When Life Gives You Tangerines Netflix Review: Best K-drama to Watch This Month?

Hello, everyone. Hope you're all doing great.

You feel even better after hearing about this amazing Netflix series that is going to grab your attention for sure. IU is my favorite, and this was the only strong reason I had to start watching this series, but I had no idea that it would turn out to be so mind-blowing.

So let's start again; let's know how When Life Gives You Tangerines and what its story is.

This series, based on a vintage theme, is the story of Oh Ae-sun and Yang Gwan-sik.

After the death of Oh Ae-sun's biological father, her mother remarries and she has two children from her second husband, a boy and a girl. She is the main breadwinner of her house because her husband is a freeloader or, say, a lazy person; he does not do any work; he just lies in the house all day and keeps smoking.

Oh Ae-sun's mom is a diver who dives daily to support her family or rather to feed the family, she has left Oh Ae-sun with her first husband's family because she knows that her family is a little well off, which will be a little beneficial for Ae-sun in the future because as Oh Ae-sun grows up, only her family will be able to help her for her studies and future.

But Oh Ae-sun wants to live with her mom. She repeatedly tries to convince her mom in every possible way that she wants to live with her but her mom refuses in the beginning Ae-sun tries to convince her in every possible way like she saying that she is not treated well but when she tells about food that she is not given proper food then her mom gets very angry and she goes to her first husband's family and creates a lot of ruckus and brings her daughter back.

On the other hand, there is a boy named Yang Gwan-sik who is always there for Oh Ae-sun, helps her in every situation, and tries to do as much as he can. Because of this, people around him keep teasing him a lot, but it doesn't make any difference to him.

On the contrary, Oh Ae-sun is very affected by all these things, and she repeatedly tells him to stay away from her, but he doesn't go away; rather, he stays near her without saying anything.

I found Yang Gwan-sik's character in this series to be an ideal character that does not exist in real life. He is so dedicated to someone, so supportive, so understanding, and supports him in every situation without saying anything, no matter how she reacts, whatever Oh Ae-sun says, no matter how she behaves, he keeps everything aside and stays with her only.

So, I found this character a bit unreal and because of Yang Gwan-sik's character, he grabbed a lot of attention from people in this series.

Both of them are much more mature than their age and their conversations have also been shown to be very mature.

Oh, Ae-sun is very smart and is also good at her studies. She wants to become a poet but due to her family situation, whether she will be able to fulfill her dream or not is a bit doubtful.

Because her family is so poor, it is a big deal for them to get two meals a day, and Ae-sun loves her mother very much and is always concerned for her. She wants to give her mother a good life when she grows up and wants to give her a prosperous life, but her wish never comes true.

After some time, her mother dies and before dying, she makes Ae-sun promise her a thing. However, Ae-sun does not keep this promise. Still, she explains the situation to her and requests that she go back to her real father's house when she dies and she will not be here anymore.

Oh, Ae-sun's mom says that I don't want you to live a life like me. She did so much struggle and worked so hard, and despite that, no one was hers.

She knows her second husband very well that even if she dies, he will not become wise, he will not mature and he will remain as he is in his habits, he will not do any work, on the contrary, he will push her into work and will make her dive, will make her a maid, will make her take care of his children, etc.

Oh, Ae-sun's mom explains all these things to Oh Ae-sun while saying, I want you to live your life in your own way, achieve your dreams, study, and become a great person, not remain a maid in some house.

And this is what happens when her mom dies; her stepfather starts convincing Ae-sun in many ways starts emotionally blackmailing her, and stops her from going.

He first tells her that when her younger child starts speaking, then you should go; when he grows up a little more, then you should go; when he goes to elementary school, then you should go in this way. Time passes, and he does not let Ae-sun go.

Now all the responsibilities of the house have come to Oh Ae-sun. She takes care of the house and also does farming.

And she also goes to sell the vegetables she grows.

Even after all this, if she gets some time, she goes to school or is not able to give proper time to her studies like a student should.

Oh, Ae-sun's stepfather keeps on emotionally blackmailing her for his own benefit and does not let her go, and while doing this, both of them reach their teenage years, i.e., Ae-sun and Gwan-sik.

And now Yang Gwan-sik's family does not like Oh Ae-sun at all and the people around him still keep teasing him.

Yang Gwan-sik's grandmother does not like Oh Ae-sun at all, and his mother feels that the love and affection between these two will last for some time only; it is just a small attraction that will fade with time, so they do not need to take so much tension.

Whenever his grandmother says all these things and shows concern for these two, then his mom says that beggars are shown sympathy, they are not loved.

But how would she and the people around her know what Yang Gwan-sik actually feels for Oh Ae-sun? He loves Oh Ae-sun unconditionally and Oh Ae-sun also loves him a lot but never accepts it and keeps demoralizing him in between. She always tells him that she will never marry him and neither does she have any special attachment or love for Yang Gwan-sik.

But still, Yang Gwan-sik does not care, and he treats her like a princess.

Oh, Ae-sun is usually an emotional fool and gets influenced by everyone, but whenever she is with Yang Gwan-sik, she behaves completely the opposite; she behaves like a princess because he treats her like that.

And always shows bossy behavior, and always makes him run around this thing makes the series very interesting that no matter what the situation is, no matter what it is, the bond between these two, they say something different and do something completely different, and this sour and sweet story of theirs becomes very relatable and interesting.

In the end, I will just say that if you are a fan of rom-com drama, if you are a fan of comedy-drama, then you will like this series for sure.

Total 16 episodes of the series, which is available on Netflix. Have you checked it out or not? If not, then what are you doing, do it now.