Nevertheless

Nevertheless might have been much better, if there was a good storyline, likeable pair of lead characters and a bit decent pacing.

The story never felt like romance, instead it was 90% complications for the leads, which I felt kind annoying and the end wasn't compelling enough. I personally like the lead characters (So Hee Han & Song Kan) but there pairing felt dumb, disappointing and it never kept the show to be interesting. Instead I was quite amazed by the pairing of the supporting characters, which were developed quite well.

The only positive thing about this drama was the music which I felt was soothing to the ears and quite melodious. Along with that, I loved how the relations developed among the other supporting cast, which was way better showcased than the lead characters. It was a wasted potential, Nevertheless.

Cons: Unlikeable lead characters Weak storyline Less of love story, more of irrelevant complications among the pair The pacing was very slow, with couple of episodes being flat boring

Pros: The OST was soothing and melodious The supporting casts had a better relationship development.

My Rating : 5.5/10.

Right from the start I'm thinking: "Yo! Oh NO! Women and girls don't need to be watching this!"

This story follows the lives of art students, particularly Nabi's group of friends. Though the focus is on their love lives, the stresses of classes, projects, competitions, and future plans factor heavily in the story. The protagonist is Yu Nabi, a beautiful and talented but resigned, student.

The show starts with her painful break-up. She is then quickly seduced by the powerfully sexual Park Jae-eon (Song Kang from Sweet Home-8.5 & Navillera), who is a notorious womanizer. They couldn't be more different, except for the "road closure" signs on the way to their hearts. She starts a physical relationship with him but continually doubts him. He never asked for more anyway. This type of dude is not good in real life. Users like this tend to be on the sociopathic scale. Naive girls will think the can change him, that they'll succeed where other women have failed. It won't work, girls. You will get your heart shredded.

"It's making me so uncomfortable," was my thought, from EP 2 through midway when there was a plot shift. At the same time, I was also thinking that the director & actors handled the seduction scenes well. They are as steamy as the kitchen in a noodle restaurant. Nabi moves on to other guys. She has no shortage of admirers herself. These relationships may make her more at ease, but there are clearly no sparks, such as the ones Jae-eon ejects when he's performing his craft.

My method is: No reviews without watching the entire show, intolerable pain being the exception. If I had broken it off with Nevertheless in the early episodes, which I was not enjoying, I would've had a much different opinion than I now do after watching every frame. A solid 25% (it seems) of the early episodes consists of Nabi staring with an emptiness that showcases how a hammer shattered her fragile shell. Her emotional core is pulverized. She's struggling with school. Nothing is going right. She's shut down.

Nabi brightens up in the very last scene, when she settles on the next step in the direction of her future. She smiles radiantly, her voice lifts an octave or so, her words suddenly flow with ease: She's confident. There was so much transformation in that last smiling sentence that it was breathtaking.

The director, Kim Ga Ram (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency -7.4), created her own piece of art in this series. This is Kim Ga-ram's third effort. All three are rated solidly with an increase in the IMDB rating for each one. We should be looking forward to more excellent offerings from Ms Kim. Screenwriter, Jung Won, is just getting started.

Not only was Nabi's transformation handled aptly, but there are many scenes that are excellent, with imagery and metaphors noticeable in the first watch. (Another go-through would only reveal more.) In Ep9, for example, Do-hyeuk gives Nabi an umbrella. He told her it will rain. He has an extra umbrella. Cut to Jae-eon who looks out at the deluge, umbrellaless. Do-hyeuk was prepared for heartache. He had braced himself. He was ready for rain. Heartache snuck up on Jae-eon. He never saw it coming. Several others in the extended group, who had been longstanding friends, also pair up. Their romances were all done well.

Adorned with a butterfly tattoo on the back of his neck, Jae-eon claims it means: The ugliness & pain of happiness & a lack of freedom. While Jae-eon has looks, money, talent, and popularity, which are all things that people believe will make them happy, he's not happy. He's lived free with many women, which left him not free to pursue a meaningful relationship. It's obvious that Jae-eon's dingy apartment -it's almost grayscale- is emblematic of his closed off heart. "Nabi" means butterfly. Nabi emerges from her chrysalis at the end of the show. That emergence had nothing to do with a man. The criticism of Nevertheless promoting toxic relationships is not fair. Nabi's confidence, in the end, was from, by, and through HER, not anyone else. This show is a cocoon that yields it's beauty right on time.

