This review may contain spoilers
Huge fan of Song Kang. Nevertheless,
First off, this show made me feel the same way Cheese In the Trap and Love Alarm made me feel after watching it. Sure, the cinematography, soundtrack, acting, and cast are great, but the characters and plot progression ruined it for me. I was thoroughly enjoying this show the first few episodes because I was really rooting for the two leads to end up together and work out their problems, but as the show progressed it just dug itself deeper and deeper into this hole and now, with one episode left, I really have no hope for it.Song Kang's acting is great, but his character is terrible. I started this show because of the cast, and Song Kang is one of my favorite actors right now (as a straight male, even I think he's good looking), but this show does him literally no justice. Essentially, he's one of the "main characters" but is portrayed as a villain. Do-hyeok (another great actor) shows up through drama-line convenience in order to start a love triangle, which I did not care for at all. He's literally the total opposite of Jae-eon and is sort of forced down your throat as a loveable, innocent, and seemingly perfect childhood friend love interest whose existence seems to center around Nabi. Very little character to showcase and his personality just seems way too convenient for drama purposes as a second male lead. I shouldn't really even say second male lead, as he's basically the primary male lead at this point. Basically what happens is Jae-eon and Nabi are happy together for a second, and then some misunderstanding or doubt arises causing them to drift apart, and then Do-hyeok comes out of nowhere to kiss Nabi's wounds and Jae-eon is left on the curb looking like the bad guy of the show. I can't root for Jae-eon anymore because the show keeps making him look more and more like a jerk, and I can't root for Do-hyeok because his character is so uninteresting and has very little depth.
Again, props to the acting, but boo to the characters. The show had so many opportunities to resolve some misunderstandings between Nabi and Jae-eon if they'd just give them a single scene where they sit down and actually communicate instead of making vague comments to each other. I was basically just waiting the entire show for at least SOME of the misunderstandings to clear up, but instead they just kept adding more and literally 80% of the scenes with Jae-eon alone with Nabi was just him trying to make-out with her. There are so many side characters with their own relationships going on, and literally all of them have progressed waaay further than the two leads. All of the side character relationships have been progressing at a good pace, whereas the two lead's relationship has been going backwards since like 3 episodes in.
Even with all of this, my biggest frustration with this show is how they execute Song Kang's character. They initially made his character seem like he was going to try and change in order to be with Nabi, but instead they kept digging him deeper and deeper into this hole. Are we not going to clear up the misunderstanding that he had a girlfriend while he was seeing Nabi? There's one scene in particular where Nabi finally asks Jae-eon about him having a girlfriend, and instead of replying like any normal person would (by saying no, I don't have a girlfriend), he instead says "does that matter?" What. Why? The misunderstanding could have been cleared up right then and there.
I think I've ranted for long enough. Overall, started off good and then fell off. Lots of misunderstandings, very little communication, so many side relationships, and super convenient and depthless love triangle.
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I was expecting toxic cliches but got: broken, scared and confused done right!
A trip to my broken youth... This drama threw me to my teens, though the characters here are in their twenties I could not help but think of the time I was trying to find my place in the world, wanting love while being terrified of it at the same time.... this drama is neither the feel good, butterfly fluffy romance or the toxic bad boy mess one may think it would be but a beautifully made show of the chaos that is made when fear, longing and broken souls come together.I completely fell in love with the way this drama uses sound, filming angels, slow motion, lighting and even backsplashes to set the mood and convey the way the leads are feeling and topped them off with letting us listen in on their thoughts. And while I often find flashbacks annoying these where just perfect to set the mood in this drama. not to mention the great use of symbolism thru both art, weather and umbrellas. I could really understand and feel what I think they where trying to make me feel.
The characters here are probably not the most lovable characters and do not always make the best choices but they feel real and relatable in a way that is hard to explain but was just right for me. I loved how the women in this drama are portrayed as active, sexual beings with lust without completely ignoring the double standards set on women. Not to mention the inner war between heart, logic, fear. The second male lead has great dimples and is a great second male lead. dare I say second male lead done right giving way for some pretty important dialog from the female lead and was great for the plot as well as an aid for her character development and self awareness.
The male lead is portrayed as this dangerous guy that uses women as toys, that women should stay clear of, but is actually a pretty broken yet upfront guy that actually respects others boundaries (most of the time) and though he may have used some tricks never forced himself on any one else, so I actually liked him. And could definitely see my 20 year old self fall for him.
The side couples in this drama complement the main couple beautifully showing different struggles on the way to admitting to ones feelings as well as pressure and again self doubt. And there was not a single character that annoyed me.
This drama will show you more butterflies than give you butterflies but is worth much more than temporary butterflies, and is most definitely worth being watched.
