LET'S TALK ABOUT NABI | NEVERTHELESS [ 알고있지만 ]
So I must admit, I have been swept up by the tidal wave that is “Nevertheless” aka 알고있지만.
It’s a Coming of Age, South Korean drama that released a couple of weeks ago on Netflix. It follows this young art student named Yoo Nabi, who majors in sculpting. We meet her at a particular point in her life where she is coming to realise so many things about herself and about life.
We open with a beautifully shot scene of Nabi admiring the snow, with her comparing it to the love she feels for her current lover. She enters a gallery, ready to support her artist boyfriend who has an exhibit on display.
To her shock and disappointment, she finds a sculpture made by her lover. A sculpture that exploits her very most vulnerable moments with him. Simply because to him, she’s a muse.
It confirms everything I need to know about being a muse. On the surface, it’s supposed to be flattering, it’s supposed to show that someone cares. But in reality, being a muse is dehumanising.
It is taking out the parts of someone that the artist finds unworthy and unappealing, and using what he finds beautiful. It is saying that as an artist, “I will only honour the parts of you that are of use to me; the rest can be discarded.”
Nabi experiences this humiliation is such a pointed way, that as the audience, we cannot run away from it.
Han So Hee / 한소희 , the actor who plays Nabi expresses this so brilliantly and what she feels, so effortlessly. In her portrayal, we see Nabi’s vulnerability, her complete surrender to a situation that will - for a lack of a better word - completely destroy her.
I’m comforted, however, by the fact that Nabi finds the strength to see this man for who he is. She accepts her fate as the one who got devoured. And in her hidden strength, she dumps him.
I’ll only speak briefly about the ex lover, as it is clear that this is Nabi’s story.
In this 1st episode, we see that Nabi’s ex is man who is self-centered. He only prioritises himself. He is obsessed with how Nabi deifies him. He’s always testing her feelings for him, coercing her into sex, doing his best to make her submit to his will. He is man of many insecurities and he infects Nabi with them. She is young and impressionable. He knows this. This is why he chose her. He thinks he can strip her of her agency and make her dance only for him. Such an asshole.
Anyway, Nabi finds the courage to dump him after she catches him cheating, and this decision becomes a catalyst for everything else that follows.
That same night, she meets our male lead, Park Jae-Eon (played by Song Kang 송강). There is seemingly this instantaneous attraction. Park Jae-Eon leads as this flirty, smooth type who knows his way around women. At least that’s how we see it through Nabi’s eyes. We feel her caution. She knows he’s something dangerous to play with, so she protects herself the best way she knows how - she runs away.
This becomes a central theme in Nabi’s journey. She runs away a lot. She is tempted by Jae-Eon, attracted to him. But her feelings are chaotic and often don’t make sense. So she steps back from him a lot.
I won’t say he doesn’t fully deserve it. He’s shown himself to be uninterested in commitment, preferring to flirt and kiss other women. This makes Nabi uneasy. She’s been traumatised, as we have seen.
But as she explores this connection she has with Jae-Eon, she can’t help but fall for him. He’s observant, attentive and suave. In her mind, he’s cool and unbothered. But if you pay attention to him, this isn’t really true. He even defends Nabi’s honour against a student who tries to badmouth her. He’s just really good at concealing his emotions. But so is she.
This show takes us on a crazy rollercoaster ride as these two main leads navigate the struggle of falling in love with someone when they are not necessarily ready or willing to surrender in that way.
Nabi, through her own choice, indulges in this steamy, secret affair with Jae-Eon. She neglects to tell him that she’s growing feelings for him because he seems so non-committal. I won’t even fault her for that. This is how she protects herself. She tries to maintain emotional distance from him because she knows she won’t get what she wants from him. At least not in the beginning.
There are a couple of things that I love about Nabi.
She thinks critically about where she is in life. Even if her deductions are not accurate, she shows that she takes the time to evaluate herself.
She tells herself the truth, every time. Even if she doesn’t tell her the men in her life her feelings.
By the time we get to episode 8 (as of right now, 10 August, 2021), we’ve seen Nabi go back and forth about herself & Jae-Eon. She even uses this side character, Do-Hyeok, to distract herself from admitting that she likes Jae-Eon.
Nabi represents the young feminine archetype that initially finds herself unable to separate herself from her love interests or the opinions of her community. She’s so hard on herself. She puts so much pressure on herself. As a result, she projects her self hatred onto Jae-Eon. That’s easy because she’s positioned him as her enemy, in a way.
But what Nabi also represents is the evolving feminine archetype. If she can not only accept her heartbreak but also accept that she deserves better, Nabi can evolve. She can become the young feminine who finds her light in the darkness. She can empower herself, and find strength in her ability to choose.
If she can learn to trust herself, and really trust that she can protect herself if someone doesn’t have her best interest at heart, she’ll start to have an easier time in her dating experiences. And her art will continue to grow.
Ultimately, I love Nabi. She frustrates me to no end. But I also want to hug her as a sister and let her know there’s life beyond her pain.
I hope in watching “Nevertheless”, you can have empathy for her and for Jae-Eon. And see them as one aspect of this crazy life as millennials.
I trust the director Kim Garam 김 가람 and writer Jung Won 정원 in how they have taken the time to set up these characters. As torturous as it is, I believe we will get a finale that is worth the emotions, the time and energy we have invested in these characters.
At the end of the day, I want what's best for them. My heart wants them to choose each other but my mind tells me that this isn't the most logical choice.
Either way, thank you JTBC and NETFLIX for taking a chance on such a risk with this show. It's fresh. It's new. And it's something that we can all relate to in some way.
SHOW DETAILS:
NEVERTHELESS / 알고있지만
Directed by: Kim Garam 김 가람
Airing on: Netflix :
Nevertheless, | Netflix Official Site
https://www.netflix.com › title
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