Once in a while, a K-Drama comes along to remind you of the magic of fiction, and its ability to have you invested, shed many (MANY) tears, and partake in the happiness of a family and a set of characters who stay with you much beyond the runtime of sixteen episodes. When Life Gives You Tangerines, Netflix’s latest slice-of-life drama, is a tale propelled by its women. Women who dream big, women who want to overcome poverty and a patriarchal society, women who break generational cycles, and most importantly, women who are their mother’s daughters.

Early in When Life…, Ae-sun(IU) dolefully agrees with what her mother (Yeom Hye-ran) always says — it is better to be a cow than a woman in Jeju. A bright student and an aspiring poet who has her sights set on college, neither the times she has been born into nor the environment around her are the kindest. Ae-sun’s world is one where girls from poor families cannot be class presidents despite fairly winning the majority vote. At home, she is made to do housework and seldom gets the good fish; living with her uncle’s family means everything goes to her cousin, the boy of the house. Much of Ae-sun’s determination comes from her mother, a Haenyeo or a female deep sea diver who harvests seafood. Having to put her life at risk constantly, she wants her daughter to be well-educated, take a different path, and rid herself of the abject poverty they live in.