[In-Depth Look] The Dazzling Escape of Those Held by Gravity in 'Naui Haebang Ilji'

The three Yeom siblings live at the southern edge of Gyeonggi Province. With jobs in Seoul, they hurriedly run every morning to catch the village bus that comes sporadically. Even if they head straight home after work, the sky has already darkened.

Whenever they manage to have a gathering, they have to leave early, worried about missing the last subway train. "I left work while it was still bright, but now it's night." As the eldest said, their days are entirely devoted to home, work, and the road. Today was no different from yesterday, and tomorrow will surely be much the same. How can they escape such a stagnant life?

JTBC’s weekend drama My Liberation Notes tells the story of the Yeom family’s three siblings, who have been living monotonous, hamster-wheel-like days on the margins of life, each dreaming of escape in their own way. The eldest, Gijeong (Lee El), who once dreamed of the glamorous life of Sex and the City but was worn down by reality and "aged quickly," vows passionate love. The second, Changhee (Lee Min-ki), who believed that being a diligent employee and steadily climbing the corporate ladder was the answer, decides to seek answers outside the company. The youngest, Mijeong (Kim Ji-won), exhausted by people to the extent that "all relationships feel like labor," also experiences change.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

She forms a small club with colleagues of similar temperament at work and develops a relationship with Gu (Son Seok-gu), an outsider in the village, where they ‘chuang’ each other, filling their empty lives.

What is interesting is that their changes are not portrayed as grand salvation. Unlike typical dramas where the protagonist’s ‘turning point’ is depicted as a dramatic event, the salvation of the characters in this work seems close to ordinary daily life. Just as Mijeong’s club, the ‘Liberation Club,’ feels more like a small gathering of timid people despite its grand name. But that is how real life is.

Miracles that instantly change a stagnant life are hard to come by. My Liberation Notes tells us that the sum of small happinesses, "fragmented into tiny pieces" in everyday life, is salvation.

For example, moments like these: when Mijeong sees the phrase "Something good will happen to you today" on the subway on her way to work and sends a message to Gu; when Gu, having finished his day’s work, waits for Mijeong after work to eat and walk together; when Taehoon (Lee Ki-woo), after meeting Gijeong, suddenly looks up at the sky and encounters a rainbow.

My Liberation Notes turns such mundane daily life upside down and expresses the precious moments hidden behind it as ‘dazzling.’ While receiving praise for its realistic depiction of reality, it also actively uses fantasy-like direction to beautifully portray those sunlit moments.

A representative example is the ending scene of episode 4, known as the ‘Chuang Jump.’ While resting from working in the field, Mijeong’s hat is blown by the wind and flies across the road. In front of a startled Mijeong, Gu astonishingly leaps over the road to retrieve the hat. It is a moment that responds to Mijeong’s words that ‘chuang means cheering someone on, believing they can do anything.’

The drama depicts Gu’s jump as a bird soaring into the sky. It is a symbolic scene where the gravity of life that made the characters feel stuck is transcended by the power of encouragement. My Liberation Notes asks, instead of waiting for impossible miracles, how about living everyday life like magic? It is a drama about ‘something good that will happen to you today’ in itself.

Kim Sun-young, Popular Culture Critic