[theqoo] ‘WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TANGERINES”S REPS “PARK BOGUM’S LOW SCREEN TIME? MIDDLE-AGED AESUN & GWANSIK WILL GIVE YOU A LOT OF ENTERTAINMENT”

As ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ progresses, viewers have noticed a decline in lead actor Park Bogum’s screen time. In response, Netflix has issued a statement.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Netflix stated, ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ is a story filled with adventure, chronicling the life journey of Aesun and Gwansik. Just as much as the younger versions of Aesun and Gwansik brought joy, the middle-aged versions of these characters will also deliver plenty of entertainment and emotion. We ask for your continued interest in the stories of Aesun, Gwansik, Geum-myeong, and Eun-myeong in the remaining four acts.”

The series, which began its first act (episodes 1-4) on the 7th, is set to air a total of 16 episodes over four weeks, releasing four episodes per week. By the 21st, Act 3 (episodes 9-12) had been released, sparking reactions from some viewers who noted, “Since Act 2, Park Bo-gum’s screen time has noticeably decreased,” and “Despite being a lead, Park Bogum seems to have disappeared from the show.”

The first act primarily focused on the teenage years of young Aesun and Gwansik, with IU and Park Bogum’s charming chemistry drawing enthusiastic responses. In Act 2, the storyline moved to their married life as parents, introducing their daughter Geum-myeong (played by IU). Act 3 further developed Geum-myeong’s story, including her boyfriend Park Young-beom (Lee Junyoung) and the new character Park Choong-seop (Kim Seonho). This led to speculation among viewers that Choong-seop might be Geum-myeong’s future husband.

While IU has taken on a dual role as both young Aesun and her daughter Geum-myeong, Park Bogum’s reduced screen time has left many fans disappointed.

For viewers who anticipated more scenes featuring both leads together, this shift may understandably feel frustrating. However, ‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ is not merely a romance drama—it spans the lives of its protagonists from the 1960s to the present day in 2025. As the story progresses, the natural focus shifts toward the middle-aged versions of Aesun (played by Moon So-ri) and Gwansik (played by Park Hae-joon), making their roles more prominent. Additionally, Geum-myeong’s growth arc is expected to be another key aspect of the later episodes.

1. Park Bogum did an excellent job building up the character of Gwansik in the first half. Together with IU, he laid a strong emotional foundation for Aesun and Gwansik’s story, as well as for the overall tone of the drama

2. I started watching because of Park Bogum, and I really enjoyed the first part. But after the second part, the storyline wasn’t what I had hoped for, regardless of his screen time. I’m not interested in finding Geum’s husband, I just want to see more of Aesun and Gwansik’s love story.

3. This drama is just so fun. Everyone around me is watching it and are saying how they cried and laughed and that everyone should watch it

4. It’s indeed a shame but the drama is so fun right now

5. I thought that Park Bogum was the male lead though? So he’s just a special cast?

6. If they were gonna do that, they should’ve given Geum-myeong’s role to another actress too. It’s such an easy thing to do

7. And they used Park Bogum to promote this… what a scam

8. Because of the storyline in Part 1, it feels like a new male lead has been introduced, which makes it hard to adjust

9. I wanted to watch Gwansikie’s story as a middle-aged man though… Randomly Geum-myeong’s story has taken such a big part of the story and they are even including a love line that I don’t even care about;;

10. They should’ve done it like they did for IU and gave him 2 roles