P.s. There is also a really cute kitten in one of the episodes!
Also, smoking is bad for your health (they smoke allot)!
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insanely overhated
i really was expecting the worst when i saw people all over tik tok hating on the show and saying it caused them anxiety. they said that the main lead is a total red flag and that the female lead should have ditched him right away but honestly even tho he was a bit of a red flag he never forced someone to do something they didn't want,he never SAd someone, always asked for consent and knew how to stop if he was aked to. I've seen biggest red flags than him and also the reason people hated so much on this show was that it was quite realistic, it portrayed the emotions of young adults, their worries, their imperfections and their impressions of love.it also shows the fact that we may start a relationship knowing that we will end up being hurt but we still do it for the sake of our mental sanity at the moment. overall i believe it was a great show worth watching not only for the main characters but for the relationship developing in the whole group. but ig it's hard for people to accept that irl a millionaire isn't gonna show up in your door and do everything possible to make you his.Was this review helpful to you?
Nevertheless, a loss project!
A 3-episode series has been unnecessarily dragged into 10 episodes.Ultimately the series ends where it was in 2nd episode.
Strong side-characters with beautiful side-stories. Even,I think, all the supporting roles acted better than the actual female lead.
A very charming Male lead that actually holds the eagerness to complete the "totally messed series".
The female character needed to be more clarified.
They have worked best in OSTs
An unnecessarily lengthy monotonous series where you actually don't get the point where each episode ends and starts.
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S O L J I W A N
This was the most disappointing drama of 2021 in my opinion. The first couple of episodes were great and had a lot of potential for the upcoming episodes after but oh my did it flop after. The main disappointment of the entire drama was the main couple and Bitna's relationship with Gyu Hyun. The only reason I gave it the rating I did was for ❤️Soljiwan❤️. They were EVERYTHING to me!! Their storyline was so well-written and ugh it was just so good. The CONFESSION SCENE OMG. Nah because I replayed that scene a ridiculous amount of times. Before I submit the review, I should acknowledge potato boy who was unfortunately hit with the terrible disease of 'second male lead syndrome. rip potato boy :(Was this review helpful to you?
Unrealistic
Just like what the other reviews said, the first half is realistic but the other half is no. For me, it is not that realistic for someone to change suddenly. The Soundtrack is good, it made me dance for a while. Though, the story plot is quite confusing. Cliche and common. I thought, it will have a twist but it's not. Usually, with kdramas, it's good especially their mainstream but this? hmm, no for me. The acting is good, though and the atmosphere. Art is a refreshing pofesion. You'll appreciate art more with it.Was this review helpful to you?
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i wouldn't watch it again.
The only aspect of this drama that I enjoyed was its pacing. It had a storyline that I didn't care for. The performers, on the other hand, did an excellent job depicting the characters. In terms of the side tales, I thought Yoon Sol and Ji Wan were more engaging than the main pair. The narrative of bit na and nam gyu would have been great if it hadn't been edited the way it was. It would have been nice to get some more backstory on Seol-a and Jae on as well.i really liked the ost by sam kim.
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This is basically a definition of self doubt .....
This is one drama, whereby you could you use for the definition of self doubt or procrastination!!!She is always doubting herself, and going backwards and forwards, of what she wants to do, should I/could I? it was highly annoying, he didn't seem to know what he wanted either, I can't commit, but I want to commit, it really gives one whip lash watching this drama, thank goodness it was only 10 eps.
Na Bi an insecure girl not having enough experience of relations got out a toxic relation only to end up with a dude full of red flags if you can set aside., Jae Eon is a manipulative jerk he's is kinda guy no one wants to encounter in real life.
Slow Paced with some boring episodes, frustrating, you-wish-to-give-them-long-lecture moments, interesting subplots and side couples eye candy with beautiful cinematography, bedroom scenes well done, and kissing scenes seemed real enough.
But I had to skip some parts of the side characters, I felt like some of them were cliché.
The drama was boring, and way to mush self doubt, there was not an episode that went by you saw her questioning her motives, but she still went back for me!!
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THE MESS THAT IS NEVERTHELESS
*I didn’t read the webtoon so this is purely based of the kdrama*STORY: The plot sounded so good and very different from most dramas but the execution was so boring. I expected so much more but half the time it was just heavy breathing and slow movements. The first few episodes seemed promising but it got repetitive pretty quickly. The main characters literally just went back and fourth the whole time with little to no development. Now, I watch MANY toxic dramas. I watched dramas were the ML is the scum of the earth and terrible person. So it wasn’t the toxicity that was too much for me. It’s the lack of depth. When other ML's are being toxic, there is also sort of 'reason' or 'backstory' which they overcome to love the FL or ML (for BL's) but this drama. There was no depth, and some may argue 'it’s realistic' and playboy can just be a playboy BUT I still think for sake of entertainment they should had a little more depth within the characters motivations. Also, the way this drama went, I personally don’t see it as realistic.
