Nevertheless, (2021)

Disappointed

What to say about this ending? They romanticized a toxic and abusive relationship. They romanticized that a woman is indeed a repair shop for men. I feel shame and pity for Na-bi because in that conversation where they return their relationship, it is evident how emotionally dependent she is on him. She knew what he was like, what he put her through, and yet she threw herself into his arms again. I am disappointed! Fortunately the secondary couples - Sol and Jiwan, Bit-Na and Kyuhyun, Min Young and Kyung Jun - saved that story.
They could have made Na-bi discover female empowerment. They could have made her realize with Jae-eon that no one deserves to go through an abusive relationship. What about Jae-eon saying he fell in love with her at first sight? This was never a crush because if he really had fallen in love with her, he would have had intentions of getting into a serious relationship with her from the start. And not just after losing her. What starts wrong will never work. Except in Nevertheless, history made people think everything that happened was normal.

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Such a good cast for shitty ass show

Not even joking when I say this is the worst kdrama I have watch along with love alarm season 2...

The only good thing about this drama is the second couple and the cast, like the acting is good and they have such a great actors and actresses but the story is B O R I N G, the main character is so lame and the other one it's a jerk, there's nothing interesting about them, really, the second couple made the drama watchable, if you wanna know about them, just watch the clips and don't waste your time.

It's a shame that they gave this drama to such a great cast.

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Dropping it halfway was probably the best decision of my drama life. I began watching this for two reasons: 1. Webtoon, 2. Song Kang. I wanted to see how the main lead will be portrayed and if I would change my mind because I liked SK. Thankfully no such thing happened but his character was too infuriating. A proper fuckboi through and through. While I had similar experience with the webtoon, the frustration, there was a lot of realism in it. Sadly the drama spectacularly failed to incorporate that towards the end. The only redeeming factor about this drama is probably the OST and some of the supporting characters. The leads are insufferable together. Each of the episodes is painfully long with lots of slow motion shots, I had to take weeks of break because even one week of gap didn’t feel enough. However, the cinematography is pretty cool. I really wish they had landed the ending and stuck to how it plays out. Sometimes your happy ending doesn’t have to involve a guy. Anyway, watch this only when you want to feel angry. This is definitely not worth your time.

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To watch or not to watch? (yes, watch it rn!)

You can shit on me for this, but I'd really recommend everyone to give this show a try even after seeing all the negative reviews.
It is intimate, captivating, enduring and perfectly captures the reckless nature of young relationships. It's rocky, imperfect, yet passionate and sentimental.
You will fall in love with side couples, and be allured in with beautiful cinematography and soft light.
I do not give a flying fuck about people saying that the relationship between main couple is unhealthy. They are as imperfect as the people are and the actors did an IMMACULATE job on portraying every emotion in the most raw, natural and beautiful way.
This drama awakens the most intense emotions in people, and you can see that by the amount of the negative reviews lol. You will either love it to death or hate it to death. Nothing in between.
"Nevertheless" is not about the morally right relationships and impactful plot, it's about intense emotions that people can experience thanks to each other.
I can't stress enough how much this was a breath of a fresh air for me. For the last couple years I've gotten so sick and tired of all the sweet k-dramas that we were fed, and this title is exactly what i wanted to see.
Even though we were left with some unanswered questions, I am guessing that we can find the answers for these questions in the manhua. ( but imo they aren't that crucial to how they ended this story).
If you still aren't sure is you should give this a try, than let me tell you, the intimate scenes are TOP TIER. The are never over the top or distasteful, the chemistry between the actors is insane and I felt like I was given a glance into someone's private life.
Also there's a wlw subplot that has a happy ending :') I am very thankful to netflix and JTBC for the cute , unsexualized and realistic portrayal of the wlw couple. It was relatable, fresh and warm.

