Loyalty
Episode 15 of Green Mothers Club starts with Geon-U’s arrest. His film has been cancelled and his reputation is in tatters. It turns out Yeong-Mi handed over the USB drive to give to Eun-Pyo, intending to be passed on to Jae-Ung to get him arrested.
With Geo-U gone, Yeong-Mi realizes the error of her ways by staying silent all this time, and apologizes to Eun-Pyo for being compliant in all this. As for Jae-Ung, after Geon-U’s arrest, he manages to close in on another case too, which happens to be this illegal drug trade. We’ll get back to that in a bit.
Chun-Hui meets Eun-Pyo, admitting she’s sold her car to make more money to get by. Eun-Pyo decides to give her a lift back after picking up her gear. She even hands over a hot drink from a warmer for her too. It’s here Chun-Hui discusses her woes with her mother-in-law and Ju-Seok’s family, including how they always saw this as a fraudulent marriage given where she’s come from. Chun-hui has always put on a brave face but now, she’s decided to make a change in her life, divorcing Ju-Seok.
In town, Chun-Hui meets with Yun-Ju next and clears the air. Obviously given the scandal from before, Yun-Ju is pretty hostile. However, she soon hears the extent of Yu-Bin’s condition and softens. Chun-Hui admits to putting too much pressure on Yu-Bin and apologizes for what’s transpired between them. They then all decide to do shots of soju, continuing to drink right the way through the day.
Meanwhile, Ju-Seok sneaks into the doctor’s clinic and tries to steal all the drugs. With his contact standing outside, he paces back and forth but runs into Chun-Hui when she leaves the bar. Chun-Hui is spooked and tries to run off but ends up barging into Ju-Seok as he’s leaving. Drugs are spilled all over the floor, prompting Chun-Hui to hurriedly leave with him.
Yun-Ju heads home and confronts Man-Su over what she’s seen. He admits that Ju-Seok has been goading him to bring drugs but Man-Su has refused every time. Yun-Ju makes Man-Su promise not to get involved with either of them in the future, which he tentatively nods to.
Chun-Hui learns that Ju-Seok feels pressured into selling these drugs after being shunned by his family. He’s been threatened by these shadowy people and they’ve even hinted at going after Chun-Hui and their children too. As they argue, she reveals who Eun-Pyo’s husband is and what he does for a living.
Now, Jae-Ung is deep in this drug case (which is linked to Chun-Hui and Ju-Seok of course), and he sits down with Eun-Pyo later on, excitedly chatting about his role. He tells her that he could be on the verge of big promotion soon too. However, Eun-Pyo is completely nonchalant to him, given she’s too busy thinking about how Chun-hui is linked to this drug deal.
Meanwhile, Rhea heads out for some food. It turns out her ties with Jin-Ha are just a coincidence, because of course they are. She’s not a twin or anything like that, she just looks identical to Jin-Ha. However, Luis cryptically admits that Jin-Ha died because of her. Quite what this means is still a mystery.
Anyway, despite her name being Rhea Bennett she’s “just a friend.” Luis has Henry meet her but he’s scared and doesn’t want to, demanding to be taken back to grandma’s house. I mean, I’m not quite sure what Luis expected here. Eventually he’s taken back home, where Luis has Rhea check on him in bed. He’s coming down with a fever.
While Eun-Pyo prepares to meet Professor Lee and clear up their past drama, Jae-Ung returns and confirms he’s arrested 20 people connected with this case. While he heads off to wash up, Eun-Pyo checks Jae-Ung’s phone, noticing a message telling him that Chun-Hui is connected to the case. She’s the “needle lady” they’re looking for.
Eun-Pyo makes a big decision and decides to ring Chun-Hui, giving her the heads up. She also deletes the message from Dong-Seok. This obviously buys Chun-Hui a bit more time but he’s going to find out soon and issue a warrant for her arrest. Eun-Pyo suggests she turn herself in.
Instead, Chun-hui decides to pack her things and leave for Canada, evading the police. She asks Man-Su for money too but he gets cold feet and decides not to at the last second.
In the middle of her big meeting, Chun-hui rings Eun-Pyo and asks for her help. She bails on Professor Lee and heads off, handing over 5 million won in the process. It’s all she can give given her family are also in debt too. Eun-Pyo drives her to the airport while Jae-Ung interviews Ju-Seok in the police station. He covers for his wife, at least for now. It turns out Chun-Hui has every intention of returning after dropping off her kids in Canada; a way of protecting them from these shadowy dealers after her.
However, Jae-Ung happens to be listening to all of this. He calls out Eun-Pyo for helping a criminal escape and how what she’s done is actually a criminal offense unto itself. Off the back of this, Jae-Ung immediately calls it in and decides to give out a no-fly order at Incheon airport. Jae-Ung is livid, given this is his job, but Eun-Pyo once more defies him and constantly rings Chun-Hui to warn her. When she fails to get through, Eun-pyo rushes down to the airport.
When Chun-Hui awakens, she leaves her phone on the counter and Yu-bin’s teddy too. Snatching up both of these, Jae-Ung and his team hurry to try and find Chun-Hui and the kids. Eun-Pyo also arrives and leads the family out the airport, forcing them to run… right into Jae-Ung. Eun-Pyo stands in the way, showing where her loyalties really lie.
The Episode Review
Maybe I’m in the minority here but I really don’t support Eun-Pyo’s actions. Not only that but she’s been so cold and callous toward her husband too. It’s tough to watch and regardless of how she feels about Chun-Hui, she’s still helping a criminal to escape. Whether it be selling drugs on the black market or murdering someone, Chun-Hui has broken the law and Eun-Pyo’s “heroics” aren’t doing her any favours. In fact, they’re in danger of damaging her own prospects.
