Dabosil

Can you specify what you’re talking about in relation to this drama, or else’s it’s kind of a vague comment.
Hong Chayoung?

I think the comma references the contrast, the ‘but-’, because ‘nevertheless’ is basically ‘but’, or more accurately, ‘but, still-’. The comma means there’s more to say afterwards, that there’s an explanation.
I think in context it might be like ‘nevertheless (of xxx), I still fell for him/her or like him/her’ despite xxx ’.
The comma accentuates the blank space which is basically the drama? Or maybe I’m looking too far into it. Eh

Firstly, I love the title-the word ‘Nevertheless’ is one of those words that just rolls of the tongue satisfactorily. I also really like how the word itself already presents conflict and contrast. (Just an additional titbit I love)

I was so excited for this drama seeing that JTBC rated it 19+, and I like how relationships are pretty realistic here, as well as the personalities. I definitely like the forward-backward storytelling style of the first episode. Also, I dislike smoking in real life, but I like how characters actually smoke lol. I think in other dramas it’s usually just a cool prop, or a ‘status’ symbol-it’s always infinitely funny to see people just stick a cigarette in their mouth and like, hum on it, and then put it back in the pack, or crumple it up on anger. Also it shows how common it is.

Relationship-wise, I actually haven’t read the or original WEBTOON. However, I completely went in with the premise that we are supposed to root for the main girl character, and that the drama basically navigates this toxic relationship and her character growth. So far they have pretty good chemistry and their interactions are interesting to watch.

I particularly think that Nabi is an interesting character, how her colleagues say she’s pretty but always fall for douchebags. She also seems insecure, maybe-idk, actually. She seems very observant but also quickly jealous when her relationship with Jae-Eon is not clearly highlighted and wants his attention. I think she also has some idealistic sights. Jae-Eon also seems like he has more depth from the scene where he goes home (O think he opens a garage door). I have no knowledge of their backstory, so I’m guessing he’s either poor or living it out himself by the hints they’re giving.

I also wonder about what Nabi wants. She seems to want to further their relationship but also continuously rejects his advances. Ofc I think his advances are also purely due to physical attraction and I think she wants to know more about him, his personality.

But yeah, interesting first episode! Also, I haven’t watched Song Kang in any works but I’ve heard great things about him and his name is in every other new drama this year lol-working hard!

Hahaha, I think the 'Legend of`' dramas is a running joke now.

I quite enjoyed:
Legend of Fuyao
Legend of Zhen Huan (This one's costumes are prettyyy cheap and the drama is pretty old though)
The Legend of Dugu (The eldest sister's storyline is super interesting)

I haven't seen Legend of MiYue but I heard it's pretty good

Cautionary 'Legend of-'s'
Legend of Fei
Legend of Xiao Chuo

Also, apparently the 1980's- version is legendary, but I watched the 2017 version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes and that was pretty good too (focus is not on romance, by the way). The director is an avid fan of the franchise, though the budget was quite small as he did not have much money to make it.

SONG KANG, again!
He is on a rollllllll~
Excited.

Am I the only one wary about the set-up? According to the first episode Qian Gu is 10,000 years old. (not sure how old Bai Jue is), but Bai Jue very dismissively mentions '10,00-20,000' years. However, I know the whole 'several tens of thousand of years' is super elusive and common (also there's no exact translation to how old we would interpret their age) in these dramas so that's not really the main point. I think the main point is that Bai Jue's two friends, Tian Qi, and Zhi Yang, all have a hand in seeing her grow up and act like uncle figures, so the idea of the romance developing seems weird right now.

(Also, I do know she's supposed to mature over time, and from the comments, it seems like a slow burn.) I've only watched the first episode so far so I guess it might be too quick to judge.

I won't say anything about ZDY's acting yet because the character is still incredibly immature (actually, I wish I understood more of Qian Gu's thought process than just her surface kind of comedic, no-care-in-the-world attitude). I think XK is more comfortable in comedic roles though (I personally felt he shines out a lot more in Arsenal and Lingjian Mountain), but he was good in Yanxi Palace with a serious personality. But my man, please relax your eyebrows. However, those wigs could be better made.

Also, the title pictures for the title theme are so pretty, and the CGI and sets are much better than the others of its genre. Hopefully, the storyline keeps up the standard.

Thanks for the info!

I agree, but please attach the spoiler tag.

Well, I'd say most on MDL enjoy romance as asian dramas have a majority romance genre, and its majority audience is female. But outside of MDL, it is seen as inferior. I agree though, I see romance dramas being rolled out non-stop over the days, months, past two years, and so many with no chemistry, just '工業糖'-the literal translation would be 'work sweetness'-sweetness/tropes for the sake of their work, but no chemistry at all. Sometimes when I see leads in drama with no chemistry displaying skinship,. my brain automatically categorizes it as purely anatomical. I also hate how romance keeps on being delegated to a pure marketing strategy. I

I completely agree :)

Yeah, it could be shorter. I think I'd prefer bad Italian though (I think I didn't have very high expectations) to dubbed Italian-I hate dubbing, really, unless you have a master dubber you can tell if it's him saying his lines or not and would not mix with other people's lines in the background.

Loved the article. In fact, I did think about this recently. Admittedly I also searched up the definitions for lots of words during the read, haha. Also, love the phrase 'Chanel-dripping swag' (seems to have a satisfying pronounceable flourish).

