A MUST WATCH
Watching this drama with zero expectation. Turned out Run On becoming one of my favorites.A healing & warm drama with a realistic event so you can feel related to this drama.
It gets better each episode and make you craving for more.
It also breaks many K-Drama stereotypes, giving a fresh air to the industry.
The storyline revolve around our daily life, which create a connection between the audience while showing us how mature and healthy relationship are. Not only romantic relationship, but also a friendship and the importance of communication + self love.
At first i thought it would be just another drama. But i was wrong, this drama is well written and well executed. The dialogues between them are so meaningful. Their character's development and progress are well thought.
Definitely get a place in my heart, it give me meaning and valueable life lesson.
You'll find a lot of strong and admirable female characters (i would say all of them!). You won't find a weak and annoying female character in this drama. They know what they want and they're not afraid to achieve it. They're bold and not asking for a justification.
I can go on and on and on because this is one of the best drama. just take a look and watch it! because this drama deserved more recognition since it's not your typical k-drama, it'll teach you and heal you.
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An ordinary UNordinary K-drama
I thought that I had to write a review about this AMAZING drama. I hope that people like me who are hesitating decide to watch this drama, because I know how hard it is to find a gem like that.SYNOPSIS : At first, I was not really convinced by the synopsis. I was focused on True Beauty as everyone does I assume. But since the ratings were high, I decided to give it a chance.
STORY : I have to admit that the story in itself is not that interesting; it's about the ordinary life of a translator (Oh Mi Jo) who meet an handsome and rich athlete, son of a wealthy deputy (Ki Son Gyeom). It is yet not boring at all, the love stories and the chemistry between the couples is fantastic. I also have to say that this drama is really natural, and it's rare (except maybe for ep1 where there may be too many coincidences to be true, Seoul is not a small village lol...).
ACTING/CAST : AMAZING, FANTASTIC. The characters of this drama are so entertaining !!! I fell in love with Ki Son Gyeom at first view. He's a weird and rich boy, far from being the usual bad boy character we use to have in k-drama. I've never loved a nice main role character like him. Handsome, cute and perfect acting. I really love Oh Mi Jo, who is a down to earth and strong female main lead. I really like how they share Oh Mi Jo's past as she gets closer to Ki Son Gyeom. But my favorite character appeared to be CEO Seo Da Nah !!!!! She's is weird, but omg she's so strong, confident and funny and I honestly wait for her character's development and love story more than anything in this drama. I love women wearing sneakers with pretty clothes too !!
MUSIC : I love how the music isn't omnipresent like in some drama, which make usually the scene unnatural. The OST is pretty good.
REWATCH VALUE : I will rewatch this drama with pleasure; It is kind of the same genre as Because This is my First Life, one of my favorite drama ever.
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Its good to watch if you are tried.
I feel like it is similar to dramas like "Chocolate" and "when the weather is fine" except I enjoyed those more tbh. However, this drama is really cute and all the couples' stories where very beautiful. My favourite one was defs the couple with the FL's roommate and that other person. I also enjoyed how they portrayed the reality of unrequited love. But, the story is not ground breaking, and i feel like although the character development of the main lead was great , the story felt slightly empty. I might be brainless maybe that's why I kept getting confused by the conversations of the 2 leads. I just feel they tried to make them abnormal to the point it felt dull. But, I really did enjoy the story of the main leads and their motivations for their careers. In total I would never re-watch this, it was interesting enough for me.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I want to be one of those that was completely in love with this show. I really do... but ,half the time this show had me warning to rip my hair out. And we KNOW how I feel about stuff that makes me feel this way. LolWhile I'm in no way shape or form saying this show was bad or terrible, it was actually quite good. I just had more issues with is than I would have liked. Such as, who was the main character? No. Really. Who was it? There are 4 people labeled as main characters, which would make sense.... if they were always... there? I guess? I wish I knew how to explain this part. Lol It's confusing but hell, I'm confused. This was the first kind of show I have ever watched that told two storylines at the exact same time. Which I guess makes sense because they all knew each other but half the time some of the main characters were nowhere to be seen. Mostly Ki Seon‑gyeom (Im Siwan) and if you see the show, you know exactly what I mean. I honestly thought he was a supporting cast member through a lot of episodes.
