“When Life Gives You Tangerines” Ending Explained- Episode 16 Recap And Review

Netflix has revealed the final volume of “When Life Gives You Tangerines” and this included its ending, Let us recap the finale!

Note: my recap won’t be able to convey the immensely beautiful writing of this finale, and I am sorry for that, as this will only be a summary of what happened of the finale!

“When Life Gives You Tangerines” episode 16 recap

We see the passage of time as Ae Sun and her family opened a squid restaurant, it flourished so much and is attracting lots of customers. Eun-Myeong has two kids now too.

Ae Sun is very happy, and so is Gwan-Sik. Despite being in her late 30s, Geum-Myeong still needs her mom as she’s having trouble with her child. Geum-Myeong wants to usethe money to treat her parents to a full checkup for their bodies. The family goes to it and takes it, and they leave happily.

The parents visit Dong-Myeong’s grave together and cry, remembering him. We also get a flashback of some of what Ae Sun did to his grave including the upkeep.

Sadly, the hospital calls the parents again. We find out that Gwan-Sik is sick, he has cancer. Ae Sun is naturally by his side and aids in everything. However, it takes a toll on him and he begins to lose weight; his condition is not improving that much.

As the technology evolves, Ae Sun struggles with the hospital rules and whatnot. Seeing how she’s being treated, Gwan-Sik yells at one of the clerks and at Geum-Myeong telling her she must come to every hospital appointment moving forward.

She books him a private room, and he asks her to stay by his side instead of Ae Sun. Throughout the night, he re-tells stories from their past and what happened to them. Geum-Myeong laughs and cries talking to her dad all night.

Things are not looking good for Gwan-Sik, who is told he has little time left to live so he went back to his home to be with his family. Everyone welcomes him but they’re all crying hard.

As time moves on, we see a glimpse of the family seeing Geum-Myeong giving a talk at a press conference introducing her company Ever Study, she’s now a CEO. In her speech, she brings up her mom and her dad and they’re all very proud of her.

Gwan-Sik continues to fix things around the house until the time of his death and during one of his final days, Ae Sun brings in her book, she published a series of the poems she wrote, she’s now a poet. Gwan-Sik cries reading it, he’s very happy for her and even carries her on his back.

One day in November of 2006, Geum-Myeong gets a call, her father’s health has deteriorated and he’s being taken to the hospital. The kids arrive and escort him to the hospital, crying their eyes out, he’s taking his last breath.

Watching him wearing scrubs by the ICU, Ae Sun looks on as he tries to wave, he asks if their time together was great, she says yes, there were rough days but never a lonely day.

After his death, we find out that Gwan-Sik didn’t spend any of the money Geum-Myeong sent him from Seoul and kept it in a fund and gave it to her. He also bought his son a used Mercedes car.

After his death, Ae Sun continues to live in the apartment, remembering him in everything she does. She goes back to writing more poems.

The present day

Ae Sun is taking a bus to go to a place to teach the elderly how to write, and they call her teacher. In the bus, she says she’s completed her poems.

As night comes and she goes by the sea side, she screams for her mother and then gets a call from Geum-Myeong who is coming by to visit with Eun-Myeong. After they have lunch together, the girls talk and Ae Sun says she’s happy. Then, Eun-Myeong surprises her, he had a deal with a published and actually published her poems collections on a big stage, she’s very happy seeing her poems collections published.

We then see a woman who looks a lot like Ae Sun’s mother, as if she was reincarnated. She reads her poems and we find out they crossed paths throughout her life, the woman who looks a lot like Ae Sun’s mother says she’s very proud of Ae Sun for publishing these poems.

Geum-Myeong asks her mom what she’d like to celebrate, she asks her to visit more often because she’s so busy.

We then see a flashback to the 60s when Ae sun and Gwan-Sik took photos in a flower field, they’re both having fun discussing what they’ll do in the future together and what they’d accomplish. The camera pans out as the young couple goes through the field. The last line reads, ‘to their seasons, once so young and still so tender, with remorse, gratitude and the deepest respect… thank you for all your hard work.’

The end.

“When Life Gives You Tangerines” ending explained- FAQ

“When Life Gives You Tangerines” ending- review

WOWWWWW. Dude, I cried even recapping this, this was rough.

This is likely one of the roughest recaps I ever had to do and I’ve been doing it for over 6 years now.

Where do I begin? What do I even say? What is there to properly convey the passion and intensity of this finale?

Everything about it was so tragic yet so beautiful, I need time to soak in the finale but oh my god, this was a hard watch in my opinion.

There is no doubt that “When Life Gives You Tangerines” is a life drama, I hate that some people called it k-trauma because its not, but to me, it was rough watching it, maybe because I am not in the best mental state right now. It gave me comfort but also reminded me of the fragility and the fleetingness of life. How beautiful yet tragic it’ll be and how the right people can make it worth it.

I could write paragraphs about this as I am running high on emotions right now. I love how this drama was all about women, their struggles, womanhood, sisterhood, love, family and all of its beauty. This is a beautiful drama on all fronts.

I am thankful, thankful for the entirety of the “When Life Gives You Tangerines” team, the production team, the director, the writer and the actors, you all did well. Thank you for your hard work. 폭싹 속았수다.

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