Nevertheless,

1st half: So realistic, it makes you queasy — 2nd half: so clichéd, it makes you yawn (loudly)

This series is definitely for a more mature audience, now I get the 19+ rating. It's not your typical fluffy rom-com with a lighthearted tone, sweet more caricatural than real characters and heart fluttering moments.

Well, this series does make your heart flutter, but for other reasons, namely, a) the sexual tension between the leads and b) the anxiety and unease that comes along with it. It initially is a realistic depiction of what dating nowadays looks like, of trust issues, fear of commitment, the struggle to really open up and the stress when you can't read your crushes' mind and intentions. When to call yourselves exclusive? Is there even such a thing? Nowadays, is there really the option of falling in love and staying in a monogamous relationship when there might always be 'a better option' out there? You might be one swipe away from an exciting rendezvous, the acknowledgement you lack from your partner, the distraction and escape you need (from yourself). The earlier episodes of the show really makes you ponder on all these things.

Also, you can really see that women are working on this show as they've captured the essence of what concerns and bothers women (in their twenties) so well. Be it the excitement, obsession and fear of rejection when having a huge crush on someone, the dejection when you try hard at university or work and are still left-behind, the urge to fit in and still feel disconnected with everyone. Really well-done.
The cinematography, pace, dialogues and background score also enhance the emotions and mood to a great extent.

As for the romance, the main theme of the plot, I think a lot of people might actually drop this series, because the story seems so relatable and doomed to be painful, too relatable even, for those who have experienced something similar and just can't cope with it anymore. And even if you might not agree with all of the female lead's actions and at times find her annoying and irritatingly irrational, she is still absolutely relatable, as you can literally grasp the train of thoughts that leads to these actions and decisions of hers. I further believe we've all either been in such a situation, were tempted enough or 'have this one friend' to/who despite seeing the red flags can't help overlooking them, knowing this might eventually crush us/them. Cudos to the cast for making our anxieties come alive.

Sadly, the earlier episode are by far better than the latter ones. At some point the story starts to feel repetitive and drained; there is no real progress and the authenticity and originality up until then slowly but gradually devolves into a clichéd run-on-the-mill romance, —outdated even — in which the heroine is (seemingly) stuck b/w two boys; although her final choice is blatantly obvious. Curious if there'll be an unexpected turn in the end. Also, there were some personal issues with an actor, wherefore his screen time was reduced drastically; reasonable, but unfortunately it took a toll on the quality of the drama.

All in all, this show had great potential — until the makers felt obliged to follow the 101 k-drama formula. Watchable only for the chemistry of the leads and the side stories, even though the ending is unfit imo and Song Kang's lack of emotions (blame the character) even make his pretty face boring.
And I urge you all to listen to the soundtrack, even if you don't want to watch the show: so fresh and SO good!

*EDIT*
If you've already seen the show (or do not plan on watching it) and would like to know why I felt the ending wasn't really fitting, see the comment section below this review. It's marked as a spoiler.

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A waste of time

Nevertheless is a K-Drama adopted from a webtoon with the same name. Before watching the kdrama, I have already read and finished the webtoon.

*SPOILERS FROM THE WEBTOON*

In the webtoon, the story was straightforward because we know that PJE is just playing with Nabi. Nabi knew this NEVERTHELESS she still wants him. However, PJE continued being a player and Nabi ended up with Dohyuk, who had more depth in the webtoon.

Now that we have gotten the overall storyline from the webtoon, lets talk about the drama. I came into this knowing that the writers would definitely change up some parts because we know that kdramas doesn't like to be faithful to its webtoon counterpart (True Beauty). My expectations were not met at all. This drama is just 10 episodes of repetitiveness and back and forth from the main leads whereas the background stories were definitely more compelling. I will be analyzing the main leads only for this review since some of the characters weren't in the webtoon.

1. Park Jae Eon: In the webtoon, he is your charming playboy who can't commit to a single girl. He tried to but his efforts were diminished by Nabi when she told his gf a very off-putting comment which ruined his relationship with Nabi and his gf. This scene happened in the drama. HOWEVER, somehow, for some unknown reason, he forgives Nabi and is suddenly infatuated with her for no reason. What makes her different? Well we don't know. The writers completely took a different approach and painted Park Jae Eon as a victim with a sad background story and can't convey his emotions blah blah blah. The story was supposed to be realistic but it turned out cringey and predictable. A typical "bad-boy-turned-soft-when-he-falls-in-love". People who like PJE only sees him through Song Kang's face. Prove me wrong

2. Nabi: In the webtoon, Nabi was more outspoken. In the drama, she's more passive. There is nothing compelling about her. Nothing interesting. She is a very bland character who needs to find herself first before committing and jumping into relationships. One minute shes angry at PJE and the other shes not. Like, what make up your mind?!?!

