Lovely Runner

A Charming Timeless Romance that will leave you wanting one of your own

After watching Strong Woman Namsoon, I needed to see more of Wooseok because I loved his portrayal of his villainous character, Ryu Shi Oh. His character was so charming and his acting was the saving grace that saved the whole show for me. Naturally, I went through his filmography to see what other dramas there were but realized he was never THE male lead, but he had Lovely Runner (I think it was titled Run Away with Sunjae then). I say all that to say that this was my most ANTICIPATED drama of 2024. Needless to say, the expectations I had for this were through the roof!

Did it meet my standards? ABSOLUTELY!! It completely blew away all my expectations and surpassed them. It is the best time travel drama I have seen, top 3 K-Dramas & top 5 Asian dramas ever!! Let me break it down!

STORY:
Im Sol, an aspiring film director and a stan of her K-pop idol Ryu Sunjae, finds out he died and it was apparently via suicide. Through one of her personal memorabilia (Sunjae's watch she bought in an auction), she can travel back in time to attempt to change his fate and she has only a certain amount of times she can go back in time. As she is trying to save her favorite's life, she eventually learns she has to deal with an unlucky and tragic part of the original timeline that she did not know about before.

ACTING/CAST:
PHENOMENAL CASTING + ACTING!
First, I will talk about the leads. Wooseok as Sunjae is genius casting & I could not see anyone else playing him. I loved watching all the different sides of him: the comedic side, the emotional side & the serious side if he has to be. As for Kim Hye Yoon, we know what she brings to the table with her acting and she did not disappoint. I do feel as though her acting helps to elevate all of her co-stars & brings out the best in them & that is why these two are a match made in heaven. Wooseok is always looking to improve himself & she has the tools to do so. Their romance is one for the books & it took me through a rollercoaster ride emotionally, but it had its funny moments too that perfectly balance it out. I ADORE the way they looked at one another & the chemistry along with those kissing scenes were so top-tier. One of my favorite K-Drama couples!

Now for the supporting cast! A good supporting cast can take a drama to another level & make it feel like it is not dragging without seeing the main characters! For the most part, I appreciated them & they made for HILARIOUS moments!

First up are the MVPs of the drama: Song Geon Hee as Kim Tae Sung & our N.Flying leader Lee Seung Hyub as Baek In Hyuk. At first, I was not sure how to feel about Taesung because I am a ML type of gal & I have no room for 2MLs in my heart, but I am appreciative of how he stood by our FL side and is supportive of her relationship with our Sunjae! He is probably the best 2ML in K-Drama history because he helps the leads TREMENDOUSLY to achieve the lives they want! You have my thanks, Taesung! Now for Inhyuk, he was THE comedic relief outside of Sunjae and I love his friendship with SJ and the advice he has to continuously give him because SJ is so clueless.

Shoutout to Im Sol's grandma... you made everything possible & Sol's mom & Sunjae's dad added their charming humor. Although Im's best friend & brother had their funny moments. there were times I felt as though they were taking up screen time in almost every timeline, but thankfully they toned it down a bit in the last timeline.

MUSIC: Lovely Runner OST has been on repeat ever since all the part one songs came out. I get intense goosebumps when I start listening & remember all the scenes the song plays in. Since there are 15 songs, I will list my top 5: Sudden Shower, A Day, I Think I Did, Run Run & Star (HONORABLE MENTION: Spring Snow). But, ALL the songs are good!!!!!!!!! It puts you in such a good mood!

RE-WATCH VALUE: 10/10 I was re-watching every episode every week to prepare for the next episodes because the wait for the episodes was literal torture. I have not felt this obsessive about a K-Drama in a while. I love that I have another comfort K-drama to add to my list: DoTS, W: Two Worlds, WFKBJ, Shooting Stars & LoTBS

OVERALL: A wholesome drama that will fill you with overwhelming happiness & leave you feeling satisfied. This drama came to me in a time when I was not in the greatest of places so I do feel more emotionally attached to it than others. If you love romantic comedy with a dash of overcoming tragedy, this is for you. If you are not a romance fan, give it 2-4 episodes and if you do not like it by episode 4, then maybe it is not for & that is okay. Move on. You do not have to finish everything you start.

