* For those who have watched the drama.
Back when the drama aired, we all disliked Chairwoman Kim Ho Ran. Her relentless harassment of Eun Soo seemed way over the top and a bit unwarranted. Granted she lost her son, was it necessary to be so cruel? Then, when it was revealed in the last leg that she was the one behind the killing of her son Jeon Gi Bom, you are not as surprised but more confused.
She framed Ji Eun So (the female lead / her daughter-in-law) but why did she harass her so much? She had already won at this point in succesfully framing Eun Soo as the killer. So why keep chasing Eun Soo to make sure she was unhappy and to snatch any piece of happiness she had? Was she worried that Eun Soo would connect the dots and try to prove her innocence?
What was behind the rage against Eun Soo? Was it just PR? Was she trying to overplay the hurt mother role? Why was she making a drawing of Gi Bom? No one would see those sketches -- so why did she then make them? As you are watching, on one level, you get the rage but at the same time, you are confused, it seems so overblown that it was confusing. Then when the drama ended, her hatred of Eun Soo didn't make much sense. Was she just some sort of sociopath?
So many questions -- it made better sense when I re-watched it after two years. This time, we have the leisure of already knowing she was the killer behind it all and so you are more focused on absorbing her antics.
Ho Ran thrives on making other people miserable. She loves to gaslight and turn it around by making it seem like the other person is at fault and they are a bit crazy for thinking anything else. She enjoys driving in the nails to ensure the person is suffering. She also does not like her authority challenged in any way -- rather than a regular response, she goes farther by a wide mile to destroy the person who would dare to challenge her.
Besides those characteristics, the history that was given a little made a bit more sense. She was physically abused by her husband and it is Gi Beom as young teenager who defended her. When I first watched it, I was under the assumption that Kim Woong (her bodyguard/driver/planning dept secretary) was the teenager who defender her. However, on the re-watch, I feel that Gi Beom is actually older than Kim Woong and his defense likely left the father dead.
While Kim Woong is the secret son, it was not clear when she had him. Did she give him up in order to achieve her ambitions and marry the chairman? Or, did she have some affair during the marriage and so this secret would be far more devastating than if he had been born prior to her marriage. Either way, she didn't want anyone knowing as it would weaken her position at the company as well as damage her reputation.
With the death of the father, she takes over the company and becomes the chairwoman. Gi Beom weighed by the guilt becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol over the years. The closeness between mother and stepson is at breaking point as she can no longer handle him. When he beats up Kim Woong and orders her to keep him away or he will harm Kim Woong, she is already on high alert. Gi Beom is threatening to push her out of the company if Kim Woong is not removed from the picture. He is also threatening to reveal the relationship.
Then, she finds out Eun Soo is pregnant and lies to her about it. Why is this a problem? Perhaps, in her mind, Eun Soo is a manipulator who got herself pregnant on purpose and will now take over the company just like she took over the company. With the re-watch, it seems that Eun Soo was not expected to get pregnant and even Gi Beom asks whose baby is it. When I first watched it, I thought he was just being suspicious drunk but perhaps, he was just confused because they had not planned for a baby or he thought could not have one for whatever reasons.
So Ho Ran then decides that she needs to get rid of all the threats to the company, her position and Kim Woong. She does this by ordering the hit on Gi Beom and framing Eun Soo for it. While on one level, she is protecting Kim Woong, she is also mad at Eun Soo. Her relentless harassment of Eun Soo was to break her down to a point where Eun Soo would either harm herself or leave and hide in some corner of the country. She blames Eun Soo for forcing her hand to kill Gi Beom who she loved at one point. Rather than take reponsibiity for her action, she shifts the blame to Eun Soo and directs her rage at her. So in her mind, she and Kim Woong are innocent.
When Eun Soo returns, Ho Ran's plans are getting rattled. She intends to make Kim Woong her successor or at the very least, some sort of successful painter. She combines the two goals by funding his works and artificially pushing up the price of his artworks and creating a mystery around this painter.
She needs Eun Soo out of the way so that she will not connect the dots. So she distracts with this constant harassment which she also gets a kick out of. Then when she finds out Woo Joo being alive, she is alarmed because there is an heir who can potentially claim the company. She is not about to give up something she built to someone else and so another set of games begins where she gets to be puppet master and smirk about it.
Altogether a rather complex villain -- it would have been great if we had scenes that explained how her mind worked and why she was doing what she was doing. Perhaps, that would have removed the surprise element. However, if they had given a bit more clarity in the ending, it would have helped better explain. This was one of those dramas that definitely felt more layered with the re-watch.
