XingBack

In life you won’t always get the lemon, you won’t always get what you wish for
But you can still appreciate and enjoy the tangerine

Be happy with what you gain, love, family, health, money
Every step builds the happiness you live in
It can also be metaphorical in the sense of tangerines being a “jeju” trademark, a “country side” when people craved the shiny city lemons
and since tangerines are sweet, you worry about having them right after a sour moment, or having too much of it

spoiling your kids can have as much negatives as neglecting them would
Ae Sun couldn't study and persuade her dreams, that's why she overcompensated with her daughter, and even though it's a blessing, it was also a burden for Geum Myeong, as an eldest daughter, as the first woman in her family to study and work in an office
Gwan Sik had to do extreme jobs and compromise his health to care for his family, even though Ae Sun did help him and support him too, but they didn't want their son to suffer so Eun Myeong felt too sheltered and he thought he was incompetent



I don’t want extraordinary or extravagant dramas, I’m picky and hate halfhearted attempts

The first ep alone felt like a movie, full of emotions, happiness and heartache
The 2nd ep felt familiar; have I seen that exact plot move before? Running away and getting robbed
The 3ep was a rollercoaster, will they achieve their dreams? Are their dreams really what they seem? Is getting married a sacrifice?
and it continues on, but the second half and some of the events around Geum Myeong's love life felt draggy

I feel like I could write a longer review to talk about all the elements but I'll keep it breif



IU is so cute and such an amazing actor, PBG reflects the adorkable nature very well and the young actors did an amazing job representing them too

aesun is just a kid but because of her moms love and her love for her daughter and the support of gwansik, she stands up for the people she loves harder than she’d stand up for herself
she looked selfish cuz she questions the adults, but she never acted unless her family was targeted

Gwansik was raised in a loud controlling house that he’s always quiet but aesun sparkles his drive to act and in the small moments, he’d take up pain for his family, change the “norms” for his family, remember what they love and he was also never afraid to point out the wrongs of the adults

She was going to leave her stepfather but she stayed for her siblings, she wanted to leave the country side but she stayed for gwansik, she wanted to let him go but she knew he loved her as much as she loved him, she stayed in the kitchen she hated but she left once her baby was targeted
She gave up her dreams because she found bigger happiness in her family, honestly that’s beautiful

And gwansik never defied his gramma and mom, but they were just crazy. It takes two in a marriage, the rest are just support
The gramma keeps saying the mom is a bad “daughter in law” so if she can’t do her “duties” she sure shouldn’t force more on her own DIL and expect her own son to stay quiet when she’d wanted his support



In who is she, the fl spends her life regretting her lost dream, regretting her failed marriage eventho she couldn’t have controlled it, she hated living life just for her daughter and always craved what she lost
Here, aesun never blames her daughter, she doesn’t regret her choices, sure having support makes a big difference, support of her husband, but still life is hard you should always appreciate what you gain and not what you lost




I kept dragging the last ep cuz I didn’t want it to finish but I also didn’t wanna be disappointed

Overall I do feel like there was something missing in the writing, the pace and development didn’t feel smooth enough
The time skips did increase too much in the middle, they’d show the past, present, future, past past and so one

Actingwise everyone did a beautiful job
but the writing could've been better, it was too "tearjerker", her mom died at 29, her youngest kid died just when she walked away for a minute, her husband died at 55..




I think of aesun as more of my grandma rather than mom and Geum Myeong as my mom, so it makes me understand them more
though it is also effected by cultural differences, but it also made me wish they added a bit more of the current generation and the "grandkids" cuz i think aesun would've dotted on her grandkids and they'd have loved and adored her more too
I also don't understand her being around 70 and living alone, not with her daughter or even son...
in the last ep i thought Geum Myeong turned into aesun's mom and short haired iu was the granddaughter xD