At first glance, When Life Gives You Tangerines feels achingly real – a long, bittersweet romance that drips with authenticity. But the creators haven’t claimed it as a literal biopic. The writer Lim Sang-choon and director Kim Won-seok haven’t said it’s based on one couple’s true history. In fact, analysts note it’s a work of fiction inspired by reality. One article bluntly states the drama is “not being based on a true story, but inspired by real-life experiences” of Jeju farming life. Instead of dramatizing a documented life, Lim’s script weaves together feelings and themes drawn from Jeju Island’s culture – the tangerine farms, the tight-knit villages and the stoic resilience of its people.
That said, fans have traced breadcrumbs to speculate about real influences. In Episode 1, eagle-eyed viewers spotted a name – “Hong Kyung-ja” – on a haenyeo diver’s float. Local reporters and blog pieces have since connected this to an actual woman from Jeju, born in 1950, whose life echoes Ae-sun’s story. Hong Kyung-ja lost her own mother early and dove to support her siblings; later she married and loved a quiet man who worked by the sea. Many elements line up: Hong’s family duties and hardworking background resemble the fictional Ae-sun (played by IU and Moon So-ri), and her husband’s gentle loyalty parallels Gwan-sik. Fans note even small details differ – Hong had eight siblings and a stepmother, whereas Ae-sun has two siblings and a stepfather – suggesting the drama wasn’t a straightforward biography. As one writer put it, “What if Gwan Sik … was a real-life person who actually existed?” But she quickly adds the series “may be fiction, but its heart beats with a real-life love story” from Jeju. In short, there’s no official confirmation that the show retells an exact true tale – but Lim Sang-choon clearly imbued it with a lived-in sincerity about Jeju families.
Bringing the Story to Life: Origins and Development
The drama’s journey began behind the scenes years ago. In late 2022 Lim Sang-choon – already celebrated for the warm small-town hit When the Camellia Blooms – partnered again with director Kim Won-seok (of My Mister and Misaeng) to craft a new story. Early reports show it was developed under the working title Life (인생, Insaeng). By January 2023 the Netflix project revealed its official Korean name (Pokssak Sogatsuda, 폭싹 속았수다) and teased the Jeju setting. Filming followed quickly: a first script reading took place in March 2023, and cameras rolled that spring on Jeju’s coasts and even in rural Andong on the mainland.
This was a major production. The budget was an eye-popping ₩60 billion (around USD 50 million), reflecting its ambition to span decades. It reunited Park Bo-gum with director Kim, who they’d worked with before on Reply 1988 and My Mister. In fact, Park was cast in January 2023 alongside singer-actress IU as the leads, and veteran Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon to play the older generation. Even before the show premiered, Netflix announced it as a worldwide original, slated to stream in 190 countries on its platform. That exclusivity marks it as a top-tier “Netflix Drama”, produced by Pan Entertainment and Baram Pictures – the same studio known for big hits like Crash Landing on You.
In interviews around release, the cast and crew emphasized the series’ intention. IU said she was drawn by the chance to play a role unlike any she’d done and by the creative team behind it. Park Bo-gum said that Lim’s script simply felt “so beautiful and endearing” when he first read it, and he knew he wanted to be part of a story that families could watch together for years. At a press conference, director Kim Won-seok summed it up bluntly: this drama is “a tribute to the parent and grandparent generations and a cheering anthem for the younger generation.” Together, Lim and Kim crafted this slice-of-life romance to honor Korean history through the eyes of ordinary people on Jeju.
Jeju Island as a Character
Jeju is not just a backdrop – the island itself almost plays a starring role. South Korea’s largest island, Jeju has a culture distinct from the mainland. It was long isolated, giving it its own language dialect and traditions. The show frequently touches on local features: shrines (dang) and shamanistic beliefs hint at Jeju’s “pantheon of local deities” and reverence for nature. In one episode, Gwan-sik’s grandmother is shown performing a shaman ritual, subtly weaving this island folklore into the story.
The most prominent cultural influence is the haenyeo – Jeju’s legendary female divers. These women, often still diving into their 70s, freedive without breathing gear to harvest seafood. The series highlights them throughout. In the final episode they even open a Haenyeo Museum, paying homage to these women (a UNESCO-listed tradition). As TIME notes, haenyeo are the embodiment of Jeju women’s independence. The drama’s female characters – from Ae-sun’s mother onward – echo that independence. This reflects an actual social feature: Jeju historically had a semi-matriarchal society, and haenyeo provided much of their families’ livelihoods.
