Time Magazine names When Life Gives You Tangerines as the best K-drama of 2025- here’s all about it

Netflix's When Life Gives You Tangerines has officially been crowned the best K-drama of 2025 by Time Magazine. Coming from director Kim Won-suk, the drama unfolds across decades, tracing ordinary lives and how they are extraordinarily shaped by love, labor and quiet resilience. On the list it joined other successful and loved K-dramas, including Squid Games Season 3, Way Back Love, Tempest and Trigger.

In its praise, Time Magazine wrote,

"This year’s best K-drama—and one of the year’s best TV series, full stop—told a beautiful, deeply engaging story using only the stuff real life is made of. Anyone can make the fantastical seem extraordinary. But to make the ordinary feel extraordinary without losing any of its complexity or texture? What a rare and precious feat."

The series realistically dramatizes the little, everyday moments that make up life, with the title being a wordplay on the proverb "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." The top spot on the list is well deserved, considering the amount of praise When Life Gives You Tangerines has received from fans, critics and the audience, with many hailing it as one of the most emotionally devastating shows of the year. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was on Netflix's list of Top 10 Non-English Shows for nine weeks.

What is When Life Gives You Tangerines about?

When Life Gives You Tangerines is a sweeping, quietly devastating romance that turns ordinary life into something profound. Set primarily on Jeju Island, the series traces the intertwined lives of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik across more than five decades, beginning in the 1960s and moving steadily into the present day. At its core, the show asks a deceptively simple question: what does it really take to build a life with someone when the world keeps pushing back?

The series unfolds across four “seasons” of life, watching the couple marry, raise children, and weather disappointments that come with age, class, and time. Ae-sun’s ambitions evolve, while Gwan-sik’s quiet sacrifices deepen. Around them exists a textured community of fishermen, mothers, neighbors, and friends, all carrying their own griefs and small joys.

Speaking about the drama, director Kim Won-suk told an audience of journalists,

“This series is a tribute to past generations of our fathers and mothers, and it’s also an anthem of encouragement for the daughters and sons who will now navigate the world ahead. We were hoping that the story will help break down the invisible barriers between generations, genders, and just people in general.”

The show was particularly praised for its depiction of South Korean history and culture, using nostalgia, memory, and minute yet meaningful instances of familial and romantic love across generations.

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When Life Gives You Tangerines is available to stream on Netflix.

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