these questions will be answered slowly and the focus will be more on getting justice -- how does one put away a criminal, especially one who has eluded police for so many years that they don't even have a name or photo to figure out who is this black rose. from these documentaries I have seen, even if they have a suspect, it is notoriously difficult to prove a cold case because all the evidence is long gone.

 

also the dynamic between jenny and shady mom will be interesting to watch -- so was reading this article of a real life case where this lady kidnapped this baby from the hospital. as an adult, this girl found out she was kidnapped but she was still attached to the kidnapper and the extended family. she actually had a tough time bonding with her biological parents. so those kind of dynamics can also be explored here and it would make for interesting dramatic moments -- how is jenny going to bond with song ah and her mom; will she be able to accept that she is actually kyung ah? how will she deal with the public reveal of her life and what happened? so if we look at the fall out that could happen after shady mom's true face is revealed, there is plenty of room for high drama. so perhaps the writer is wanting to explore more of those kind of scenarios?

[lu09]

@Lmangla Now that you put it this way, it makes sense. The statute limitation passed for whatever crime that she committed as Black Rose 25 years ago. As for the kidnapping case of Jenny, considering the fact that she is still harming her, she is gonna get charged as long as Jenny reports the crime and ES gets an evidence against her. I also wonder how she got to hide her crimes and how many people are under her including the hitman? Makes you wonder if she has connections in the underground world. Whatever it is, she is dangerous and I don't know how they are gonna get her for her crimes. Jenny will get affected badly since she is a public figure but I believe ES will be there for her. 

 

That real case is interesting. Truth be told, we can't blame her for not connecting with her bio parents. Even I would feel like we are strangers. It's like telling someone their family is not theirs when you have grown up with them half of your life. Not to mention, Kidnapping. Poor her, hope she is doing ok. Back to the drama; I don't think Jenny will care lol. Maybe in the beginning, but if shady lady continues her sh-it and even tries to physically harm ES, then that's a different story. 

 

When ES and Jenny get married, I want him to take control of Jenny's money and company because if shady lady is no longer in charge of it, then she can't pay these men to hurt her, spend on herself or try to send Jenny to prison for embezzlement for whatever excuse she cooks up. My imagination is running wild here lol. That means this drama is amazing and interesting to watch.

[Lmangla]

23 minutes ago, lu09 said:

When ES and Jenny get married, I want him to take control of Jenny's money and company because if shady lady is no longer in charge of it, then she can't pay these men to hurt her, spend on herself or try to send Jenny to prison for embezzlement for whatever excuse she cooks up. My imagination is running wild here lol. That means this drama is amazing and interesting to watch.

yea there are lots of possibilities. early on, kyun in's editor at the magazine said that there is a rumour that jenny is a fool because shady mom actually controls all of the money and jenny has nothing to her name. if that is the case, then, getting her money as well as her design work may also play into the story. does jenny own her designs? or is it owned by the corporation which shady mom manages? if jenny leaves, would she still be allowed to design or has shady mom written some non-competition clause in that jenny can never leave? so, we should probably expect all sort of nefarious back up plans shady mom might have up her sleeve. it should be fun to watch...

[msmy]

Don't  know  about  Korean law, but in the  U.S. there is no statute of limitations for  murder.  A criminal can  be brought  to justice  decades later.

[Lmangla]

1 hour ago, msmy said:

Don't  know  about  Korean law, but in the  U.S. there is no statute of limitations for  murder.  A criminal can  be brought  to justice  decades later.

am not sure of current status but there used be a statue of limitations and that was covered in movie "memories of murder". if you read this article, they removed the limitation but only for certain kind of crimes? so it is kind of confusing. guess, we will figure it out as we watch the drama...

https://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-removes-statute-limitations-murder-041530520.html

[celebrianna]

I do wonder why any government would create statute of limitations on murder. The person should be punished for the crime regardless of when the truth is discovered. In any case, I hope shady mom ultimately end up behind bars.

[Lmangla]

so it gets a bit creepier. while kyung in and song ah were getting to know each other, kyung in asked about the missing sister. song ah said that she was lost when young but they don't believe she is alive as a child was found dead in river. so who is this new child now? just a coincidence that a child of similar age and build was found or did shady mom simply get rid of another child?

 

and dong joo agreed to take on the job as personal assistant to the chairman though he is hesitant. from the preview, he seems to be aware that he might have to start working on the black rose case.. and the preview is weird, why is shady mom crying? because of something kyung in wrote?

