I feel like I am at that stage when I am finally ready to understand and talk about how I feel about this show.

I absolutely hated My Liberation Notes. The show was basically the diary that the writer wrote by a recommendation from her therapist. The characters didn’t have conversations. They simply recreated the lines in the notebook. It was relatable but in the same way that one liners on Facebook are. Every second line was worth being screenshotted and posted. The whole show was like that. Characters felt alone even when they were “talking” to each other. Because as I mentioned the show was a writer’s diary adapted on a screen, it lacked comprehension and a straight line of thinking, something that is necessary for the show. Your opinions are hectic and all over the place, they also change by an hour and that is exactly how this show is.

One minute the father tells his children that it is okay for them to stay single and that they are strong enough to do that and the next minute, the older daughter ( to whom that was addressed) stays in a relationship that makes her feel small cause the idea of the breakup is too painful for her.

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    I love all the cast members so I am happy about its success, but geez. I definitely deserved better than watching Chang Hee randomly talk about a movie for 5 minutes while his friend was doing….whatever he was doing.

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      His friend was Googling the movie on his phone so he could quickly read a summary of it, and better relate to what Change Hee was saying during that long speech, but yeah – I hear where you are coming from. Park Hae-yeong (the writer) definitely has a unique style that sets her apart from other writers. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

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        In the beginning the friend was shaking a branch…? And then he was reading the summary.

        Regarding the writing, was that a thing in her previous works as well? Maybe in Another Oh Hae Young? I have only watched My Mister and did that when it came out, so I might be mistaken, but at least for Dong Hoon and Ji Ah we knew what they felt without them telling us directly.

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          @nerdy I watched “Another Oh Hae Young” (it’s when I began crushing on Seo Hyun-jin, but that’s off-topic). In my opinion, it was written very well, but it is not written in the same style as MLN. Inspiration is a fickle and fleeting mistress, and writers accept it wherever they can find it – be it through tried-and-true formulas or through personal diaries from therapy sessions. Here is a mental game you might try: pretend for a moment you didn’t know the backstory of where Park Hae-yeong got her inspiration for writing MLN. Would you still feel the same way about the writing? Or would you feel differently?

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          Actually, I never understood what Dong Hoon felt. To me, he always seemed like a man treading right on the cheating line. His quivering smile, his tentative movements, his side looks, everything felt like he was hoping for something to happen without taking the first step, and then it didn’t. But I never knew if that was the case or not. This uncertainty is the reason I disliked that show.

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            I haven’t watched MLN so I’m not saying that I would have prefered to have heard his thoughts. It just hit me as very interesting that I disliked the writer’s other show for exactly the opposite reason.

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    I feel you. I had major issues with it, especially the second half. It romanticized the heck out of unhealthy relationships. Just browsing forums for a few minutes and seeing people gush over Gu, wishing for him and MJ to get married and have babies, makes me want to throw something. I hear you about the dialogue. People talked and talked but in a way nobody in real life talks. It ended up feeling pretentious.

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      Pretentious. Yes. That is the right word. Apperantly the writer has spent 4 years writing the screenplay. After i heard that, for the first time in my life, I thought “gosh. I wish the writer didn’t put that much effort in it”. Some parts just felt like a result of major overthinking, as if a perfectly comprehensive text was written and then someone decided “hey, I also wanna say this, let’s squeeze it in” and “nah, this part is not quoting worthy, let’s cut it out”.

      Honestly, I can’t argue or agree with you on Mr. Gu and Mi Jeong. I don’t think the writer fully understood the mental gymnastics that a person needs to be in relationship with someone with such issues. Mi Jeong somehow did a great job in helping him. Her amazing sensitivity and understanding of what should be said was simply unbelievable. The fact that a woman would listen to her lover talk about how he is hearing things and then laugh at his story on alcoholism is just something I can not understand. She didn’t even once ask him to stop drinking. I didn’t support the relationship or hate it solely because it seemed like a graphic designer had a PhD in psychology and knew exactly how to handle her partner’s addiction.

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      @missh Good point. As much as I did like the writing, it wasn’t perfect. I think I’m currently seduced by it’s uniqueness, but I also am starting to feel that seduction begin to fade. I am beginning to think that the writing was propped up (more than a little) by excellent acting, direction, and cinematography. Remove those things and could the writing stand on it’s own? I think maybe not. I have been leaving reviews of the shows I’ve finished, but I will wait a few days before reviewing MLN, to let my thoughts settle.

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    I’d never say My Liberation Notes pretentious, at all. The beauty of this unique drama is how the story is told from the perspective of each character (who is flawed in one way or another) – without judgement. So, whether the MJ-Gu relationship is healthy or not, or has been romanticised, is purely our own verdict as the audience. You can totally decide for yourself whether you think it is a beautiful relationship or unhealthy. Just like some Beanies think the Yeom family is toxic while others see it tightly-knit but never let their emotion flow up to the surface until tragedy strikes. Your verdict depends on your personal experience and belief, and I don’t think the drama has channelled or spoon-fed a particular message urging our acceptance of its premise, like what most other conventional dramas do.