ANYWAYS, WATCH THIS DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has a special place in my heart because of the beautiful love story between Sunjae + Sol. It was an emotional yet fun ride. I will never forget Soljae & the supporting cast because everyone played their part so perfectly!!! I loved that Wooseokie got the popularity he deserved with this drama! I am so happy for the success of this drama, especially for the leads who worked so hard over the years. I am looking forward to their next drama & the many re-watches I will be giving this drama!

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Started so good, but they got lost in the story

Overall the acting is good from most characters but the story got progressively worse. I like the time travel aspect, but after the first episodes they tried to much and the time travel and the actions of both leads didn't make sense anymore. The music was great. Just to list two points I found unfortunate:
- A majority of the story played with the characters in highschool and for me the actors are just to old to play highschoolers. At least college student or more of the story in the present instead of the past would've been more fitting.
- Another point I thought was unfortunate that the female lead had a disability in the beginning which I found so good and made here character more complex but that part just got erased in the time travel and never got picked up again, besides the fl remembering everything else just that part she and the writers completely ignored.

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"Lovely Runner: A Drama That Surpassed All Expectations"

Almost every drama I've watched has disappointed me at some point. I start watching, thinking, "Oh, it's good," but then it lets me down. However, "Lovely Runner" is the type of drama that has never disappointed me! Most of its OSTs are my favorite so far. The cinematography, the cast, the story—I've never felt bored for a single second! I've never skipped any scene. I took at least 100 minutes to watch a one-hour episode. I've never felt like this while finishing a drama. I never thought I'd like it this much! I started watching it without any expectations, and it's my favorite drama now.Before this drama, I saw Byeon Woo-seok in "Strong Girl Nam-soon," but to be honest, I didn’t like him. I also didn’t like Kim Hye-yoon that much! So, I wasn’t interested in this drama at all. I started it out of monotony! But after watching this drama, I like them more than anyone else. They are my obsession now.I don't know how to express my thoughts. I have so many words to say, but it feels like I've lost all my words. Beat me, but "Lovely Runner" is the best drama this year.

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Form your own opinion of the show/ igonre the reviews

If you are having doubts about watching this cause of the bad reviews, don't listen to them. Form your own opinion on this show cause honestly, it's not that bad.


My thoughts on the show:

-Episode 1: This is so good why are people hating on it?

-Episode 3: I almost dropped it cause I was not too fond of her returning to the future and her past self not knowing what she knows.

-Episode 4: The brother & best friend contribute nothing, just a waste of screen time.

-Episode 5: I like it so far but why tf are we adding murder and kidnapping to this?

-Episode 8: I like that there was no time travel in this episode and it is just their new lives in 2023.

-Episode 9: so I'm guessing time doesn't stop if she says she's from the future, only if she says details from the future?

-Episode 10: okay so now we are changing the future again which I like. Also, why tf was this negatively reviewed bombed? Like it's not gonna be my favorite drama but it's better than average.

-Episode 11: The ML is so adorable, his love for the FL is so cute. So far this was my favorite episode.

-Episode 12: Sol is kinda dumb... I agree with someone else's comment "Wouldn't it change the future if you went with them instead of staying in the same town you saw getting yourself hurt?!?? "

-Episode 13: how can she give her brother numbers to win prize money in the future? Why didn't time stop? Is that allowed now? Isn't that telling her brother about the future? I guess there are more loopholes to telling someone about the future, as long as it's not super detailed about others' lives or their own. I also think if they figure it out themselves then it's also okay.
-Well, at least he's not dead. It's sad though because in the first timeline, he loved her, and she didn't know, In the second timeline she knew he loved her and they loved each other later on. In the third timeline only she knows that they love each other and she loves him from afar.

-Episode 14: I like how they turned down the craziness for this episode.

-Episode 15: honestly this show isn't bad, it just feels like the writer didn't know where to go with the plotline and went in all directions. It's funny how this is a sci-fi show, a cop show, a romance show, a slice of life. I don't mind it but I can see how others didn't like how it didn't just pick one genre and stuck with it.

