It’s not your typical healing drama, ‘My Liberation Notes’ 나의 해방일지 reflects the lives of the working class, their 9AM to 6PM lives, their struggles commuting and the quarter-life crisis people face whenever adulting hits them hard.

Characters

Kim Ji Won as Yeom Mi Jeong
Lee Min Ki as Yeom Chang Hee
Son Suk Ku as Mr. Gu
Lee El as Yeom Gi Jeong

Synopsis

“My Liberation Notes” introduces the life story of three siblings living in Gyeonggi-do and a stranger who is working for their small business called ‘Sanpo Sinks.’ The three are all living in the ‘egg white’ of Seoul but are all working in Seoul. They needed to commute for an hour and a half one way. 

The only guy and middle child Yeom Chang Hee aims to escape the country life. Chang Hee wanted to move far from his monotonous work where he can’t win over his colleague. At home, his parents and family members tend to look down on him for he only lives for today and has no exact plans for the future.

Yeom Mi Jeong, being the youngest child ain’t your typical childish ‘maknae.’ She is normally living a peaceful but stagnant life. One thing is for sure, her life gets lonely as she gets older. With her boring life comes her wish to finally get liberated. 

Among the three, Yeom Gi Jeong is the eldest. She wanted to find a new love before she started to age. Commuting from Sanpo Village to Seoul, she’s been complaining a lot about everything and she’s been totally pissed off with random things due to her hot temper. At Sanpo village, a mysterious man who introduced himself as Mr. Gu, once appeared and is now working for their family’s business Sanpo sinks.

Chang Hee and his bright personality

Chang Hee probably has the brightest character among the three siblings. What I love about him is that no matter how much his parents hate his idea, he never fails to discuss his thoughts and plans with his family over meals. 

Aside from that, we don’t normally see guy characters who are talkative enough to rant about their work issues with their friends. On a brighter note, his rants actually lead to his actions changing for the better.

Yeom Gi Jeong trying to find love

Aging also equates to adulting. That means, the length of your youth has somewhat reached its peak and it is now time to cram on catching up with your love life and career. However, for Yeom Gi Jeong to find love, the biggest burden is her commuting time to Seoul every day. It is burdensome for it takes three hours of her life daily to ride public transportation instead of spending her time and energy on something else.

The stagnant life of Yeom Mi Jeong

“I’m not unhappy but I’m not happy either.” – The stagnant life of Yeom Mi Jeong leads her to be disconnected from her family. Although they are living together, she’s been so distant from her family. At work, her life too is unbearable, she has always been an underdog and she never complained about anything.  

Mr. Gu and his mysterious story

It took some time for me to get hooked in this drama. It felt like the character of “Mr. Gu” is just another dragging character with not much of a development in the coming episodes. For the first two episodes, I honestly find it wasteful that he only lived his life working at Sanpo sinks, the farm of the Yeom family and eventually drinks at night.

On the other hand, as we get a deeper view on his character, I enjoyed how he opened his life to Yeom Mi Jeong and her family. Even if he is hiding his true identity, he is welcomed in their home and treats him like a part of the family.

The realistic plot

We are done with the era of forced marriage, guys being the ruler of the family and conservative families. But still, there’s one thing that constantly dominates the family, it’s pressure. The parents honing their children to be workers one day because they thought that a good education can lead to ‘successful life’ which can be true at some point but not applicable to all.

If you are having second thoughts if you should watch My Liberation Notes or not, here are some of the things that I want you to consider, “Am I looking for a drama that would make me reflect on my current life? Am I happy or unhappy now?” If you are up for dramas that aren’t into cliché plots, then it is time to open your Netflix and watch this show.