I understand loyalty to one’s friends but compared to Man-Su, who decides not to follow through with taking a loan out and staying loyal to his family (true strength right there), Eun-Pyo’s character is further assassinated. With 1 episode left, it’s really not looking good for her to redeem herself. Oh, and what happened to this show being about motherhood and raising one’s kids? Have we abandoned that completely now?
This show has massively dropped the ball over the weeks, and nowhere else is that typified more than with this weird Rhea/Jin-Ha situation. Unless I completely misread the situation, it turns out their identical looks are just a coincidence. Luis just happened to marry someone who looks identical to his adoptive sister and apparently that’s been cause for Jin-Ha’s death for… reasons? Does this mean Luis killed his wife? It’s weird, creepy and feels like a plotline that even Penthouse rejected because it was too stupid.
Either way though, this has not been a show to remember and this late in the game, it seems Green Mothers Club is beyond redemption.
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Episode Rating
(2)
The Eun Pyo situation is not indicative of anything they’ve shown us about her personality and life in the previous 14 episodes. In fact, they’ve shown her to be a timid, morally upright and upright person. Her actions have come out of left field imo. Chun-Hui lied about her, and lied about Dong-Seok when she knew that her daughter had made the whole thing up. Did I miss where Chun-Hui apologized and cleared Dong-Seok and Eun Pyo’s reputation to all the mothers? Up to the very end, Chun-Hui is using Eun Pyo and Man-su.
The topper for me was Eun Pyo erasing the message on Jae-Ung’s phone and warning Chun-Hui. I don’t believe for a second Eun Pyo is naive enough to think than Chun-Hui would return to SK and ‘do her time’, because nothing in the plot has shown us that Eun Pyo thinks that way. The betrayal of her husband, her repeated breaking of the law only showed me that as in so many SK dramas, the writer threw the kitchen sink into the plot in the last few episodes to add tension. In the real world, Eun Pyo would be so close to being arrested herself and probably a hairs breath away from having Jae-ung file for divorce. But this being a SK drama that was really fun (until the last couple of episodes), my guess is there will be zero consequences for Eun Pyo.
I couldn’t agree more with the reviewer’s take on this episode. We’ve drastically strayed from the original premise of the show, which is fine, but we’ve gone into a seriously creepy storyline. Luis and Rhea are siblings through adoption and even though they aren’t related by blood their relationship reeks of incestuous behavior. Then, thinking Henry would be okay meeting daddy’s ‘friend’ who’s a carbon copy of his dead mom is beyond the pale thinking. I hope ep 16 wraps up why this particular storyline was even introduced. To reveal Luis as Jin-ha’s murderer? Or the movie director? Or was Jin -ha so stoned by Chun-Hui administering propofol and so traumatized by finding out about Luis’ adopted sister being his lover that she committed suicide? (That whole identical twin plot point is cheesy to me.)
The Eun Pyo situation is not indicative of anything they’ve shown us about her personality and life in the previous 14 episodes. Her actions have come out of left field imo. Chun-Hui lied about her, and lied about Dong-Seok when she knew that her daughter had made the whole thing up. Did I miss where Chun-Hui apologized and cleared Dong-Seok and Eun Pyo’s reputation to all the mothers? Up to the very end, Chun-Hui is using Eun Pyo and Man-su.
The topper for me was Eun Pyo erasing the message on Jae-Ung’s phone and warning Chun-Hui. I don’t believe for a second Eun Pyo is naive enough to think than Chun-Hui would return to SK and ‘do her time’, because nothing in the plot has shown us that Eun Pyo thinks that way. In fact, they’ve portrayed her as a morally upright, if not uptight, person. The betrayal of her husband, her repeated breaking of the law only showed me that as in so many SK dramas, the writer threw the kitchen sink into the plot in the last few episodes to add tension. In the real world, Eun Pyo would be so close to being arrested herself and probably a hairs breath away from having Jae-ung file for divorce. But this being a SK drama that was really fun (until the last couple of episodes), my guess is there will be zero consequences for Eun Pyo.
Isn’t Eunpyo’s choice to protect Chunhui motivated in large part out of the bond they’ve built through both being mothers? Eunpyo mentions that multiple times in her explanation of her motives. She doesn’t want Chunhui’s children to go through more psychological harm; For them to witness their mother being arrested.
I honestly really like Eunpyo. Her character is clearly someone who has never been truly able to connect with anyone- even her husband. Then, when Chunhui comes along, she meets someone who she can relate to for the first time in her life. Would I do what she did? No. But that doesn’t change the fact that her motives are understandable.
Also, I admonishing Chunhui/ Eunpyo for the situation they find themselves in kind of misses the point somewhat. This situation is tragic. There isn’t a clear good/bad person. Chunhui and Eunpyo both have motives (which to my mind) are understandable. Jaeung is doing his job and upholding the law. It’s the human choices (literally the title of the episode in the UK version) which characters make in response to a dire situation which drives the show at this point. I honestly think that’s great and it generates a lot of tension and complexity.
A lot of Korean drama is held together by plots driven by personal debt. It’s unavoidable- Squid Game, Extracurricular, Parasite. Some of the best Korean drama (in my opinion) grapples with Korea’s debt crisis and shows people going to morally questionable ends to keep their heads above water. Green Mothers’ Club is one of those and I honestly think that’s great.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. I’m not criticising what you do. I just strongly disagree with your opinion. 🙂