At the beginning of Angry Mum, Kim Hee-sun's titular character, Jo Kang-ja says there are different types of power: age, violence, speech, and money. And nothing can win against money. Later she revises this hierarchy of power when contemplating her difficult relationship with her disengaged teen daughter, Oh Ah-ran, to include love. When it comes to love, the one who loves more loses.

There could not be a more-brilliantly insightful opening to this evocative, powerful, visceral, offbeat and oftentimes brilliant drama about a woman who disguises herself as a highschool student to help her daughter: a traumatised victim of school violence. As Kang-ja begins to peel off the layers of the incident that hurt her daughter, she discovers that the issues leading up to that bullying are more pervasive and more systemic than she could have bargained for.

Once one suspends their disbelief enough to accept that this middle-aged woman could pass for an 18-year-old highschool student, Angry Mum delivers an impressive 16 episodes of television filled with complex, fun, and often quirky characters and a surprising sense of joy for a show dealing with such serious issues.

As well as Kim Hee-sun's fierce, blunt, fiery and fiercely-loyal Jo Kang-ja, the show also has standout performances from Jisoo as troubled student Go Bok-dong, Ji Hyun-woo as idealistic schoolteacher Park No-ah and even the often-bland Kim Yoo-jung as Oh Ah-ran. But it's Go See-hee who steals the show as the badass, overweight, tattooed gangster Princess, Han Gong-joo, the second titular Angry Mum of the series.

Angry Mum works at meshing broad, often crazy physical comedy with much-more serious themes and messages. One can be laughing along one minute at the antics of Han Gong-joo and the next minute be stunned by a dark turn in events. Unlike other shows that attempted this and failed - Strong Woman Do Bong Soon comes to mind - Angry Mum makes it work in a way that makes the show a cohesive fun-tragic whole that has you laughing despite the darkness.

Kdramas often pretend that sexual assault and harassment and predation don’t exist. This show does not do that and it benefits from being more honest about the world we live in. It also frequently overturns tropes, clichés and stereotypes in a way that allows you to be surprised (and often horrified) at the way the plot progresses.

More importantly, it has a truly powerful message about problems being solved with love rather than violence. Not in a trite “love conquers all” way but in a “people need to feel somebody is on their side” way. And if the wrong person gives that love, then terrible things can happen.

Like many 16 episode kdramas, Angry Mum is not perfect. I have quibbles and that's why this didn't get a full 10/10. Once the plot shifts to politics, it becomes less compelling and the show struggled to maintain its pace through the whole run. But while those quibbles are there, they don't detract from this drama as a whole. I highly recommend it.