I agree that romance is definitely usually seen as an inferior genre. In fact, I did try to turn away from romance previously because I knew most people saw it as inferior and it felt inferior to prefer romance as well.

Thinking about the romance in shows, however, I think it's true there might be an overabundance of the same stylistic choices over and over which might add to that feeling (it's fresh starting out, but then for C-Dramas you realize they release a rom-com about the same calibre and same concept at least three times every single month of every single year, and not to mention other countries).

I think that it's not about romance itself; lots of times romance is a great character motivator (when not done obviously or purposefully, unrealistically) and a relatable trait. I think it's about how it's incorporated. I recently redefined my perspective towards romance as being best in general as a second or side-genre, because when romance drives a plot the genre becomes drama.

Romance is not really a plot, see. So unless the drama is validating enough or exciting enough it cannot garner as much interest and cannot follow through very logically (therefore you get the insert of many bad tropes like misunderstandings).

Edit: As illustrated above, what I want to add is that there is definitely a difference between, say, [workplace+subplot romance] and [romance+setting workplace] in which the latter can also lead to highly illogical/unrealistic scenarios.

Yeah. Actually, there are some dramas I love that I think are heavily underrated on MDL, but mostly those with more traction are much overrated. I think based on different rating websites, it's on average a 8.0-8.3.

Seems that the three adjectives are all negative, though reading it for me it seems quite neutral and truthful. I think it's westernized in terms of the title (recognizable for western audiences) and Italian Mafia background thing (actually Vincenzo could be from any other background too, I guess the Mafia's just cool). I don't think it really lost the K-Drama style though.It is, truthfully, overrated, but it's not too much of a bad thing. And it is over-the-top, but I guess I like it and you did not. But it mostly works.

Ah, well, it's a dark comedy. Of course, opinions on what that genre actually entails are also mixed. Most people felt it could be cut down to 16 episodes.
The rating is overrated, especially on MDL, but I still like it lots.

Sorry you didn't feel the same way. I think SJK also mentioned that he thought his Italian could be better (I think they switched his background from Central Italy to Sicily and changed the accent halfways, and one of the Italian background actors mentioned that there were lots of last-minute added Italian phrases). Yeah, his Italian could be better. I personally cannot understand Italian so it didn't bother me too much, just maybe his speech pacing (I think a reviewer said that he speaks Italian syllable by syllable, which in fact it's quite fast-paced).
About you thinking it's a mix ofThe Godfather, DOTS, etc-
Well, the scriptwriter mentioned that it was mostly his frustrations about society, and JYB said that the Mafia is a synonym for villain, just a foreign power. The scriptwriter also said that comedy is like a capsule, to wrap up the bitter pill and make it swallowable. Some parts were not executed brilliantly, and I suppose that many of the sentiments here can reflect that.
The Intelligence Service Guy is Mr. Ahn. I admit I did spend some time thinking about his purpose and actions because the show isn't supposed to strongly romanticize Vincenzo. I still don't completely know, but the show doesn't romanticize him towards the end and I think Mr. Ahn more or less is also part of the comedy, and also a reflection of the audience who would like to naturally romanticize him.

So I checked out your list to see what you watched and... what, what-you have one of the longest completed watchlists I have ever seen. Shocked.

I know what you mean. However, I think what most comments would then allude to is the fact that the title should not be the title (that it is the author's opinion is fine, but that is not what the title suggests).

I'm, a huge recommender for Vincenzo, so I'll give you a comment. Vincenzo is one of those dramas that if you get, you really get, but if you don't like it, you just don't. Quite plain.

I took a look at your list of completed dramas and I see that many of them are romance. For this drama, romance is a backseat. Though, I also see that you rated shows like "Love Me if You Dare' and 'Nirvana in Fire' highly, which are more mystery/plot/revenge related, so you may like Vincenzo. I also know Nirvana in Fire has very little romance-it's like that, basically.

It also seems that you've watched a lot of long-run dramas, so Vincenzo's length shouldn't be too hard for you. Though, I also have to say that for most people, the first few episodes aren't so stellar, so we'll have to see if enough plot points get at you enough to watch it. There's also quite a lot of comedy in here, but I think some of it is pretty similar to the C-Drama rom-com type comedy, so you might not dislike it.

I'd say just give it a shot first.
You're right though, Vincenzo is overrated, especially on MDL. Still, still, please don't turn away just because of a high rating. I'd go in with a level mind.

Hope it helps!

1. KIND OF. Everything is wrapped up. It's not one of those 'and they lived happily ever' things either, though. I don't want to spoil, but basically the future is unclear.

2. Uh, never watched any of what you mentioned. so I'll try to help without the knowledge.
There's quite some gunfights episode 10 onwards.
Sometimes Vincenzo has a bunch of bloodstains around his collar.
There is also definitely torture (inexplicitly shown), and definitely towards the end, definitely. (How do I say this? I've watched Game of Thrones, so it's alright for me).
But there is definitely torture. (Not like you actually see people whip lashes on someone, though, but it is definitely alluded to and you see their final state)
So, lot's of dark, murky red.

I'd say though, then, you probably can't handle it. Or, I can just send you a guide in an advance to tell you what happened for each episode and you can just skip those zones and spoil yourself when you get to the particular episode or something, idk.