TW: Spoilers
The Netflix TV show “When Life Gives You Tangerines”, starring IU, made its debut, quickly rising to Netflix’s top ten list of non-English series globally.
IU, who plays the main character, Oh Ae-sun, and her first daughter Geum-Myeong, is a singer songwriter and actress, known for her versatility in singing and acting.
Fans were extremely excited to see IU star in another k-drama, after acting in multiple k-dramas in the past.
In my opinion, IU does a fantastic job of playing Oh-Aesun, Geum-Myeong, as well as the narrator. Although she plays multiple roles, her acting and the subtle changes she makes when switching between characters makes it easy to understand when she is portraying each character.
For example, although the TV show jumps between the past and present, the characters of Oh-Aesun and Geum-Myeong remain easily discernible in the audience’s eyes, despite the two characters being played by the same actress.
The main male lead, Yang Gwan-sik, played by Park Bo-gum, also does a fantastic job of expressing his character’s emotions and allows viewers to feel his anger, pain, and happiness.
“When Life Gives You Tangerines” is different from other K-dramas mainly because it does not focus on a single love story. Although love is a huge part of the storyline, there are also themes of pain, loss, suffering, and endurance over generations.
The show follows Ae-sun, who grows up on Jeju Island with immense ambitions, but is unable to fulfill her dreams because of her family’s lack of money.
Ae-sun also loses her mom early on because of her dangerous job as a haenyeo, diving into the ocean everyday harvesting seafood to make a living.
This is a part of the culture of Jeju Island and Korea that is not publicized, and haenyeo still exists in Korea.
Eventually, Ae-sun marries her childhood sweetheart, Yang Gwan-sik, and they begin the generations long journey of living, suffering, enduring, and loving.
Yang Gwan-sik struggles to feel good enough for Ae-sun and her wild aspirations, but her love for him gets them through the years of living paycheck to paycheck.
The show does a fantastic job of balancing positive things that happen to the couple with negative things, making every episode an emotional rollercoaster.
For instance, the viewers could feel their happiness when they get their first boat, or when Ae-sun becomes the village chief.
On the contrary, the couple definitely had a hard life, such as when their youngest son, Dong-Myeong dies, and each member of the family blames themselves for the death.
At the end of the show, the family faces another loss, the death of their beloved “steelheart” Yang Gwan-sik. This was a blow to the family, but they slowly recovered, making the end not sad, but bittersweet.
In conclusion, “When Life Gives You Tangerines” was a beautiful TV show that emphasized loss, love, and simply the ups and downs of life. What makes this TV show so much different from others is how it focused on the lives of multiple generations and on the sacrifices a family makes for each other.
Every episode was an emotional whirlwind, and made us both laugh and cry. We enjoyed this show immensely and recommend watching it!