When Life Gives You Tangerines

When Life Gives You Tangerines (Korean: 폭싹 속았수다; Jeju for 'Thank You for Your Hard Work') is a 2025 South Korean romance slice-of-life television series written by Lim Sang-choon, directed by Kim Won-seok, and starring IU, Park Bo-gum, Moon So-ri, and Park Hae-joon. It was released on Netflix between March 7–28, 2025.
A domestic and international hit, the series received praise for its performances, screenplay, and direction. It has been favorably compared to the acclaimed period drama Reply 1988 (2015–2016), also starring Park Bo-gum, for eliciting nostalgia and warmth rooted in the Korean experience.
Beginning in Jeju in 1951, the spirited Ae-sun and the steadfast Gwan-sik's island story blossoms into a lifelong tale of setbacks and triumphs — proving love endures across time.
Presented in a non-linear narrative, the story follows the lives of Ae-sun, Gwan-sik, and their children split between Dodong-ri on Jeju Island and Seoul between the 1950s and the 2000s. Events shown previously are sometimes shown again in later episodes with greater context to show the connection between different events and characters. Narration within episodes is often given by an older Geum-myeong, poetically reminiscing about her feelings on events of the past.
The series was developed under the working title Life (Korean: 인생; RR: Insaeng) directed by Kim Won-seok and written by Lim Sang-choon marking her return after writing the 2019 KBS drama When the Camellia Blooms. In December 2022, production designer Ryu Seong-hie mentioned that the series was one of her new projects.
The production cost is reported to be around ₩60 billion. Aside from filming in Jeju, the drama was also filmed in Andong in 2023.
On January 27, 2023, IU and Park Bo-gum were confirmed to be cast in the roles of main characters Ae-sun and Gwan-sik respectively. This is the second collaboration between Kim Won-seok and IU after the 2018 tvN drama series My Mister. On January 30, 2023, Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon were officially confirmed to play the older versions of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, respectively. This marks the fourth collaboration between Park Hae-joon and director Kim, following their partnerships on tvN dramas Misaeng: Incomplete Life, My Mister, and Arthdal Chronicles.
Choi Dae-hoon was also confirmed as part of the cast, and it was reported that filming for the series would commence in March 2023. On March 10, 2023, the casting of Na Moon-hee and Kim Yong-rim was announced. In March 15, 2023, Lee Jun-young's casting was confirmed. The first script reading for the cast members took place on March 7, 2023. Among the actors in attendance were IU, Park Bo-gum, Lee Jun-young, Choi Dae-hoon, Na Moon-hee, and Kim Yong-rim.
On May 12, 2023, Lee Soo-kyung's casting was confirmed. Baek Ji-won's casting was confirmed on June 23, 2023, followed by Oh Jeong-se's confirmation on July 25, 2023. Jeong Yi-seo's casting was confirmed on August 24, 2023. Lee Soo-mi's casting was confirmed on September 5, 2023. In an interview with Yeom Hye-ran on September 16, 2023, it was revealed that the series would be her next work. On July 27, 2023, it was reported that Kim Seon-ho would make a guest appearance.
The original Korean title, Pokssak sogatsuda (Korean: 폭싹 속았수다), was revealed on January 27, 2023. The title is a Jeju language verb for "thank you for your hard work". In Jeju language, sokda (Korean: 속다), which forms a part of sogatsuda (Korean: 속았수다), means "trying hard", "taking the trouble" or "having a hard time". Coincidentally, sokda is a linguistic false friend to the standard Korean word for "be deceived", "be cheated" or "be fooled", so Pokssak sogatsuda could be misinterpreted as the standard Korean translation for "heavily fooled".
The English title, When Life Gives You Tangerines, was announced on January 30, 2023, and is a word play on the proverb "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"; the fruit that grows in Jeju Island is mandarin orange, however. The Chinese title, Kǔjìngānlái Yùjiànnǐ (Chinese: 苦盡柑來遇見你; lit. 'I finally get to meet you after enduring hardship'), similarly plays on the Chinese proverb Kǔjìngānlái (Chinese: 苦盡甘來; lit. 'After the bitterness comes sweetness'); here, the Chinese character for either "mandarin orange" or "tangerine" (Chinese: 柑; pinyin: gān) replaces similarly sounded character for "sweetness" (Chinese: 甘; pinyin: gān) in the original proverb. Per Yonhap News Agency, a representative for Netflix's Globalisation Team stated that "When giving a title in English, the goal is to localise the creator's intention and cultural nuance in the original title to suit the culture of English-speaking countries".
In April 2023, it was announced that PAN Entertainment signed a production contract with Netflix, and the series was planned to be released in 190 countries in 2024 through the platform. On January 30, 2024, media outlets shared the script reading photos of the drama and confirm its exclusive release on Netflix worldwide. In January 2025, Netflix confirmed the release date of the series to be on March 7.
The series was a domestic and international hit, and was even praised by the Chinese Communist Party-owned daily tabloid Global Times despite Netflix's unavailability in the region. It received plaudits for its performances, screenplay, and direction, and has been favorably compared to the acclaimed period drama Reply 1988 (2015–16), also starring Park Bo-gum, for eliciting nostalgia and warmth rooted in the Korean experience.
India Today stated that the series "isn't just a love story, nor is it merely a historical drama. It's a meditation on time, on love, and on the quiet labor of care that stretches across lifetimes." Per South China Morning Post the series "masterfully bridged past and present, blurring the line between nostalgic reverie and pressing reality" calling it "one of the very best K-dramas of all time – and quite possibly the most Korean of them all."
Leads IU and Park Bo-gum topped topicality indices before and after the series aired. Park Bo-gum's portrayal of Gwan-sik was widely popular leading to media outlets calling it "Gwan-sickness". It also started a viral challenge on social media called "My Own Gwan-sik" where fans post about their partners, husbands, and fathers behaving like the character.