-Episode 16- The FL can be dumb at times but honestly she's not annoying idk why the reviews say that.

----->Final Thoughts:
I saw a review saying that the ending was unsatisfying, I don't agree. I do believe logic is thrown out the window in this show and it can drag towards the end but overall the show itself was good. It won't be one of my top Kdramas but I do believe it deserves a higher rating then what the reviews are giving it. I also saw someone saying that this Kdrama is overrated, I don't think it's highly rated enough. So many of the reviews that I first saw when I thought about watching this show were the lowest of the low. They were all saying stuff about the show. I don't think this is a 10-star show in my opinion but I don't agree with most reviews rating this drama less than 4 stars. I should sometimes stop listening to reviews because Goblin is one of the most praised and popular Kdramas ever and yet I hated the main characters and couldn't even finish it.

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Really good drama

Not many dramas these days manage to really capture the attention of viewers like older k-dramas. Lovely runner is the exception. Time travel stories might be a little overdone, but I found that Lovely runner did so very tastefully . It always had me wondering what was going to come next, and whether or not Sol was going to succeed in saving Sun jae. The stalker storyline is definitely the most overdone plotline it had. The lack of motivation behind the killer was almost comical at times but it still did a good job at keeping the story pretty entertaining. None of the characters ever felt annoying to me, their actions although may be a little exaggerated for the issue at hand always felt reasonable in concept and not merely to drive the plot forward. Lovely runner does a great job at portraying the love between Sol and Sun jae, and made the more sad parts of the show that much more impactful. Great show in all, sometimes felt a bit repetitive but did a god job at providing a meaningful story and conclusion to a relatively basic concept.

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DRAMA OF THE YEAR ??? REDEFINING ROM COM - LOVELY RUNNER

Ahhhh !!! I couldn't control myself...🥹🥹 Blushing throughout..... 🤩🤩... What a series .... What an ending.... Sun jae Im Sol Tae Sung In Hyuk ... You have my heart guysss....

It's been ages since I've blushed for a series ... Throughout the whole series I was blushing.... As far as I remember It was Strong woman do bong soon ....
Special mention is Tae sung ... Mu boyyyyy❤️❤️❤️

Ofc Uri loser Sunjae 😂😂
Sunjae just gave me min min vibesss 😍😍

OMG !!! The OST'S ..... They were " The perfect " ... Especially Star , Sudden Shower and Spring snow are my favourite... Ofc other osts were also too


I'm not ready to leave them ... Literally my 2 months were only them ... WhatsApp, Instagram, pinterest, mdl everywhere only LR 🥺🥺 I donno how will I live without them

I'd strongly recommend this series to everyone... Please don't miss out this beautiful gem 💎💎

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THE SHINING STAR OF 2024

So far TVN dramas in 2024 have been serving, but I can definitely say, with complete certainty, that nothing has fed me as well as Lovely Runner.

Story
The story is about a young woman, Sol, who was in an accident as a teenager. She suffered through a lot of depression following her paralysis, making her suicidal. In a radio phone conversation, the male lead, SunJae, helps her remember her will to live, and she is so grateful to him that she becomes his avid fan. Fifteen years go by and Sun Jae is also suffering heavy depression. After meeting briefly, news comes out that he committed suicide. Heartbroken, she goes back in time to when they were both 19 and decides to save SunJae. At the time, they both attended the same highschool, and SunJae was an athlete. She starts interacting with him more, unlike in the original timeline, and it is discovered that all this time, Sun Jae had a crush on her. The story progresses, Sol going back in forth to the past and the future, discovering what changes she was able to make to the timeline and dealing with her past self. We watch Sol and SunJae act as teenagers, and cringe with them in their many many embarrassing moments. When they're in college, we watch them have so many cute and heartfluttering moments together. As adults, we get to watch them have steamy scenes.

The story perfectly represents love, whether it is the young puppy love of children, to the mature, selfless love of adults. It gives us yearning and adoration. It distinguishes between the love of a fan and admirer from the love of a man/woman. It takes us through so many tropes - fan and idol, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, strangers meeting, one sided love, love at first sight, idiots in love, bromance, love triangle (very brief) high school romance, college romance, adult romance...

