My Liberation Notes Episode 2 review: An interesting concept and story that offer a cathartic but also, a tiresome experience

2.5/5

Story:

The story of the Korean series revolves around three siblings and their mysterious neighbour who are trying to escape their monotonous lives. The new episode of the first season focuses on Mi-jeong and Gi-jeong.

Review:

My Liberation Notes episode 2 focuses more on the lonely lives of Mi-jeong and Gi-jeong. It starts with where the story ended in episode 1, revealing about the pending loan payment of Mi-jeong. She changes her registered address with the bank so that it lands at her neighbour's door and her family does not get to know about it. Mi-jeong, is in debt of over a million won and she gets a notice that her credit card will be suspended if she doesn't pay the bills in five days.

The first episode and almost half of the second episode talk about her loan, leaving you wondering different reasons why she would have taken it. It does not get easy to guess as her life has not improved even though she had taken such a huge loan and leading a different lifestyle alongside also seem far-fetched, considering half of her life being spent in long commutes. Spending money on boyfriends was also not a great guess since the first episode declared her single and her having an imaginary one. Hence, when it is revealed that she had spent it all on her ex-boyfriend who then left the country and ran away to his ex-girlfriend is kind of a bummer.

Later in the episode, Gi-jeong is also seen having heartfelt conversations with her co-worker. The drama can strike up a conversation around what women actually want, sexuality and freedom. A few points in the story gets you thinking. Though it initially came across as a story of lonely women who consider themselves unsatisfied due to the absence of men in their lives but later in this episode, they talk about how sex is not what they are looking for to make themselves whole. While Mi-jeong says she wants to be 'worshipped' as she is fed up with dating jerks, Gi-jeong says she'd like to have a man whom she can have a conversation with. She clarifies that she is not looking just for sex but a more meaningful relationship.

The episode also stresses upon how employees should be treated and their morale can be boosted by the employers for better productivity. I am pretty sure this can be related to most professionals among the working population.

The long commute with no time or money to spare for a good social life and their dull lives can make you empathise with them but watching each episode with them looking all dull, leading boring and monotonous lives can be exhausting.

The way each character is explored, layer by layer is interesting. It looks like a lot of thought has gone into writing but you only wish sometimes if the runtime was shorter. The makers should probably just focus on the central characters and tell their stories, cutting out on a lot of time, which will make for a better watch.

The episode has a few new characters popping up in between without proper introductions. Though they may be just cameos to make the story more relatable and authentic, they sometimes appear to be jarring.

The only issue with the series is its long runtime. Each episode is over an hour long and watching all the characters crib about their sad lives can be exhausting. The story and the concept are good but the slow pace of the narrative kills the show sometimes.

The episode ends with a focus on mental health and how women should be treated. Exhausted and finding every relationship, a 'work', Mi-jeong ends up at her weird neighbour's house asking to be worshipped. She says with teary eyes that love is not enough and she wants to be worshipped as she is tired of being treated horribly by men. The way the neighbour, Mr Gu looks up online for the meaning of worship is kind of cute. But will he accept it or will Mi-jeong go back to leading that same soul-sucking life is what needs to be seen in the next episode.

Verdict:

The concept and story are interesting but it takes longer than expected to grow on you. The longer runtime only makes the watch more exhausting. It is cathartic but at the same time, can get tedious too.