Nevertheless,

Very Good Drama But Ending Could Have Been Better

First drama I watched in a very long time and it was worth it.
I really liked the storyline and it is very prominent in society today how their relationship played out for the majority of the drama (besides the special part of fade).
But I wasn’t so fond of the ending.
I feel like it should have ended with the two of them in a art museum together looking at different pieces and enjoying each other’s company.
the last piece of art they should have looked at should have been a butterfly art piece with them being happy and admiring it while nabi says it was truly fate for us to be together.
and it should have pictured them walking out the frame together with the art piece left in the frame while it lights up or depicting the butterfly coming to life and flying away.
And I know this is very detailed but this is all I could ever imagine the ending being.

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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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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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Choose the other one.

Song Kang as the philandering ML? Nope. SK just doesn’t have the bad-boy vibe. He’s too smiley and handsome and squeaky clean. A girl could take him home to meet her family and he’d probably become best friends with her little brother.

And that silly tattoo doesn’t help either. A real player would have something cool and tough. Only a teenage girl would be proud of that butterfly.

The story ...
A lot of ups and downs, then surprise, surprise, the butterfly idiot wins over the FL (again) and they live happily ever after, or not.
The poor old 2ML misses out - just like in real life where nice guys finish last. Boo hoo.

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Just fine for one time watch!

I don't write reviews yet here I am! I have watched more than 100 k dramas and this is the first one which looked liked an adaptation of a drama from Western countries.
Well, long story short, Yo Na Bi (female lead) fell for a red flag and just got broke up in the first episode to guess what - fell for another red flag the male lead Park Jae Eon!!!
She keeps falling for him again and again knowing that she is behaving pathetic and he is a bad news wrapped in a handsome and charming face!! He is that guy who is nice and warm to every girls around and ofcourse good in bed!
While watching this show I literally felt like it's a poor adaptation of Western series, because we don't watch k dramas for this. If I wanna see red flag, I would watch Valeria all over again because the male lead viktor is a fucking hot red flag.
Also if the makers really wanna break the kdrama stereotypes and show steamy scenes then they must know it's a long way for them!
However, I like the charecter development of supporting roles. It's kinda cute.
If you are planning to watch it then be ready for 10 episodes of toxicity and if you don't want to watch then it's okay, you aren't missing anything.

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I know the characters are good

this k drama is my worst experience as it carrier a bad or else we can say vulgar scenes which is too bad I don't think that it is worth ful k drama...it's story is the worst Worstest and all I hate the story as it was all about toxic relationship or a relationship with exist only for sex...a relationship which only occurs during night only the last episode were a bit good but the 1-6, 7 it was worst dude....thank you
this k drama is my worst experience as it carrier a bad or else we can say vulgar scenes which is too bad I don't think that it is worth ful k drama...it's story is the worst Worstest and all I hate the story as it was all about toxic relationship or a relationship with exist only for sex...a relationship which only occurs during night only the last episode were a bit good but the 1-6, 7 it was worst dude....thank you

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Good enough to watch

Bro he was caught red handed and he was cheating but even after that she had the guts to date him 😂. They often broke the bed so I would not prefer it for kids.I fell in love with Song Kang in this movie. He looked too innocent to cheat on someone. I am going to get a butterfly tattoo on my neck. I really expected them to break up and I wanted Nabi to accept the second male leads feelings, he was also quite.....no.....really cute but I still prefer Song Kang. I don't get why a girl would be attracted to a boy who lied and cheated on her. It is good enough to watch.

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Nevertheless is a rollercoaster of emotions that shows you love isn’t always picture-perfect. It introduces a man who you might drool over for his undeniable charm and rugged appeal, yet deep down, you know you’d never want that chaotic, unpredictable presence in your everyday life. His allure is magnetic—he’s the kind of guy who makes your heart skip a beat, even as his flaws remind you that real life isn’t all roses.

Song kang’s portrayal is a study in contrasts: his rugged allure makes him utterly captivating, yet his inner turmoil keeps you at arm’s length. Han so hee shines as his counterpart, offering warmth and resilience while seeing the real man behind the facade. Their chemistry is electric, capturing the messy, unpredictable nature of romance in a way that feels both personal and universally relatable.

The drama digs into the pain and vulnerability behind that dazzling exterior. We see him wrestle with his inner demons and the scars of past failures, making his journey of self-discovery both inspiring and heartbreaking. The series doesn’t shy away from the messy truth: sometimes, the person you fantasize about is exactly the one you’d rather keep at arm’s length. This raw portrayal resonates deeply with current generation audiences , who crave authenticity and are tired of the sanitized “perfect love” stories. They know that true connection means embracing imperfection—choosing someone despite the chaos they bring, even when it might hurt.

The supporting cast adds layers to the narrative, each character bringing their own story of heartache, hope, and resilience. Their interactions aren’t just background noise; they highlight the complexities of modern relationships and the unspoken bonds that form when life gets messy. In Nevertheless, every glance, every silent moment, and every burst of laughter speaks to the bittersweet reality of love—raw, unfiltered, and utterly human.

#Nevertheless #RealLove #GenZFeels #MessyRomance #UnfilteredEmotion #AuthenticDrama #LoveAndFlaws #ModernRomance #CulturalRealism #TrueConnection

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The aesthetic was flawless

This is a very sexy drama.

It's slow, sensual and very much centered around the relationship (or lack-thereof) of the main couple, so if character driven stories aren't your thing, I don't think you'll like this. Personally, I loved it.

I also quite enjoyed the close-ups on their eyes and mouths and the scenes where they showed parts of the faces and bodies of certain characters, but never the whole person at once. It was very reminiscent of manga or manhwa vignettes. I thought those were very cool directorial choices.

The music went great with the overall chill vibe of the show, and it was fun how butterflies kept coming up in the songs.

Great drama. 10/10 would recommend!

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The struggle to define and understand one's emotions. Never say Never!!!!!

I had put off watching this drama due to bad reviews here and there but somehow this drama kept drawing me in. Anyway i gave into the urge and finally watched it. Do i regret it? No!!! I don't. Here is why: if you have ever been in a series of relationship and have lost the feeling of being in love caused by betrayals, then you would understand this FL's journey, her fears, anxiety and her need for something solid and someone who could give her security. There are alot of people out there very similar to the ML's character, they never believe in just being with someone for any period of time, why? Because they don't know better, so they keep coasting along until if they are lucky enough they meet someone whose personality is so attractive that it begins to open them slowly without them realizing to a different understand of what it means to have someone to walk through life and be in love. This drama depicts each characters perception of what love is, while some characters have an early understanding others struggle with how to deal with the emotion or if there is even an emotion to deal with. And the big question how do you know if it is love???
While most people may argue that the first half was good and the other half very cliche, i don't hold that view, may because i have seen similar situations play out. There is always someone in the corner waiting to pick up what you throw away. It may not be immediately but someone is always lurking just around corner to either pick it up or try to destroy what you have because they want what you have. And sometimes it takes a long trip to understand yourself,what you really want in a relationship like our FL and ML, because at the end of the day no matter how much you deny it, in one way or another we all crave being loved without interference of any kind from a third party.

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