Apesar de Tudo, Amor (2021)

glorifies toxic relationships, not a realistic portrayal at all.

I've never written a review before but oh god this show - please don't go watching it for the main leads, the entire storyline around them is pretty disappointing. honestly its funny how this show has portrayed a wlw relationship so well compared to any drama i've ever watched and soljiwan are literally the only reason why sat through all 10 episodes. i think its high time that kdrama writers realise that its okay for the FL to not end up with the ML, actual relationships don't work this way and even if they do there needs to be good communication; none of which was in the show. the main characters have zero growth. the show had so much potential. what waste of a good cast.

(forgive me for any mistakes i just feel super cheated by this ending rn)

Leia Mais

It's a Toxic relationship, Nevertheless

This drama sets the example of what not to do in a relationship. If you like toxic relationship, bad choices and merry go round situations then this drama is for you.

In This review I will be only focusing on the two main leads, Nabi and Jae eon.

First, let me just point something out.
Two broken people cannot be together and if they do the relationship will always be/remain rocky. They need therapy, they need to fix themselves first. As along as they don't seek professional help I'm against them being a couple. There's nothing wrong with being single. Be single happy and free rather than be in fear if your partner truly loves you for you and not just lust.

NABI- I believe she is a very sweet girl but has poor choice and makes poor choices when it comes to her love life. From her first toxic relationship, I would salute her for getting away from that relationship bearing in mind it was her first boyfriend and relationship. Although it her some time,still bravo to her.

Now, although she got out of that she jumped right in to another without processing her breakup. To me, if i were in that situation and I went to an art gallery and saw my figure with my name being exibeted I might have had a nervous breakdown and definitely would not be interested in getting into any relationship that quickly. I would say that Jae eon showed up at perfect timing And uttered sweet lyrics to her. Some would say love at first sight, nope i disagree, it was sexual attraction at first sight.

As you will see throughout the drama they both were very sexually compatible. Sexual compatibility doesn't depict love in a relationship. She wanted more in the relationship but her partner was unwilling to commit. She also did not know him as a person, his likes and dislikes and when she ask questions he basically shuts her up by using sex & physical contact.

She want's to claim him as hers, give him the pronoun boyfriend and be happy with him. She went away and wanted out of the relationship, he followed her and yet he still was not being candid with her. Why? I still don't know but somehow he magically changed and wants to be in a real relationship? People change... yes but not that easily. I mean if that's the kind of relationship she wants good for her.

JAE EON- He is a good person, however, he has underlying trauma and issues that needs to be addressed and looked after. His reasons for not wanting to commit to a relationship is quite difficult to understand. He uses sex as a means of coping that's why when perdinal questions are been asked to him he uses physical contact to guard his pain. I believe he could be freed from his toxic tendencies if the writer explored more on the mental issues he has.

Nevertheless, two broken people in a relationship what happiness could they give each other. Nabi is still not heal from her bad breakup and Jae eon has some underlying issues/trauma that's yet to be known. Until they work on themselves individually they shouldn't be in any relationship.

The drama on a whole was not to my liking and as stated at the beginning what it entails no so much my cup of tea. Nevertheless i completed it but won't re watch.

Leia Mais

Sorry but this is just not worth watch

Waste of my time😑 I was enjoying it from ep 2 to ep 8 but then the problem start😑

Ep1 I just don’t understand the story everything was just messy OMG watching this and try to understand this was harder than doing Math exam😑

Ep2-Ep8 was okay for me there some love scenes of the 2 main actors some quarrel between them and there the perfect second start to appear and get along so well with the Na-bi. He I love with Na-Bi and doing lots of good thing to her but u all know girl never fall for a good boy and it go same to Na-Bi. Rather then Chose potato she chose to stay with Jae On. Then there come a girl that have some special relationship with Jae On. After a long talk with that girl Na-Bi disappeared that make Jae On so worry and start looking for her (it too late bro). Then the messy plot start again. I dot. Understand why that team are going to field trip and have to rest at the Do Hyuk house that Na-Bi happen to be at Do hyuk house then she met him again Jae On. But if u just don’t think about that messy plot the scene is good because there come a moment everyone alway looking for. Jae On start to get jealous of Na-Bi being with Do Hyuk. He trying to get near her but she just trying to stay away. Then here come the kiss scene that I make me really pissed of bcz I just can’t understand Na-Bi at all🙄. Then there a scene again after Jae On kiss Na-Bi Do Hyuk is asking Na-Bi to be with him(can say that to be his first love). Then he got rejected. Theremore but just want to stop the ep here then skip to the ending🌚😆

Ep10 final ep my worst nightmare ever😑 if u hope that the ending will the same as webtoon then just drop now if not then that the happy ending for u. My opinion Do Hyuk was lots better then Jae On but she chose Jae On then I change my Rate and decide to right this review😑. I’m so mad that I alway waiting for Sat every week for this drama🌚 waste my time🙄

Leia Mais

Glorified toxicity

Many viewers have written about how this drama endorses toxic, abusive, manipulative relationships. I agree with them, and the main reasons why are because of the way in which the relationship is portrayed, and the audience for which this show is intended.

