Nevertheless,

‘Nevertheless’- The Drama That Failed To Reach Its Full Potential.

It feels as though “ mature” tag romance dramas aren’t often taken seriously in K-dramas, but ‘ Nevertheless’ attempts to present things differently. The webcomic-based drama focuses upon the turbulent relationship between art students Nabi ( Han So Hee) and Jae Uhn ( Song Kang) connected together throughout their infatuation with butterflies. However (controversies aside surrounding the allegation case of actor Kim Min Gwi), whilst ‘ Nevertheless’ soared high at times, the drama could often find itself smacked face into the ground with its own problematic flaws also.

Watching the "relationship" between Nabi and Jae Eon play out is similar to getting stung repeatedly by a swarm of killer bees and then falling in a ditch filled of stinging nettles and vipers. Nabi and Jae Uhn aren’t in an overtly healthy relationship . Nabi is revealed to have been a victim of several abusive relationship in the past, and so projects her anxiety into committing herself again into a long-term relationship by seemingly maintaining only sexual intimacy with Jae Uhn. In the first episode alone, Nabi even admits openly to viewers that ‘I don’t believe in fate or love anymore. But this situation, it’s pretty unrealistic’.( Yet secretly yearns for more .)On the other hand, Jae Uhn’s nature is seemingly “ obscured from view”- one minute he happily pines over Nabi, the next he is chatting another girl up, only to pull out serious red flags when he suddenly appear out of nowhere in front of Nabi to “ save the day” .

Of course this is supposed to be the plot device that keeps the main storyline moving . Jae Eon and Nabi are both flawed people who only bring out the worst in one another. (That’s the point. )However, this is also where the drama failed to utilise this storyline to its full potential also. Director Kim Ga Ram may have seemed to think it was a good idea to bog down 20 minutes of screen-time with brooding eye- exchanges between Nabi and Jae Eon onscreen, but having an episode with only
20-25 minutes of quintessential storyline, 20-25 minutes of moody gazes, saucy scenes and then only a brief checkup on subplots isn’t entirely the best format to follow for every episode . Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad if the drama had gradually increased the essential storyline scenes as the series progressed, but soon the drama began to lose a lot of its original intrigue an incessant loop of pretty much the same setup where Nabi or Jae Eon would be lusting over the other, a misunderstanding would occur, they’d ghost one another or make the problem worse ( usually hurting one another or someone else in the process), lengthy scenes of pining gazes would occupy screen time, a cut to one of the subplots and then suddenly Nabi and Jae Eon are on “ reasonable” terms again.

Of course this is nothing to do with the actress behind Nabi .Soo Hee really captivated her role well. The slight uncertainty morphing onto her face and a twitch of her hand with trepidation really helped to animate her onscreen persona to life. However, as a character, Nabi’s was seriously poorly-written . The female lead initially starts off the drama as a sympathetic female lead; we are made aware of her experiences early on, and can see how she is falling hook, line and sinker again into a toxic relationship with Jae Eon as she even voices her own awareness that ‘It feels like something new is about to begin. I’m probably not mistaken’. Although where Nabi ultimately failed as a character wasn’t inherently to do with her conflicted feelings between Jae Eon and the softer option with Doo Hyuk ( Chae Jong Hyeop), but her self-depreciation and lack of self-respect as an individual . Yes, Nabi is a victim of abuse and we cannot forget that. However, it is a really irksome fallacy by screenwriters and writers that someone in Nabi’s vulnerable position” can somehow be fixed from years of emotional trauma by being in a " committed relationship ”. Nabi ( at the end of the day) had serious emotional and psychological issues which needed time and healing, not implicating her in order to keep a poorly enforced plot device working .