OVERALL :

I will totally re-watch this drama next year. It's great and I am very curious in how my point of view on this drama will change over the course of time.
9,8 / 10
Because I loved it dearly but i still don't know what the hell was with that lighter lol

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My opinion of this passionate, romantic drama

The Man:
Do you think this drama is unrealistic? I don’t think so. Haven’t you ever seen a man who only wants one thing from a woman? Haven’t you ever seen a man that doesn’t want any commitment in the process? They call them players in the social world or users in the not-so-nice world. Sometimes they just called them creeps. Some people will watch this drama and think he was honest with his feelings and worthy of praise. Sure he was. For all ten episodes, he never said a word or looked at her without a manipulative meaning behind it. There was no chemistry, just a man working on his mark—a butterfly for his collection. Guess what? Do you think he changed in the end? Releasing his butterflies was comical. Please make no mistake about it; in the end, he captured the butterfly.

The Woman:
This woman was oblivious to everything around her except him. Her artwork and communication skills suffered, and her entire personality changed the second she met him. I don’t think she realized that she had no chance to escape the butterfly net. She was naïve enough, or weak enough after a breakup, to fall for his cheesy approach. She wasn’t looking for a relationship in the beginning; she was looking for the same thing he was, uncommitted passion. She couldn’t even look at him without getting weak in the knees, and he was well aware of her feelings. Hanging with him after he made himself clear was her problem. She tried to turn herself into the victim, but in reality, she was just there for him to use, and that’s exactly what he did. I saw no redeeming value in her character other than the passion she had for him. Everything else, everybody else suffered in the wake.

Conclusion:
It gives credence to the saying, ‘nice guys finish last.’ She made a point of crushing her childhood friend so many times, but she would come back to use him to make herself feel better. He dodged the bullet. He should consider himself lucky. She was not the kind of woman that would coexist with a nice guy. Or at least she would only be there until the next bad boy cast his net.

Plot:
The plot was not too involved. Girl falls for the player, the girl thinks she can change the player, girl rejects the nice guy, and finally, the girl surrenders to the player. There is nothing unrealistic about this plot, I’ve seen it dozens of times in real life. It might have been better if they spent a little time building up the destroyed character of the player. It would have made her look better. In the end I just saw two users walking hand in hand.

My ratings:
I will probably rate this better than my words show because I like any dramas with romance and passion. This drama had both so I enjoyed it.

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It was good however the ending was bad. There was never really an explanation to why the male lead act the way he does so his redemption in the end felt very cheap and unearned. The story was too one sided solely focusing on the female lead when what drives most of the exciting part of the story was the male lead. The ending was fairytale like. However, given the circumstances that the male lead never really got to open himself up to the female lead, it is more realistic if they didn't get back together in the end. On the other hand, their happy ending would have felt good if the male lead just had a proper redemption.

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Don't listen to the haters!

It seems I have an unpopular opinion regarding this kdrama. I really enjoyed it!
The chemistry between the two main leads and the hyperrealism was great to see. It isn't your typical soft, fluffy romance. If that is what you are looking for you will like the relationship between the lesbian side couple (who are adorable) or boycott the show completely.
I read the webtoon after finishing the drama adaption and I have to say I didn't like it, it was very choppy, and felt like the story wasn't really going anywhere. It was then abruptly ended with a rushed, thrown-together ending (I believe the author had a certain reason to cut it short).
In the webtoon the ML is very one-dimensional and although he is 'nice' to girls he has a coldness in his eyes throughout the story. In the drama Song Kang did a great job at portraying the aloofness of Park Jae Eon, he also portrayed a lot of emotion with his eyes. which wasn't seen in the webtoon, and even when Park Jae Eon would act a certain way you could see the emotion in his eyes of how he really felt but wouldn't acknowledge or be honest with Na Bit about.
In the webtoon the FL is assertive, she starts a consensual sexual relationship with a man and when he crosses the line she moves on to someone else. In the drama Han So Hee portrayed Yoo Na Bi as assertive at times but also composed. She starts a consensual sexual relationship with a man she is attracted to, it isn't until other people start to find out that she feels what can only be described as shame for her actions.
Having a consensual adult sexual relationship is not 'toxic'. I've seen a lot of people throwing this word around when describing this kdrama. If you want to have consensual casual sex with one person or multiple people that is not toxic, as long as those within that relationship understand that it is casual sex. Which, within this drama is understood by both Park Jae Eon and Yoo Na Bi when starting their friends with benefits relationship.
Getting personal here, I had a casual relationship similar to the leads in this show when I was in my early twenties. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, like most casual relationships but that's just reality. Who watches a fictional kdrama that doesn't end on a happy note?
If the drama adaption had ended the way the webtoon did it would have been abrupt, perplexing, and gone against the direction of the drama. It also would have been unwarranted for potato boy, as he deserved better than someone who had feelings for someone else.
I would have liked to see the drama carry on a little to see some insight into what a relationship between the leads would be like but unfortunately, you don't see if Na Bi gets to go to Paris or if Park Jae Eon takes the scholarship in America. I guess it's left up to the imagination how their relationship progresses or fails, following their middle finger to society's standards when they decided to continue their relationship despite what other people's opinions on it were.

