My Liberation Notes

Set in a fictional suburb village of Gyeonggi Province, a family of five led their life quietly while battling inner problems that they find challenging to address. Then, a man goes by the name My Gu was the mystery of the village. In a very small place such as Sanpo, it was difficult not to know each other and the origin story of its inhabitants. But Mr Gu, rented a small room and when not working he spends his day drinking his life away was the object of curiosity especially by the Yeom's family.

The story starts relatively slowly, it was mundane and if you hate boring, you won’t stand the first few episodes of this drama. However, unlike romance that are archetypal of South Korean drama, you will find the melancholy and romance was portrayed differently. Mr Gu was pretty much a mute character. It makes you wonder if he was either mentally challenged or muted. But, eventually as he connects with the Yeom Siblings, he slowly opens up about his life and past life.

_src

In this series, though there are a few deuteragonist , the protagonist is Mr Gu. He was the center of the story who undergoes tremendous character development. His role was played by Son Suk-ku who also appeared on numerous best drama such as designated survivor 60 days. Son Suk-Ku was able to portray Mr Gu as a depressed and lifeless man who was scrambling to find meaning in life. Through drinking his day away and choose to remain silence, you can feel that the quietness was loud in the film.

At first, I thought my liberation notes had something to do with the Gwangju uprising such as the Youth Of May. I thought about that because They both have similar vibe but thankfully, it wasn’t. My liberation notes itself refer to a club that Yeom Mi-Jeong, played by Kim Ji-Won founded at her credit card company. She is an introvert and feels like all the other clubs at her company don't suit her. Which is why she made the club along with the other two co-worker to start the club. In the club, each of them wrote notes that were titled “ My liberation Notes”.

This series has great screenwriting and the writers are not just choosing words to say. Each of them were poetic and deep. It was as if the characters were longing for something and when they had no words to express, they were quiet. The conversation fit as if it was conversation made by introverted people. They speak less but each word they said was carefully weighted and thought of. This series was comforting but due to the pacing, I can understand how this wasn’t everyone’s favorite, not everyone’s cup of tea. It is worth nothing that this drama has won several awards even including the best drama in 2022. Still, if you enjoy slices of life, My liberation Note is worth picking for the weekend. It