When Life Gives You Tangerines
K-dramaKorean drama storytelling: emotional arcs, romance beats and format traditions.This show: 10/10TearjerkerEngineered to make you cry, and it works.This show: 9/10SentimentalOpenly emotional storytelling that reaches straight for the heartstrings.This show: 8/10NostalgicTrades on longing for a past era, in the story or around it.This show: 8/10Family sagaBonds and fractures across generations of one family.This show: 8/10BittersweetJoy and loss mixed so thoroughly they can't be separated.This show: 8/10Love storyA love story as the engine of the show, not a side plot.This show: 8/10Working classOrdinary people, ordinary money, real stakes.This show: 7/10
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Starring
IUPark Bo-gumMoon So-riPark Hae-joonRich TingJang Hye-jin
Written by
Kim Won-seok
Starring
IUPark Bo-gumMoon So-riPark Hae-joonRich TingJang Hye-jin
Written by
Kim Won-seok
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
When Life Gives You Tangerines Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | E12 | E13 | E14 | E15 | E16 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 9.2 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 9.5 |
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About
"A quiet epic of love and endurance"
Set on Jeju Island from the 1950s onward, this sweeping family drama follows a spirited young woman who dreams of becoming a writer but finds her path reshaped by poverty, family duty, and a steadfast childhood love. Spanning decades, it moves gently between hardscrabble youth and quiet old age, tracing how ordinary hopes survive disappointment. The pace is slow and unhurried, built more on mood and memory than plot twists, carried by lush island scenery, warm humor, and two lead performances that anchor every wrenching, tender moment. It sneaks up on you and lingers long after it ends.
Watch it for
the lead performances that turn everyday hardship into quiet, devastating tenderness.
Maybe skip if
you dislike slow, melancholic melodrama that unfolds gently across many decades.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Limited Series2025
8.837K1615h 55m
The drama follows the adventurous life and many trials of Ae-sun (IU), a poor girl wanting to become a poet who was born in Jeju in 1951, and Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum), a young man who cherishes and loves her. The drama is narrated by their daughter, Yang Geum-myeong.
| Ep | Title | Rating | Yours | Votes | Runtime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▶ | 1 | Spring in a Heartbeat | 8.4 | 3K | 55 min | |
| ▶ | 2 | Sassy First Love | 8.5 | 3K | 52 min | |
| ▶ | 3 | Yesterday Was Your Spring | 9.0 | 3K | 61 min | |
| ▶ | 4 | The Blazing Summer Sunshine | 9.0 | 2K | 57 min | |
| ▶ | 5 | A Midsummer Night's Full Nets | 8.8 | 2K | 59 min | |
| ▶ | 6 | Life Goes On and On | 9.3 | 3K | 55 min | |
| ▶ | 7 | A Fruitful Fall | 8.0 | 3K | 62 min | |
| ▶ | 8 | The Moon Wanes, Yet the Young Heart Remains | 8.6 | 2K | 61 min | |
| ▶ | 9 | The Wind Goes Whoosh, My Heart Goes Boo-Hoo | 8.3 | 2K | 47 min | |
| ▶ | 10 | The Storm Sweeps My Heart, the Love Rocks My Heart | 8.7 | 2K | 55 min | |
| ▶ | 11 | My Love by My Side | 8.8 | 2K | 61 min | |
| ▶ | 12 | A Glistening Winter | 8.9 | 2K | 57 min | |
| ▶ | 13 | Such an Uneven Love | 9.2 | 2K | 60 min | |
| ▶ | 14 | Spread Your Wings and Fly | 9.0 | 2K | 63 min | |
| ▶ | 15 | A Spring Every Day | 9.1 | 2K | 67 min | |
| ▶ | 16 | Here's to All You've Been Through | 9.5 | 3K | 83 min |
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
IU Oh Ae-sun, Yang Geum-myeong
Park Bo-gum Yang Gwan-sik
Moon So-ri Oh Ae-sun (Middle Age)
Park Hae-joon Yang Gwan-sik (Middle Age)
Rich Ting Yank Gwan-sik
Jang Hye-jin Park Yeong-ran
Cha Mi-kyung Park Choong-soo
Kate Marley Na Min-Ok
Elyse Dinh Bu-yong
June Angela Gyeong-ja
Crew
Kim Won-seok
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