In episode 13 of When Life Gives You Tangerines, we watch Geum-Myeong and the family struggle through the Asian financial crisis of 1997. But when one door closes, another one opens to a beautiful unknown world. Well, this winter is definitely a hard one for them, but the family marches forward as always. While it may seem initially that this episode will not hurt you in any way, I’d still urge you to keep your tissues ready for the end of the episode. All this time I’ve been talking about how this show is mainly focused on mother-daughter relationships. I can’t just leave the father of the century, Mr. Gwan-Sik, out of the picture. Gwan-Sik and Geum-Myeong’s relationship is like any other father-daughter duo. Their concern comes across as arguments, and their love manifests in the form of meals and doing stuff for each other without telling the other about it. But, with that said, I’ll dive straight into everything that happens in episode 13.
Spoiler Alert
Why Doesn’t Geum-Myeong Show Up For Her Nephew’s First Birthday?
While Eun-Myeong celebrates his first kid’s first birthday, Geum-Myeong loses her corporate job. She finds herself spiraling after seeing everybody around her facing a similar struggle. There are protests everywhere, and she even notices a man who could be her dad’s age struggling with life after being laid off. Eun-Myeong and Gwan-Sik can’t see eye to eye about anything back at home because Gwan-Sik is always nagging the unemployed boy who got his girlfriend pregnant before marriage. Like father, like son, eh? They’re actually very similar, despite Eun-Myeong being a disgrace to his parents. Sad and alone, Geum-Myeong goes to the cinema to feel better.
When Do Chung-Seob and Geum-Myeong Meet Again?
The second time Chung-Seob finds Geum-Myeong after his return from the military is when they end up watching a movie in the same theatre but don’t notice each other. It is the same cinema they used to work at, and later, we find out that Chung-Seob has been going to the movies every day, just to get a glimpse of Geum-Myeong. Just like last time, Chung-Seob runs right after the bus that she gets in because he doesn’t notice her inside the hall, and it’s the boss who tells him she came by and left. This time, it’s H.O.T. that nearly makes him lose her again, but he runs after the bus, gets on it, and waits until Ae-Sun is awake to speak to her.
After their first dinner and drink date together, Ae-Sun and Chung-Seob start dating. Chung-Seob is doing very well for himself now, and the first thing he tells Ae-Sun is that he earns pretty well at the Picasso Academy, even though he doesn’t look like a disheveled artist anymore. After trying to get him to paint her like one of Jack’s French girls, Ae-Sun takes Chung-Seob home to finally get him to meet her dad. This encounter is pretty adorable and exactly what you’d expect. But Chung-Seob doesn’t change himself to try and impress Ae-Sun’s dad. He knows he’s stealing away something very precious from him, but it turns out this works very well on Gwan-Sik because he doesn’t need to be treated in any special way to approve of Geum-Myeong’s future husband. He just needs to know that he’ll care about her just as much as Gwan-Sik did, or even more.
Gwan-Sik notices that even when Chung-Seob is in a difficult position, he always puts Ae-Sun’s needs before his own. Gwan-Sik takes Chung-Seob on his boat since Geum-Myeong wants to feed him really good seafood because it seems he loves sashimi. At first it seems this plan backfires because Gwan-Sik treats Chung-Seob not so well. Obviously, he could never see his daughter with someone mediocre. Drunk, he takes Ae-Sun’s coat to her despite not wearing one himself, and Gwan-Sik notices it all. So, even if Chung-Seob can’t stand upright in a boat, at least he really adores Gwan-Sik’s daughter. Ironically, Geum-Myeong tells Chung-Seob that if he doesn’t impress her dad, she’s out too, which means no wedding. But don’t worry, it all works out.
It’s actually Ae-Sun who seems perfectly content seeing her daughter get married. Maybe it’s because she knows that she’ll always be their daughter. Or maybe it’s because she’s been prepared for this her whole life. It could also be that the special teok that Chung-Seob’s mom made for her was enough to make her realize that Geum-Myeong’s mother-in-law actually cares about her. Improvement is what a mother will always look for for her child.
What Happens To Eun-Myeong?
On the wedding day, just as we imagined, it’s Geum-Myeong, her father, and her brother who cry their eyes out while Ae-Sun watches in embarrassment. Gwan-Sik reminds Geum-Myeong that whatever she does in life, her dad will always be waiting for her if she wants to turn back or if she feels like she’s going to fail. Gwan-Sik will always be Geum-Myeong’s armor, and though she never did come back, she was always grateful for her father’s polite words of protection. Chung-Seob and Geum-Myeong are finally married. But Gwan-Sik will always be Geum-Myeong’s backup.
At the end of episode 13, Eun-Myeong is wrongfully arrested by the police instead of a man named Cheol-Yeong. The episode ends with Geum-Myeong talking about how when Mum warned him about hanging with the wrong crowd, there was a good reason for it. In the next episode, we’ll see how Eun-Myeong’s mistakes are handled by his parents and what really pushed him to make reckless decisions. Now that he has a kid of his own, he really has a lot more to think about.