3. Dohyuk: In the webtoon, he is cute but as we got to know him we found out that he did it with a girl who had a boyfriend. Hence thats why we see him saying that he always falls for girls who have boyfriends. In the webtoon, he ends up with Nabi. In the drama, Dohyuk is just too smitten with Nabi that he sees everything in rose-colored glasses. Basically he'd do anything for Nabi. This kind of character could definitely bore some viewers so that's why I think the writers should've added more dimension to his character. Well, they should've added dimension to all of the main characters.

All in all, I wouldn't rewatch because the episodes are too long and the leads gets on my nerves. The OST is really good tho. The acting... well.... it could've been better. I think this drama would've been better if it was just a short webdrama instead of a long 10 episodes with 1 hour each drama.

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The perfect drama to glorify toxicity

Just why in the world would they make Jaeeon in ep9 show his true colors and how he was never serious about Nabi, how he was absolutely shitty towards Dohyeok, how he asked her out just because he wanted to "win" over Dohyeok, make him yell at her, twist her wrist, actually harass her, sl*t shame her for being in a fwb with him, mock Dohyeok and so much more, AND she even threw him off her life, just for this crappy, mediocre and incredibly dangerous ending?
This isn't even about which ship won at the end or shipping anymore at all, it's about an awfully dangerous message that this drama sends. They're saying "it doesn't matter if they guy you like is toxic, a potential abuser and player, and if you're gonna get hurt, just go for it because he has a nice d!ck!!"
This is seriously such a huge waste of cast, potential, and everything. This drama could've been one of the best if they properly showed how NOT to act in a toxic relationship, but at the end of the day all they did was literally glorify an abuser and cheater. Like someone else said, the writers were progressive enough to write about same sex relationships, friends with benefits, open relationship, but were unable to give the leads a proper ending? If the writers of Love Alarm couldn't make Sunoh end up with Jojo even though Sunoh was a thousand times a better option than Jaeeon, why would Nevertheless writers do something like this, and why would the webtoon creator even allow this, AND why would Song Kang and Sohee do this too? From the interviews, they looked like they didn't approve of Jaeeon (as they should) and kept rooting for Nabi to snap out of it.
Honestly, this is all so disappointing. Someone should cut out all Soljiwan's scenes for anyone interested in the Girl Love plot without having to go through the painful experience of this drama. Bitna and Gyuhyun had so much more development than Nabi and Jaeeon despite the awful screentime cut. A seriously awful drama. Only giving 2.5 stars for Jonghyeop and each supporting couple only (and .5 for the sunbaes).

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Everything was pointless after the ending...

Since the ending is happy, what was the point of all those episodes if Na Bi learned nothing? If she falls into his trap both at the beginning and at the end, then we have watched a pointless drama and wasted 10 hours. For this, the story does deserve the lowest score because it didn't develop at all. Instead, it was an endless circle showing the same situations without any progression.




Very dissapointing.

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Geniuely a really good drama, not what everyone is making it out to be

I’ve never written a review for anything, but I feel like this had to be my first. As I think people are making Nevertheless out to be worse than it is. Personally I really enjoyed this drama so much.
My favorite things:
1. The cast was truly amazing and their chemistry was so good that I always found myself smiling at the screen and repeating many scenes
2. THE ACTING!! The way they portrayed every single scene truly came down to the chemistry between them but just wow Song Kang and Han So Hee's acting truly needs more credit than what they are given
3. Every single ost in this drama was beyond beautiful, I looked forward to every week adding a new song to my ost playlist to have all the tracks on constant loop
4. The story was very realistic for their situation and this is the biggest thing I think people are making out to be worse than it is

One main thing I think people are forgetting or pushing aside is this is supposed to be a friends with benefits relationship and it is very emphasized from the beginning that that’s all that’s wanted. The word “toxic relationship” keeps being thrown into correlation but I personally don’t see anything toxic about their relationship when everything was put out there about the friends with benefits narrative. Yes, their relationship can be seen as flawed as the aspect of feelings are very evident but we also have a character who has never felt any of that and it’s an unfamiliar feeling that they don’t know what to do. In addition, communication between Na Bi and Jae Eon doesn’t really happen except for the times they explode in anger since they don’t address what they’re feeling.

