When Life Gives You Tangerines Episode 8 Reaction
Added 2025-10-12 00:55:41 +0000 UTCQuestion of the day: Do you think Geum Myeong made the correct choice? Would you have taken the bribe for a free apartment?
We’re jumping right into episode 8 titled The Moon Wanes, Yet the Young Heart Remains! 🌝❤️
In the last episode Ae-Sun became the chief of the town! 👏👏Which means Gwansik achieved his lifelong dream of being the first lady 😂
Meanwhile Gum Myeong got accepted to a prestigious university in Seoul 🙌but being away from home brought her a lot guilt because she knows how hard her parents work for her. 😔she was bribed with a 3 bedroom apartment in exchange for cheating, which was tempting but her heart stayed strong ❤️ Gum Myeong has her mothers fighting spirit!
Password: “butterfly”
Comments
Hi guys, don't you want to try watching Running Man with IU as a guest?😁😁
annisa putri
2025-10-13 23:40:34 +0000 UTCAt the bus stop, Gwansik tried to give Yeongbeom an energy drink (Bacchus) to comfort him after hearing that he had been rejected by Geumnyeong multiple times. However, after hearing Yeongbeom’s next words, Gwansik was reminded of his past with Aesun, and his instinct to keep Yeongbeom in check returned, so he decided not to give him the drink. Haha. From the conversation between Jenny and her mother, we can tell that Jenny’s home is in Daechi-dong. The Daechi-dong academy district is a famous educational area in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where many academies are concentrated for students preparing for college entrance exams and subject studies. It can be seen as the center of Korea’s highly competitive exam-focused education culture. It’s a very expensive neighborhood, with extremely high living costs and housing prices. Geumnyeong had heard the phrase “A dragon rises from the stream” her entire life. It emphasized her humble background—being born into poverty and difficult circumstances—and carried an implication that she was always expected to succeed. Having heard it repeatedly, she grew tired of it and found it burdensome. Although Geumnyeong had overcome poverty and lived up to expectations, economic reasons prevented her from studying abroad. While the saying highlights success, the inequalities and limitations she faced in reality remained unchanged, making the phrase feel more bitter than comforting. She also felt weary of people comparing her to a “stream,” a poor environment, as if evaluating her. What could be meant as simple encouragement increasingly felt to her like a judgment. In short, Geumnyeong disliked the proverb more for its emphasis on her origins and circumstances than for its intended encouragement. Moreover, even though she was admitted to Seoul National University’s English Literature program, she felt guilty that pursuing studies abroad would require sacrifices from her parents. The praise that she had become a “dragon” seemed to highlight her parents’ hardships, which made her dislike hearing such comments. This shows that Geumnyeong deeply understood her parents’ sacrifices and felt the burden and guilt of her own situation because of them. That is why Geumnyeong says: “A dragon from the stream. Who benefits if a dragon rises from the stream? Is it any good for the stream? And what good is it for the dragon?” Korea experienced democratization movements, in which citizens and students risked their lives to demand political freedom and human rights under authoritarian and military regimes. The main periods were 1960, 1980, and 1987. Protesters were often arrested, beaten, tortured, and in severe cases, killed. During the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980, hundreds were killed and thousands injured. Yes, Gwangju is the hometown of J-Hope. Its area code is 062-"518", referencing the exact date of the Gwangju Uprising, "May 18", 1980. (Since I live in Seoul, I don’t really know the area codes of other regions, but thanks to the lyrics of BTS’s “Ma City,” I remember Gwangju’s area code very clearly. ت) When Geumnyeong and Gwansik were eating jajangmyeon, Gwansik warned her, saying, “Protests are dangerous; tear gas in the eyes really hurts.” Later, at the bus terminal, he again told her to stay away from protest sites. Gwansik mentioned that even seeing soldiers with batons on the news keeps him awake, and just hearing that university students are being dragged away to be beaten makes him shiver. At that time, news coverage was focused on the upcoming presidential election. Since Geumnyeong entered university in 1987, this aligns with the timing of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. It was a period when the era of the authoritarian president was ending, and a new presidential election was underway, showing that the Korean government was politically unstable at the time. Gwansik didn’t come to see Geumnyeong purely as a lie. In fact, he had rescued someone who fell into the water in Jeju and received an award for a “mainland tour,” but the location was Cheonan, which is some distance from Seoul. Geumnyeong notices the stamp on Gwansik’s wrist that says “Cheonan Independence Hall” and asks, “Did you stop by while you were coming here?” While it’s true that Gwansik did go on the mainland tour, he pretended that he was visiting Geumnyeong on the way to avoid making it seem like a burden for him to come all the way to Seoul. In 1987, military service was much longer than it is now. At that time, the army was about 30 months and the navy about 20 months, nearly 1.5 to 2 times longer than today. Such long service had a significant impact on entering society or planning one’s education. Nowadays, the army serves for 18 months. Because of this, men who served in the military back then often joke to younger men today that serving that long was like going to a military camp. It’s a joke with a grain of truth. Aesun’s homeroom teacher is not Yerim’s father. There is a significant age and generational gap. When Aesun was in elementary school, it was the 1960s. That scene is simply meant to show that, like Aesun, Geumnyeong also couldn’t pursue what she wanted because of poverty. Geumnyeong wanted to study in Japan, but due to lack of money, she had no choice but to yield to Yerim, who was next in line. Similarly, Aesun received more votes than Mangi in the class election, but because Mangi’s father gave money to the homeroom teacher, Aesun could not become class president. To put it bluntly, just as the mother passed down poverty, the daughter inherited it as well. As a side note, when the school scenes with Aesun are shown, the school motto is written as “Honesty.” The paper Geumnyeong was looking at was the “Eligibility Requirements for Government-Funded Study Abroad.” Since almost everything was marked with an X, it shows that it was impossible for her to study abroad with government support. In the next scene, even though it’s raining, Geumnyeong walks to save bus fare. Along the way, she meets an elderly woman selling goods on the street, just like her mother (Aesun) used to. Knowing that the woman cannot go home until she sells everything, Geumnyeong asks how much it would cost if she buys all the items. She grumbles to her parents, but it shows that, even though she needs to save money, Geumnyeong has a kind heart and wants to help someone in a more difficult situation than herself. Seeing the hairpin on the woman’s head probably reminded her even more of her mother. Before Aesun moved, she had a conversation with Gwangrye in the kitchen, and Dongmyeong is mentioned. In that scene, there is writing on a piece of paper—it’s the address of the house they are going to move to. Gwangrye says, “The child can’t even read, how would they understand?” but Aesun replies, “I was worried they might be surprised if I wasn’t there during the holidays.” Aesun’s line is heartbreaking, but Gwangrye’s line really hits home, showing just how young Dongmyeong was—so young that he couldn’t even read.
승민 정
2025-10-12 15:47:47 +0000 UTC
