Lovely Runner

Flawless

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama. Although it is emotionally intense, I was captivated by the main artist's performance. I felt a strong emotional connection to Sol's character, who truly touched my heart. I've seen many time-travel-based dramas, and while they often depict characters struggling to change the future, this one stood out. It showed that by destroying the cause of a ruined future, the future itself could be altered. What made this drama unique was how the story evolved with each correction of the timeline. The standout feature was the flawless performances by the artists, which made the drama even more compelling.

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Worth the hype

Lovely Runner was one of the most beautiful series I've seen. Well-written, well-acted and well-directed. The plot was tight. Granted the timelines got a little confusing so I needed to rewatch a bit to understand. But overall, the vision of the writer and director was clear from the get-go. Brilliant acting by the lead actors. Explosive chemistry . Seriously jow can both leads not fall in love yet? >.< Awesome soundtrack. Not to mention, the ending was BEAUTIFUL and so satisfying. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a top tier romcom with a solid plot. But for anyone looking for a romance series "closer to reality" than move on to romance melodramas. Korea has them in abundance lol.

10/10 because of the rewatch value.

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Didn't live up to the set up AT ALL

[We have to acknowledge Sudden Shower being the best OST of 2024. That song carries soo much emotion]

PLOT - The synopsis def caught my eye. As much as I typically avoid shows that use time travel but I wanted to see this play out. The set up was too good: a young talented idol gives hope to a girl who seemingly has nothing to live for. She becomes a die-hard fan and attempts to attend his concert one night, but to no avail–That same night he dies tragically after giving one of the most touching performances I've seen in a kdrama. Soon after the FL is magically transported into the past and ends up back in high school with her beloved idol. She uses this strange situation as a chance to save him from the dreadful fate she knows is coming in the future. The pilot is one of the best in a while. It's Oshi No Ko pilot good. After that I expected an uphill trajectory...except that didn't happen. None of the emotional story elements were addressed, and the show had no interest in finishing what it started. Instead the heavier topics were sidelined and character development went out the window to make way for a cop-out happily ever after. Real ones know it was a disservice to all the good this had going for itself. The time travel aspect got more inconsistent the longer this played out. The show also had tone issues at times.

CHARACTERS - I agree about the mains being well acted. BWS IS Ryu Sunjae. Tho she was grating at times, you could tell KHY immersed herself in this role. But even with all the great chemistry neither character progresses. They became devices for fan service and boy was that fan service pushed. Ofc they were cute asf but I couldn't help but feel the shallowness of the relationship. I believe it was a mistake for Sunjae to fall in love with Sol. His first arc was written so well and we lost that so he could become a simp. Once we went from platonic love to romantic, my investment collapsed. I would've been fine with SJ not surviving in the end. That seemed like the natural course of events and would've made this show truly impactful. Had that been the case I'd prob be writing a different review... The SL seemed pointless and only existed as plot device for unnecessary conflict. Seeing more of SJ's dad and his relationship with him would've been nice. In Hyuk served his purpose ok as comedic relief. This show def needed it with all the crying scenes.

The screenwriter here is the same one for True Beauty. Both works mirror each other in the sense of setting up rootable characters and launching difficult subjects only to abandon everything for superficial romance that doesn't feel earned. What a missed oppurtunity to discuss depression and how it affects both regular people and celebrites. Where's the social commentary? Where is the payoff?

In conclusion, this ended up being a big ball of wasted potential. I'd be lying if I said parts of the show didn't still linger. The essence was good and I enjoyed the feels but this didn't live up to what was promised. This had the makings to be one of the best dramas of the year but ended up being just ok. Now back to those OSTs

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Memories don’t disappear.

I've always found it strange when they put crime and romance together, and it's quite common in dramas, but I have to say that this is one of those dramas that will live on for free in my mind.

The story centres on Sol, who has suffered an accident and is unfortunately unable to walk. One day she gets a call from a radio competition saying that she's won some trainers or a bicycle. Upset that she's not wearing any of those things, she screams a lot and a voice (who were guests on the programme) from one of the members of Eclipse, a kpop band, encourages her to live.
So she became a fan of them and especially of the lead singer.