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Nevertheless, it's not for me.

The webtoon have realistic and better ending, why the directors changed it?

This drama made me say "stupid girl" like million times.. LOL.

Well, i know in real life many people might have that kind of relationship and make the same choice. But THIS IS DRAMA. I believe a movie or series should give the audience enlightenment, lesson to be learned, motivation, a mirror to ourselves, and all that jazz..
I imagine if some audiences who watched this have the same situation, they'd feel relate, and choosing to go with like FL is only natural.
This drama doesn't teach us to be realistic, the message is "if u love someone just go for it even if u know it's toxic and will screw u later. And yeah, just blow away the good handsome guy who really love u!" or " Listen to your heart, if u love him, go for it, even if he might be a womanizer in disguise" .. 😂😂😂😂

Despite the story line, other things are pretty good, like the cinematography and such. However this could end in 6 episodes instead of 10.

But hey, this is just my personal opinion. If u like it, it's your right.

Nevertheless, it's not for me.

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Fighting through the frustration to find at least 1-2 likeable characters to hang on to

I'll start by saying that I have not read the manhwa which this drama was based on and will therefore base my review solely on what I've experienced through the drama version of it. The review will be rather long, as my frustrations with this drama were many, and you will see me using the realistic-unrealistic argument a lot. That is because I've seen way too many people trying to excuse how badly the plot develops by it being "realistic", which is something I very strongly disagree with.

The main problem with Nevertheless, in my opinion, is that I barely found any character likeable, which would have been reason enough for me to at least reach the last episode naturally. On the contrary, the frustration that was slowly and steadily building up since the first episode from nearly every character's actions grew almost unbearable nearing the end and I was ready to give up at any point, honestly.

At the forefront of this was Yoo Na Bi, of course. The main character, the one that is supposed to carry most of the show and to draw most of the attention from viewers. I can very well understand and even empathise with her attraction towards Park Jae Eon and how great of a temptation his interest towards her can be, to the point of her wanting to throw her better judgement out the window (which she does multiple times). He was a very handsome and charismatic character, with as much of a mystery to attract your attention and make you vulnerable to his smooth advances. But his f-boy behaviour gave one too many wake-up calls (or rather slaps across the face), to both Na Bi and the viewers, for her ignorance to seem realistic.

