When Life Gives You Tangerines

"When life gives you tangerines" is a recent "Slice of life" K-drama. This drama is inspired from a real life couple Hong Kyung Ja (Oh Ae-sun in drama) and Ywen Gwan Sik (Yang Gwan-sik in drama) from the Jeju Island in South Korea. This is an inspiring bittersweet story spanning across 5 decades. The story breaks the myth of "and they lived happily everafter...". Darkness will be followed by bright sunshine but bright sunshine also will not last forever. 

This story is narrated by Ae-sun and her daughter Geum myeong. Ae-sun was from a small town on the Jeju Island and an aspiring poet. She was orphaned at a very early age. After her mother's death she chose to stay with her step father taking care of her step siblings because he had promised to pay for her college education in Seoul instead of her uncle who wanted to send her to factory and earn money. Gwan-sik was smitten by her from a very early age and tried to help her in every possible way - sometimes by saving extra croaker (fish) or selling her cabbages or simply being there whenever she would need hi

. When the ladies in the town were gossping about future of children he innocently declared that his ambition was to become Ae-sun's husband. 

When Ae-sun's family tried to marry her for money, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik ran away from home. Eventually they were caught. Finally they got married. From this point onwards there roller coaster story truly began. They shared many moments of joy from birth of 3 kids - Geum myeong,  Eun myeong, Dong myeong; owning a fishing boat, owning a house etc. They also experienced many sorrows from losing a child, financial problems, society pressure, depression in Korea etc. However, they could survive all these hardships as they were never alone. Their relationship was based on love, caring and mutual respect. 

While Geum myeong is a bright child and replica of former self of Ae-sun, Eun myeong is not so good in academics. He is always behind earning money by using whatever means and lands up in trouble. Though parents care for all their children equally Geum myeong felt burdened by the expectations and Eun myeong felt neglected. They are very much aware of their parents' condition and their sacrifices.  But human mind does not follow logic. Ae-sun and Gwan-sik always put their children ahead of their own comforts and priorities and put everything on stake for the sake of their children. After continuous toiling and hard work both Geum myeong and Eun myeong achieved success and prospered in their life. 

Overall the drama gives a silent message that if you develop relationship based on love,  honesty and mutual respect you will have enriched and content life despite of all the hardships. Face  challenges head on! The hard days will also pass..

The drama is little slow in the beginning but picks up the pace as the story unfolds. This drama is quite popular because people are able to relate to the emotions and feelings showcased in the drama. People who love "feel good" type of drama and don't like to watch sad scenes may not like it. But if you don't mind melodrama this one is for you!!

Show in a Nutshell: 

Audio: Korean, English,  Hindi,  Telgu, Tamil,  Brazilian Portuguese,  Czech,  European Spanish, Filipino,  French, German,  Hungarian,  Indonesian,  Italian, Japan, Polish,  Spanish,  Thai, Turkish 

Subtitles available in: English, Korean, Arabic, Brazilian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch,  European Spanish, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Norwagian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian,  Spanish, Swdish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese 

 

Year: 2025

No. of episodes: 16

Where to watch: Netflix

Category: Romantic