It’s only the beginning of spring, and the slice-of-life drama of the year is already here. Netflix’s When Life Gives You Tangerines will make you want to laugh and cry in the same breath. The series, starring Park Bo-Gum and IU, is being released in 4 volumes, with 4 episodes releasing every week in March. The first volume gives us a peek into Ae-Sun’s childhood. A girl born into a poor family in 1950s Jeju Island. On Jeju, women do the dangerous job of diving. They’re called “Haenyeo,” and they specialize in fishing for abalone and seaweed. Ae-Sun’s mother is a Haenyeo who’s fallen sick because of her profession. Her only dream for Ae-Sun is for her never to become a Haenyeo. Amidst this chaos, a young boy named Gwan-Sik is head over heels for Ae-Sun. It’s not like his family is well off, but since Ae-Sun is practically half an orphan, I suppose they look down upon her. When Ae-Sun’s mother dies, she has no choice but to figure out how to take care of herself. Will she be able to live the dream life her mother wanted for her? Or will she succumb to the island? Let’s find out in the ending of When Life Gives You Tangerines volume 1.
Spoiler Alert
Does Geum-Myeong Become A Haenyeo?
In episode 4, Ae-Sun is berated by her in-laws to give them a grandson. All Ae-Sun ever wishes for is for her daughter to study, ride a tricycle, and not spend the rest of her life in the kitchen. She wants her to have a “son’s” life. Ae-Sun chose to marry Gwan-Sik because she knew she’d never find a man who cared for her as much anywhere else. All she wanted was to study on the mainland, but she was forced into staying back after they tried to run away together and got caught. But Ae-Sun never complained; she kept quiet and acted like a good daughter-in-law for Gwan-Sik’s sake. However, it is in the moment that his grandmother asks her to pray for her daughter’s success as a Haenyeo that Ae-Sun loses her marbles. There was one thing Ae-Sun’s mother wanted for her without fail: never to become a Haenyeo and get lost to sea. How then could she let her own daughter suffer that fate?
Fortunately, this is when Gwan-Sik shows up, seeing the pain his wife is going through because of his mom and grandma, so he decides to leave the house for good. Ironically, it’s when they leave the house that they get pregnant again, and I have a feeling they might end up having another daughter, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It becomes abundantly clear at this point that Gwan-Sik is willing to do anything if it means Ae-Sun’s happiness. That’s why he works on the boat of the man who was meant to marry her before she ran off to find Gwan-Sik again. As we know from the 1990s timeline, Geum-Myeong definitely didn’t become a Haenyeo. Instead, she became a strong, independent, and ambitious woman who knows how to hold her own, thanks to her strong parents, who always worked hard to give her the best tangerines out of the ones that life threw at them. It’s adorable to see how Gwan-Sik still brings Geum-Myeong peas because she used to ask for them as a child. It’s funny how life comes full circle, because Geum-Myeong gives her mom her own shoes in 1993, when her mom left the house barefoot just so she could make sure that Geum-Myeong won’t become a Haenyeo back in ‘68.
How Does Gwan-Sik Lose His Job?
In Volume 1’s ending, Ae-Sun visits the house of Do Sang-Gil, the man she almost married. There, she sees his wife, who has a bruised lip, meaning he’s been abusing her. In truth, Ae-Sun is there with good intentions; she simply wants to thank the woman who is paying their rent, but when she goes there, she learns that when Gwan-Sik hurt his fingers, the captain didn’t turn the boat back but kept going. It seems this triggers something in Ae-Sun, because she decides she wants to run her mouth rather than hold back. This has been her nature right from the start. She always fought for what she wanted. It seems Sang-Gil’s wife is also not happy, and maybe Ae-Sun helps her open her eyes and accept that she’s married to a monster. I wonder if there’ll be a future connection between Geum-Myeong and one of Do’s sons (ew).
Anyway, as Ae-Sun storms out of the house, Gwan-Sik does the same on the boat. Sang-Gil tells him that he has to steer the boat at night because he wants to drink alcohol, but Gwan-Sik refuses. The man then follows him out and asks him why he’s so desperate to go home and if it’s because every night is passionate. Gwan-Sik tells him that he loves his wife, unlike Sang-Gil, who clearly never wants to go home because he doesn’t have a good time there. What’s terrible is that the man’s already on his second marriage, and Ae-Sun really dodged a big one. So, Ae-Sun sees all this transpire and sees Sang-Gil kick Gwan-Sik in the shin, which is the last straw for her. Despite being at least 5 months pregnant, she runs into the fray, just the way she has been doing since childhood when Gwan-Sik was bullied. She tells the man that Gwan-Sik will not work for him anymore and drags her husband away. Before she leaves, she kicks the man in the shin as payback, but she starts to cry on the way home. Of course, she feels awful that he had to go through all of that for her.
What Can We Expect From Volume 2?
When Life Gives You Tangerines begins with Ae-Sun turning 70 and saying she never thought she’d live such a long and fulfilling life. At the end of the 4th episode, Gwan-Sik looks tired and like his legs are already giving way; they’re somewhere in their 40s here. I don’t want to be the bad guy, but I have a feeling, from this conversation, that Gwan-Sik is going to die early, leaving Ae-Sun behind on her own. On the other hand, we’re going to get into Geum-Myeong’s love story. Geum-Myeong is just like her mother, but I don’t think she’s found herself a man like her father. I suppose you can’t have it all, eh? What Ae-Sun and Gwan-Sik always wanted was for their daughter to always be happy and never face any hardship, but already, she’s having a hard time dealing with her mother-in-law, who thinks her son’s better than Geum-Myeong because she’s from a poor family. Hopefully, she’ll find her happy place like Ae-Sun did soon.
Another thing is that Ae-Sun might actually become a poet like she wished. At the beginning of the show, she doesn’t write a poem; she just colors in a blue sea, reminding herself of her mother, the only word she is desperate to say at age 70. In the preview of volume 2, it looks like Ae-Sun is going to become the village chief. She’s going to take matters into her own hands and save the family, as the smart woman that she is.