What was even more unrealistic was her "friends" directly or indirectly supporting this toxic relationship. That is a special call out to her "best friend" (as was suggested at the first few episodes) Bit Na, who as I understand was even a fan favourite too. There is no way a real friend that was aware of Jae Eon's f-boy tendencies would not be strictly against his involvement with Na Bi and not try to persuade her friend to end this relationship, even with her more progressive view on sexual relationships, because she would have clearly known that that is not what is best for her friend. But Bit Na, on the contrary, looks as if she is having fun watching Na Bi being the victim of this unhealthy push-and-pull game. And as the drama goes on it looks as if she is slowly disappearing from Na Bi's side while the screenwriters develop her own storyline, which also feels unexplained since a good amount of the first half of the show was dedicated in establishing their close friendship. Instead, we watch Yoon Sol and Seo Ji Wan take Bit Na's place as Na Bi's closer friends, which is probably healthier for her since those two look like they would be better friends to her and not as self-centered. Even still, Sol seems to also not hate the idea of Na Bi and Jae Eon's relationship, despite seeing Na Bi being a wreck because of him, which is questionable for her character but I can give her a pass since she found out much later on the whole relationship timeline and I can see a few reasons why she might want to take that approach. The other people from the friend group, including Ji Wan, had no clue so they can be exempted. The conclusion that I arrived to is that Na Bi didn't really have any good friends that she felt she could seek support from and that is probably the saddest part of this story.

Na Bi's inability to resist Jae Eon's aggressive pursuit of her would have been better explained if perhaps we would have gotten a better glimpse at her relationship with her mother and her feeling a lack of attention from her, as well as her possible experiences of growing up in a household with no healthy relationship patterns. What we get instead is a brief scene of a rather important event in Na Bi's life (her mother not only forgetting her birthday but also choosing to spend the day with her romantic partner instead) and nothing more. In fact, the screenwriters do this a lot throughout the series. They quickly brush over important details for the sake of the story moving forward and give more screentime to stylistic filler scenes that may look nice but grow tiring very quickly. That is most evident towards the end of the drama, especially regarding the situation with Na Bi's piece for the final exhibition breaking, which is supposed to be a very shocking and unfortunate incident but is instead solved rather easily in the viewer's eyes within the same episode. Parallel to that, Na Bi's constant struggle with finding the motivation to work and satisfaction with the pieces she creates, which was a major plot point since the beginning, is quickly resolved by Jae Eon being her inspiration in a way that was never really addressed, in my opinion. That is especially vexing for me since I also draw and have had the same struggles as her and I know from experience that finding a solution is rarely that simple or related to anyone else but the artist and their state of mind.

I am definitely not one of those people that wanted Na Bi to end up with Yang Do Hyuk by the end, no matter the fact that he was one of the only unproblematic and wholesome characters. Alas, both being attracted and not attracted to someone is something you simply cannot control, however much you want to. So I cannot really blame Na Bi for not eventually falling for the sweet nature of her childhood friend who was treating her with so much love and care nor for her trying to like him giving him a few false signals along the way. That, too, I find at least realistic.

What I would have prefered was for Na Bi to eventually realise what is best for her and grow enough to move on from Jae Eon and find her own happiness without a romantic relationship, since both her options where not really viable. Noone and, sadly, not even the screenwriters could persuade me in any way that she managed to "change" Jae Eon and that he finally realised he loved her enough to let go of his past ways and completely devote himself to her. That is not only extremely unrealistic but a big loss to the "I can change him!" idea that had us fall victims to f-boys and their ways 15 or so years ago.

On a more positive note, I have to give credit to the drama for featuring a same-sex couple and I can also say I liked the pace of the storyline they created for them. Even though I also found many problems with Ji Wan's characters, both her and Sol where genuine with their feelings towards each other and the plot discreetly highlighted the societal struggles of loving someone of the same sex. I also very much liked how after the two of them get together the people who find out abouth their relationship treat it as something completely normal and I feel it does a lot for lgbtq+ representation on-screen and especially for k-dramas.

In conclusion, despite the production team having rather promising material to create a unique drama, with realistic plot and empowering characters, while also addressing several relationship issues that many people can experience in their lives, they choose to take the standard route, ignoring many key elements to the story along the way and creating unrealistic relationships and unlikeable characters, that not even the beautiful direction and photography can help redeem. I cannot really say how strictly they had to follow the source material and try to confine it in 12 episodes of air-time, but maybe if that was the case it would have probably been better if they left it and found something else instead.

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