Apesar de Tudo, Amor (2021)

Thank god it's over

To start with, I did not read the webtoon. The plot is quite different from your typical Korean drama, but like most Korean dramas, it’s very slow. The whole process of push and pull is quite draggy. Gosh, just waiting for Na-bi to finish her sentence and hoping their staring game is over takes up at least 40% of the main leads’ interactions.

Honestly, I find the both characters very awkward together. Yes, it may be because of the script and their personalities, but it just seems to me that they do not have chemistry. Half the time Na Bi is awkward around Jae Eon and I know she is quite capable of being comfortable (like she is with Do Hyuk). Half the time Jae Eon flirts with Na Bi and they don’t really have a lot of actual, sincere conversations with each other. They look good together but they don’t suit each other. In a lot of romance dramas, you’ll find yourself shipping the couples on screen but I can’t seem to do that with this couple.

Also, personally, I do not appreciate how the whole drama focuses so much on the supporting characters. Most of the time, we’re watching 3 other couples. I understand the importance of the supporting cast and how they can elevate the whole story, but too much focus makes it feel like a series of short stories instead of a drama with actual main leads. I prefer seeing the progression of the main characters and how they have shifted from the beginning of the drama.

Overall, this is a pretty different concept. I feel it’s a drama you either love or hate. The music is pretty good, though. Otherwise, it’s a “meh” for me.

Leia Mais

I'm warming you don't watch this drama plzz. I wasted my time on this garbage

plzz dont make these kind of shitty drama. These days i hate watching korean and Chinese drama they are stupid and waste of time.I hate a What a stupid drama nabi is so stupid really and jae uhn has no self respect man. No story don't know where the story going why tgey are making drama like these man make drama with a good story. Good cast does doesn't mean that drama is going to hit bro you need a good story too. I mean how the director think ? director be like : ok lets do anything so want to do i hate this kind of dramas which waste my time. Plzz dont watch this drama I'm warning you

Leia Mais

This does something most kdramas can't—pull off a well thought out ending.

To all those who have been waiting for series finale to decide whether or not this series is worth a watch, I'm telling you it is.

Mini-rant(please skip this part if other people's opinions offend you): This isn't a wattpad story; this isn't a show that you watch to put yourself in the FL's shoes and live through her decisions. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a little self insert every now and then, I do it too (cue every scene Elena has with Damon Salvatore on TVD) but it is not the only reason we like watching romance. Most times we just want to see people's lives play out in front of us and leave us feeling... inspired. This is one of those times. For anyone out there who's using this to say this is some kind of justification for toxic relationships, you've missed the point. This is not a how-to guide, it a story. Take it as a story and not an example to live by.

~Review starts here~

1. Plot: Had the ending panned out any other way I would not have rated it as high as I did. That's because the series has some very obvious flaws that will be hard to overlook by the most ardent fans of the leads.

Here are my CONS:

+Pacing: This is some of the worst pacing I've seen recently. The only other drama I would say that beats it is DOOM and I didn't even finish that so you can see where this sits on my list. Just how Nabi kept losing her interest in her piece, I kept losing interest in the show. Irony, thy name is Nevertheless. Those of you joining us post series finale will at least have the benefit of running through the boring parts to reach the more interesting parts (salute to my fellow comrades who saw this in real time and tore their hair out every time we were left teased and frustrated only to come back to it after a few weeks to find out how much more dysfunctional things were getting). There is a lot of aEsThEtIc shots of trees rustling and light flaring through window sills. So much so that you'd often feel like you're stuck in a moody 2010s music video. I love aesthetics, I'm the kind of person who'd watch something just to see pretty people put on pretty clothes and go to pretty places but NOT at the Cost. Of. The. Plot. Every time we cut to a blank scene with nothing happening and sceneries changing I got pulled out of the story. It was meant to make us marinate in the feelings of what transpired on the screen but all it did was make me marinate on the fact that I was bored to death or impatient as hell.

+Character development: This story has always been about Na-bi. Park Jae Eon is more a plot device than a real character and that is the second biggest flaw of this series. We understand something about where Na-bi is coming from but that happens literally in the eleventh hour but for PJE we are left in the dark. I would have been inclined to say it's because the series is short, at only 10 episodes had it not been for the fact that they decided to shoot the sidewalk rather than give any insight into PJE's mind.

Right about now you're looking at my rating and wondering if I made a mistake, I haven't. Just stick with me.

Moving on to the PROS:

+Side characters: Where PJE suffered, every side character flourished. Other than Ahn Kyung Jun and Min Young, I was invested in all their stories. The only reason I couldn't get into Kyung Jun and Min Young's story was because it was not interesting to me.