The sculpture on which Nabi labours for the entire semester appears lackluster, just as Nabi does. She takes a step toward joining society by finally taking on assistants. The reveal for finished works will be the end of semester art show. What's on display is Nabi herself. Nabi's piece has taken up wings to fly. The process and the show are the stages of a butterfly. The matured Nabi powers through her entrapments in full stained glass splendor. She might as well fuse with her sun-catcher and bracelet.

This is a well-crafted show. I would give it a rating of around 7.6, but it doesn't rise to the level of a solid 8. The director will likely be there with her next effort. Nevertheless, this series is well worth watching. It's not like the 3' deep cutesy romances. The director has crafted something more complex. In fact, I would classify this as a drama about self-awareness and self-liberation first, and a romance second.

QUOTE📢

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne~

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🤔6 🎭8 💓6 🦋8 ⚡1

Age 15+

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day: A Witch's Love 7.8; Love to Hate You 8.9; Oh My Ghost 10; Our Blues 8.7 - ensemble piece; It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9; Love Struck in the City 7.3; Hospital Playlist 9; My Mister 9.5; I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9;

Action/Sci-fi/fantasy: Signal 8.6; The Cursed 8.3; Flower of Evil 8.9; The Man from Nowhere 8.9; Black 9; Squid Game 8.4;

Romance junkies only: My Secret Romance 7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks); Boys Over Flowers 8 ~ melodrama to the max; The Bride of Habaek 7; Heirs 7.3; That Winter, The Wind Blows7 Something in the Rain 9

🍂

Nevertheless is one of the most underrated drama. It may seem slow paced but that's what makes it more attractive and creates the tension. For me it was a beautiful the way the actors portrayed the characters and conveyed their emotions through expressions without much words. It is different from and not a typical romcom which makes it unique. Love is not always hearts and roses, it is sometimes confusing and irresistible. Both of the leads were insecurities born from past experiences. However, they had different expectations, priorities which created complications despite having mutual affection for each other. I loved the ending as well it is kind of open which does not show a happily ever after kind of vibe. So we just know that she chose the one she really likes for time being which we all would have done in her position. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every bit of the drama and binge watch it as well.

Before I watched this drama I kept reading EVERYWHERE, how the character Song Kang plays was sooo toxic and that he was such a bad boy, and I was really looking forward to see him playing a character like that, well that's not what you will find. He plays a guy with deep emotions but wounded and that doesn't know how to love ( or doesn't really want to) until he actually does and falls in love with Nabi. Not ONE TIME in the show he disrespects or hurts the female lead in any way. He never promised loyalty nor exclusivity and she just has different expectations ( Korean social standards are very much narrow minded when it comes to sex and intimacy in an open way).

I find this show very realistic and aligned with how people actually behave in real life and I enjoyed watching the characters struggling trying to find the way of being okay with their feelings and learning how to express them.

Loved the representation of LGBT relationships and the other secondary couples where adding a lot of warmth to the story.

The only reason why I didn't give it a 10 is because his show would have been priceless with a better script, the potential of passionate and raw dialogues this one has...!!! Instead its a lot of unsaid words and unspoken emotions. But I enjoyed It throughly regardless.

To be frank, I love the vibe of the drama, the newly added characters, the production, but I hate the ending. I read the entire manga over the summer. It tells the story of a girl falls in love with a playboy, soon realizes his nature, and then ends up dating with the second leading which seems to be nicer, kinder, and better, but the uncertainty still remains in their relationship. This drama however turned this story into a common, boring "bad guy gone good" story in the last episodes. It's certainly unrealistic. The screenwriter either misunderstood the core value of the manga or formulated it this way because someone as him or her to do that. I know that there are people who love this ending, but it does not please me.