Film and television is an art form and with it, comes freedom of expression and the ability to capture the worst aspects of humanity. I enjoy my fair share of messed-up characters and stories, something for which Korean cinema is well-known, especially when you consider its long history of great films like Lady Vengeance, Oldboy, Thirst, and more recently, Parasite. These works of art portray terrible aspects of human nature, but do so with the intent to make us understand what is wrong in the world. In the case of Nevertheless, some viewers are trying to defend this work on the premise that it's just a portrayal of harm that the creators should have the freedom to show. Furthermore, they argue there have been many instances of MLs that hurt their partners and still end up with them in happy relationships, and yet viewers let these examples slide.

To counter the artistic license argument, I offer that in most cases including classic K-cinema, harmful relationships are clearly portrayed as negative. The creators do not excuse dangerous behaviour. It is clear from the history of the format and the 40+ years of high quality productions, that a strong moral stance lies at heart of kdramas. Furthermore, the intended audience for kdramas like Nevertheless is youngish females. Many modern dramas take a stance on abusive relationships in light of what we know and understand about their harmful outcomes and the impact of systemic portrayals of unhealthy relationships. I know that as an insecure teen/20-something, I would have absolutely been swept away by a manipulator with charisma who could make me second guess myself and confuse it with excitement and sexual tension, like the FL in this show. Making it seem like the ML suddenly changes with teary eyes when he has just physically hurt the FL the night before, without even an acknowledgement of it, is inexcusable. Seeing no growth as the couple smiles their way into the final scene sends the absolute wrong message, even with the addition of a couple subtle pieces of dialogue and actions that tell us there is still something amiss. At the end of the day, they look like two beautiful people on a postcard in a happy ending with an overlay of romantic, catchy music.

Finally, there are many kdramas that excuse abusive relationships and MLs behaving badly. Some people let this slide, and in kdramas harmful tropes are still pervasive, but this does not make it right. Especially with the rise of Me Too, anti-racism, LGBTQII, and other movements, we must take a stand now. Since the creators of Nevertheless chose to take a progressive stance on other aspects of society by exploring a non-fairytale sex-based relationship and a lesbian couple, there is no excuse for them not to take the same progressive stance on the relationship of the main characters.

On a technical note, as an art piece, I enjoyed the cinematography and production values which were skillful and gave an intimate feel (no pun intended). I thought the music was very well chosen. The subtle and confused dialogue created the feeling of tension and gave us a glimpse of the layers beneath. And unlike some viewers, I liked the acting and performances of the entire cast.

However, the message is all wrong. I hope the creators realize they have endorsed something we should all be fighting against.

Leia Mais

A sophisticated take of what love is - watch without judgement to enjoy!

A lot of the frustration from viewers about this story lies perhaps in their wish to admire characters from the get go and/or expectations of growth. I found it beautifully poetic in its portrayal of the faults of people. People do not live their whole lives watching themselves on screen. They do many things in the moment, with the wisdom (or lack thereof) they possess then. This story breaks down the little moments of rapture and anguish of young lives navigating young love clumsily. More mature (not age! but those with life experiences) audiences will appreciate it and be more understanding (& less judgemental) of Na-bi and Jae-On’s push and pull. One more episode left - will life serve these two (& us) great lessons for (self) love with a side of heartbreak nevertheless?

PS. en pointe music direction. Every track was beautiful in its own right but paired with the scenes… breathtaking.

Leia Mais

It went down hill after the first couple episodes

I didn’t like the ending mostly .
This drama became quite tiring after the first couple episodes in my opinion. The FL really annoyed me, she knew and saw multiple times that the ML was clearly toxic asf and said she would stay away MULTIPLE TIMES but always folded at the sight of him. It was so cliche, the women always becomes weak at the knees of the “bad guy”. The side love interest was so much better, was clearly a lot better of a guy he truly liked her, but you know that’s how these dramas always end up. The nice guy somehow loses. Dumb decision on her part tbh. She lost.

Other than the main characters, this drama did include some great side characters who I enjoyed getting to know! I was especially really happy to lesbian representation in it, which is not often shown in k-dramas, so that was nice.

Leia Mais

Currently questioning my existence :')

Why screenwriter, just why. Genuinely regret the time I wasted on this drama and I curse my friend who recommended this to me.

The main leads are so unlikeable. Both Jae Eon and Nabi are so freaking annoying throughout the entire drama. She knew exactly what type of guy JE was and continued to fall and become SP with him. She gets hurt by him and is surprised and then continues to like him. Miss girl really has no self respect, she got hurt by her ex-boyfriend because he cheated on her but then even after being told Jae Eon had a girlfriend, still kissed him back. Yolo I guess.

And then we have Jae Eon whos on that F-boy shi. The "I got so many hoes " type of guy. I personally think he's immature for being in college and having this kind of mindset. I thought maybe we could've understood him better with a backstory but no we get nothing.