Nevertheless (haha), I think everyone has mixed reviews depending on your stance on a friends with benefits relationship, but if you’re looking for a drama that’s more raw with sexual scenes and tension. A cast with amazing chemistry and a lot of fun scenes when they’re all together. In addition to people trying to understand their emotions and feelings when it comes to love this would be a great drama.

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No development, no depth, no meaning, but nevertheless, love, I guess...

What a waste of potencial, seriously. I don't understand how they took 10 episodes with the FML being the same as she was in the beginning: a girl with an insecurity about relationships. I liked Nabi in the first episodes because for me she's a real character and her emotions are really genuine. But we're talking about a drama, and us as viewers, especially women's, wanted a good development for her. Every character in any drama needs to be developed because we have to know that these characters learn something about the difficulties they were into. What Nabi really needed was a good time ALONE, to focus on herself but it seems like the message that this drama wanted to pass to us is that even Nabi being insecure about Jaeeon`s feelings and even him hurting her in many ways she just likes him so fuck everything. Ofc we can all have insecuritys in any relationship but I think that Nabi ending up with someone she's insecure about and almost went crazy for, was really wrong. At least they could have waited a little more and then, years later, when both characters matured, they could think about being together.

And omg, it was so hard to empathize with Jaeeon. Sure, Nabi knew what she was into and Jaeeon not wanting to date isn't the problem, but a normal person who have a different thought about relationship wouldn't be chasing a girl that thinks way different than him. And beyond that, this character seemed so cynical for me... when answering Nabi's questions about the women he got involved with, he always blamed them, as if they were the ones who were chasing him. When Dohyeok tells him to stop fooling Nabi, he wonders if he could mess with her that much, as if he didn't knew he messes with her. I seriously couldn't understand him at all, even when he seemed to care about her and changed for her. Knetz blamed Song Kang`s acting but actually I think its the script fault as we saw before that Song Kang is in fact, a good actor. The character itself just don't have depth and it doesn't look genuine. For me, we end up not knowing important things about him and thats why I end up not liking him and not understand him. (and the script putting that scene with his mother to try to justify his personality was just cliche as well and not enough for me to understand him, he stills end up with no depth).

Dohyeok for the other side was perfect, but just another perfect SL. Altought I really liked him and preferred him over Jaeeon, Nabi ending up with him would be too forced because she never liked him or gave him any type of signs that she could like him. He really was there just to make Jaeeon`s character jealous. The side characters were definitely more interesting that the main characters and I really liked that we had a LGBT couple, I think that this is the first time I see a LGBT couple in a drama who isn't mainly LGBT.

Nevertheless had interesting topics such as the perspective of not wanting to date, abusive relationships and insecurities, but with main characters not having a good development and being persons who is difficult to empathize, its really hard to enjoy this. We can't say that the main leads doesn't have chemistry, because they really have an insane chemistry, but when we see how this drama is going, even the hot scenes with the main leads and even Song Kang being a really attractive character, things just won't be interesting anymore. And altought the drama tried to portraiy real things, the ending was just cliche as we had one more "problematic"guy who changed himself for the girl he likes. It’s a shame because for me this drama had a lot of potencial. Nabi`s emotions was real and I liked that Jaeeon was a different main lead with a different vision of relationship. They just wasted everything.

PS: One thing I really liked was the cinematography and the OST, they were really good. Besides that, the acting wasn't bad but not the best as well.

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And it messed up. Nevertheless,

Realistic portrayal, are you kidding me?

Anyone curious about why's there a comma after Nevertheless and same with the native title 알고있지만, (I know but,) No, it's not spelling mistakes xD That comma holds its own value in the story... Nabi's story, as of the fact knowing the outcome of her actions she still takes them. Nevertheless,

If I've to sum up the whole thing,

- Unlikable leads with the worst characterization
- Slow Paced with some boring episodes
- Many frustrating, you-wish-to-give-them-long-lecture moments
- Interesting subplots and side couples
- Eye candy with beautiful cinematography
- Wonderful music
- 0 character development.. at some point it feels in -ve
- And-the-main-couple-kinda-sucks, but-their-chemistry-somehow-works
- Having said that it has a realistic portrayal it ends up being like any other drama... Dramatic and unrealistic.
- Toxic relationship.. do I've to mention? it's like the second tag with a 91% score, Edit: Now it's 93% :')

Even though it has many butterflies but don't expect butterflies moments xD

Never got this mixed feeling for any drama. 'Romance' is a genre and almost everyone is wishing that leads shouldn't end up together where the best option is staying single in the end. By that, you can definitely assume how messed up things are. Not gonna comment on what realistic approach this show offers, as I'm inexperienced, so this review is about what I feel about drama not how much realistic portrayal it has,