Can we talk about the characters though? Mostly Dan-ah? I literally hate this woman. From episode one, I hated the character so much I wanted to scream but I held on because I'm like... surely she won't be like this the whole time. Surely NONE of them will still be the same through the WHOLE thing. I was wrong. I think MAYBE in the last two episodes there were brief moments where she was nice and acted like she had a heart. But to me, that wasn't enough. I don't think you get to be a bitch to everyone in every episode and expect everything to be okay after you're nice to them for 2 seconds in the last two episodes. Naw. So was her character redeemed? Hell no. Not to me at least. Was I happy about what she did to her brother? Dude all he wanted through this WHOLE show was to just be her brother. That's it. But she had to be a bitch to him through it all then the last episode be like "eh"-- are you kidding me? That shit hurt. I think people who aren't a step-sibling have no idea how much that hurts. And let's not forget her "I pretended to be gay to avoid getting married" ... this... this is why people still ASSUME "oh it's just a phase" and people are never taken serious when they come out. So no. I hate her. So fucking MUCH! I actually might hate her more than Jung-Do, and that's saying something.. cuz he was a straight up bastard. That's all the time I'll wasted talking about that dung pile.
I didn't like the ending. I mean I did, but I didn't. You have all this drama through the whole show, so many problems, even with side characters and with the last episode it's like a bandaid was just slapped on everything to make it "better" -- when it wasn't. I expected growth. I expected bonding. I expected a lot more than what was given. I also didn't like that there were side characters that "seemed" to have important roles, yet... never showed up again and if they did, I didn't remember their names.... at all. Yep. You heard me. I don't remember any of the side characters except the kid that was bullied and I don't even remember his name. SMH. I hate when shows do that.
Would I tell you to not watch this? No way. I hope you watch it! I want everyone to watch it. It was a good show... even if it did drive me nuts half the time. Lol and it wasn't all bad. I know that's all my review has talked about so much but ... there was a lot of good too. I liked how the mom finally stepped up. I freaking ADORED Tae Woong. Lol he was so adorable. I really would love to see a side story about him. I liked how Young Hwa finally stopped letting his heart get stepped on -- even though I'm still confused about how they ended up. I did like how Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo worked out though. That was worth it all on it's own.
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Hit or Miss (not for everyone).
After watching the first two episodes and maybe didn't like it then don't bother continuing because the pacing was pretty much the same and nothing major happened in the drama. This is a very well written drama that went in-depth about the characters and also delivered a lot of positive messages. The drama sets a realistic portrayal of love, relationships and everything a healthy relationship should be such as; enforcing boundaries, respect, not losing oneself and communication. The couple ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE!!!!!. The character development is immaculate and they came in so naturally so it may require paying attention to the characters's dialogue to notice their development. As a slice of life the drama really succeeded.Was this review helpful to you?
Boring
I started watching this drama because of the 2 leads. I loved Shin Se kyung in Rookie historian so I was happy to see her in a modern peace.But the whole story was boring, the lead actors had no passion nor any chemistry whatsoever (despite both leads having really a nice potential for passion).
I felt nothing watching them grow. Yim Siwan is a cutie but his character didn’t strike a cord. His character is basically a teenager who’s completely lost and thankfully lands on Oh Mi Joo who’s going to mother him and help him grow...
the second leads were more interesting to me because, although they are bickering most of the time they looked alive.
This show terribly lacked of life and passion. It’s a pity for a show about life your life to the full dispute the many curve balls life can throw at you.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Wholesome Drama But Nothing Happens?
Quick Overall SummaryRun On is a drama that does well to be wholesome and fluffy, but nothing really happens with the story and characters. This slice of life drama is good for light watching and not thinking too much about the plot or story. The drama is great for sessions where you simply switch off and just watch, but it has its shares of good and bad. Excellent OSTs though!
Quick Story/Plot
The Male Lead just recently lost his job as a national athlete and is wondering what to do with life. The Female Lead just happens to come into the Male Lead's life? The CEO is the boss of a sports agency (ex-agency of the ML) and likes her brand and people not to waste her time. The art student is just a go-happy dude. Then a whole bunch of talking about life... (I have watched to the end and still don't even know what the plot is about. Like is the ML trying a new job and all the other characters are there to support him?)
Quick Acting/Cast/Characters
- Not sure why the ML is portrayed/written this way, but he is often awkward and says stuff that don't match the situation. A conversation could be like, Q:"Hey, were you waiting for me?", A: "I can run 9 seconds". I don't understand the writer's direction for the ML.
- The Female Lead is a movie translator who loves guns, alcohol and movies. Honestly, we the audience knows more about her likes and as a character than any other character in the drama. She loves her work as a movie translator.
- The CEO is a straightforward person who says things exactly on her mind and doesn't reflect back on what she said (She is sensitive to what others think about her). She is not a bad person, but often agitates people with what she says. Soo Young played the character well.
