‘Nevertheless’…Dares to be different with a bold start, yet ends up circling around the central conflict without any resolve.

Spoilers Ahead…

I think I’m at that age and point in life now, where I no longer enjoy the scintillating, fluttering, see-saw romances and instead, look forward to watching non-dramatic, warm, stable relationships, where couples actually talk out their problems rather than staying misunderstood. This is even more affecting when coming off of a healthy romance like in Why I Dress Up For Love and then entering a hot mess such as Nevertheless.

Now, it’s not like I wasn’t aware of what type of a romance Nevertheless was about; I, very well knew, that this was in the territory of Tokyo Love Story 2020 and just hoped that it would be as captivating as the latter. Yet, by the end, I was thoroughly underwhelmed.

Nevertheless tracks the relation(ship) between Yoo Na Bi (Han So Hee) and Park Jae Eon (an improved Song Kang), as they gravitate to and away from each other, while figuring out their feelings, wants and priorities, in between.

Teenage/Young Adult me would have been pumped to watch a flirty, popular bad boy fall for the naïve, quiet girl next door, and their ensuing passionate affair, but Nevertheless is grounded (at least the first half), as it plays out, not as a love story, but mostly as a cautionary tale.

When Jae Eon shows interest in Na Bi, no one is thrilled, including her friends. Everyone tells her to stay away from him, as she is not the one for casual relationships, while he isn’t for commitment. Being together would just guarantee heartbreak and ache.

In these portions, you can feel the strong hold the creators have over the story. For one, we are explicitly shown why someone like Na Bi falls for someone like Jae Eon, beyond his looks (a crucial aspects in these type of stories, as otherwise, you just end up feeling clueless). Han So Hee is excellent in these parts, as she portrays Na Bi’s conflicting feelings and her inability to resist Jae Eon, (despite being aware of his reputation), really well. Song Kang is no Seo In Guk (who played a similar character type in Hundred Million Stars From the Sky, but with hundred times the charm, irresistibility and danger), but is able to bring forth a sort of uneasiness in his character through Jae Eon’s mannerisms pretty well.

This, combined with the smooth flow of conversations about hormones, periods, sex, online dating, friends with benefits, casual relationships — topics that are rarely discussed with such openness, establishes the show’s style and tone strongly.
It doesn’t at all feel preachy, as it is something that you would find young 20-somethings discussing with each other.

For most long-term drama fans, having such sex-positive characters/subject matter can be either a sign of dramas becoming westernised or a sign of creativity liberty that frees the creators from set drama tropes.
I am definitely a fan of the tropes but it doesn’t hurt to have a change of scenery from time to time. Like the high school students who sneak in alcohol on their fieldtrip, or characters starting a relationship on physical attraction than love (both in Love Alarm) or taking multitude of smoke breaks between classes — these sort of minute changes, remind us that these stories are taking place in our world and not in a fictionalized dramaverse.

Nevertheless certainly distinguishes itself from the rest through such changes, along with having a cool-toned colour palette and an attractive cinematography. However that being said, the drama hits a dead end pretty soon, as it doesn’t know what to do in the second half and so, satisfies itself by committing to the same tropes it avoided in the first place.

Nabi and Jae Eon fluctuate between arguing and making up (by making out) and don’t reach any resolve or agreement about their relationship whatsoever. With each episode running for over an hour, it feels like we are just circling back to and watching the same conflict play out over and over again. There is also no progression in either of the character’s arc. We never find out why Jae Eon is the way he is? There is a hint of something to do with his distant relationship with his mother, but that is the same with Na Bi, and yet she still believes in love and commitment. Is it then about how the same experiences don’t always result in the same denouement? Or is it a commentary on the different styles/preferences in dating (like Jae Eon, Na Bi’s mom too has casual relationships and has never settled down)? Or is it about how Jae Eon often gaslights Na Bi? Or how lonely he is? (Honestly, even by the end, I couldn’t figure out what his character wanted).

I liked the parallel of the lead couple with Oh Bit Na (a feisty Yang Hye Ji) and Nam Kyu Hyun (Kim Min Gwi), wherein its the gender-swap version of the same situation, and we get another viewpoint into how Na Bi feels or how Jae Eon often reacts to her.

Nevertheless is essentially a character study along the lines of ‘why we are the way we are/why do we do the things we do’. So, I wished to see more about Na Bi and her relationship with her mom (or some other instances), to understand why she is willing to be hurt by Jae Eon over and over again. Or why Jae Eon never commits to a relationship, or what were his thoughts when Kyu Hyun voices what are essentially also Na Bi’s feelings? But, we never explore avenues, and get stuck in the loop of ‘we shouldn’t do this/we are bad for each other’ to the point that you can predict how Na Bi’s ‘trying to be away from Jae Eon’ plan will go.

I honestly felt bad for Na Bi, as in her relationship with Jae Eon, she is stuck in a limbo, neither completely in an open/casual relationship, nor in a committed one. And, she has no one to go to for discussing her relationship’s problems, or one who would give sound advice.
So, I understand why the drama keeps throwing equally cute yet non-commitment phobic boys at her to question her feelings for Jae Eon and present reasons on why she shouldn’t date him. But by the time Yang Do Hyeok (Chae Jong Hyeop) enters the storyline, it is a bit too late, as it felt like trying to squeeze in a last-minute love triangle.

The ending too resets the tenor of the initial portions by reverting to the ‘destined to be together’ trope with a quick replay of the every first episode, which ends up downplaying the whole element of choices and random occurrences of life. Though Na Bi grows as an artist, she still is at the same spot in terms of her love life.

The redeeming feature of the repetitive second half is the relationship between Yoon Sol (Lee Ho Jung) and Seo Ji Wan (Yoon Seo A). In my review for At a Distance, Spring is Green, I had mentioned that the reason for cutting out the main queer storyline could have been due to South Korea’s conservative outlook towards these matter, but this show proved me wrong! These portions were sweet, cute and heartfelt and sensitively portrayed without any the need for dramatics, and were the only reason I stuck around till the end.

With all these changes coming our way, maybe it is time for a fully fledged queer rom-com drama!