This isn’t to entirely drag and degrade the series down. The OST was pretty good, and Ga Ram’s cinematography was really mesmerising also. Two memorable scenes of the drama came through how director Kim Ga Ram inter-played lighting and symbolism here subtly- Jae Uhn in the room of butterflies with the door ajar yet all of them trapped with him, and then the open freedom of the meadow with Doo Hyuk and Nabi sat together enjoying the natural world overtly. The creative juices can only run so far into a series, however, before the problems soon dry them up. For example whilst Song Kang is a good actor, he didn’t feel entirely right as Jae Eon . He did certainly captivate the charismatic ambience of the main male lead , but he was honestly a little lacklustre by rarely radiating prominent vitality as his onscreen Casanova persona.

Of course the subplot characters were fairly intriguing in their own right - cool-headed and punk aesthetically adorned Oh Bit Na ( Yang Hye Ji), a good friend of Nabi, and the taciturn Nam Kyu Hyun had a constant “ will they, won’t they?” dynamic to their relationship. However with the controversial scandal surrounding Min Gwi, the producers made a quick and prompt decision to entirely cut out Kyu Hyun and Bit Na’s relationship scenes( as much as possible) during the last few episodes.Effectively this had a detrimental impact upon an important side couple’s development. However, this problem was also found with Sol ( Lee Ho-Jung) and Sol’s repressed feelings towards her blatantly oblivious best friend Seo Ji Wan ( Yoon Seo Ah) ‘s lacking screen time was diminished even further by the focus on the teachers and their” chemistry” in order to make up for lost screen time between Kyu Hyun and Bit Na.It wasn’t bad per say this couple being focused upon , but there were a myriad of variable storylines which were poorly sketched-out or abandoned throughout the drama which could’ve been explored instead such as the mysterious man that Yoon Soo bumped into, exploring Sol’s sexuality and feelings in more detail ( as well as her possible reasons for liking an unlikely person like Ji Wan), Jae Eon’s interactions with his family possibly providing further indicators into his current mind-frame , exploring Bit Na’s friendships as well as her experiences with trauma and even Jae Eon’s -ex’s story were all beyond wasted potential. The ending only provided this as case and point by failing to tie off loose ends as well as justify Nabi’s chance to heal and gain self respect.

So, is ‘ Nevertheless ’ actually worth watching? The delivered result of ‘ Nevertheless’ will ultimately vary for a lot of drama fans. Many will likely praise the more explorative and daring promiscuous themes in the drama, as well as the art house-style cinematography, the alternative OST and most of the cast. However, it is easy to see where ‘ Nevertheless’ also fails to reach the mark ; the pacing was off even at the best of times, the turbulent relationships ( including the side couples ) rarely met their full-potential and the main characters weren’t given enough opportunities to escape their one-dimensional shells as plot devices. Certainly not a cataclysmic drama, but sadly failing to reach its full potential also.

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SIDE STORIES>>

"Flowers don't bloom just for one butterfly" - Bit Na

Waste of time, probably wasted 8 hours why NOT 11 hours you must think? Right? Because only the side stories are good but sadly they have less screen time :/ This drama is meaningless and will just make you frustrated.

The drama started off quite well, the realistic portrayal of modern college relationships was really relatable. The MAIN story is slow paced from the very start but at some point it became repetitive which made it boring. I have to admit that the plot was exaggerated, the drama should have been not more than 6-7 episodes honestly. But the way it continues is AWFUL and the word "realistic" is thrown out if the window and was replaced by fairy tale ending .

MAIN CHARACTERS

Nabi, honestly at first I thought Nabi AIN'T DUMB but she is. She is the dumbest character I have seen in my whole drama life. Her actions are really dumb, they can make you frustrated. I liked the way the writer portrayed Nabi's insecurities. Han So Hee really did a great job portraying the character as well.

Jae On, the walking red flag. If you're reading this please don't normalize Jae On's actions just because you're the actor's fan. Jae On's character is pretty much a playboy for whom love isn't a thing, it's just attraction. I never approved of his character. For him Nabi was also one of his butterflies. Song Kang did pretty well at first I couldn't get those playboy vibes from him but later he was a bit better.

Do Hyeok, the potato guy, he is the "cliche" good boy type character, one of those who still believe in true love. Sorry to say tho he was really nice but he was kinda pushy as well.

