When Life Gives You Tangerines

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When Life Gives You Tangerines is a 16-episode Netflix series written by Lim Sang-choon and directed by Kim Won-suk. Through the four seasons of life, it follows the decades shared by Ae-sun, born in 1950s Jeju and dreaming of becoming a poet, and Gwan-sik, who has loved her steadfastly since they were children.

Netflix released all 16 episodes in four installments of four episodes each, every Friday from March 7 to 28, 2025. The installments were billed as acts, from Act 1 to Act 4. The Korean title is a Jeju dialect expression meaning "thank you for your hard work," and the story runs from 1960s Jeju to 2025 Seoul. The Netflix Korea page rates it 12+.

The screenplay is by Lim Sang-choon, who wrote Baek-hee Has Returned, Fight for My Way and When the Camellia Blooms, and it was directed by Kim Won-suk, who made Misaeng: Incomplete Life, Signal and My Mister. IU worked with director Kim for the second time, after My Mister, and this was her first project with Lim. IU said Lim had reached out to her to talk about the script before the production was confirmed. At the launch press conference, Kim said it is his principle to consult the writer on casting, post-production and even the music. He said they built an open set for the shoot and had to keep changing the production design to match each era, and when asked about reports that the budget had reached 60 billion won, he said it was true that a lot had gone into it. The series was produced by Pan Entertainment and Baram Pictures.

IU and Park Bo-gum play Oh Ae-sun and Yang Gwan-sik as young adults, while Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon play the pair in middle age. Ae-sun is a literature-loving girl who never lets anything get her down, and Gwan-sik is someone who does whatever is asked of him without complaint, whether sports or business, and has quietly loved only Ae-sun since childhood. Episode 1, "Spring in a Heartbeat," covers the years of young Ae-sun (child actor Kim Tae-yeon) and her mother, Jeon Gwang-rye (Yeom Hye-ran), a haenyeo who supports the family by diving in the sea. From episode 2, "Sassy First Love," Park Bo-gum's grown-up Gwan-sik takes center stage, and after confirming their feelings for each other, the two set out on an adventure to leave the island together. Na Moon-hee plays Ae-sun's grandmother Kim Chun-ok, Kim Yong-rim and Oh Min-ae play Gwan-sik's grandmother Mak-cheon and mother Kwon Gye-ok, and Choi Dae-hoon plays Bu Sang-gil.

Kim Won-suk said the series was conceived as a tribute to the generations of our grandparents and parents and as an anthem of encouragement for their children's generation. He explained that it was released in four-episode installments because the essence of the series is hard to feel if viewers binge all 16 episodes or skip through them. Moon So-ri, who plays the middle-aged Ae-sun, said that with the scenes IU had already shot in mind, the two of them read each other's lines to match their speech, and that she painted on a mole in the same spot as IU's before performing. According to Netflix, in the week Act 3 was released (March 17–23, 2025), the series recorded 5.5 million views (hours viewed divided by the total runtime) and ranked first in the Global Top 10 for non-English series. At the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards that year, it won four awards in the Broadcasting category: Best Drama, Best Screenplay (Lim Sang-choon), and Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress (Choi Dae-hoon and Yeom Hye-ran). At the 4th Blue Dragon Series Awards, it won the Grand Prize, Best Actress (IU) and Best Supporting Actress (Yeom Hye-ran).

See alsoWhen the Camellia Blooms 2019My Mister 2018Fight for My Way 2017

Drama Lineup editors · Fact-checked against: mt.co.kr, v.daum.net, netflix.com, about.netflix.com, newsis.com, segye.com, kukinews.com, news.tf.co.kr, sports.khan.co.kr · 2026-10-18