Navillera is the beautiful, heartwarming story of a man in his twilight years trying to finally pursue his dream. It's a show that embodies the mentality "it's never too late to start." It's also the story of the most unlikely of friendships as SDC, a man in his 70s looking to pursue ballet, and LCR, a man in his 20s who excels at his craft but is too lost and unmotivated to give it his full attention meet. These two make this drama. The supporting cast is amazing, too, with characters that each have their own personal growth and stories throughout the series, but it's the leads that steal the spotlight. Their interactions are some of the most wholesome things I've ever seen, they're inspirational, and seeing them help each other get back up when they've been kicked down is enough to bring you to tears.

That brings us to my gripe with this drama. The tears, or lack thereof. This is really going to be dependant on your tastes so you may have liked this, but personally, I was turned off of the series by the shoehorned-in Alzheimer's plot. I'm fine with Alzheimer's being present in dramas and I think it's an important talking point because it affects so many families worldwide, but I wasn't particularly fond of the way it was implemented here. In this drama, Alzheimer's is mainly used to up drama and make the viewer emotionally invested. That's fine in other narratives, but I feel that it just wasn't necessary here. I felt emotional in the early episodes before Alzheimer's became the main focus. I teared up in the beginning because the story was just so beautiful and inspirational. It didn't need more drama, it didn't need more angst and it was already making me cry. Navillera thrives on its very human, everyday atmosphere. Sometimes ordinary life is heartbreaking enough. You don't need to have a terrible illness or disease to go through hardships in life or to make the viewers feel for the characters. So when ballet started taking a backseat to characters having revelations about SDC's condition, characters crying over SDC, and SDC himself reminding us that he doesn't have much time left, my eyes dried up. Yes, it was sad, but it made me feel like those scenes were added just to pull at my emotions, so I didn't get teary-eyed or emotional over it. I haven't caught up with the webcomic yet, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that Alzheimer's isn't a plot device in the source material and it was just added into the drama for, well. Drama. Again, I've started reading it but haven't caught up, so I could be wrong here.

I wish that the writer and director were confident enough in their story not to add in little melodramas like that. There were other instances, like with the youngest son's backstory of being a doctor who left his field after his patient died or the situation with LCR's dad, that were just added in for what feels like the same reason, but the Alzheimer's took up a large majority of the plot in the second half of the drama so it was the most glaring. The simple story of a man trying to pursue his own goals at an age where most people would have considered his life over was powerful enough on its own. The relationship between him and LCR as his instructor was amazing and heartwrenching all on its own.

Despite my gripes, I still love the drama. It's different and unique, and I do understand why dramas have such a tendency to fall on these tropes and cliches. It's a drama. It needs to be dramatic. But if the addition of the Alzheimer's subplot doesn't deter you, it's still a great story. The ending is satisfying, not great but it doesn't leave you wanting more, and the characters will stick with you for a long time afterwards. Give it a try.