My Liberation Notes

My Liberation Notes (Korean: 나의 해방일지; RR: Naui Haebangilji) is a South Korean television series starring Lee Min-ki, Kim Ji-won, Son Suk-ku, and Lee El. It aired on JTBC from April 9 to May 29, 2022, every Saturday and Sunday at 22:30 (KST) for 16 episodes.^[5] It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.^[6]

My Liberation Notes
Promotional poster
Hangul	나의 해방일지
Hanja	나의 解放日誌
Literal meaning	My Liberation Diary
Revised Romanization	Naui Haebangilji
Genre	Slice-of-life
Written by	Park Hae-young[1]
Directed by	Kim Seok-yoon[1]
Starring	Lee Min-ki Kim Ji-won Son Suk-ku Lee El
Music by	Kim Tae-seong[2]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Production companies	Studio Phoenix[3] Chorokbaem Media[3] SLL[3]
Budget	₩8 billion[4]
Original release
Network	JTBC
Release	April 9 (2022-04-09) – May 29, 2022 (2022-05-29)

Synopsis

The drama is set in the fictional Seoul suburb of Sanpo, Gyeonggi-do.^[a] My Liberation Notes is about three siblings, (Lee Min-ki, Kim Ji-won and Lee El), all of whom have to make a long commute to Seoul, and a mysterious stranger (Son Suk-ku), who works for their father in the sticks. All of them wish to escape from their dead-end lives amid office politics, gap between rich and poor, and skeletons in their closets.

Cast

Main

• Lee Min-ki as Yeom Chang-hee^[1]

The second of three siblings. An employee at the headquarters of a convenience store franchise.

• Kim Ji-won as Yeom Mi-jeong^[1]

The youngest of three siblings. A contract employee at the design department of a credit card company.

• Son Suk-ku as Mr. Gu (Gu Ja-gyeong)^[1]

A stranger who works at the sink factory of the Yeom family, who are unaware of his real identity.

• Lee El as Yeom Ki-jeong^[8]

The eldest of three siblings. An employee at a research company.

Supporting

People around Yeom siblings

• Chun Ho-jin as Yeom Je-ho^[9]

Father of the three siblings.

• Lee Kyung-seong as Kwak Hye-suk^[10]

Mother of the three siblings.

• Jeon Hye-jin as Ji Hyun-ah^[11]

A neighborhood friend.

• Han Sang-jo as Oh Doo-hwan^[12]

A neighborhood friend.

• Jo Min-kook as Seok Jeong-hoon^[13]

A neighborhood friend.

People around Yeom Chang-hee

• Yang Jun-myung as Lee Min-gyu^[14]

Yeom Chang-hee's colleague.

• Choi Bo-young as Jung Ah-reum^[15]

Yeom Chang-hee's senior colleague.

• Jeon Soo-jin as Lee Ye-rin^[16]

Yeom Chang-hee's ex-girlfriend.

• Oh Min-ae as Byeon Sang-mi^[17]

A convenience store owner.

People around Yeom Mi-jeong

• Lee Ki-woo as Jo Tae-hoon^[18]

Yeom Mi-jeong's co-worker.

• Park Soo-young as Park Sang-min^[19]

Yeom Mi-jeong's co-worker.

• Lee Ji-hye as So Hyang-gi^[20]

Team Leader of Joy Support Center.

• Kong Ye-ji as Han Su-jin^[21]

Yeom Mi-jeong's colleague at the design department.

• Lee Ho-young as Choi Jun-ho^[21]

Team leader of the design department.

Others

• Jung Soo-young as Jo Kyung-sun^[19]

Jo Tae-hoon's second sister.

• Kim Ro-sa as Jo Hee-sun^[19]

Jo Tae-hoon's eldest sister.

• Kang Joo-ha as Jo Yu-rim^[22]

Jo Tae-hoon's daughter.

• Kim Woo-hyung as Park Jin-u^[23]

Director at Yeom Ki-jeong's company.

