How did Ae-sun's mom die in When Life Gives You Tangerines? Details explored

With 16 episodes, When Life Gives You Tangerines concluded the story of Oh Ae-sun and Yang Gwan-sik as the two built a life together full of ups and downs. As a slice-of-life drama, When Life Gives You Tangerines naturally offers several emotional moments as the story gets too real.

One such moment occurs when Ae-sun recounts the story of her mother, Gwang-rye (Yeom Hye-ran), who gave her life trying to provide the best for her family. Gwang-rye worked as a haenyeo, and the demands of her job, coupled with the kind of mental stress she had to bear, caused her death in When Life Gives You Tangerines.

Though her character is shown to be dying in the very first episode of the show, she leaves a lasting impact behind because of how relentlessly she worked without ever thinking for herself, only to make sure that her daughter Ae-sun gets the life she deserves.

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Working as a haenyeo caused Gwang-rye’s death in When Life Gives You Tangerines

As Ae-sun recounts her time with her mother in the episode titled Spring in a Heartbeat, the viewers get an insight into the character of Gwang-rye and to what length she had to go to provide for her family. Since Jeju is the setting, the semi-matriarchal society there meant that Gwang-rye had to work hard.

Gwang-rye started to work as a haenyeo, which meant she had to deep dive into the ocean and bring up seaweed and other kinds of sea life. The job is extremely demanding and given the lack of other professionals opportunities in the Jeju region, women who worked as haenyeo often happened to be the sole breadwinner of the family.

The same was true for Gwang-rye and because of working as a haenyeo for a long time, her health was naturally impacted. Moreover, despite being such a high risk job, there was a severe lack of precautionary measures and therefore, the dangers associated with deep diving into the oceans were numerous.

Besides being associated with such a physically demanding job, Gwang-rye also suffered a lot emotionally as her first husband had a sick life and passed away before his time. This led Gwang-rye to get remarried as she had to ensure the wellbeing of herself and her children.

However, even after getting married for a second time Gwang-rye did not stop working as a haenyeo and she often overworked because she wanted to earn more for Ae-sun, her daughter. Seeing her mother working so much to provide for them, Ae-sun always thought of times that would bring them economical comfort but unfortunately, Gwang-rye did not live to see the days of prosperity.

Given the kind of resilience and bravery that Gwang-rye showed, her character remained relevant throughout the series despite not being present on screen for a long time. When Life Gives You Tangerines is essentially a tale of big struggles, small victories, and the essence of everyday life and Gwang-rye’s story is one of the earliest ones in the series that sets the theme of the show.

When Life Gives You Tangerines can be streamed on Netflix.

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