The lead singer dies years later, and she goes back in time to save him.

Sounds cliché, doesn't it?

But through all these journeys and deaths, Sol discovers many things, tries to change others and continues to live and know how to live.

The soundtrack is fantastic!!! how could I not have heard N.Flying? The whole ost is beautiful!

And Sol's grandmother? the explanation she gives for her dementia made me cry.

Sol's brother's side story is quite comical and I actually enjoyed it.
As for Taesung, he was a completely different character if he hadn't met Sol, and even though he ignored her in the past, it made him a better person. I really liked him!

I would watch this drama again and laugh like an idiot again

Memories don’t disappear. Where do you think all the countless memories of what you see, listen, and feel in your life go? They’re all smeared into my soul. Even if my brain forgot them, my soul hasn’t. It’s been keeping every piece of it.” – Grandma

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Renewed my absolute love for Kdramas

this is hands down one of the few kdramas I would rewatch from beginning to end without skipping a single second, sobbing and feeling all the emotions like I’m watching it for the first time. now don’t get me wrong, there are definitely others I have watched that I would rewatch simply for the good moments and the moments that really made me feel something, but this is different. this show is magnificent as a whole; from the acting to the story to the perfectly chosen OST by 10cm.
would highly recommend - anyone could find something about this to fall in love with

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I loved this. Unique twist on time travel with a heart warming love story

10/10 is my rating. This is a 2024 romantic comedy drama that centers on time travel. There are 16, 70 minute episodes. It is based on a webtoon titled “Tomorrow”s Nest.”

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

An accident leaves Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon) paralyzed and wheel chair bound amd ready to end it. Ryun Sun-Jae (Byeon Woo Seok) calls her “randomly” from a radio show where his band “Eclipse” is being interviewed. His call reaches Im Sol on one of her lowest days but his words inspire her to go on. She becomes his top fan and it is one of the brightest days in her life when she meets him through a “chance” encounter. On that same day she is devastated to learn he ends his own life. Perhaps the universe gets her devastation and responds to her desperation as a magical watch takes her back in time 15 years when they both went to adjacent high schools. During her many attempts to garner Sun Jae’s attention in order to change their future, she is indifferent to most people around her which catches the widely popular Song Geon Hee’s attention (Kim Tae Sung). Tae sung is used to girls vying for his attention. Im Sol’s utter indifference sparks his competitive nature and he finds himself falling for this unique girl. As Im sol travels back and forth through time, her teenage self vascilates between a girl that is in love with Geom hee to an embarassing extent, to the 30s year old version in a teenager body that finds him ridiculously bad boy narcissistic. And as she changes from one persona to another depending on which stage of life brain is driving the teenage body, she changes between idolation and indifference of Sun Jae as well. Which makes for some very comedic moments. Can Im sol fulfill her heart’s desire and change both of their grim destinies?

Review:

This is a unique twist on time travel with a very heartwarming love story.  After this series ran Byeon Woo Seok became known as the nation’s boyfriend and it is clear why.  The main lead character was so sweet, steadfast, and loyal to the main female lead character, that most would want to have a boyfriend or girlfriend that had all the qualities he had.  You will also experience second lead syndrome as second guy is awesome as well.  While there are some sad moments, I would not consider it sad at all on balance.  Though if you have been impacted by anyone having ended their life, be aware it could be tough emotionally in the first episodes. It dragged me down a bit because anytime that topic comes up it brings things back. For me the emotional drain around him seemingly ending his life was not severe enough to avoid a really good story like this, but it is good to be aware and prepared.  I always check before and most indicated it ended happy. I can confirm that it does have a very happy ending.  I would highly recommend this to anyone that loves really good romance, likes time travel, or is a fan of any of the actors.  All the actors did an incredible job of portraying the characters. I would watch this again and would recommend it to anyone without hesitation. 

