Nevertheless (알고있지만): K-drama review

At the time when news of this drama came out, I was watching about 4 k-drama’s at once, and it felt like a job at that point, none of them were interesting to me, and I realized I needed to take a step back from all of it and breathe. Nevertheless was that breath of fresh air I needed. It’s what I would simply put as ‘light’. No fast-paced drama, no fiction, just a story of two people, skeptical of love and finding love (among other people). It’s realistic, and it’s simple.

I liked how mature this show was, real-life problems, real-life approaches it was really made for a target audience (17 and above), which I feel is a big percentage of people that watch k-dramas. It’s mature, and it’s something people can truly relate to, especially all the inner monologues of Na-bi. That was a good move especially with her because there were a lot of questionable choices she made.

I would like to make it clear that I was team Jae-eon throughout, I know he was 'a walking red flag’ but aren’t those the kind of guys that girls are drawn to? It was completely understandable that Na-bi was. Also, I may or may not have carried over a grudge from love alarm.

I think that towards the ending the whole thing got kind of boring. The only thing making it interesting were the other couples…

Sol and Ji-wan: A gay couple that didn’t just get the last 10 minutes? Sign me up.

I like the fact that the audience could sense the tension between them from the beginning because sometimes the directors make it too obvious that they’re doing the whole thing just to say they did. This one felt intentional, they had a story, and we got to see the story from start to finish. I really love them and I’m happy they ended up together. Also, I have a massive crush on Sol, I mean who wouldn’t?

Gyu-Hyun and Bit-na: This was also a couple that had the chemistry from the beginning, they showed a different side to relationships. There was this weird thing in the ending where they kept showing Gyu-Hyun's back like he was some faceless character, I don't know if it was intentional like the way they did to characters like Na-bi's ex, or it was because of his controversy. For the record, I think cheating is bad, but it's not enough to kick someone off a drama.

I think it was a good move to have all the side couples because sometimes in k-dramas we want to get away from the drama of the main couple for a bit, so having other couples to concentrate on was a good way to divert our thoughts and have other things to focus on.

Back to the ending. It felt like the first few episodes were the high point where everything was coming to a head, but it just went downhill from there, the whole Na-bi deciding who to pick, Jae-eon being a jerk, Do-hyeok being him, it felt like they were really dragging it. Even when Na-bi’s project got destroyed I thought that would add something different to the story but it really did not. I have conflicted feelings about the ending. I’m glad they ended up together but I wish it didn’t happen in the last scene. There were also some confusing holes in the drama. Why was Do-hyeok in the cafe when Jae-eon met Seol-ah to say goodbye? if he wasn't going to do something, his whole presence there was unnecessary. We also did not get to understand the full extent of Seol-ah and Jae-eon's relationship, at least give us some flashbacks.

I always say the soundtrack brings a k-drama together and this one did over and beyond.

Overall, it was a good drama: 8/10