• Choi Min-chul as Mr. Baek^[24]
• Kim Min-song as Sam-sik^[25]
• Lee Shin-seong as Hyeon-jin^[26]
• Jung Won-jo as Hyuk-soo^[27]

Special appearance

• Jung Young-joo as woman at restaurant (Ep. 15)^[28]

Production

Development

On September 24, 2021, Chorokbaem Media announced that it had signed a contract with JTBC Studios to produce and supply the series with "8 billion won worth of budget for a total of 16 episodes".^[4]

Filming

On October 5, 2021, it was reported that filming is currently in progress.^[29]

Original soundtrack

My Liberation Notes
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	May 29, 2022[30]
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	YG Plus Studio MaumC SLL

Part 1

Released on April 10, 2022^[31][32]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Deeply" (푹)	Hen	Hen Zist	Hen	3:38
2.	"Deeply" (푹; Inst.)		Hen Zist		3:38
Total length:					7:16

Part 2

Released on April 16, 2022^[33][34]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"To be together" (함께 할 수 있기를)	Jayins	Jayins Naiv	Lee Jun-hyung	3:53
2.	"To be together" (함께 할 수 있기를; Inst.)		Jayins Naiv		3:53
Total length:					7:46

Part 3

Released on April 17, 2022^[35][36]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Laggard" (느림보)	MaO	Jayins Naiv	Shin You-me	3:28
2.	"Laggard" (느림보; Inst.)		Jayins Naiv		3:28
Total length:					7:56

Part 4

Released on April 23, 2022^[37][38]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"That Day" (그런 날)	Hanroro	The Orchard	The Orchard	3:02
2.	"That Day" (그런 날; Inst.)		The Orchard		3:02
Total length:					6:04

Part 5

Released on April 24, 2022^[39]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Be My Birthday"	Naiv	9duck	Ha Hyun-sang	3:14
2.	"Be My Birthday" (Inst.)		9duck		3:14
Total length:					6:28

Part 6

Released on April 30, 2022^[40]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"We Sink"	Naiv	Naiv	Sway	3:26
2.	"We Sink" (Inst.)		Naiv		3:26
Total length:					6:52

Part 7

Released on May 1, 2022^[41][42]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"My Spring" (나의 봄은)	Seo Dong-seong	Park Seong-il	Lee Su-hyun	4:12
2.	"My Spring" (나의 봄은; Inst.)		Park Seong-il		4:12
Total length:					8:24

Part 8

Released on May 7, 2022^[43][44]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Diamond" (다이아몬드)	Hanroro	9duck	9duck	3:04
2.	"Diamond" (다이아몬드; Inst.)		9duck		3:04
Total length:					6:08

Part 9

Released on May 8, 2022^[45][46]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"A Kind Of Confession" (일종의 고백; Female Ver.)	Lee Young-hoon	Lee Young-hoon	Hen	2:58
2.	"A Kind Of Confession" (일종의 고백; Male Ver.)	Lee Young-hoon	Lee Young-hoon	Kwak Jin-eon	3:56
Total length:					6:54

Part 10

Released on May 14, 2022^[47][48]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"I Think I Know" (알 것도 같아)	Hamelli Moon Siwon	9duck	Hong Isaac	3:24
2.	"I Think I Know" (알 것도 같아; Inst.)		9duck		3:24
Total length:					6:48

Part 11

Released on May 15, 2022^[49]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Here We Are"	MaO	Yoon Yeong-jun	Kim Feel	4:19
2.	"Here We Are" (Inst.)		Yoon Yeong-jun		4:19
Total length:					8:38

Reception

The series drew attention for its dialogues and monologues with deep metaphorical meanings, and realistic and relatable storyline.^[50][51] Novel concepts of "worshipping" (Korean: 추앙; RR: chuang)^[b] and "liberation" (Korean: 해방; RR: haebang)^[c] brought up in the drama were well received by the audience.^[52][53][54] The series was also praised for its depiction of social pressure that captures the frustrations and challenges of young adult life in Korea.^[55]

