Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines, a slice-of-life romance that spans 70 years in just 16 episodes, premiered its deeply moving ending on 28 March. Such has been the show’s popularity that fans are wondering if it’s not too soon to crown it as the best K-drama of 2025.
Narrated through a flashback with consistent timeline jumps, When Life Gives You Tangerines is directed by Kim Won-seok and penned by award-winning screenwriter Lim Sang-choon. The story presents a sublime portrait of Oh Ae-sun (played by IU), a determined rebel who continuously defies her fate, and her devoted husband, Yang Gwan-sik (played by Park Bo-gum).
With sweeping shots of Jeju Island from Ae-sun’s childhood, the smiling haenyeos, the vintage Cannes theatre of Seoul where Geum-myeong first meets her husband, the slithering squids on sale at the seafood market and Gwan-sik’s beloved blue boat, When Life Gives You Tangerines is one of the most visually appealing K-dramas of 2025.
Talking about the overall production of the series, director Kim told Netflix, “We focused on creating visually stunning yet realistic scenes, delivering nuanced performances, and selecting music that resonates with the audience. Since the historical context serves as a significant challenge for the characters, the entire art and technical team put immense effort into portraying it authentically.”
When Life Gives You Tangerines ending explained: The cast and the characters they play
- IU as young Oh Ae-sun and Geum-myeong
- Park Bo-gum as young Yang Gwan-sik
- Moon So-ri as middle-aged Ae-sun
- Park Hae-joon as middle-aged Gwan-sik
- Kim Seon-ho as Park Cheong-seop, Geum-myeong’s husband
- Kim Yong-rim as Park Mak-cheon, Gwan-sik’s grandmother
- Na Moon-hee as Kim Chun-ok, Ae-sun’s grandmother
- Yeom Hye-ran as Jeon Gwang-rye, Ae-sun’s mother.
- Oh Jung-se as Byeong Chul, Ae-sun’s stepfather
- Oh Min-ae as Kwon Gye-ok, Gwan-sik’s mother
Spoilers ahead!
When Life Gives You Tangerines ending explained: Does Gwan-sik survive in the end?
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No, he doesn’t.
In the penultimate episode, Gwan-sik is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The last episode of the 2025 K-drama titled “Here’s to All You’ve Been Through” offers insight into Gwan-sik’s final days. He buys several hairpins for Ae-sun, fixes the windows of their home, and shifts the cutlery and jars from the top kitchen storage cabinets to the lower ones to make it easier for Ae-sun to reach them.
Meanwhile, Ae-sun surprises Gwan-sik with a published collection of her poems. Throughout their time together, Gwan-Sik always expressed how Ae-sun couldn’t become a poet and teacher because she married him. After gifting him her first published poetry book, Ae-sun reassures Gwan-sik that she could only become a poet because of all the memories they made together, which she eventually turned into poems.
Towards the end of the K-drama, Gwan-sik’s health deteriorates and he is rushed to the hospital. Soon, in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the last episode, viewers see Gwan-sik pass away with his eyes locked only on Ae-sun, who gives him her widest smile because that’s how he always wanted to remember her.
What happens to Ae-sun and her children after Gwan-sik’s death?
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With Gwan-sik no longer there to tell Ae-sun to “flip the table”, to tell Geum-myeong that she can come back to him if she ever feels like it, or to scold Eun-myeong for dyeing his hair, the family collapses.
However, with time, their kids, Eun-myeong and Geum-myeong, get busy in their own lives. Eun-myeong and his wife Hyeon-suk take care of the restaurant that Gwan-sik and Ae-sun opened in Jeju in 2002. The couple are parents to a teenage son and a young daughter.
Geum-myeong, on the other hand, starts her own business and becomes a successful CEO. She also purchases Ae-sun’s mother’s old home, which their family had sold off to pay for Geum-myeong’s education.
Meanwhile, Ae-sun keeps Gwan-sik alive in everything she does. She continues writing and publishing poems and also starts teaching older women to write poems at a nursing home in Jeju.
When Life Gives You Tangerines ending explained: Who is Chloe Lee?
In the last episode of the Netflix original K-drama, viewers discover that Ae-sun’s kids send her poems to an editor, Chloe H. Lee.
Chloe happens to be the same woman who, as a child, found Ae-sun’s ring in a canola field in Jeju when she threw it away after being mad at Gwan-sik. Chloe also grew up to look exactly like Ae-sun’s mom, Gwang-rye.
The narrative then shifts to the very beginning of the show, where we once again see a 70-year-old Ae-sun looking at the sea and wondering, “Why did you leave so soon, mom? Were you reborn into a better life? I hope that you get to work at a desk job.”
In the final moments of the show, as we see Ae-sun hold her newly published poetry collection, we can’t help but wonder if Gwang-rye is reborn as Chloe — an editor and publisher who has her own cabin and desk.
What happens in the last scene?
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In the last scene of When Life Gives You Tangerines, Geum-myeong visits Ae-sun at the latter’s mother’s home.
Soon, viewers see Ae-sun embracing her new poetry collection, which is an ode to Gwan-sik. The camera pans to the book’s thank you card which reads, “To my love, from age nine to now, my life was always in spring because of you. This book wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you. I will live my life as though every day is spring until we meet again.”
The scene then shifts to a young Ae-sun and Gwan-sik dreaming of their future — traveling to the US, driving a Jeep and buying Ray-Bans — amid the canola blooms in Jeju, as Geum-myeong’s voiceover narrates, “To my parents, who were so young and always so tender-hearted all throughout the seasons. With remorse, gratitude and the deepest respect, here’s to all you have been through. Thanks for showing us what to do when life gives you tangerines.”
(Hero and featured image credit: Netflixkr/Instagram)