The main story is SO MEANINGLESS, what was the point of their story? If their was no moral of the story? this drama was a fairy tale, it definitely was. This drama is ridiculous just because the two leads had chemistry doesn't mean there toxic character had to end up together. It's not about which team you are team potato or red flag. I was legit team FL end up with nobody. Her character development where is it? FL really need self love classes.

SIDE STORIES

The only reason I didn't drop this, I won't go in detail because some of the ships were pretty unexpected. They're stories were short yet really beautiful. I'm really glad that the writer was brave enough to portray them!

MUSIC

This drama has beautiful OST lineup I swear, even if you don't watch the drama you can listen to the OST, one of my fav is "Love me like that" by Sam Kim.

OVERALL

I was glad that Korean dramas are trying something NEW than the cliche college romance drama BUT sorry this drama crashed real bad. Should you watch Nevertheless? No. Personally I won't recommend it. The outcome of drama was really disappointing. I would never recommend one to watch it.

Now this drama is definitely NOT for everyone. If you can't differentiate between what's toxic and what's not, please don't watch this.

IF YOU FOUND MY REVIEW HELPFUL PLEASE LEMME KNOW ^^
END :D

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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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I had such high hopes for this drama, but the ending left me disappointed. The drama is beautifully shot, and the side characters are wonderfully written, but it threw away the unconventionality that had originally kept me watching. I had hoped that the drama would dive into the character development of the female lead and her struggles with love after leaving a toxic relationship, but it did none of that. The main couple had chemistry, but halfway through they got incredibly boring, and I found it hard to believe either of them changed for the better since the drama rarely bothered to show it. While it's arguable that it was more realistic this way, I found that it fell into the same tropes of the female lead ending with the toxic male lead, and the theme of choosing romantic love over choosing oneself.

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Nabi is the toxic one

Before I started this drama, I was bombarded with TikToks about how park Jae eon was toxic and how Nabi kept missing or ignoring the “red flags” but after watching, idk if those people are willfully dense or if they watched a completely different show because NABI WAS THE TOXIC ONE.

The comments, reviews, and online posts will have you thinking that this drama is about a girl who falls for a player that repeatedly treats her poorly yet she fails to see it and find a better man but that is not the case.

Park Jae eon and Nabi met in a bar, and they lost their chance at a hookup. The next time they meet after that is when her friends invite her out for drinks. They had no relationship-he found her attractive and flirted with her and she reciprocated yet her perspective will try to trick you into thinking it was more. They were two college aged adults who were into each other, they owed nothing to each other, and they promised nothing to each other, but Nabi behaved as though he not only promised her monogamy and fidelity but that he was breaking said promise every time he so much as looked at a member of the opposite sex.

I realized halfway through the drama that her behavior was pathological. Nabi’s insecurities in her “relationship” with Jae eon did not stem from him, his actions-or lack thereof. Rather, they were most likely caused by her childhood where she witnessed/lived through her mother being openly cheated on and mistreated by a string of boyfriends. This coupled with the fact that her first boyfriend was a professor who spent their entire relationship manipulating and gaslighting her only to also cheat on her did not make for a very emotionally healthy and secure person (relationship wise). Nabi’s insecurities and mistrust were not Jae eon’s fault nor his responsibility. She needed help but instead of processing her issues in a healthy way, she clung to Jae eon and projected it all on him-making him the villain of her story and as the viewers saw it from her perspective, he became the villain to them too. Note her instinctual reaction to potato boy and his cousin on the pier for the first time (this exactly mirrors her reaction to every interaction she’d witnessed between Jae eon and another girl even if it was innocent)-this was not due to “scars” caused by Jae Eon but ones she’s been carrying around for most of her life.

Also, important to point out: they both agreed to enter a sex only relationship, but she wanted more, and she never expressly told him this. She just punished him for not behaving as though they were in an exclusive and romantic relationship when nothing about their original agreement had changed.

