The summer of 2022 will be remembered for two things — the unforgivable heatwave and the unforgettable My Liberation Notes. Starring Kim Ji-won, Son Seok-koo, Lee Min-ki, and Lee El in the lead, My Liberation Notes keeps the wave of realistic dramas going strong but brings the storylines closer to home, tackling several subjects sensitively.
My Liberation Note revolves around three siblings, struggling with their respective issues in life. While the eldest sibling Yeon Ki-jeong (Lee El) is heading into her forties, single but hopeful to find love, the second sibling — Yeon Chang-hee (Lee Min-ki) is struggling with making it big on the work front.
Meanwhile, the youngest of the three, Yeon Mi-jeong (Kim Ji-won) is shown as an introverted, strong-willed person who feels empty inside. They live with a father who rarely speaks and a mother is ensure the peace is kept in place.
Their lives change when a mysterious man named Mr Gu (Son Seok-koo) moves into the neighbourhood and joins the Yeon siblings’ father’s sinks business. Revealing nothing but his last name to the family, Gu establishes a good bond with the father as they silently work together. During the day, he fits sinks but at the night, he drinks down at least four bottles of Soju, hinting at his alcoholism and mental state.
Just as he starts to drown himself in alcohol one bottle at a time, Mi-jeong approaches him with the hope that he would help her heart feel full. Recovering from a difficult break-up, she just wants to feel loved for once. So she asks him to ‘worship’ her and in return, she would do the same.
While the love between ‘worship couple’ (their ship name) blooms one petal at a time, Mi-jeong establishes the ‘Liberation Club’ at work in the hope that she finds a way to feel liberated from her work and home worries. Meanwhile, Chang-hee finds a ‘hyung’ he always wanted in Gu. He starts to look up to him as episodes proceed, which helps him sail through his mundane work-life and regain some sort of purpose in life.
Ki-jeong decides to love ‘anyone’ for the winter for she doesn’t want to feel lonely during the holiday season. Her heart falls on Cho Tae-hun (Lee Ki-woo), a single father and also a member of Mi-jeong’s Liberation Club. Walking on eggshells around him and his family, she cannot help but fall for him knowing fully that it isn’t the relationship she had once dreamt of.
My Liberation Notes mirrors the worries of most people today — loneliness, feeling empty with life, competition and politics at work, the need for a companion, and the underlining mental health issues people are unknowingly tackling. The series removes the rose-tinted filter on life, presenting the lives of each character as people you would run into in a metro.
The biggest highlight of the series is its writing. Writer Park Hae-young, who famously held the pen for My Mister aka My Ahjussi, has evidently put a lot of thought into each character while drawing the storyboard. Not only does she encapsulate the fears of those in their mid-20s and late-30s with the leading characters but she also beautifully portrayed summed up different kinds of relationships — family, romantic, and work — with the show.
Personally, I loved how My Liberation Notes showed the numerous types of siblings bond. While the Yeon siblings were shown as siblings who don’t share the closest of bonds, the Cho siblings — Cho Tae-hun (Lee Ki-woo) and his sisters Cho Gyeong-seon (Jung Soo-young) and Cho Hui-seon (Kim Ro-sa) — are projected as those who would move mountains for each other and fight anyway that comes in the way of their peace.
Another thing I loved about the show is that Park Hae-young and director Kim Suk-yoon managed to show every character’s grey side, justifying each character’s behaviour almost immediately and leaving little scope for questions. After a very long time I found myself having almost no subplot questions regarding a drama (yes, still stuck on Twenty-Five Twenty-One’s mysterious father, thanks for asking.)
The show shines also because of its cast. Lee El, Lee Min-ki, Lee Ki-woo Jung Soo-young, Kim Ro-sa, among the rest of the cast, the lead and the supporting cast do justice. However, it is Kim Ji-won and Son Suk-ku who stand out in the series. Kim Ji-won makes a solid comeback after 2020’s Lovestruck in the City, impressing everyone with her underplayed portrayal of Mi-jeong.
On the other hand, Son Suk-ku deserves all the applause he’s been getting through the series. Not only has he shown different shades of his skills — going from an absolutely silent character to drunk confessing his love for Mi-jeong in just 16 episodes, he has also shown he can elevate the scene with any co-actor in the frame.
Having said all this, The Liberation Notes is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea for two reasons. The first and foremost reason is the pace. The show is a slow-burner, making you wonder at some point about the motive behind certain scenes and even tempting you to fast forward the scenes. Secondly, the series doesn’t come with the traditional K-drama troupes – no second lead syndrome, no cliffhangers, no over-the-top drama and even very few moments to chuckle. This makes it a relatively linear narration which not many might enjoy.
The series also heavily depends on connecting with the audience. If you don’t relate to the circumstances, emotions or characteristics, there are chances you might not fully enjoy the series.
My Liberation Notes is available on Netflix.
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