 

Spoilers

My daughter said it would be slightly rated down in her opinion to maybe a 9/10 because she felt like it was super confusing how often it flipped around in time.  I completely agree.  It did get very confusing as she traveled back and forth to know if certain events happened in that particular timeline.  Not only did she travel 15 years back and forth but, at times, they would flashback within the same timeline.  Lead guy even, at one point, thought Geom Hee had dated Im Sol and she had not dated him in that timeline.  So, the writers were acknowledging that even the characters would have been confused.  But, I differ from her in that I do not think you could have portrayed the complexity without it being a little confusing at times. 

There were some things I wish had been better explained.  Like, how exactly the watch was working.  How did she know how many times she could travel?  How did she know when she was going back?   What about grandma?  Was she controlling some of the events?  It also did not explain whether Sun jae actually ended his own life or if it was the killer got to him, drugged him, and he wound up falling off the balcony and it looked like he had ended his life.  At times it seemed the killer had some awareness, like he knew things he should not have known, and it wasn’t clear why that was the case.  I think it had to do with something the grandma said that memories do not go away that they become embedded in your soul.  And then there was Sun jae’s puffer jacket stalker.  That was really developed as a key event in one timeline but then it was like they just dropped it.  I thought it might play out on all the timelines in a very essential way but it seems the only point of it was for him to have these frustrating passing moments, where he misunderstood Im sol and they almost but not quite got together. 

 
I got really frustrated with her for pushing him away.  I understood she was doing it because she became convinced he would die or get seriously injured from being around her.  But, her original purpose for traveling back was to keep him from ending his life.  So, if you are worried about someone being sad enough to make that horrible decision, why would you do things that would make them depressed?  Even understanding her concern about the killer targeting him, I wanted her to realize she should not make him sad. But I did finally agree with her when he was stabbed and fell off the cliff.  I know I would make the same decision in that case.  I might talk to others around him to get them to check in on him more and make sure he was doing emotionally well, but I would likely conclude that he need not be around me if I couldn’t get the killer to stop no matter how things changed. 

#LovelyRunner #KimHyeYoon #ByeonWooSeok #SomhGeonHee #LeeSeungHyub

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Ended my Kdrama slump , loved it !!

So basically it's a time travel story in which Our Fl goes back and forth to save ML and they save each other in the end. I just loved how BSW only had eye for Fl in every revind and every future story.
It has all the cliches that I like-
Male lead loves fL first
Rich ML
Possessive ML
Calm And caring ML
Warm FL
But you still feel like rewatching it is that wholesome.
Honestly, in first few minutes in drama I was really annoyed by Fl of how she was behaving like a 12 year old and with squeky voice but you will regret not continuing as it gets so much better from there onwards and when we see fl in emotional scenes then we are able to connect with her acting.
And the title is well suited for the drama as Fl is always running away from ML , only to be even closer to ML.
Must watch show, loved every scene and that one scene when fl pokes ML in nostril was so hilarious 😂.
Also appa and Umma of ML and fL had really funny conversations. Granny did a great job too.

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lovely time travel story with good romance

I am glad for people's positive reviews which made me decide to give this drama a try, and having did I understand the reason such a low budget drama is gaining so much popularity.
I loved the whole story including the time travel element, and even though there were minor small gripes that I had with the mechanics of the time slips etc, it stil never ruined anything for me. The backstory to how the miraculous time travel capabilites first come about are never explicitly stated but the viewer is shown hints as to who to thank for it all, which made everything all the more heartfelt and emotional in the end.
The best aspect by far and one that I believe accounts for 100% of the popularity this show is garnering is without a question, the romance. with an endearing love story and marvelous electriflying chemistry, watching and re-wtching their scenes together and the behind-the-scenes, it shows very evidently how the two lead actors had built in real life such great rapport and a strong relationship based on trust and respect, and hopefully even more than that ♡
The acting was very strong by the whole cast especially our OTP who did a marvelous job conveying all ranges of emotions and levels of emotional maturity.
The comedy parts were pretty well done with a lot of laugh-out-loud cringe inducing hilarious parts, thanks in particular to a marvelous set of side characters including the ML's dad, the FL's mom and older brother, the FL's old time crush Tae-Sung and In Hyuk our ML's best friend.
the OST was lovely and despite the fact that first time watching not many tracks managed to particurarly stick with me, later after rewatching parts of it I found myself humming a few tunes even sonagi <3