Also, Also important to point out(sorry): most of her ideas/opinions about Jae Eon stemmed from third party rumors. Neither she nor us actually witnessed Jae eon behaving that way-we were just told by people who also barely knew him. The messed-up part is that she, as someone who chose to get close to him only saw him as the person the rumors depicted-she never got out of her head once. What’s worse was she believed the man who cheated on her over him-like why are you even listening to anything he has to say…especially about your “relationship”.

I don’t know what story the writer was trying to tell but I felt that they spent too much time on Nabi’s uncertainties about a relationship that she had exerted zero effort on and less on why Nabi thought and behaved the way she did. I also understand that a lot of the opinions of and animosity towards Jae Eon might have been transferred from the WEBTOON version of the story and I never read the WEBTOON so idk how they portrayed their story there but this is what I got from the show and if it's not how it's meant to be, fault the writers/directors but realize that the stories differ and you can’t hold drama Jae eon accountable for things that WEBTOON Jae eon did.

I honestly think that Oh Bit Na is who everyone thinks Park Jae Eon is.

Park Jae Eon deserved better. He spent the majority of the show trying to figure out what he did wrong, what was wrong with himself and trying to fix it when he was perfectly ok. Dating or sleeping around with consenting partners-especially in college/at their age does not make you a bad person or someone in need of fixing. If he were ready for a relationship, he would’ve been in one, but he chose to have sex-only partnerships and was content. She gaslit and forced him into one because while she wanted him, she wasn’t satisfied with having the part of him that he was willing to give, she wanted her idealistic relationship with her idealistic partner and in the end, that is what she got.

Also, potato boy was annoying.

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Why did I even bother?

Usually hate-watching means the show is so bad it’s actually entertaining. Here, it’s just bad, with the characters so annoying it’s hard to find someone to root for. Truth to be told, if I knew the ending before I started the show, I would not bother with watching at all. I was intrigued by the interesting beginning, and not smart enough to leave when I saw the first red flags warning me, this leads to nothing good. One could say I’m Na Bi, and this show was Jae Eon - leaving me angry, annoyed, frustrated and exhausted.

What seemed like a promising portrayal of a toxic relationship, ended as nothing more than another angsty young adult love story, that is even more pretentious than I could ever expect it to be. When in fact, it’s just fancy trash with pretty actors in it.

The main plot is the relationship between Na Bi and Jae Eon. Here’s the thing though - the relationship makes no sense. At first it’s presented as a strong sexual attraction, but it never really moves to anything more. Whenever the writer tried to incorporate any strong feelings from either female or male lead, it made no sense. What are these feelings even based on? By episode 4, the main romance became extremely repetitive and boring. How many times can we see Na Bi cry and Jae Eon be a jerk?

Na Bi was just painful to watch. By the end of the show I felt like she literally learned nothing. There was no development and no progress. The moment I saw some change, she took a U-turn into a crying mess.

Jae Eon was one dimensional and an empty shell. Don’t know what the writer was thinking, but you cannot develop something that does not exist. Giving him a last minute character development, when from the start he had no character or personality was a miracle in itself.

Bit Na and Gyu Hyun were more fun to watch, since both characters were stronger and had more of prominent personalities, but even they ended up on the rather shallow note. While they could have addressed some more interesting ideas about relationships and be a good mirror to Na Bi and Jae Eon’s relationship, the writer left me with little discussion and no real conclusion.

The only couple I truly did enjoy watching was Min Young and Kyung Jun. They were funny, sweet and relatable in all the best and heartwarming ways.

Except for them, there are exactly two things that Nevertheless, did well - LGBT representation and the amazing soundtrack.

While we’ve gotten more and more gay relationships in k-dramas lately, rarely ever we see lesbians presented in any way. At best it’s vaguely suggested or mentioned as a “personality trait”. It’s good to see a side story that truly explores the romance between two girls, and how they both deal with growing feelings. Sadly for me, I could not enjoy their ploy, since I could not stand Ji Wan as a character.