This is almost a rant, but why is there 5.5 there. Am I being generous? yes lol. Ngl, I enjoyed and was entertained by some parts. It managed to hold me till the end and I adored supporting characters a lot and their stories (Special mention: Yoon Sol loved her). Maybe this explains,

Not a typical or cliche type one, but also story doesn't have much. But writing is messy with the pace... It wasn't even enough just for 10 episodes as some episodes even felt filler with 0 progress in the story. Despite being frustrating and disturbing in some parts, it is intriguing. And honestly, I really liked subplots, the stories of side couples. You won't find any meaningful conversation or pearls of wisdom. But you'll end up getting frustrated at some characters for their stupid decisions.

Talking about casting, I like it! not really impressed by Song Kang's acting but improvement for sure. So Hee, I just checked her profile and realized I've seen her 2 dramas with supporting roles... but I don't even remember seeing her :') well, this time she sure left an impression on me, I'll remember her. And this is the opposite for Jong Hyeop.. even after seeing him for a very short time in his previous work, he was memorable, and I think he's good as Do Hyuk.

I couldn't picturise leads before, but when I saw them on-screen together. I felt the chemistry between them,... and ah definitely a lot of tension. The heck everyone is good-looking even if some roles are just for 1-2 episodes, a perfect drama if you are finding something just for looks.

Na Bi.. sorry I'm sick of your monologues, even some support roles have fewer dialogues than her monologues. She isn't stupid she knows what she is doing, from the start just she couldn't resist herself, it is called a lack of decision power and shrewdness, not stupidity. AND why everything about her should revolve around boys (the start of her story is with her first love being pure trash) or whom she ends up with, doesn't she have her own career, future? girl get a life! other than that love triangle I would prefer some development in her.. as of the fact she said a lot of times her work is just mediocre, well if you can't believe in yourself how you're gonna put your best work out there. After getting out of the friends with benefits scenario she said No every time whenever Jae Won approached her so even if I don't like her as a character but I appreciated it but then... you know ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Jae Eon is a manipulative jerk he's is kinda guy no one wants to encounter in rl (Please don't bring looks here, I'm talking about the character), from his first introduction his personality is clear. Now you might expect a drastic change in him, right? true-love-changing-life thing? sorry to disappoint you, you get nothing. In fact, gradually you encounter his obsession toward Nabi (and I won't call it 'love' lol). Few good qualities about him... mmhm he is handsome, anything more? oops sorry, um maybe another one he's good at his work. If you count flirting in good things? It was cringy :')

Do Hyuk aka Potato boy. He's typical ideal second lead whom everyone loves and roots for him. Kinda too perfect for Nabi to the point I felt she doesn't deserve him. Well, he's cute, caring, he knows how to cook, um what girl wants more? Though why he was so head over heels for Nabi is confusing, just because she's pretty and his first love? oh yes, dramas love to glamorize first love.

The production value is high what to expect from jTBC and Netflix, so top-notch cinematography, aesthetics, color grading, and styling. I found the intro interesting it's short but those slide with music give is an artistic vibe. I absolutely adore OSTs, Loved how the soundtrack is used, it balances everything.

We're Already - KIMMUSEUM
Nevertheless - Night Off
Whisper - PARK JI WOO
Butterfly - J.UNA
Love Me Like That - Sam Kim
So Tender - Say Sue Me

don't-let-anyone-stay-single-in-the-end well, of course, it's drama, where everyone should get their partner, so many side couples for sure... but the fact was I wasn't bothered by it, I was happy and much more interested in their stories and development between them. Ah though the crappy editing of Kim Min Gwi's scenes in some last episodes annoyed me a lot, it was uncomfortable to hearing his dialogues when the camera focus is on different faces.

I liked some starting episodes, the pacing, and execution but then it losses the momentum and becomes repetitive.. and dramatic losing the realistic touch, I mean wasn't that the key point of it before?

In the end.. we've left with nothing, ah maybe a new slang,

Do you wanna see butterflies?

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Such a bad story line

This was the worst Korean drama I saw in 2021. In fact, I stopped watching it after episode 6. I took time to read reviews so I knew how the story ends. Apart from the fact that the main leads were good-looking, and their acting was superb, this story line was so lame. How could a mature woman like Nabi be so stupid and indecisive? Too many monologues. I thought she would become wiser as time goes by, but reading the review of episode 10, I gave up. It's not worth warching. The side stories were even better than the main one.