- The art student. I honestly, don't understand and get this character. I am unable to explain why he is even in this story. The CEO and art student couple makes no sense to me (how are they even a couple in this story???), but they are cute in how they bicker with each other.
- Have to mention the Assembleyman father. He is emotionally abusive and two-faced. On the outside he is the 'family man', but he is emotionally manipulative towards his family members.
Music/OSTs
Great music and OSTs in this drama. All great to listen to and unique. One reason I stuck with the drama to the end is the music. Music makes alot of the scenes much better.
Rewatch Value
A single walkthrough is enough.
Why my current rating (7.5)
Drama is great to watch after a long day and watching the interactions of the main couple. The joy of watching them trying to be happy and building upon their relationship is fun to watch. However often, I have question marks pinging with the side couple story and the plot of the story, where I am constantly saying; where is this taking me/ why is this happening? The drama frequently jumps to different locations just for the sake of it and shows off its production value (I guess). Also the abusive father and rest of the family, I don't get their purpose. There is a lot of product placement.
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I know that there are so many things to uncover for ML/FL/SML and SFL. Their acting surpassed what I expected. The story is not something that you can predict right away because it will always give you a second thought if what you're thinking will be the one that will happen.
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Good Enough
Korean Drama "Run On" is a healing slow-paced drama with a realistic view when it came to the romantic relationships. However, the drama's story other than the romance was weak. They didn't really expand on it, the family drama was rushly resolved, the sports theme that was pretty interesting at first with the scandal, was lukewarm and the side characters were added here and there to provide coverage of the gaps between the love stories.The drama also lost its charm in the final episodes, with some boring scenes and a pretty slow pace. The product placement in this one was also ridiculous, with actual scenes being created for the sole purpose of the placement. Another minus of this drama was the fact that, except for the leading lady, the other characters felt pretentious at times, like they were trying hard to fit in the description of their personalities.
Other than that, the drama had a nice atmosphere, with a slow tempo and some nice aesthetics. The female lead was an interesting character and the performances from everyone in the cast were pretty good. The love stories had a realistic aspect to them, as well, which was refreshing and unique.
So, overall, 6.5 out of 10.
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Slow, rambling story - and not in a good way
I don't mind a story that develops slowly, giving me time to get to the know the characters and their reasoning for doing the things they do. Unfortunately, for me, this show never lived up to its potential. Multiple boring storylines. Multiple unlikeable characters. The bullying storyline was disturbing, the nightmare father was too over-the-top bad, of course they felt like they needed to include a gay storyline and then did nothing with it. As for the two main couples: I could never understand why they would have fallen in love. The main characters were SO different and they never seemed to work to get to know and respect the other's differences. Plus, I found the main actor's acting, as well as his character, problematic. Was he supposed to be on the autism spectrum? Because that's the way he was played. The actor had absolutely no facial expression and his stares were so intense it just looked like he was waiting to say his next line. The second couple had a lot of cute bickering scenes, but really, that's all they ever did.As I finished this show, I thought that the main goal of the show might have been "keep running forward, don't look back to where you've already been" but who knows, because at that point I just didn't care anymore.
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This review may contain spoilers
feels like tempo of this show.. is off.. somehow
this show gives me mixed feelings and i was waiting for it for a while.. but... just dunno...the cast is great and the chemistry is awesome.. the plot and the story is ok.. solid..
maybe the pacing.. or maybe the weird ways they ties the characters to each other.. felt.. forced.. strained.. like hold ur imagination even harder.. even though everything else is possibly as real as kdrama real life can get
some ties are natural and work better than others.. i guess is how i put this..
the story is light relatively fluffy.. no true evil mastermind.. except the usual.. reaching daddys love/approval and power... which for me seems like a weird story to tell parallel to the main characters issues and plot development..
which somehow they realized and felt like they just dropped it midway through..
its a good show.. just... theres something missing.. or off about it
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A Relaxing, fresh and pleasant story
Run on has everything, a good story, great acting and cast, good fashion, great osts and most importantly wonderful writing.The writing should be mentioned in a whole another paragraph because its one of the most wonderful writings i have ever seen in a drama or a movie. the lines will leave you smiling and in awe.
Watching run on on a stressful Wednesday and Thursday literally washed all my worries away. I fell in love with all the main leads .The second couple was equally as interesting as the main couple as well as the supporting characters were also pleasant to watch. This show kind of became like my comfort show and I'm going to miss it so much,
I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone in a heart beat, so if you haven't watched it yet definitely do
"you have your world i have mine, but we could align our worlds next to each other, couldn't we ? "
-oh mi joo
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