CHARACTERS: Despite the execution of this drama. The characters are what pulled me to this drama every week. Especially the side characters. The side characters were the highlight of this drama. Every single on of them have special place in my heart. The main leads were unlikeable but sort of realistic (They are a lot dumb people in the world). But overall i think the side characters should have gotten WAYYY more Screen time. They were funny, cute and all the side couples literally had me screaming.
CAST: hot hot and hot. The casting was perfect cause i was a simp for all of them. The acting was also good.
MUSIC: Not really memorable. I was too mad at the main couple to pay attention but must not have hit because i usually love OST's
Production/ visuals: The visuals of this drama was stunning, I can tell there was a lot of thought process during the production. The steamy scenes were also beautifully shot. But i expected more since it was marketed as 19+ drama but overall the visuals were well thought out with symbols and colouring which i enjoyed.
OVERALL: The drama was boring and I DO not suggest binging it. HOWEVER, it was SUPER fun to be watching it every week with everyone. Everyone and Their moms were watching this drama which made the experience a bit more enjoyable. Seeing everyone reaction to each weeks episode and Twitter and Tiktok was FUN. Hated or Love the drama it was definitely memorable and probably soon be turned into those 'classics' that every kdrama watcher much watch.
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Not as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
I'm really surprised by all the low ratings this drama is getting here because I genuinely really enjoyed it. I think what really made the story grow on me was how raw and realistic it was. You will likely get very frustrated by the actions/behaviours of many of the characters, but I think that's part of the charm of this show. Most of the main characters are VERY flawed and insecure and that ultimately has an effect on their relationships. Obviously, we as an audience know when the characters are being toxic or making bad decisions, which is what makes it so frustrating to watch, but that's the entire point. We're shown imperfect people in imperfect relationships. Personally, I think Nevertheless captured that confusion and indecisiveness that people in their 20s face perfectly.Next, the romance here is very different than how romance is generally portrayed in kdramas - it's a lot more mature in that they don't shy away from showing the sexual parts of a relationship (expect lots of skinship and sexual tension). This is not a slow-burn, the romance is very fast-paced. You can feel the sexual tension right from the start when the main leads first meet.
I guess the only "problem" I had with this show was the ending and I think most people would agree that the ending could've been better. That being said, I do believe that if the ending were different then the ratings/reviews here would be vastly different.
Now, onto my favourite things about Nevertheless:
1) the OST: I haven't been so deeply in love with an ost in so long. all of the songs are so comforting and fit the mood/ambiance of the show perfectly.
2) the cinematography: The visuals are very aesthetically pleasing. It's ironic because the drama shows how ugly life/relationships can be, yet the scenes are shot so beautifully.
3) wlw representation!!! We don't get much wlw content in the kdrama world, so I'm glad we got some here! I was really content with how their characters were written and how their relationship evolved. I think their relationship was an extremely accurate and relatable portrayal of wlw experiences.
Overall, if you want to watch a fluffy and happy rom-com, this won't be your cup of tea. But, if you want to see some flawed characters in their 20s trying to navigate complicated relationships and other hardships in life then you might like this one.
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Thanks for wasting my time
I didn't realize at the end what message the drama was trying to give. Stay in toxic relationship with people who manipulates you. Even if it was a toxic relationship, the redemption arc felt rushed, no proper time for self reflection and evaluation. No personal growth in people. The characters are really stupid, especially the female lead. Understandable, if her first relationship was toxic but after that she should at least learn something from it. If it was her first toxic relationship, I will cut her some slack,but not jumping to another right after when you're completely blinded by the first one.Another boring drama with actors who can't act and boring story you will find in other thousand dramas. After watching this I have watched this somewhere before, exact story, then what's the point of watching it again ?
Honestly the kdramas qualities are dropping. Always full of cliches, the beginning is good but the ending is destroyed with lazy writing. Just two guys or girls chasing after you that's what kdrama has become. Even if there's something important message the drama is trying to give, it got lost between boys chasing girls and girls chasing boys. Even if there's no story to tell, only the actors face change, it became all about two guys falling for you at the same time. That's what I feel after watching this drama. Even it's like other thousand dramas at least others were at least a bit entertaining, but this one was complete drag with pathetic storyline.
I will applaud myself for putting up with this drama because my patience was running out. My tolerance limit is commendable honestly. Seriously need something good to watch after trying to recover from this horrible drama because it's going to haunt me for months until I will feel good after watching a mind-blowing show with good writing, but it's rare to find one.
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