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Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 16 of When Life Gives You Tangerines, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring IU as Oh Ae-sun, Park Bo-gum as Yang Gwan-sik, Moon So-ri as older Oh Ae-sun, and Park Hae-joon as older Yang Gwan-sik. We’ll also announce the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 12 of K Drama Chat. We discuss:

• The songs featured during the recap: Theme of Gwan-sik, Looking Back, It Was a Paradise, and It Was Just Sometimes Winter, Sometimes Spring, all by the incredible Park Seong Il.
• The devastating yet beautiful farewell between Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, as they reflect on their extraordinary life together.
• How Ae-sun’s poem, To the Heart That Leaves Me Behind, encapsulates her enduring love and strength, and how poetry weaves through the show as a symbol of love, regret, and hope.
• The emotional family moments, including Geum-myeong and Eun-myeong’s tearful goodbyes to their father, filled with regret, gratitude, and newfound understanding.
• How Ae-sun and Gwan-sik finally share their grief over their son Dong-myeong’s death, a sorrow that divided them for decades.
• The heartbreaking yet realistic depiction of aging, illness, and how families rally around each other during difficult times.
• The surprising reveal that Gwan-sik saved all of Geum-myeong’s money, telling us that he cherished the gift of the money, more than the money itself.
• Geum-myeong’s business venture, Ever Study, inspired by her mother’s unrealized dreams, and how it speaks to Korea’s competitive education system and rural limitations.
• The beautiful connections that suggest Gwang-rye was reincarnated as Chloe Lee, the editor who publishes Ae-sun’s book of poetry, tying together fate and family legacy.
• How Ae-sun, even after losing Gwan-sik, finds new meaning in life as a teacher at the senior center and as a published poet.
• Reflections on aging, with Ae-sun’s profound observation that you feel the same inside but see an older person in the mirror.
• Bu Sang-gil’s late-in-life flirtations with Yeong-ran and the notion that it’s never too late for first love.
• Our announcement of the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 12 of K Drama Chat.

References

• Multiple myeloma - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
• Rheumatoid arthritis - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
• Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant
• Ttukbaegi - Wikipedia
• Kim Kwang Seok on Wikipedia
• Asian American Life TV Show