I hope there would never be a Season 2. Better to see Han So Hee and Song Kang in other new dramas, rather than being together in this bad one.

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losers

if i wanted to see a pretty girl go head over heels for toxic men and not move on i would just go out and see my friends... both yu nabi & jaeeon they are both LOSERS ! there's no other word to describe them. they're both equally as annoying but jaeeon's a menace yea.. and yu nabi is just stuck with the "i can fix him" mindset OKAY SURE GIRL GO AHEAD ure so boring .

last episode i literally skipped throughout because it was just them staring and yu nabi ruining the vibes at the start for being sad when everyone else was happy like oh my god girl MOVE ON!!! so annoying .. ure not gonna d13 without him.. whats so good about jaeeon anyways.. literally waste of my time watching the last ep cus nothing happened ..

i would say that the side characters carried the show definitely!! no need to explain who and what we all already know its soljiwan zz also justice for dohyuk poor guy nabi is stupid literally on the last episode she said "i know he doesn't make me happy and i'm happy when i'm with you but.." GIRL WHAT U NEED IS THERAPY NOT JAEEON my god..

overall i quite enjoyed it since i binge watched the show (also by skipping most parts) and thank god it only has 10 episodes .. the cinematography was amazing but not enough to make me recover from the stupidity of yu nabi and jaeeon.. i actually have nothing else to say other than that they are both Losers..

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It was dull and disappointing, 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

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Nevertheless, it turned out to be a disappointment.

It seems Nevertheless too was just another rollercoaster ride, where the drama initially is able to build up so much of anticipation and excitement but literally goes downhill from the midpoint onwards. If you were looking for an honest, realistic portrayal of college romance, then nope this doesn't cuts it, not even close. Nevertheless basically covers just the crust of it whereas I was hoping to unravel the basic core of the experience and the involved characters.

My major disappointment was character development of Park Jaeon or the lack thereof. Expecting more in depth focus on him, his personal life and how and why he was the way he was because honestly, if you want to convince the viewers that a legit fuckboy has turned into a lovestruck puppy, you don't do that through super cheesy intimate scenes instead, you ought to uncover and display his plot arcs with his family and past and his gradual journey to redemption with few episodes from his perspective and not just Nabi's. I mean c'mon Song Kang's acting potential at least deserved that! What was his equation with his mom? What happened to his father? Why did his ex girlfriend or whatever she was just left all of a sudden? Why was he still playing with Nabi's feelings when he fell for her at first sight? Why didn't he confess Nabi of his said "first sight love" much before? Why was he being a douchebag when he could have been so much more? Guess nobody will know.

The drama had no plot whatsoever it just swinged between the concept of attachment and dissatisfaction, these themes could have been explored more genuinely but sadly that was again, me expecting too much out of this 10 episode of a drama.

Using the word realistic in the plot blurb and then going ahead with the second lead receiving the emotional blow despite him clearly being a superior choice and the male lead sweeping off the lady in lead irrespective of the fact that he clearly doesn't deserves her, the Korean Drama writers must be jamming on "oops, I did it again" a little too much I guess.

Like many have said already, the only silver lining of this drama were the side couples especially, Ji Wan and Sol. Chef's kiss to these two cause boy, am I glad that this unexpected but totally necessary plot was added into the drama because they kept me invested in the whole thing till the very end. Extra points and appreciation for the little cameo by that very cute kitten in episode 7 and 8.

I won't recommend this drama to anyone but the ones who crave to see physical aspect of a romantic relationship more than the emotional because you rarely see that happening in the Korean Drama industry and I get that.

In conclusion, the brilliant cinematography, casting, chemistry between the lead duo and OST will sweeten up the toxicity shown in here for sure but still, the lingering sour taste of it all will remain.

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RELEASE THE SOLJIWAN CUT

The first half of this drama was actually really promising — I liked the idea of an unconventional relationship, of a drama that actually discusses toxicity, a lesbian slow burn, etc. Not to mention how beautiful the cinematography was. The second half of this drama, however, seems rushed and full of typical cliches, but without any of the build-up. There was a typical love triangle with a really annoying and irrelevant second lead, and there was a side couple that was even more irrelevant.

Still though, there were some side couples that were great and I wish the drama dedicated more time to them.

But I just gotta say that Soljiwan carried this show. HARD. They were the perfect longtime friends-to-lovers and the yearning and just healthiness of the relationship was so beautiful. I wish so much that the drama had been braver with showing their scenes and had just dedicated more time to them because they were the best part of the drama hands down, and all the stars of my rating is for them.

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