When Life Gives You Tangerines: Spoiler-Free Mini Review
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Title: | When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025) |
Platform: | Netflix |
9.3 (The highest rated show of any region on MDL) | |
Genre: | Period (1950's onward), Generational Family, Romance, Slice of Life |
Episode Count: | 16 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | TV-14: Some minor suggestive material: Ep 13 has a drawn outline of an unclothed body in the background for a scene (ends 26:40-28:08) if that is a concern. There is swearing and a couple innuendo's at the beginning, smoking. For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26471411/parentalguide/ |
Staring: | IU (My Mister) Park Bo Gum (Reply 1988) Moon So Ri (The Legend of the Blue Sea) Roh Jeong Eui (My Mister) |
RBTS Rating: | 4.1/5  |
Synopsis:
It is a story that resembles a tribute to our parents' tender and still youthful seasons when they were so young, including the story of mother's first love, father's heroic tales, grandma's rebellious youth, and grandpa's romantic era. Ae Sun is rebellious but gets nervous every time she rebels. She is not well off but is always shining and full of positivity. She dreams of becoming a poet, although she cannot attend school, and she is a bold character who doesn’t hide any emotions. Gwan Sik is an extremely diligent and quiet character. Romance is not a strength for him, and he doesn’t know how to act if Ae Sun cries or laughs, but he is a silent warrior who only loves Ae Sun from the very beginning and pours his all into loving her. @MDL
Stay Tuned: Full Review Still to Come!
Spoiler-Free Mini Review:
When Life Gives You Tangerines is a moving and heartwarming generational story of a mother and daughter that spans from the 1950's to present day. The drama dethroned Twinkling Watermelons on MDL and has been met with critical acclaim. Now don't get me wrong, the drama is actually good, but I think it aspired to more than it achieved. Once O Ae Sun (FL) was played by Moon So Ri and IU played her daughter, I felt there was a disconnect. Ae Sun felt like a different character and we really didn't get to spend that much time with Yang Geum Myeong. I felt like the internet and the narrative were telling me that this is the best thing since sliced bread, rather than showing me in the drama.
The drama follows a "Slice of Life" format and there is no overarching motive or plot point driving the narrative. As I watched, I couldn't help but think of Reply 1988 with its focus on family and more leisurley pace. But maybe that's because Park Bo Gum was in this, killing the game as usual. He and IU once again proved how talented they are. Yeom Hye Ran (Ae Sun's Mother) genuinely melted into the role, and her performance was truly special. She even won a much deserved award for best supporting actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards and the Blue Dragon Series Awards. Slay on Queen.
While it didn't move me as much as I think it was intending to, I did shed some tears. The show is very touching, but some storylines could have slapped harder. Again, around episode 12 it really slowed down.
This should and could be renamed: The Lamentations of the Middle Child lol.
Story=4 (Very touching and historical, but wished some storylines were not the middle child of the plot (lol) & had closure, Acting=4.5, Production Quality=5, Ending= 5, Enjoyability= 4 (later episodes dragged a bit)
Recommend= Yes, if you enjoy generational family stories.
Trailer:
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