Jeju’s haenyeo divers are no mere scenic detail but symbolic heart of Tangerines. They literally harvest food from the sea by day, an ancient tradition that “keep[s] alive a 1,000-year-old tradition” of women’s hard work on Jeju. The TV series reflects this: Ae-sun’s aunties and mother in the drama suit up in wetsuits, just like the real-life women photographed here. As Sportskeeda notes, the haenyeo “are symbols of Jeju’s resilience and the strength of its women.” By featuring them prominently, Tangerines honors that legacy.
Another Jeju staple is its tangerines. The island’s mild climate yields nearly all of Korea’s citrus harvest – Jeju produces 99.8% of the country’s tangerines. The English title plays on the saying “when life gives you lemons,” swapping in tangerines precisely because of this local link. IU even described their goal: “It’s a drama about making warm tangerine tea from even the sourest tangerines life throws at you.” In Korean, the title Pokssak Sogatsuda literally means “You have worked hard” – a phrase of gratitude in the Jeju dialect. This touches on Jeju’s history: the word “sogatda” can mean “to toil” here, thanking someone for their effort. TIME explains this choice, saying the Jeju title “is arguably an even more appropriate title for a drama that celebrates the diligent hard work of Ae-sun, Gwan-sik, and many of its other characters across decades.” In short, every splash of local color – the crops, the sea, the language – roots the show firmly in real Jeju life.
What the Creators and Cast Have Said
Unlike big historical dramas, Tangerines tells its story through interviews and dialogue rather than exposition. Yet the people who made it have explained some intentions in press chats. Lim Sang-choon herself stays famously out of the spotlight, but interviews with IU and others give clues. IU said she took Jeju-dialect lessons before shooting so the cast would “get used to what the Jeju dialect sounds like,” even if much of the dialogue is in standard Korean. This attention to detail shows their respect for authenticity.
Director Kim Won-seok has spoken of centering women’s experiences. The narrative follows Ae-sun’s mother, Ae-sun herself, and Ae-sun’s daughter – spanning three generations of women. A line from the show’s poetry sums up that angle: Ae-sun teaches her daughter that aging simply means seeing an older face in the mirror, but feeling the same inside. This mother-daughter theme was intentional: as one interview put it, the finale “tied up its tapestry of Korean modern history, Jeju culture, and one family’s dreams.” The creators wanted to show how women’s lives interconnected with major social changes – from the rural 1960s to modern Seoul – while still feeling deeply personal.
Though writer Lim Sang-choon has given almost no public interviews (she’s a “reclusive” figure outside of her craft), the cast has filled in the gaps. IU told Marie Claire that both she and Moon So-ri (who plays the older Ae-sun) hope viewers emerge “feeling…a renewed sense of hope for life” after laughing and crying with the characters. Park Bo-gum said in Teen Vogue that the story’s charm made him want to be part of it, believing it could be something a family could cherish “after a long time passes by.” In other words, the team clearly set out to make an emotional, multigenerational drama that feels both intimate and universal.
Behind the Scenes: The Cast’s Perspective
The actors have shared their own experiences filming this slice-of-life story. IU (real name Lee Ji-eun) and Park Bo-gum have been friends since they were teens – they even first met on a commercial set when they were younger. NDTV notes that “after we both hit our 30s, we finally got to work on the same project,” and that history gave them “great chemistry” on set. Park says looking back now, they “had such a fun time on set,” and hopes to work together again. IU also joked that when she heard Park was cast, she worried, “Is it okay for Gwan-sik to look like that?” – teasing that his handsomeness might make all the Jeju girls swoon! Their real-world camaraderie clearly translated to an effortless partnership on screen.
Both leads have praised how well-crafted Lim’s script was. For instance, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik’s very first kiss (in a field of yellow canola) was written “down to every little detail” in the screenplay. IU explained that even the smallest action – “you see a fist that trembles” – was scripted, and they simply followed those directions exactly. Park adds that a note about him kissing Ae-sun’s upper lip was in the script, so their surprising kiss in Episode 1 was completely intentional. The result felt raw and real to viewers: one review said the kiss “wasn’t the usual dreamy K-drama kiss but instead felt raw and full of ‘wait, is this really happening?’ emotions.” All of this careful planning – plus IU’s subtle preparation (she even took Jeju dialect classes to get into character) – made those tender moments hit home with the audience.
The show’s young couple, Oh Ae-sun and Yang Gwan-sik, on Jeju Island. IU and Park Bo-gum – who have worked together since childhood – have described how their off-screen friendship lent authenticity to these scenes. IU revealed that their first kiss scene in a canola field was scripted with every small gesture, and both actors stayed very faithful to those directions. The heartfelt awkwardness on display is why viewers say the romance “captured hearts worldwide.”
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