Throughout its tight 16-episode run, When Life Gives You Tangerines somehow manages to showcase an intergenerational story that spans decades while simultaneously giving even the smallest moments ample time to breathe for more impact. However, despite it being a slice-of-life drama at its core, the series never loses focus on its heart and soul, which has always been its main couple, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik.
As its four-volume run has come to a bittersweet end, When Life Gives You Tangerines ensures that it provides closure to the beloved characters whose lives have been showcased in the series. And just like real life itself, even the final moments come with plenty of ups and downs accompanied by both happiness and sadness.
Major spoilersfor When Life Gives You Tangerines below.
How Does When Life Gives You Tangerines End?
The final volume of When Life Gives You Tangerines continues to show thetrials and tribulations that Ae-sun and Gwan-sikhave to keep enduring, even as they get older and have relatively less energy to deal with their problems.Kicking off with Geum-myeong and Chung-seop’s wedding, the series takes a trip back in time to show how the two of them ended up together thanks to a challenging time for the former.
Due to the economic turmoil that took over South Korea in 1997,Geum-myeong’s life becomes increasingly difficultas she gets laid off, keeps getting rejected from interviews, and has no clear direction about where her career is going.
That leads her to the theater that she used to work at in the past, where herformer co-worker and artist Chung-seopis also present, resulting in him making the first move and the pair catching up after a long time, eventually falling in love with one another and getting married the following year. During this time, Geum-myeong also makes Chung-seop meet her parents, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, who may show that they are not too fond of the choice but know deep down that he isthe best person for their daughter.
But while it may have seemed like Ae-sun and Gwan-sik are finally getting the happiness they deserve through their daughter’s wedding, their son,Eun-myeong, gets arrested and thrown in jailright after for business fraud, adding another unfortunate situation to his parents' lives.
Having already lost a son to a horrifying accident in the past, Gwan-sik comes to Eun-myeong’s rescue by deciding to sacrifice the one thing that has been the main source of the family’s financial support for decades:his fishing boat. Eun-myeong, who is now a father himself, finallygets the closure that his parents actually did care for himjust as much as they did for his sister, feeling guilty for the sacrifice that Gwan-sik had to make to fix his son’s problems.
However,that is not the only shockthat came to Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, as despite not being in the best financial position, they still had Geum-myeong acting as somewhat of a support system thanks to her qualifications and job. But when she shows up one day and reveals that shequit her job to start her own business, her parents become extremely worried, considering that the family’s only consistent income flow is now going to disappear.
The fishing boat is not the only sacrifice that Gwan-sik makes in the final four episodes of When Life Gives You Tangerines, as he also ends upselling his cabbage field to invest in a restaurantin the hopes of turning things around for his wife.
Sadly, that investment does not yield fruitful results, since no one really visits the restaurant, leaving the family with even more hardships than before, forcing Geum-myeong to borrow money andconfessing the toll that her parents' pressurehas had on her throughout her life. That results in aheated exchange between Geum-myeong and Ae-sun, during which Gwan-sik has to put his foot down and intervene so it does not go too far.
As some time passes, Geum-myeong goes throughan extremely difficult and life-threatening birth, giving life to Bom and becoming a mother herself, after which her online studying business, which is inspired by Ae-sun’s lack of opportunities, also starts to become successful.
And all of thatserves as the closure for Geum-myeong, as she achieves everything that she wanted to, next to a person like Chung-seop, who loves her more than life itself. But during this time, it is Ae-sun and Gwan-sik who still have more to deal with on their collective plate, with therestaurant that they had bought being their main concernfor now.
Well, after having spent their entire lives trying to make the best out of any given circumstances, Ae-sun and Gwan-sikstart offering extremely fast food delivery, building their customer base as people actually start to show interest in dining at the restaurant as well.
Additionally, Gwan-sik’s kindness is not limited only to his family, as it is revealed that he once helped out andsaved someone who is now a celebrity, and after an endorsement, the restaurant becomes an even bigger success. Unfortunately, life has even more hardships in store for the couple, asGwan-sik is diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, before he passes away, he gets to witness his wife achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a poet, as Ae-sun finally gets one of her poems published.
Thatserves as some much-needed closure for Gwan-sik, someone who has spent his entire life dedicated to Ae-sun and ensuring that his family gets everything it needs, regardless of how much work he has to put in to achieve it.
After Gwan-sik passes away,Ae-sun continues writing poetryin her notebook, and after two decades, Geum-myeong sends her work to an editor to ensure that her parents' story gets acknowledged by the masses, as it truly is a tale of unconditional love and sacrifice.Marking a full-circle moment, the editor looks exactlylike Ae-sun’s mother, who passed awaywhen she was still a child, showing that although Jeon Gwang-rye never got to witness her daughter achieve her dreams, she is hopefully looking down at her and is proud of what she has accomplished in her life.
That published poetry book is the final milestone that Ae-sun always wanted to accomplish, andachieving it marks a wonderful closurefor someone who lived her entire life without many luxuries or basic opportunities.
Which is why the ending of When Life Gives You Tangerines is perfectly executed, as it providesclosure to each member of its main familyin a way that feels natural and well-earned.
Gwan-sik finallygets to see his wife truly happy, Ae-sun becomes a poet despite her circumstances, Geum-myeong becomes a successful business owner and finds true love like her parents, and Eun-myeong turns his life around by mending his ways and working for his sister’s company.
Throughsheer perseverance, love, and supportfor one another, Gwan-sik and Ae-sun never gave up in front of anything that life threw at them and kept going, and as a result, they built something that they could truly be proud of.