+Realness: This is a story grounded in reality (if it was filled with very good looking people in every nook and corner; jk; T_T). What I mean to say is that it doesn't require a lot suspension of disbelief, which allows us to be fully immersed in the story (when it's moving along; sorry, I find it hard to get over the pacing issues)

+Ending: I don't want to spoil anything in this portion but you can read further down about my full breakdown if you don't mind spoilers. TL:DR read the title and then check my rating. Yup; it's that good.

2. Acting: Most have done a good job. Yang Hye Ji who plays Bit-na did as especially good job. She perfected her character's physical cues which made it very easy to understand what Bit-na was thinking even when she didn't have any dialogues. I also really liked the chemistry between Kim Min Gwi and Yang Hye Ji. They really played well off of each other. Han So Hee was serviceable in the role. I think it might have just been a directorial choice to make her character Na-bi extremely closed off. So much so that we were often left wondering like PJE what was really going on with her. Song Kang plays the brooding bad boy well but he too felt limited by the choices made my the directing and writing team about how much of himself he's showing us on screen. Lee Ho Jung and Yoon Seo Wan have also done very well in their roles. Chae Jong Hyeop is charming on screen.

3. Cinematography: It has a youthful feel to it. Makes me feel nostalgic for a period in life when our biggest problems stemmed from our (nonexistent; T_T) love lives. The framing is well done such that the camera would often move onto objects that were on the minds of our on-screen characters, giving us a visual clue about their thoughts.

