“When Life Gives You Tangerines” Wraps on Tearful End

Clinching the top spot amongst non-English dramas on Netflix, tearjerker When Life Gives You Tangerines has had viewers calling it the must-watch Kdrama of 2025 for its thoughtful filmography where “not a single scene is wasted”.

Resonating with Asian Viewers

With a production fee as high as 60 billion KRW, the drama resonated with a wide viewership with its earnest depiction of resilience and hope through Jeju islanders’ challenging lifestyles and women’s struggles, set from 1960 to 2025, and stellar performances from its cast including IU, Park Bo Gum, Kim Seon-ho and Moon So-Ri.

IU, who is both Ae-Sun and Ae-Sun’s eldest daughter Geum-myeong, received praise from local media for delivering many memorable scenes. From playing single mother So-young in the film Broker, to depicting a mother of 3 kids in this series, much effort has also been put into her costume and imaging, as the director got IU to try on fake bellies of different shapes and sizes, and requested for different transformations for each child. The actress said, “As the bellies turned out heavier than I expected, I naturally had to support my waist with my hands and this made me feel like a real mother-to-be,”

IU revealed that the screenwriter’s attention to detail was precise as to specify the time of tears falling, such as a scene in which her character had an exchange with the landlord granny, where “Ae-Sun’s tears fell on her belly as she was about to go into labor”, which evoked her tears on set along with the landlord granny’s touching lines. As she has never had so many close friends contact her since the release of her 2010 single Good Day, the overwhelming response of her loved ones made her very grateful.

Park Bo-gum Praises IU
Co-star Park Bo-gum also gave his praises to IU, “Not only did she have to play two roles with a demanding schedule, she also had to rehearse for her concert during filming breaks and despite this, she kept up a very positive attitude, knowing her is a kind of fortune as I felt that she is someone who’s very willing to share warmth with others,”

Asked about some viewers being upset that he had “fewer scenes than expected”, Park Bo-gum said that he was aware of not having too many scenes, but feels honored to be able to work with screenwriter Lim Sang-choon as he is a great fan of When the Camellia Blooms. To acquiesce to director’s wishes for Gwan-sik to look fitter since he was a swimmer, Park Bo-gum deliberately put on weight by both eating and exercising more.

Asked about how his character was different than in Reply 1988, the actor said that Choi Taek was someone whom people loved to protect while Kwan-Sik is a dependable man; he is grateful to encounter both roles on his acting journey.

Kim Seon-ho’s likeable role as an artist, an unconditionally supportive husband who ran streets to woo back his loved one Geum-myeong also scored the actor many brownie points, reviving his career with many filming opportunities including Can This Love Be Translated. Meanwhile IU has 21st Century Grand Prince’s Wife, and Park-bo gum has Good Boy coming up.

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