There is a good balance of humor and heaviness. While there are a lot of sad moments, I never really found myself crying because there is levity and it is countered well with heartwarming moments or humorous moments.

Acting
Kim Hye Yoon, Im Sol, and Byeon Woo Seok, Ryu Sun Jae, have amazing chemistry. I'd kept up with KHY since Sky Castle, having been one of the few who loved her character, and watch most of everything that she'd put out since then, or else seen clips of it. I'm always impressed by her acting and the range of characters she played. BWS is new for me, as he is for many others. I'd of course seen him in other shows, but I'd never paid him any real attention, and I guess that has to do with the fact that he played next to some really big celebrities at the time, like Park Bo Gum. He gained a lot of attention for his previous works now that his lead role is out, and having gone back to watch them, I can definitely say that he does a very good job. I do believe he completely carried Strong Woman Nam Soon.

In this show, the two acted exactly how I would expect them to act. They were cringey teens, they were foolish young adults, they were mature adults. They acted goofy, cute, serious, in love... I got all the emotions from them.

Most of my enjoyment from the show was watching them act so unserious all the time. And the behind the scenes footage was everything.

The supporting cast did amazing as well. I was invested in all the plot lines and I loved the bromance, friendship and family that the show gave us.

Music

Who knew BWS could sing? well now everyone does as his song for the show is topping. And N.Flying's Lee Seung Hyub is amazing as well! all the OSTs are so good and catchy.

Filmography

Beautiful. Great cinematography. Amazing parallels.

I don't really know what else I can say about this show. It's really on the top of the list as far as great shows go, and is the star of 2024. Highly highly recommended. I will definitely be watching it again.

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Lovely Runner is the BEST RomCom Drama in 2024

Lovely Runner is the BEST RomCom Drama in 2024 ... It's like my Monday & Tuesday therapy Pill and I can't still get over it till now 2 weeks after it ends ... I have rewatched it for the 10th time now and still counting without even skipping an episode. I love Kim Hyeyoon here and she has shown us much depth in her acting and she has matured and developed. Her pretty & soulful crying and her awesome comedic timing and her great & natural chemistry with Byeon Woo Seok are on another level. I've become a True Fan of both Hyeyoon and Woo Seok.

Lovely Runner is like magic and it's a complete recipe for romantic comedy from the exploding and natural Chemistry of the OTP and their True love that prevails in all the timelines, Im Sol and Ryu Sunjae on and off Screen (please do watch their behind the scene it's like another drama altogether hehehehe), the most well-loved second lead Kim Taesung (become BFF with the Im Sol on the last timeline) and Sunjae's BFF the lovable Bae Im Hyuk and the rest of the cast in the drama and the Great writing and cool directing and it came together as Magic for me. Love the perfect flow of the drama and all the episodes for me is exciting and not predictable for me at all. In the first episode alone, I was crying when Im Sol was lying on the bed who had lost all reason to live due to her disability and contemplating ending her life but was saved by Ryu Sunjae words of comfort and hope to think of her love ones who will be hurt if she ever decided to end her life and just take life one day at a time. Hyeyoon's acting here gives me goosebumps and the next thing I just bawled my eyes out. It's like a healing moment for me.
Lovely Runner has become my source of comfort, fun, and excitement and this will go down in history. Hope they will receive lots of awards.

It's a MUST watched drama and I haven't moved on with this drama yet. SolJae forever

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A DRAMA THAT NEVER FORGETS IT'S A ROMCOM, IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!

It's so typical to see a drama toward the end getting boring or having an unsatisfying ending, but "Lovely Runner" managed not to go down that road. This drama was perfect from start to finish, never forgetting that it's a rom-com, even in its most dramatic moments. It was really great to follow Sol and Sunjae's love for each other, Taesung being one of the best second male leads, and the addictive OST.

I'm gonna miss waiting every Monday and Tuesday for new episodes and coming up with thousands of theories about what would happen next, but even with a simple and uncomplicated ending (and using the truck of doom in the best way possible), it managed to be satisfying and beautifully conclude this story.

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