My Liberation Notes (2022)

Good Enough

Korean Drama " My Liberation Notes " is a slice of life melodrama.

My main problem with it is the pace. It felt off and the presentation of the story didn't suit well for me, as it was not cohesive.

Other than that, the story is pretty intense, with tragic characters, meaningful moments, simple, and yet, powerful scenes.

The romance, moreover, was original and didn't overshadow the main point of the drama. Rather, it let the characters shine and live their burdersome lives.

The performances, finally, were all great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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High quality, heavy load

Has this drama high quality? Absolutely yes.
Was acting good? Perfectly. I can give 100 out of 10 to everyone (idk why but maybe except Lee Min Ki)
Was the story interesting and unusual? YES!
Were the dialogues meaningful and thought-provoking? Definitely.
Did I enjoy watching this drama? No. A big no.
Did I finish it no matter what? Yes.
It was a heavy load on my shoulders which I am still feeling. Wasnt enjoyable for me at all except few scenes. Why? Cuz it was so relatable for me. Relatable much as giving pain to me. Some fears mentioned were my own fears that I am afraid to mention. Some frustrations were my own frustrations that I can't find any way out. Some weariness was my own weariness that I am struggling with for many years. This drama didn't do any good to me. At the beginning of the drama, we were all sad. All characters and me. And at the end, at least some of them are happy compared to the beginning, I am still sad. Nor their sadness neither their happiness made me happy.
I can see that why many people like this drama that much. It is in a different league compared to most of the dramas. But I prefer dramas with lower quality and higher pleasing level.
According to me who can enjoy this drama most? Adults who are satisfied with their lifes. They might have problems in their past, but now they should be happy about their life in general. I think for younger people like teenagers, it can be a boring drama with 'pessimistic adults', it can be seen as "unrealistically plaintive" even if it is totally real. And I think for the adults like me, adults who have big problems, who have big disappointments, who have to deal with things that they've never thought they are gonna deal with before, this drama is heavy load. I am happy to finish this drama finally. I would never start it at the beginning if i've known it is something like this.

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Must watch drama

There are things in this drama that could have been different but I still give it a 10. It is a drama that really touched my heart and I could relate to the main character, it is a beautiful drama.
To be honest the first episode bored me but I'm glad I gave it a second chance, the plot is simple but I couldn't stop watching it.
The last episodes were very sad but I liked how the characters dealt with it. I'm really going to miss this drama. In the future I am sure that I will see it again, now it has a deep meaning for me.
Obviously there were things that I didn't like like, for example, that Gu didn't overcome his alcoholism problem, I would really have liked his character to change like the others.

I really have to say its not a drama for everyone.

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Missing my Worship couple and Yeom Siblings <3

I will not pretend I'm happy.
I will not pretend  to be unhappy.
I will be honest.
I hoped every man who ever left me would be unhappy.
As if I wanted all the people who saw how small I was to disappear from this world, I hoped they die.
For you, I'm going to hope that you never even catch cold.
I'm going to hope that you don't suffer a single day of being hungover.


- Mi Jung to Mr. Gu


I love, love this drama! When I saw the trailer and found out that Lee Min Ki, Kim Ji Won and Lee El will be there, I was excited. So I was bidding my time to watch it, as I want to binge watch it or have it at 14 episodes, but then Gong Yoo recommended it and it added to more excitement. So I decided to watch it and there's no return. I discover this wonderful and amazing actor: Son Sukku and his amazing interpretation of Mr. Gu. I love the problematic siblings and the worship couple. How rich, raw, realistic, believable, and just relatable characters they're playing. The cinematography, OST, rich dialogues, some funny antics, their struggles, and concerns in life were all surprisingly relatable! I can easily imagine myself experiencing and relate with their concerns, frustrations, doubts, fears and struggles in life. Funny how, whenever I see the worship couple, even though they lack skinship, and yet they make me giddy, excited and have butterflies in my stomach. I already prepared myself to cry like there's no tomorrow, when I watched the last episode. As I feel like Mr. Gu will end up dead, or already dead and that it's Mi Jeong's memory that were reminiscing. It's a good thing that I was wrong and that the ending is imperfectly imperfect for me. They were all liberated with all their concerns, frustrations, fears and doubts in life.

