When Life Gives You Tangerines

 

No matter how good the intentions are, things don't always work out the way we wish them to work out.

That seems to be the running  message in the 2024 K-drama - When life Gives you Tangerines.

Every episode is filled with equal measures of heartbreak coupled with elation.

In the beginning, we are introduced to very strong characters, each one holding their roles and executing it to a fault.

I watched this drama in two weeks, I was down with an infection and it gave me an excuse to cry for my troubles.

Life is not easy, but you have to keep going, you have to keep giving it your best shot you have to continue taking risks, big and small.

And sometimes it will be great and you can celebrate in the summer, so that when winter comes, memories of happier times can keep you warm.

But there is also love in this drama, the complicated love of family, and the sweet love of young hearts that have decided to be each other's soul mates. Not in the inexperienced passion filled sort of attraction. This has to do with knowledge.

When  Gwan Sick asks Ae Sun  to marry him, she says : No I cannot , you have seen me in my worst. 

But he insists, that he can love her  and provide for her more than anybody.

And he tries to. 

In the end, when Gwan Sick is dying, Oh Ae Sun says to him that -  Because of you I have never been lonely for a single day in my life - 

The viewer is confronted with his own decision making capabilities. 

When do you ask for an epidural?

Should I borrow money to rescue my family?

I loved the ending, it gave so much hope. Even thought (Ae Sun) was not able to attend college to become a poet, through the publication of her poetry books, she  becomes a poetry coordinator teacher at 60 years old in an old people's home.

Crash Landing on You- K-drama Review

 I love how the writer didn’t waste any moment in this drama. Every minute counts, every emotion is felt and sinks deep.

The characters are all well thought out, I mean each character holds space, there is no one, even the children casted who didn’t have a solid role.

I think all through the film I kept wondering, will we know Ri Jeong Hyeok’s real feelings? Will he really go head with marriage after all this? I loved the train scene when Yoon Seri is demanding this and that and he calmly brings everything  for her comfort. The way he went to shop for her, how he would always find her.

She on the other hand, when it was her turn to be generous did that and much more.

This film has so much heart.

From the village head who keeps getting drunk and spilling secrets, to Sergeant Pyo Chi Soo, who is such a fun character but seems to be unaware of himself ( He’s actually quite handsome )

Seung Jung’s character gets better and better as the story progresses. I loved how he proposed to Yoon Seri to help her, after her brother called and made him realise what kind of a family she had. He also was able to break Seo Dan and curve a girl out of stone into until we couldn’t bear to watch him go.

When company five  are given the Card to spend, I love the excitement they have to try different things But at the same time they do not become spendthrifts. They are like Yoon Seri and Jeong Hoek’s little siblings.

Jeong Hyeok’s mother 😭😭awww she is such an awesome woman. She can stand her own ground, she is loving and tender but at the same time a very fitting wife for someone in such a superior position.

The NIS, 😊all hot.

If this was a book I would read it, but I think this is one of the few times when the film would always be better than the book.

I’m glad it has a happy ending.

It was pulling at all my heart strings.

Thank you for this gift.

This was my first Kdrama.