If there are any negative comments worth mentioning, it would mostly concern the villain and the whole serial murderer arc. I know that the story needed a plot device to push it forward and into the danger and angst zone, but our bad guy was just that, too bad and psycho down to the core, but the story never bothered to show us any sort of background story to flesh him out or show us the motives behind anything he did or his seeminly deeply rooted grudge against Sol & Sun-jae, so he ends up as a 2D caricature of a bad guy, whenever he pops up on screen I am rolling my eyes rather than being on the edge of my seat.
And also there is just too many times that the writer is allowed to use the exact same plot device before it becomes too repitive it essentially is no longer surving its purpose but rather it's cheapening the worth of the whole story. I mean to sum up all troubles our lead couple could ever and will ever face together all in the mere existence of one villain, was too much for me at some points. I understand that if the story was that she was going back in time to save her love after getting hit by random traffic or some other type of accident, it might have had its uncertainties and would have felt like defying fate, and I guess the writers were playing at the concept of destiny involving both good and bad bonds, so people who were meant to cross paths are destined to do for better or for worse, but I couldn't help feeling like I would have appreciated it more if there was more time given to delve deeper into our bad guy's story and psyche so he would not feel like a wack-a-mole puppet popping put every couple of episodes.

Overall despite any minor shortcomings this drama might have, still a marvelous romance, lovable characters and spectacular cast manage to turn it into as perfect a drama as any romcom could ever dream of being.
So even though the objective part of me couldn’t help criticizing certain indiscrepancies about the time slip element which can not be said to be the most original out there to begin with (what with all the other time slip dramas that come out each season), or the annoying villain, Still this drama has managed to steal a spot in my all time favorites thanks to nothing but the main lead's chemistry and swoon-inducing romance. Proof is the fact I immediately went ahead and re-watched all their scenes together. I recommend highly to any Kdrama fan out there.

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Fizzles out but stays cute

I’m kind of surprised by the glowing reviews on this one, because as cute as the main couple is (and not only are they cute, they’ve got an AMAZING kiss scene)…I really think this is one of those dramas that starts out strong but ends up fizzling out.

The first episode is extremely strong; the heart-wrenching tragedy of the male lead’s death gives our female lead a purpose in her time travel journey, and the added layer of her being able to walk after being in a wheelchair for so many years adds is also great. There’s commentary about disability and inaccessibility, which I really appreciated. I also really loved how we saw Im Sol getting back the will to live.

The next few episodes were still promising; it was the right balance of funny and heart-wrenching, and I was also pleasantly surprised that the FL already went back to a changed future.

The first thing I didn’t really like was the mystery element. The recent trend of inserting a random serial killer into a rom-com drama is something I really do not enjoy, and this was no different; it felt like a lot of the profound commentary we got at the start about living with a disability or depression and suicide became reduced to “actually there was a villain, so our ML was never depressed, and our FL shouldn’t have been disabled anyways.”

As the drama went on it felt like the story focused more on the mystery, with the second lead randomly popping in to fulfill his police officer role, while our main couple also got more repetitive: Im Sol was always sad because she had seen a sad future, while Sun Jae was in a perpetual state of ignorance, or even amnesia. The actual state of the future switched around, sure, but their core characters were always the same.

Ultimately, I think this was still a very cute watch; there are funny, chaotic scenes and the male lead is one heck of a green flag. I just wish it kept all the substance and momentum it had at the start.

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Skyrocketed To My All Time Fave's List

PLEASE. THIS DRAMA WAS SO GOOD. I mean its' ratings literally speak for itself. This became such a top drama globally without even being on Netflix or anything. I was watching it from the start as it was always in my planned list, and then suddenly people are me were mentioning it and I was getting shocked at how everyone is suddenly knowing this drama. Honestly so well deserved. The actors did a great job. And usually time travel dramas become a little iffy while watching, but this has got to be my absolute favorite in how they depicted it. Their love story was beautiful. And the ending was chefs kiss. I was laughing, crying, stressing with the characters. This really has been so fun to watch. I will definitely be rewatching this as a comfort kdrama in the future. PLEASE WATCH THIS!!!

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