Pierce Conran writing for South China Morning Post stated "With four intricate and distinct lead characters, terrific dialogue and a bounteous array of intimate moments for all the smaller characters in the cast, My Liberation Notes is far and away the best drama on TV right now"^[56] and gave 4.5 stars out of 5.^[57] Park Han-na of Korea Herald described the series as "a portrait of a generation trapped by the preconditions set by themselves and the society".^[54] Seo Byeong-gi of Herald Business praised the writer Park Hae-young for drama's stimulation of empathy in everyday life.^[58] During the broadcast, actor Gong Yoo on Instagram, recommended his fans to watch My Liberation Notes^[59] and after the series finished airing he left a review in his fancafe, praising its direction, screenplay and performance of actors.^[60]

Viewership

The series enjoyed modest viewership share: the first episode recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 2.9% and reached the highest rating with the last episode, which recorded the 6.7%.^[61] My Liberation Notes topped TV popularity ranking in last four weeks of its eight week run^[62] while Son Suk-ku and Kim Ji-won took first and second place respectively in drama performers popularity ranking for five consecutive weeks.^[63]

The series debuted at number nine on the Netflix's Global Top 10 for non-English television in the list issued for May 16–22, 2022,^[64][65] ascending to number five in the following week.^[66][67]

Season		Episode number																Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1	0.651	0.622	0.574	0.538	0.579	0.900	0.769	0.902	0.848	1.006	1.000	1.212	1.149	1.462	1.443	1.545	0.950

My Liberation Notes : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[68]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[68]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	April 9, 2022	2.941% (5th)	3.057% (5th)
2	April 10, 2022	3.018% (5th)	3.236% (3rd)
3	April 16, 2022	2.552% (8th)	2.862% (6th)
4	April 17, 2022	2.325% (7th)	2.292% (8th)
5	April 23, 2022	2.766% (7th)	2.874% (5th)
6	April 24, 2022	3.832% (4th)	3.971% (4th)
7	April 30, 2022	3.306% (5th)	3.541% (5th)
8	May 1, 2022	3.876% (4th)	4.155% (4th)
9	May 7, 2022	3.625% (1st)	4.259% (1st)
10	May 8, 2022	4.594% (2nd)	5.242% (2nd)
11	May 14, 2022	4.142% (2nd)	4.583% (1st)
12	May 15, 2022	4.969% (1st)	5.603% (1st)
13	May 21, 2022	4.760% (1st)	4.981% (1st)
14	May 22, 2022	6.073% (1st)	6.547% (1st)
15	May 28, 2022	5.943% (1st)	6.720% (1st)
16	May 29, 2022	6.728% (1st)	7.616% (1st)
Average		4.091%	4.471%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Accolades

Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination

Award ceremony	Year	Category	Nominee / Work	Result	Ref.
APAN Star Awards	2022	Best Couple Award	Son Suk-ku & Kim Ji-won	Nominated	[69][70]
		Best Supporting Actress	Lee El	Nominated
		Best Writer Award	Park Hae-young	Nominated
		Drama of the Year	My Liberation Notes	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries	Son Suk-ku	Nominated
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries	Kim Ji-won	Nominated
		Popularity Star Award, Actor	Son Suk-ku	Nominated
Baeksang Arts Awards	2023	Best Screenplay	Park Hae-young	Won	[71]
		Best Drama	My Liberation Notes	Nominated	[72]
		Best Director	Kim Seok-yoon	Nominated
		Best Actor	Son Suk-ku	Nominated
		Best Actress	Kim Ji-won	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Lee El	Nominated
		Best New Actress	Lee Kyung-seong	Nominated
Kinolight Awards	2022	Korean Drama Of The Year	My Liberation Notes	2nd	[73]
Korea Drama Awards	2022	Excellence Award, Actor	Lee Ki-woo	Won	[74]
Korean Broadcasting Writers Awards	2022	Best Writer (Drama Category)	Park Hae-young	Won	[75]

Notes

1. Though Sanpo is a fictional village, Gyeonggi-do, where it's based, is a real province.^[7] Sanpo is often described as a village near Suwon, a real city in Gyeonggi-do.
2. Yeom Mi-jeong asks Mr. Gu to 'worship' her since love is not enough for her to feel whole.
3. Yeom Mi-jeong forms a Liberation Club with two other co-workers of her company, in order to be liberated from their mundane daily life.