No matter how much I might dislike Nevertheless, the soundtrack is full of amazing bops. I listen to Butterfly and Love Me Like That daily - some of my favorite songs from 2021.

Overall, I could easily write a whole essay on why this show was basically a writing failure, but I honestly do not want to waste any more precious minutes of my life on this title. Let it die on my completed list, never to be visited again.

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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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Disappointment

I hate when Kdramas adapt Webtoons and just give a different plot completely. This reminds me of CITT. At least with CITT there was the excuse that the Webtoon wasn’t over. This one had everything fleshed out and a whole ending the go off by. The ratings were already low in SK so they could’ve at least done a decent plot that leaves the people that watch it interested or satisfied. The relationship between the two main characters was toxic from the beginning. Who was more toxic doesn’t matter because they were both trash at certain points. That alone should’ve concluded that they don’t belong together. Jae eon Is a player, he straight up ran with the “I don’t date” premises from their first conversation. How tf did he fall in love with her before that then? I wanted to see how he never changes so she chooses herself. Every single time she did, she went back to him right TILL THE END!!! This should’ve been wrapped up in 6 episodes but over 10 hours in 10 episodes was a waste for an ending as crap as that. Hello Kdramas, friendly reminder that “the power of love” doesn’t exist 99.9% of the time and shitty men won’t change for you. Stop selling this sick fantasy and start properly acknowledging the toxic behavior these MLs have.

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Not Worth The Hype

Before watching this drama, I had heard so much hype about it. Everyone on Tiktok and Twitter were losing their minds over it. So, I decided it must be really good if everyone talked about it so much.
But honestly, it really just felt like it was trying too hard to appeal to an audience who was looking for a more "mature" drama. The main reason I even watch dramas is because I love watching the pure build up to a relationship. And I think that many shows have done that very well.

This drama was a rare case where I loved everyone but the main characters by the end of it. The female lead is exhausting to follow, the male lead is just a walking red flag (as dubbed by viewers on social media) and the conclusion is frustrating at best.
The only good part of this show was the soundtrack. I added well over half of the OST to my playlists because they're just so good.

In closing, watch this drama if you want to understand the hype. However, just be prepared to be annoyed for most of the 10 episodes.

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So slow….

Glad this was only 10 eps. It was really slow and boring through most of it. I have a few hang ups. Na Bi really set the relationship for failure from the beginning. She listened to everyone and their stories of who Jae-eon is or who and what they think he is. She had a bad relationship right before that left her with a bad attitude to begin with. If you go into a relationship with a bad attitude and not really opening up and being honest to begin with then it really is doomed. I think they both were stupid in their communication! They never said what needed to be said when they had a great opportunity to do it. It was infuriating!! So many times I wanted to stop watching because I wanted to seriously smack them upside the head. He showed her so many freaking times how he felt but she was to stupid to see it! Even in the end she still talked about how he would disappoint her again and then saw Do-hyeok and almost let go of Jae-eon’s hand. She was still wavering!! Sheesh! If this is really the reality of how young people today communicate and have a relationship I feel bad for them!

Story - so slow. It was agonizing just like a said above! It was not the best storyline for me.

Acting/Cast - the emotion was there. It was good acting. I was not disappointed in that. I was just disappointed in the story they had to work with.

Rewatch - probably not! I personally am not one for slow, boring, and poor communication shows. I like when people are honest and open. Like I said before if this is how young people date and communicate… I feel bad for them.

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great visuals but repetitive

This is the kind of drama where you know it is going to end badly but you find yourself watching anyway. I have no idea where this story is going to go because I didn't read the webtoon but I have an idea and it's not good.
This drama definitely has a few appeals: visually appealing leads, beautiful cinematography, and the romanticism of a toxic relationship. And sure we've seen college dramas, but this one centers around art majors. That's an interesting and unique touch to this show that I like a lot. But despite these things, the show still feels a bit bland. It kinda feels like the same thing happens every episode but in different ways and I'm kinda tired of it. Nabi puts her foot down, calls Jae-eon out on his bs, puts him in his place, and ghosts him, then he'll come crawling back and do something swoon-worthy and Nabi will let him off the hook again and again and again. I get that's kinda the whole point with this drama but my god did it get repetitive fast.

