When Life Gives You Tangerines, the popular Netflix K-drama starring IU and Park Bo Gum, has wrapped up after dominating the charts in the non-English TV show category for several weeks. As the final episode aired, fans were left debating whether the show’s conclusion was happy or sad. With mixed emotions surrounding the ending, many viewers have taken to sharing their own theories and thoughts on what the conclusion truly means.
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Fans share their theories over When Life Gives You Tangerines ending
When Life Gives You Tangerines made a concrete fanbase among its viewers from the first episode itself as they waited for each episode to drop on Netflix. As the show released its finale episode on March 28, fans are divided over the show’s ending. Some find it to be a happy ending while others felt Oh Ae Sun and Gwan Sik’s love story ended on a sad note.
A Reddit user theorised, “It is not a devastating ending, it is bittersweet, it wouldn’t leave you in pieces, it will leave you whole with a little bit of happy pain. just go fr it, i am sure you will have no regrets.” A second user wrote, “It’s a satisfying ending which isn’t depressing. The four-episode chunks with respect to the two main leads are basically childhood, young adulthood/20s, middle age, and old age. If you’re in your 30s or 40s, you probably have a pretty good idea of what that final chapter looks like.”
They further explained, “But just like our lives, the show is a cross section of a whole family, so even when the two main leads are in their twilight years, we see the next generation raising their own families and having their own challenges and successes. The ending does really well at balancing those two tones.”
A redditor theorised, “Yes it is it have a complete ending!” to which another user agreed and wrote, “The best answer. Complete. Like life is. Complete.”
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When Life Gives You Tangerines: What happens in the finale?
Fans’ one fear for the conclusion of the series was Oh Ae Sun and Gwan Sik being separated by death where one dies before the other. Unfortunately, this turned out to be true, as Gwan Sik’s health gives into arthritis which turns into cancer.
Just as their daughter Geum Myeong, finally makes it in her life to afford her father’s expensive treatment, she is confronted by the reality of his condition. In the end, the series stuck to its pattern of the woman of the family outliving the men and thus Gwan Sik dies, leaving behind Oh Ae Sun.
He spent his entire life worrying about his wife and even on his last day he was worried about the life she would have to face ahead without him. However, Oh Ae Sun is not alone, she still has her family, children, friends, Gwan Sik’s memories and the hairpins.
