Episodes 9 to 12 of ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ dive deeper into the raw realities of growing up, growing apart, and standing tall. Guem-myeong learns that love, no matter how beautiful, sometimes must be left behind, while Ae-sun, Gwan-sik, and Eun-myeong are each forced to face their truths. These episodes unravel emotional complexities between parents and children, showing the contrast between those who support silently and those who try to control out of fear. Yet through every heartbreak and farewell, there’s an undercurrent of warmth, family, and the quiet bravery that comes with choosing yourself.
EPISODE 9: A Partner Through All Seasons
After selling their home for Guem-myeong’s education, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik move into an apartment. Gwan-sik wonders if her life would’ve been easier had she married someone wealthy, but Ae-sun reassures him that love, not money, is what people envy in their relationship. Meanwhile, Guem-myeong sees the photo of her mother, brother, and aunts starting again at their small street shop and breaks down, vowing never to let her parents’ dreams collapse again.
Even their rebellious son Eun-myeong quietly observes his mother’s struggles, secretly adjusting her chair to ease her discomfort. Kim Seon-ho makes his cameo as Park Chung-seob, first meeting Guem-myeong in an awkward situation that later unfolds into a series of coincidental encounters. The episode ends on another embarrassing note for Guem-myeong as she is caught in Chung-seob’s argument with his girlfriend.
EPISODE 10: When Worry Is Another Word for Love
While Ae-sun and Gwan-sik’s home is filled with love, Sang-il’s family is fractured. His son confronts him about his cold behavior, telling him that if his parents separated, he’d choose his stepmother over his biological father, showing that love, not blood, defines real relationships.
As young love takes center stage, Eun-myeong and Hyeong-suk face opposition from her family, while Guem-myeong grapples with her boyfriend’s unkind mother. In contrast, she builds a gentle bond with Chung-seob’s mother, who is quietly proud of her son’s work. Through a shared love for art and kindness, new connections bloom.
In Jeju, Ae-sun grows anxious after bad dreams and troubling news, recalling a memory from years ago about how her mother once saved her from being kidnapped. Her mother’s instincts prove right once more when she finds Guem-myeong unconscious due to a carbon monoxide leak. Rushing her to the hospital with Chung-seob’s help reflects how a mother’s worry is not a burden but a form of unconditional protection.
EPISODE 11: Not All First Loves Are Fairytales
Guem-myeong’s boyfriend rushes to the hospital, but as Ae-sun listens in, she quietly learns that his mother never truly liked her daughter. When Ae-sun asks Guem-myeong what his mother said, the following silence is heavier than any answer.
At the same time, Eun-myeong heads off for his military service, and while Gwan-sik tries to hide his tears, Ae-sun can’t hold back hers. On the other end, Chung-seob also enlists, leaving behind a beautiful portrait of Guem-myeong, capturing not just her face but also the quiet bond they built while walking home together, night after night. She was even able to make the man who never smiled laugh, an emotion he perhaps didn’t know he was capable of until then.
When the families of Guem-myeong and Yeong-beom finally meet, the atmosphere is painfully tense. Yeong-beom’s family arrives late, unapologetically. Ae-sun and Gwan-sik find themselves trying to maintain grace. Gwan-sik even hides his calloused hands, and Ae-sun says “It’s okay” to people who never said sorry. Guem-myeong, trying too hard to please, serves everyone a full plate but leaves little for herself. Ae-sun quietly switches her bowl with her daughter’s, her heart aching to see her child turn into a version of herself.
At a later meeting, when choosing wedding dresses, the discomfort lingers. Yeong-beom’s mother suggests calling the wedding off because “their families don’t match”, an insult Ae-sun quietly absorbs until she can’t anymore. Yet, when Guem-myeong asks her why she stayed silent during lunch, Ae-sun still can’t bring herself to reveal the cruel words spoken to her.
Eventually, Yeong-beom’s mother accuses Ae-sun of turning her son against her when he moves into a new apartment. That’s when Ae-sun finally breaks. Just as Gwan-sik once taught Guem-myeong to respect herself, she stands tall and calls off the wedding, refusing to let her parents be hurt any further.
Years later, Yeong-beom admitted that her mother was the only one smiling in his wedding photo. This episode reminds us that on one hand, we have parents like Gwan-sik and Ae-sun who support their children’s independence. On the other hand, there are parents like Yeong-beom’s mother, who believe their child’s life is their own to control. That belief eats away at both the child and the parent until love itself becomes unbearable.
And just like that, Guem-myeong’s first love didn’t end in a fairytale, it ended in heartbreak that took a full year to let go.
EPISODE 12: Every Season, Another Goodbye
After the breakup, Guem-myeong is drained. Her 7-year-long relationship ends, her best friend disappears, and yet, the friend of 20 years remains. Her mother, Ae-sun, with just one question—“Have you eaten?” opens the door to healing.
That question draws Guem-myeong home. She finds comfort again in the warmth of her father as they watch the sunrise together from his fishing boat. It feels different, more meaningful and she realises how deeply comforting it is to just sit beside him.
Later, in a quiet conversation with Ae-sun, she discovers something even more moving: her parents never distributed her wedding invitations. They believed in her that she’d take the right step, no matter how painful. And she did.
Before returning to her new life, Guem-myeong leaves behind a poetry notebook for Ae-sun and hand cream for Gwan-sik, two small gestures that deeply touch their hearts.
But another farewell awaits. Ae-sun’s grandmother, in a rare moment of clarity, recognises her granddaughter and shares a heartbreaking connection, one grieving mother to another. Ae-sun, for the first time in years, cries her heart out in her grandmother’s lap. The next day, her grandmother passes away. Ae-sun and Gwan-sik visit her grave, and she softly says, “Every season, we’re saying another goodbye. Let’s grow old together. Let’s live long and be together.”
Just as peace settles in, chaos comes knocking.
Eun-myeong returns from military service with Hyeong-suk and their unexpected child. The shock hits Ae-sun and Gwan-sik like a storm. And as they try to process it, someone familiar seems to be walking back into Guem-myeong’s life, too, a new story ready to begin.
After saying so many goodbyes- to dreams, to love, to people we thought would stay forever- life still moves quietly forward. And just when it seems like everything has ended, something new begins to bloom. In the quiet after heartbreak, in the warmth of a returning smile, in the unexpected knock on the door, something is waiting. A new season is coming, and with it, a story yet to unfold!
Written by – Tannu
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