# 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. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.

## Synopsis

The drama is set in the fictional Seoul suburb of Sanpo, Gyeonggi-do. 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
    The second of three siblings. An employee at the headquarters of a convenience store franchise.
* Kim Ji-won as Yeom Mi-jeong
    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)
    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
    The eldest of three siblings. An employee at a research company.

### Supporting
#### People around Yeom siblings

* Chun Ho-jin as Yeom Je-ho
    Father of the three siblings.
* Lee Kyung-seong as Kwak Hye-suk
    Mother of the three siblings.
* Jeon Hye-jin as Ji Hyun-ah
    A neighborhood friend.
* Han Sang-jo as Oh Doo-hwan
    A neighborhood friend.
* Jo Min-kook as Seok Jeong-hoon
    A neighborhood friend.

#### People around Yeom Chang-hee

* Yang Jun-myung as Lee Min-gyu
    Yeom Chang-hee's colleague.
* Choi Bo-young as Jung Ah-reum
    Yeom Chang-hee's senior colleague.
* Jeon Soo-jin as Lee Ye-rin
    Yeom Chang-hee's ex-girlfriend.
* Oh Min-ae as Byeon Sang-mi
    A convenience store owner.

#### People around Yeom Mi-jeong

* Lee Ki-woo as Jo Tae-hoon
    Yeom Mi-jeong's co-worker.
* Park Soo-young as Park Sang-min
    Yeom Mi-jeong's co-worker.
* Lee Ji-hye as So Hyang-gi
    Team Leader of Joy Support Center.
* Kong Ye-ji as Han Su-jin
    Yeom Mi-jeong's colleague at the design department.
* Lee Ho-young as Choi Jun-ho
    Team leader of the design department.

#### Others

* Jung Soo-young as Jo Kyung-sun
    Jo Tae-hoon's second sister.
* Kim Ro-sa as Jo Hee-sun
    Jo Tae-hoon's eldest sister.
* Kang Joo-ha as Jo Yu-rim
    Jo Tae-hoon's daughter.
* Kim Woo-hyung as Park Jin-u
    Director at Yeom Ki-jeong's company.
* Choi Min-chul as Mr. Baek
* Kim Min-song as Sam-sik
* Lee Shin-seong as Hyeon-jin
* Jung Won-jo as Hyuk-soo

### Special appearance

* Jung Young-joo as woman at restaurant (Ep. 15)

## 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".

### Filming

On October 5, 2021, it was reported that filming is currently in progress.

## Reception

The series drew attention for its dialogues and monologues with deep metaphorical meanings, and realistic and relatable storyline. Novel concepts of "worshipping" (Korean: 추앙; RR: chuang) and "liberation" (Korean: 해방; RR: haebang) brought up in the drama were well received by the audience. The series was also praised for its depiction of social pressure that captures the frustrations and challenges of young adult life in Korea.
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" and gave 4.5 stars out of 5. 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". Seo Byeong-gi of Herald Business praised the writer Park Hae-young for drama's stimulation of empathy in everyday life. During the broadcast, actor Gong Yoo on Instagram, recommended his fans to watch My Liberation Notes and after the series finished airing he left a review in his fancafe, praising its direction, screenplay and performance of actors.

### 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%. My Liberation Notes topped TV popularity ranking in last four weeks of its eight week run while Son Suk-ku and Kim Ji-won took first and second place respectively in drama performers popularity ranking for five consecutive weeks.
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, ascending to number five in the following week.
| Season | Season | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Episode number | Average |
| Season | Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Average |
| | 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 |
Average TV viewership ratings :
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Average audience share (Nielsen Korea) | Average audience share (Nielsen Korea) |
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | 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 | 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 |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Best Couple Award | Son Suk-ku & Kim Ji-won | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Best Supporting Actress | Lee El | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Best Writer Award | Park Hae-young | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Drama of the Year | My Liberation Notes | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries | Son Suk-ku | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries | Kim Ji-won | Nominated |
| APAN Star Awards | 2022 | Popularity Star Award, Actor | Son Suk-ku | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Screenplay | Park Hae-young | Won |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Drama | My Liberation Notes | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Director | Kim Seok-yoon | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Actor | Son Suk-ku | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Actress | Kim Ji-won | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Lee El | Nominated |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2023 | Best New Actress | Lee Kyung-seong | Nominated |
| Kinolight Awards | 2022 | Korean Drama Of The Year | My Liberation Notes | 2nd |
| Korea Drama Awards | 2022 | Excellence Award, Actor | Lee Ki-woo | Won |
| Korean Broadcasting Writers Awards | 2022 | Best Writer (Drama Category) | Park Hae-young | Won |