4. Music: Every single song is a bop. You bet this is going on my OST rotation.

~~~~~~!!!SPOILERS!!!~~~~~~
Please stop reading if you don't want any spoilers!

The only reason I didn't finish my sad love affair with this series on a 5.0 or even a generous 6.0 rating is because it was able to do something that I did not think was possible. It got the ending right.

I'm about to break down the entire ENDING and how I feel about it. This is last line of warning folks, turn around if you don't want HEAVY SPOILERS.

The finale episode starts where Ep 9 leaves off and we are left feeling every single emotion Na-bi was avoiding for the past few weeks. Her heartbreak when she finally closed the door on a what-if was raw and cathartic. The whole time she was with PJE she never 'chose' him. She was a nectar-less flower swaying in the wind, letting the pretty butterfly land on it's petals but never attracting it. So choosing to let him go was her first choice about their relationship. That was when I was hooked to the story. Finally we see Na-bi wake up from her zombie fugue and choose a direction.

Next day Na-bi faces him again and in cold harsh light of reality chooses to walk away again. This was her second choice about them. This time she did it without the emotional screaming match and the heavy rain so we know she has conviction in her decision.

We see both of them trying to understand their feelings. PJE feels like he never really gave her his all and Na-bi seems more and more determined to stick with her decision.

When Na-bi's sculpture breaks we are left thinking if this was PJE, if he decided to sabotage her one last time because she didn't choose him, because she rejected him and he felt too vulnerable, too immature to deal with it in a healthy way. Despite visual evidence of an accident the thought wouldn't leave our minds. For Na-bi this was a moment of reckoning. She has not been inspired by her own art for a while. She's been floundering and has been going with the flow, trying to just finish her work for the exhibition. Now that it's been destroyed she has to choose. Her teachers and colleagues do not want to push her into a certain direction, whether that be to give up or to keep going.

So Na-bi had to make a choice. For the first time she had to choose to start her work anew, only a little different from the direction she was going but that little deviation turned her run of the mill work into something to be inspired by.

Only because she chose.

This is what the whole series came down to. To the simple fact that not making a decision, not choosing our own paths and fighting for what we want will leave us in this ditch of inertia that is very hard to get moving from. If we don't start living our lives we'll be stuck swaying in the wind, going where the well trodden path throws us.

Na-bi starts understanding that her feelings for PJE have not disappeared nor are they likely to because she never fully 'chose' them. She never fully explored them so she's left with a lot of what-ifs, living her life last-page-first, writing the endings to events she did not experience.

PJE meanwhile tries to put her first. Instead of focusing on how she makes him happy, he tries to make sure she feels supported and happy. I really liked the way he helps her rebuild and then stays away like he promised. It shows that at the end of the day he does have enough regard for her to honor her wishes, even if that's not something he wanted to do.

Do-hyuk sums it up best when Na-bi rejects him and then apologizes for rejecting him: "I'm glad I was able to feel these emotions thanks to you. I'm grateful, so don't feel sorry" (Do-hyuk is literally the best dude). Do-hyuk is already doing what Na-bi is trying to do throughout the series—live life to the fullest. He understands that its the journey that matters, not the destination.

Na-bi does choose to go out with PJE, she no longer wants to live under the shadow of the fate she's preassigned them. Maybe they'll work out, maybe they won't. The endgame is not important. It is more important to be happy with every choice we make.

Her lingering glance at Do-Hyuk and hesitation to hold PJE's hand when she sees him at a restaurant shows us that she has not completely grown out of her fear of the unknown, that maybe she's thinking about what-if she chose him. Maybe someday she will choose him, maybe she won't.

The journey is always more important than the destination.

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

Nevertheless, it sucks…

Top-of-mind: I feel bad for the webtoon writer. If you’ve followed the webtoon, this show totally deviated from it. The webtoon is famous for a reason because that one totally makes sense.

I have a lot to say but I don’t think it’ll be worth the trouble typing all the things I didn’t like about its small screen adaptation. If there’s one thing I know is I’d never support a drama that normalizes (worst, glorifies!) and romanticizes abusive/toxic relationship. Yes, it happens in real life, but it will never be right no matter what you say. The last few minutes of Episode 9 severed all the ties I have with Park Ja Eon’s character. Na-bi is unstable and should seek psychiatric help.

This is the first Kdrama that I did not like the main leads. Blame the plot. Total waste of time and it just left a bitter taste inthe mouth. It’s like sprinkling sugar to a rotting meat.

Leia Mais

Looked promising with unconventional themes but ended ridiculous for the main couple

At first, it looked promising with many characters with their different level of maturity, with their feelings, their struggles, the different type of relationship they are in. Some of them wished their relationship were another kind of relationship. I had sympathy for them trying to move to something better, more in adequation with how they really feel. But halfway, the story becomes draggy and ends up rushed giving unsatisfactory conclusions.

In the end, the love stories are:

- uninteresting: the quiet guy and the sex freak : They get drunk, have sex, secretely date, break up because she wants to sleep with other guys, then they start dating again. Did she change her nymphomaniac ways. No idea.

- half baked : the two girls best friends trying to sort their true feelings for each other. It drags for so long then it is resolved overnight and nobody knows how.

- common : the two roomates working together and did not noticed how cute the other was. These two were cute but they amounted for so little in the screentime.

- last and the worst: our main couple. Made of a sneaky manipulative guy and a woman who falls in love with a guy she knows nothing about but she craves to bang him. Then she seems deeply struggling with the situation because he is not sincere and he is making her living an emotional mess. In the end, after dragging for 3-4 episodes, in one episode, the writer manages to force down our throat that the guy was always in love with her since the very beginning when she did not know him yet. Tada! All the games of pull and push, kiss another girl in front of you, the no string attached, friends with benefits, the planned misunderstandings, the butterflies, the going to her place to piss the rival off... suddenly have no meaning and no importance at all. He loved her. Of course.

This drama managed to lead me on and have sympathy for most of the characters. But in the end, it did not live up the expectations I had. I found the redemption of the main guy badly done with plenty of deus ex machina things to close the drama in a common nice but totally unlikely ending that I can't buy.

The drama was a real let down for me and I would not recommend it.

Leia Mais

Just another kdrama with bad ending

Drama starts off really good
Becomes boring in mid episodes with repetitive story feels like a loop
Predictable for most of the part
Toxic couple
The only thing that kept me going was the story of the side characters
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
End's

Leia Mais

It lacked something