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If you keep leaving will you continue living?

You never hated your hometown, but you also never had any special attachment to it. You've always wanted to be somewhere else. You wanted to leave. There's this suffocating feeling with the realization that you will keep growing or existing in the same place where you were born. It's like being seventeen and still wearing the same shoes you were wearing when you were seven.

If you keep leaving will you continue living? As if the only way you can keep surviving is if you keep changing. You kept changing, but you never evolved. The desire for leaving turned into a fascination for death. Suddenly, from being an innocent child drowning in ambitions and hope, you're an angsty, jaded pubescent. You changed your mind a million times each day. You were convinced you stopped growing a long time ago and you're just growing old now. Foolish. You were not precocious, you were just mentally ill.

You were young and your brutal, or perhaps innocent, honesty never concerned itself with the consequences. You grew a little older and you suddenly don't want to talk anymore. You buried your honesty to die. Silent, passive, and stuttering. You felt everything and you felt nothing. Your thoughts ran rapidly, but they never made sense.

Helpless. Incapable. The days are dull and unchanging. You wanted to be liberated from all of these. You wanted death, but you also envy the future. The darkness was exhausting, but it was obscurity that gave you home. Then, it occurred to you once again. You don't need a home. You were not supposed to be attached to places. You have to keep leaving in order to continue living. You realized that you might not have a strong attachment with your hometown, but it is a place that will always bring you comfort. Indeed, it is a comfortable home, but you also have to grow, discover, and learn.

Time has passed. You are uncertain how long has it been, but you are certain how much you wanted to live now. Death is only a reality to you now, not a desire nor a fascination. You no longer envy the future, but you hope and strive for it. The childhood that you have forgotten, you don't try to recall it anymore, but you are living it. Just like the innocent assertiveness of a child, you are convinced that you are capable of being everything. You laugh more these days. You have joy and immeasurable dreams. You have faith in spite of all the uncertainties.

Are you liberated? Perhaps, not completely. Perhaps, you are just Mr. Gu, who has decided today to throw away his bottle of liquor instead of drinking it; who has given himself and others the chance to receive mercy instead of constant rough punishment. You might just be Mi-jeong who has chosen grace instead of hostility, who has finally understood now her own capability. You are Gi-jeong who has more love now than judgement; she never hid her honesty, but she speaks more of life now than mere brutality.

Or you are just Chang-hee. He was not able to acquire the riches and power he wanted, but he was enriched with the wisdom of life. He did not have to climb a thousand won mountain, the mountain he was searching for was inside him already. It was somewhat ridiculous that his life was continuously fulfilled by the deaths that he encountered. Through the leaving of others, he lived a meaningful epiphany.

Trudging on step-by-step; five seconds, seven seconds, until at least, five minutes of joy each day. Liberation is not solely a one process. Though, surely, we will entirely grasp it one day.

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Beautiful but with confusing last few episodes!!!!

The only reason I gave it a 8.5 and not lower than that is because I was really enjoying this drama until ep 14 came. I feel like after the time skip, the story became very chaotic and rushed with too much emphasis on the main couple (mi jeong and gu). Chang hee's story was so sudden like, when did he and heon a fall in love and why they separate again, what is this connection between him and that ex bf of hyeon a and so on... Also as the other reviewers wrote, his friendship with mr gu could have been more focussed, as it looked like the friendship was only from Chang hee's side.
The character I related the most was with yeom gi jeong. I really enjoyed her romance story more than mi jeong's to be honest. I felt like her story should have gotten equal coverage like the other two sibling's stories got.
Overall, for me the story was beautiful until the mother's death after which it went downhill (of course you would want to continue watching it in order to find out what happens at the end). But I would still recommend you all to watch it.