 

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I remember you made a lot of good points about why Jenny continue to assume a passive role in her own life. I confess the more I watch of Jenny, my sympathy is dwindling. I like her a lot as a person but if, for instance, her mother marry her off to Man Soo I can’t say that I would feel sorry for her. I think it’s just that I cannot relate to how passive she still remains when her mother is doing or saying outrageous things. An example would be like when her shady mom told Eun Seok, his aunt and his cousin that she has a fiancé and her fiancé would be very upset or something like that. Jenny didn’t say a word to clarify the truth even prompting the chairman to lecture Eun Seok that he shouldn’t be interested in an engaged/married woman. So I’ve been trying to be patient with Jenny but if she isn’t willing to start taking an active interest in her life I don’t really feel sorry for her.

 

I absolutely enjoy Song-ah, her mom, Kyung In, Ma Eum, and Dong Joo’s continued development. The scenes are a warm contrast to Eun Seok’s family although his family is not that bad. Even though his aunt plots against him, she doesn’t come off as hateful like some other greedy moms. She’s indeed a troublemaker but she’s not terrible to me on a grand scale although it’s pretty horrible that she didn’t seem to love her grand daughter. I can’t wait until she finds out her silly son got dumped. I hope he never shows up in front of Song-ah again.

[Lmangla]

@celebrianna ~ am going to be honest, am not really feeling sorry for jenny at all. hahahaha.... like you said, she is way too passive that it is a bit of mystery on how she can be laid back in terms of her own life. for me, the other characters are far more interesting especially eun seok in how bold and direct he is. am also liking dong joo and his family and their interactions with song ah + mom. also, like you said, even the aunt and coz sis don't seem that annoying because they are kind of dim-witted and know their limits. am not sure what the role of young man now that he is back in seoul and hiding his failed self.hoping that he won't be paired with reporter girl... basically shady mom and man soo have far more layers than jenny. but the show doesn't even feel like it is about jenny really. she seems more like a plot device. so just watching for the other characters at the moment and waiting for the showdowns!

 

 

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla @lu09 I can tell that you both watch quite a few of these dailies because you’re speculating plot that hasn’t even entered my mind. I kept wondering if Kyung In will have a life outside of her career pursuit as a reporter and outside of her development at home but it never occurred to me that the writer might pair her up with that good-for-nothing guy. I hope we don’t see anything like this for her. Strangely though, when you raised this idea, I recalled Kyung In telling Song-Ah she did well to dump such a guy. This also reminds me how much I enjoyed Kyung In speaking so affectionately of her brother’s qualities to Song-Ah.

[Lmangla]

kekekke... @celebrianna ~ after watching a few dramas, you sort of get the formula that they will always try to pair up the characters. it is not often, they remain single. so automatically, one starts thinking of the possibilities. hahahah..sometimes, they will introduce a new character halfway through.. so maybe someone there.  but yea, she was disdainful of young man. hopefully her brain is still switched on and there are no interactions between the two. young man has even less brains than his mom and sister.

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I hope her brain stays switched on. She definitely deserve better. In their conversation Song-Ah said he was actually dating two women at the same time and they both came to her to tell her about the other. That guy isn’t worth it. Perhaps his storyline will be to join his mother in thwarting Eun Seok because he seem to think he’s the current heir to J Group.

[marrez1]

4 hours ago, celebrianna said:

@Lmangla, I hope her brain stays switched on. She definitely deserve better. In their conversation Song-Ah said he was actually dating two women at the same time and they both came to her to tell her about the other. That guy isn’t worth it. Perhaps his storyline will be to join his mother in thwarting Eun Seok because he seem to think he’s the current heir to J Group.

 

4 hours ago, Lmangla said:

kekekke... @celebrianna ~ after watching a few dramas, you sort of get the formula that they will always try to pair up the characters. it is not often, they remain single. so automatically, one starts thinking of the possibilities. hahahah..sometimes, they will introduce a new character halfway through.. so maybe someone there.  but yea, she was disdainful of young man. hopefully her brain is still switched on and there are no interactions between the two. young man has even less brains than his mom and sister.

I find it interesting to see your different opinions on the possibility that Kyung In and Young man dating together. It's a good thing that in this kind of drama they always try to put together still characters.
Personally I would be surprised to see them together, but it's no coincidence that during this last episode we were shown the boy during the conversations of the two girls
I think he's likely to change and become a better man, anyway,  we've seen worse  lol,  where he usually says that a man can change through a woman