While there is realism in this drama, jae eon's complete turn from an f-boy to a loyal partner (as depicted in the end) is just not believable and out of character. Na bi on the other hand was a realistic and well written character.Whether we agreed with her actions or not, we could definitely picture a real life person going through her struggles and making her mistakes.
There were too many scenes with the protagonists spacing out while music was playing in the background. I don't need to watch jae eon staring at his butterflies for 5 minutes. All in all, something was lacking and I found myself fast forwading some scenes.
P.s I am glad potato boy didn't end up with Na bi, It would be out of character for Na bi, since she didn't feel any sparks and he deserved someone who could love him completely and Na bi was not that person.

Leia Mais

Loved this! Loved the flawed characters in this seductive slow modern romance

Seems like this drama is getting a lot of hate, but I personally really loved seeing this more realistic approach to modern relationships. Instead of "toxic", what I saw were two flawed characters who had emotionally unavailable parents. Two people who struggle with emotional intimacy. Two people who in their own way, were too afraid to open themselves up to love. Two people who were insanely attracted to each other.

You would think that people who have emotionally unavailable parents would seek out partners who are the opposite, but often times, there are these patterns that emerge where they are attracted to the same in their partners because they are trying to subconsciously "fix" that previous relationship. And I could be reading way more into it than it is, but I felt like that's what happened in this drama.

The FL has a mother who was never really there for her. She's been burned in a relationship before so she's very cautious not to get hurt again. She hides her true emotions and basically has a wall up with one foot always out the door. What she needs is someone who will be there for her and stay by her side.

The ML has parents that have sort of abandoned him. He only does casual relationships because he doesn't want the responsibility that comes with commitment. By toying with emotions, that puts him in control to "test" people. What he needs is someone who will keep coming back despite his flaws, someone who won't abandon him.

So what happens when these two meet and do a dance of seduction? Hot chemistry! I don't care if these two might be bad for each other because this is a drama, not real life. I'm in it for the chemistry. I don't want to see perfect people in a perfect relationship because that would be boring. I also don't want to see the same formula that we see all the time in dramas.

I liked that the characters were really flawed. I liked the natural skinship. I liked the music and tone of the drama. I liked that this was different and had more depth than the typical romance. I liked the acting and how the director didn't take the typical cliched route and showed us the realistic insecurities of wanting more from your partner, but too afraid to be the first to admit it. The only thing I didn't like was maybe the last episode....it felt a bit rushed.

Leia Mais

Only Selling Point is its Mild Erotic

I may be a bit harsh with this drama but so far i am not enjoying it. Story is so boring, no hard hitting lines, conversation or scenes that will mark and make you rewatch the whole thing, NOTHING just endless amount of making out.

I love Han So Hee in other drama's but here she's boring and stupid along with the ML who's just creepy and he only wants sex if he's given a chance to be alone with FL. Don't get me wrong i love this type of genre like Marriage is a Crazy Thing i just need more depth in character than two person with high Libido!

The only thing keeping me from watching this is the love story of Yang Hye Ji as Bit'na (she's so cool damn) and Han Eu Ddeum actually i prefer both of them to be the main leads here to be honest.

And just to add the music come on netflix stop with the english ost popping up on every original international drama its annoying let them stick with their own countries songs because it's more fitting.

Also why do they make Han So Hee a sex symbol casting her in erotic dramas where in fact she can act and be wholesome. I hope in the future she can be recognized differently.

Leia Mais

Well I don't know how to start ... I started looking at this for Song Kang.

I thought it would be a good romantic drama after the Love Alarm slop but I was wrong. I didn't really know the webtoon but after seeing the first chapters I decided to read it. It was rewarding and I thought it would have the same ending. The ending of the webtoon leaves you with a good message and although the ending is bittersweet, it is simply realistic. Which did not happen in the drama.

First of all the narrative of the drama was a disaster. If Nabi was going to end up with Jae they should at least have explained his obsession with butterflies, why he kept them locked up and why he felt lonely what made him play with so many girls . Also why Nabi was so special to him.

Nabi regressed. She go on to give a speech from leaving the fuck boy to just "I'm going to regret it but it doesn't matter." His conflict with his mother ends up being incoherent when she makes sames the decisions. Being in toxic relationships.

What was redeemable from the drama were the performances and the secondary couples. That was what kept the drama afloat because their relationship became dull and boring. The ost was good as well as the scenery but it is not enough to compensate for such a poor narrative with a very bad message.

I really don't understand why they adapt a webtoon if they are going to shit on the main message of the webtoon. In short, It is not something that cann't be seen but don't expect the big thing from the drama.

Leia Mais

I HATED the main lead couple

The drama was okay, didn't ship the leads, AT ALL. I definitely wouldn't have even started this drama if it were any longer than 10 episodes, but I still wasted 10+ hours watching this, I did skip a lot of this drama in the latter half though.

The main leads had really good chemistry and were really good looking, but that was all they had going for them in their relationship.

I didn't hate the FL or the ML and for the majority of the drama, I just didn't care that they were together despite how toxic they were, that was until we met the SML "Potato boy". The SML's character made it very blatantly obvious how toxic the main lead couples relationship was, like many of the other charecters relationships were in this drama. He also made the FL see how how stupid her decision was to be with a person like the ML, a person who NEVER cared for her, which is when her character finally starts to develop.

Thought the FL would finally come to her senses and break it off with the ML, which she did for less then 2 episodes. If it weren't for the last 7 minutes of the last episode, I would have been fine with the ending. But, ALL her character development went down the drain in those minutes and she goes back to exactly where she started. I wanted her to either be with the 2nd lead or be single, preferably the latter. The best thing the FL could have done for herself was focus on herself and her art, and take the opportunity to go to Paris without being held back by any romantic relationships.

Instead, we got an open ending about whether or not the FL would follow her dream since episode 1, to go to Paris. And, a closed ending of her and the ML ending up together and likely repeating another toxic and heartbreaking relationship, heartbreaking for her, maybe not so much for him.

I know that in the webtoon (or whatever this was based on), the FL ends up with the SML and the ML never actually cared for her. Considering that's how that ended, you'd think it'd at least be similar in the drama, but it's not and I HATE how the drama had to end with the FL ending with the ML simply because he is the ML.

Leia Mais