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It’s a no.

This was one of the most boring and dullest dramas I’ve ever watched. I understand it’s genre and that it was intentionally projected this way. idk if the English subs were just bad but even the dialogue wasn’t that great to me. it didn’t make much sense too. The dialogues were so random and irrelevant. Even though it’s completely relatable stuff I’m also just at a loss for words at how mundane and overly dull their lifestyle was. They need vitamin D in their lives, it might help with the depressive lifestyle they have. Their outlook on life is just so very uninspiring and hopeless. I did not gain anything valuable. I did cry and the acting was superb. But definitely not my genre.

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I just can´t let go

I can´t get this series out of my head after finishing it a few days ago!

Short version: I started the series for the plot that was given but stayed for seeing the romantic development between Yeom Mi Jung and Mr. Gu.

Longer version: It is not something I am proud of to say but I had no interest in the other characters and relationships that were portrayed. Maybe because I was overwhelmed with the quantity of main roles therefore struggles and I am more interested in "minimalistic" heavy plots? It is something I could have expected after reading the plot summary, still I was surprised about the depressive atmosphere I felt watching the three siblings struggling.
The relationship between Mr. Gu and Yeom Mi Jung was so interesting for me and it was a lot to take in. In the first few episodes I was so confused and could not grasp what was going on between them especially with him. I was scared of him at first! :D
The acting and the charisma of Yeom Mi Jung/Kim Ji Won and Mr. Gu/Yon Suk Ku and the (non-)verbal dialogs were phenomenal. I could relate to Mi Jungs thoughts a lot and felt seen and heard a few times. I would LOVE a series with the two actors again, maybe even with those characters. Definitely gonna watch all upcoming series by the screenwriter Park Hae Youn!
PS: Maybe I need to give the series a second try but for now I state by this rating.

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A lot of wisdom, interesting characters

I joined MyDramaList so that I could write this review. I have been watching KDramas on Netflix for a few years now and love so many of them. I thought I was going to love this one, too, but I felt really exasperated with how this one ended and I'm not sure I would ever want to watch it again (I've watched Chocolate twice, and there are many others I would definitely watch again). I liked the whole idea of the Liberation Club, and loved it when it gained a new member, and I feel like a lot more could have been written for the club characters interacting with each other, and about the two who were not main characters - I would have liked to know more about them. Although I liked Mi-Jung in the beginning, I liked her less and less as the show went on. The glum look on her face most of the time was maybe interesting at first, but it became really annoying after a while, and I also I think she was really stupid to think that Mr. Gu was an okay person who might ever be rehabilitated. I liked him, too, at first, but really disliked him by the end. What surprised me the most is that the two characters I disliked the most initially, Chang-He and Ki-Jung, became my favorite ones, especially Chang-He. I loved the weird accident at the end where he ends up in the wrong/right place. I love how sincerely sweet Ki-Jung turned out to be. There is a lot of wisdom in this drama - a lot to learn about relationships and feelings and interactions between people - and some funny moments along the way, where I laughed out loud. I don't know, maybe I could watch it again some day in the far future. It is worth watching at least once.

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A wonderful journey

"My liberation Notes" is one of those pleasant surprises that you come across in life. This show is based on things in life that you can easily relate to. It is a journey, a long ride with ups and downs, that makes you feel that it was worth every minute of it.

A 16-episode, well-written show that puts things into the perspective of introverted people; it makes you wander; it makes you feel their emotional journey.

What I really found fascinating about this show is that it didn't need that much dialogue. Instead, they deliver the context and the important pieces of the story in a raw but well-defined way through the characters' emotions.

I would definitely recommend you sit down, relax, watch, and enjoy this exquisite show while being carried out by their wonderful journey.

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