Review | Netflix K-drama review: My Liberation Notes is a rich and rewarding journey like few others

Korean drama series My Liberation Notes finished on a ratings high, with the characters either finding what they were seeking, or starting new beginnings

Kim Ji-won’s Mi Jung becomes separated from Son Suk-ku’s enigmatic Mr Gu, who ends up on the Seoul subway heading back to his old gangster life

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Netflix K-drama My Liberation Notes ended on a high. Son Suk-ku (left) as Mr Gu and Kim Ji-won as Mi-jung in a still from the series. Photo: Online

Published: 7:45pm, 31 May 2022

This article contains minor spoilers.

4.5/5 stars

Contrary to what the biopics that find favour with Academy Awards voters show us, real life seldom fits neatly into a narrative. But while we accord storytellers artistic licence and can be generous when their tales edit life for the sake of dramatic effect and clarity, some stories face the messiness of life straight on.

Over the weekend, the acclaimed slice-of-life drama My Liberation Notes reached its finale, which achieved a rating almost triple that of its lowest-rated episode. In the lead-up to its concluding instalment, writer Park Hae-young faced a difficult question: how do you end a series about life’s endless small struggles?

Giving Mi-jung (Kim Ji-won), Ki-jung (Lee El), Chang-hee (Lee Min-ki) and Mr Gu (Son Suk-ku) happy endings would have gone against the show’s raison d’être. The other option would have been to give these characters the tools to deal with their daily trials, the mental strength to brush them off and move on. But even that could come across as a cop-out, since life isn’t something that can be fixed.

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