Side characters were great. Really liked the LGBTQ+ representation. I'm really sad Sol and Jih-wa didnt get much screen time and honestly I dont think Jih-wa liked Sol in the drama, it just seems to me she doesnt want to lose a friend and we never even got a confirmation.

Last episode was terrible the ending doesent even make sence. Nabi is really clueless her character wouldve been so much better with even a little development. I was hoping they would part ways with how toxic their relationship was but nope they decide to go out instead.

Overall bad but the acting was so good to make me hate the characters so much so I guess thats something. The music was nice too.

Oh and I'll never forgive this drama for making me hate seeing Song Kang's face :D

Leia Mais

Nevertheless, I want my time back.

I'm sorry, but for me, this entire series watching this from the perspective of being a man, I've repeatedly been shouting to my Netflix "Nabi, step away from him, he's too damn toxic for you" and each time that she falls head over heels again for him, I start to question why she seems so inept to realize that this person isn't a good person at all.

As for the story line, it just had little to no gumption, and it was like we were watching a pendulum. One minute she's head over heels, next minute hates his guts, going back and forth like that for basically the entire series.

They could have made this a 5 episode short series if they cut out all the excessive 2-minute shots of the two main characters just starting at each other, frigid as a frozen potato and silent.

I really admired the music, I thought that was the strongest part of the entire series.

Leia Mais

Convey a toxic message

At the end of the day, it wasn't about which team are you on, which guy is better for Nabi. It's the fact that Nabi is too weak for a female lead in the drama compare to the webtoon. I really wanted her to value herself and choose to be alone for a while. However, she just continued to be back on square one. It just makes the viewers feel like they wasted their time watching her journey only to end up where they start. They ultimately made Nabi so easily succumbed to Jaeeon and that makes it so hard to watch. My point is, they could have chosen a better message to convey to the audience such as self-love, self-respect and putting yourself over any man. However, they chose the lowest kinda ending and making young girls thinking they felt the need to fix problematic men in order to attain their affection. Overall, don't expect the female lead to have an ego in here.

Leia Mais

Slow!

This drama moves so slowly for each episode that i get to screaming point- then it ends in a cliffhanger!
I find the FL irritating when she acts so slowly and barely says anything. Then she suddenly becomes outspoken! She's like a sloth that suddenly falls from a tree!
I get he is attractive but looks only get you so far.
Because of the slow pace iI'm getting fed up of the ceaseless on/off nature of their relationship and as to her being shy of love and trust because of her ex- not much evidence of that! She sp obviously wants commitment from him.
Also if they are eating together, chatting and having sex its not a sex only relationship as the storyline maintains - its a relationship for heavens sake! If it was just sex friends he wouldn't stay the night.
Both characters are very confused / poorly written.
May have to wait to binge and fast forward on all episodes so I can find out what happens without crawling to the finale!
update to episode 8
Still nothing! It's like watching paint dry! No character development, no new information - just the inclusion of a second lead. ML and FL still not communicating but talking in cyphers. and avoiding being honest with each other - I'm not even clear what the pair of them want from each other!
Final episode!
At last hjis has dragged its way to a conclusion and what a trite one it is! They dont clarify their past or current feelings , she just realises she was the girl he "fell in love with at first sight!!!" So she says she will get hurt and he says are you ok with that - and they start dating! Are they whitewashing his past to say he was a playboy until he met her?!!
They were cute together at yhe start but everything since was a disaster and they didnt make their getting together convincing.
Drama has left me annoyed and disappointed!

Leia Mais

DO NOT WATCH unless in need for some some brain degradation.

I knew it! They couldn't have possibly pulled back in 3 episodes. In fact, they did nothing with the last 3 episodes. I honestly have no clue what was the point of this drama. It feels like the director pitied Song Kang from the show that everyone hated so they made him the end goal in this drama. His character is so much more toxic in this show than Love Alarm, yet he still gets the girl. This is so worrying. If you want realism with a tint of fantasy, Love Alarm makes so much more sense. I don't care about all the hate it is getting, it's still one of the best Korean shows I've watched in terms of realism in a flawed character. Jojo's character is the real representation of a flawed person going on a journey to self discovery, yet people hated her for it. What about Nabi here? She had no development nor any consequences.

Seriously all the acting was really subpar and nothing stood out. The only thing that stood out like a sore thumb was the annoyance of our three main leads. Nothing came out from them. If you watched episode 1 and then episode 10, you wouldn't have missed anything! Even if it doesn't make sense to watch it this way, let me tell you, it still doesn't make sense when you watch from episode 1 to episode 10. We are back to square one by the end of the series. Jae Eon gets away with his manipulation, and Nabi is as dumb as ever and the Potato Boy is a step-over mat as usual. The side plots were also really boring and kept dragging on for so long. I didn't care about anyone.

For those who are saying that this drama evokes debates, hence it's still meaningful, are wrong. Stupidity can evoke debates too, and this is the perfect example. Actually, it's not even a debate, but more of a rant to be honest. Anyone who likes this, please question your morality or see a therapist because Nabi surely needs one.

Leia Mais