Song Kang has really surprised me by how many shows he's been in lately, not to mention how diverse his roles are. I hear he might be enlisting soon so he's probably trying to establish himself before serving, and I think he has already. His acting still needs improvement on the emotional side. Or maybe I'm just saying all this because the only thing I've seen him in besides this is Love Alarm. We know he can play the handsome, likable guy but I wanna see more depth from him as an actor. Han So Hee is okay here. Her performance is alright but I really expected more from her after her performance in TWOTM. She was very good there even tho her role was kinda minor so I was expecting a lot from her first lead role. Sadly I was disappointed. I like her character's background but it's frustrating watching her make the same mistakes with Jae-eon in every episode. At least she looks incredibly good with the ML, ri

Now unto Yang Do Hyuck a.k.a. potato boy. He is so gosh darn cute. He's so kind and sweet and humble-the opposite of Jae-eon. You prob already know which team I'm on(lol) but if Nabi ends up with Jae-eon and not him I will be so mad. How can you say no to his puppy eyes?

- I'm back after a month of seeing the finale and I gotta say in really disappointed in the ending.
(CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT)
So unrealistic yet unrealistic at the same time. Maybe I played myself but I had a small glimmer of hope that Nabi would choose neither of the MLs and perhaps take the self-improvement route. That to me was the more ideal and healthy ending. It's clear guy #1 wasn't good for Nabi AT ALL and I find it hard to believe that he really changed for her, but at the same time Potato Boy wasn't a good choice either. Yes he is the boyfriend that Nabi deserves but not the one she needs atm. She really needs to stop dating altogether and develop some sense of self worth, make get therapy for her previous traumatic relationship, and then seek someone who will truly value her for who she is and not what someone can get out of her. But instead we got her openly admitting to the second lead that she knows Jae-eon is bad for her and constantly hurts her, but she cant control her feelings for him so she ultimately choose him. I'm gonna be honest, I understand her logic as a girl with no self esteem or worth, but that did not make me any less livid. The last ending scene was the icing on the cake for me. Its just not possible for Jae-eon to do a complete 180 with his behavior because he "loves" Nabi. When he refused the girls advances and numbers, I thought the only reason he did that was because Nabi was around, bit given his track record, I guarantee if Nabi wasn't there he def would've entertained those girls. And that's the gripe I have with the writing the last episode. Jae-eon's "change" towards his relationship with Nabi was horribly done and felt insincere because it wasn't earned. I'm sorry but once a fuc boi always a fuc boi. Guys like Jae-eon don't change, especially for nice naive girls like Nabi. I already wasn't going to rate the drama so high but ep. 16 made me drop my rating even more.

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A promising start which plummets quickly to dissapointment

The drama starts of from Na-bi freeing herself from a toxic relationship but little does she know that soon she will enter the same path with Jae-on. Ofcourse we all would've felt butterflies seeing the chemistry between the two main characters when they meet at the start however we also knew what kind of person jae-on was so we wished for him to have a character development. I would say that we didn't really get to see his development fully as he only starts to change in the last episode. This is presented when he finally releases his butterflies after episodes of saying that he will. Butterflies were used as a metaphor of rebirth and change and releasing them meant he is ready to let go of his previous "flings" and his actions such as flirting. Whether he really changes or not is for Na-bi to handle because what went through that girl's head. At the end I would've just wanted her to stay single because Do-hyuk did not deserve her. Jae on literally is such a manipulator I will never forget the way he harshly grabbed Na-bi's hand in the second last episode. Even after having a go at him she still ended up going back to him. The side couples definitely carried the show for me it was so sweet watching them. Overall I think the ending was a big disappointment and the ending of the webtoon was way better. Also Sam Kim's OST was just perfection the butterflies it gave in the first half.

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