    What I could say is that the writer-PD team seem to have returned to the root of their earlier collaboration, aka, I Live in Cheongdamdong, after their commercial success in other dramas. That is, focus on ordinary folks who all have their own stories. ILICDD from 2011 is about a family struggling financially, socially, and emotionally in the super wealthy CDD neighbourhood. It’s a 100+ ep sitcom which is laughing out funny in one minute and then gut wrenching next. There is no central plot per se but it does speak to me and resonates with me – just like MLN. Both dramas are slice of life with us audience being witness to the ebbs and flows of those characters.

    To me, My Liberation Notes is a rare treasure – some kind of drama that I can return whenever I need a mind cleansing. Of course, the whole production from cast to crew, music, cinematography elevates the whole experience. But it’s the writing that underpins its awesomeness. ILICDD didn’t even have one big star but just the amazing Kim Hye-ja headlining it with a raft of newbies (including the very very green Lee Sang-yeob) and character actors. Both dramas, to me, are 10/10 – same as My Ajusshi.

    Lastly, I am pleased that – after the successive acclaims of the rather dramatic Another OHY and the intricate My Ajusshi – Park Hae-young is delivering us this quiet introspective piece. I’m forever grateful.

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    I watched the first 10 eps and it’s pretentious. It has a great mood, actors, direction but it’s also very superficial. It’s a drama that cares about the message and not the story itself, the writer knows the result and effect she wants to achieve but doesn’t have the talent to write the story in a way that seems natural. That’s why I got bored and haven’t finished yet. That ep 10 was the worst so far, even the previously nice characters started to act in a very unrealistic and contradictory manner just to move plot.
    My Ahjussi had many issues but at least the 2 main characters were consistently good.

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    But what’s wrong with that? A writer can’t make a show about her own liberation diary? why?

    About Ki Jeong, maybe her finale isn’t what some of us wanted, but it makes sense according to her character. I know real people like her, so trust me, just a random advice from her father wasn’t going to make her change her perspective.
    Actually, I don’t know anyone that does wtv their parents tell them, so I don’t think it’s a mistake from the writer, it’s just normal.

    Anyway, we don’t even know what’s going to happen next. Life is long, maybe she breaks up with him in the future, who knows. She wanted someone (anyone) to love in the winter, and she got that person. She can keep growing and changing and making decisions/mistakes.

    I know people always wants writers to make characters/relationships “perfect” by the end, but I think shows in the slice of life genre shouldn’t be like that, because it isn’t realistic. I’m pretty sure that if there were a drama showing any of our lives from 2019 til now, it would be similar to the feeling you’re getting from MLN. Because people are like that. People choose bad relationships, people can feel “alone” even when they’re talking to others, people change opinions, people don’t do what their parents want, etc.

    I think that’s the whole point of the show tbh.

    Maybe your story or life experience is totally different and that’s why you can’t like the show, but I can assure you that MLN makes sense and feels right for other people, and it fits perfectly the genre “slice of life”.

    And yes, most people don’t talk like the leads in the show, but I don’t know why that’s a problem, like that’s literally the writer’s job. Make things sound right, better. Son Seok Gu says in interviews that he didn’t like changing the lines because that would ruin the poetic feeling of the show. I think he’s right.
    If it sounds pretencious… well, I think the writer has the right to write her show that way.

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      I was enjoying the commentary over at the MLN Soompi Forum, full of wisdom including some ex-Beanies there. So many wonderful observations there that I can’t quote all of them here but this – from a K-YouTuber – goes to my heart:

      “ The reason this show resonates deeply with so many viewers is that the star of this show is YOU, the viewer. You can see yourself in these characters who are struggling with this world that can be full of carelessness and hatred.”

      My Liberation Notes is perhaps not written for everyone. However, as an older person with more than a fair share of life lessons, it speaks to me in ways no other dramas do.

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    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Just reading the chat below has had me crying with laughter as I could literally picture a book club type setting with people sitting around sharing thoughts on this drama and the writer’s process. It was pure gold. I didn’t even watch the show but this is the reason I joined the community.

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      I think, I will stay passive aggressive about that show for at least another week. For those 8 weeks I sincerely thought I liked MLN and now that the magic of good casting/directing faded away, I am left feeling deceived.

      Good for you for not watching the show. I mean it.

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        It sounds like you need to employ your self care package what do you usually do when this happens to distract you from the disappointment? I like you have given yourself a week to be vex and then you will dust yourself down and move on. I hate that feeling when you realise that you were filling in the gaps and now you are not papering over the cracks any more there is a mess staring back at you.
        What’s your replacement drama?

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