Lovely Runner

Love overcome the fate, for those who are ment to be. " IT IS THE BEST DRAMA OF 2024"

I have never ever and ever return any Review
But For this drama I will , as I'm so excited and happy and want to express my emotions to someone

At first I thought it is going to be the same time travel drama to save her love, but it wasn't the same plot but it wasn't roller coaster of emotions , perfect story line it was so perfect that i thought it's real.

Both the ML and FL acting was so good that when they cried I too got watery eyes, second ML was so cute for me.
All the characters were played by the right persons.

Seonjaya, Sola how they both called each other, that longing for the love in her eyes everytime in her eyes when she misses him,
that emptiness in him with I'm sol all were greatly displayed by both of them.

To save her idol going back to time , falling in love , unable to defy fate each time, forgetting love is better than making your love suffer everytime 😍🥰😍🥰😘

At the end there's only one thing I would say
" IT IS THE BEST DRAMA OF 2024"

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Best drama to exist

Lovely runner holds a special place in my heart. As someone who likes to binge watch dramas, I started watching this drama as it was airing and I was thinking oh I should've waited till it was fully aired. I usually drop dramas if I watch them as they're airing as I get bored of waiting and I watch spoilers on Twitter but with Lovely Runner, not once did I watch a spoiler. The excitement for each ep, watching the pre-releases were all part of the experience that I am so happy I went through. Not one episode was bad or laggy or whatever. Every moment was worth it. Both the leads are wonderful and I am teary as I'm writing this review because I am going to miss them so much. As someone who hated Mondays, I waited for Mondays every week and now I feel empty without them on my Mondays and Tuesdays from now on. All OSTs were beautiful but Spring Snow warms my heart. Please everyone do no hesitate and watch Lovely Runner, trust me, you won't regret it. I will never forget the impact this drama had on me. Thank you Wooseok and Hyeyoon and the rest of the cast for this amazing drama, it really healed me. Truly the best drama to exist.

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Cheesy, thoughtless, incomplete details

I'm sorry my dear friends - I truly tried to be fair and complete the episodes. But from ep.10 itself it started dragging so badly that I barely managed to torture myself till ep.12.
It had so much promise so I waited for all episodes to be released then decided to binge watch. But alas!

Maybe the story/ screen play writer went back in time and forgot to come back??
Or they flew into the future and left the balance script for amateurs to fill in the gaps??
Whatever.....it's an irresponsible story with vague events, one sided chemistry from the ML, worthless romance etc etc.

Is someone beating you guys up that you have to produce such high quantity at the risk of poor low quality dramas?

I have not seen one decent romance k drama to date in 2024.

Your country, culture and wonderful entertainment has taken the world by storm - hope you can go back to making high quality dramas with some time, effort and love 💕

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Worth the hype

How am I supposed to watch any other K-Drama now after watching the Citizen Kane of them all?

Anyone who loves Murakami books would love this. Anyone who loves the anime ‘Your Name’ would love this. I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but I know many are! Both involve time hopping, tragedies, and romantic fate.

This drama was on a whole different level from all the others I’ve watched. It was incredibly unexpected but welcome. Fantastic performances and chemistry, a consistent tone and pace, emotional depth that will truly leave you heartwrenched consistently, and an unpredictable story that keeps you addicted the entire time.

I’m so impressed by how well the tone would shift back and forth in this drama. And it shifted A LOT throughout each episode. You could never get too hopeful or comfortable and it keeps you addicted. The perfect balance of heartbreaking drama, action, and adorably cheesy romance. This needs to be protected from an HBO remake… truly.

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An unforgettable experience

Lovely Runner is an absolute triumph of storytelling, brilliantly weaving a deeply emotional narrative structure with unforgettable, powerhouse performances. The writing stands out as an exceptional feat of television, seamlessly transitioning from laugh-out-loud comedy to high-stakes suspense, all while grounding complex sci-fi mechanics in a profound, heartwarming soulmate romance. Every narrative arc is perfectly paced, delivering a flawless emotional buildup that keeps people captivated by the characters' destinies. This narrative brilliance is matched perfectly by the astonishing acting of the two leads, whose palpable, magnetic chemistry forms the unbreakable emotional anchor of the entire series. Kim Hye-yoon delivers a masterclass performance, showcasing extraordinary emotional range as she perfectly channels both the raw, weeping vulnerability of grief and the vibrant, chaotic energy of youth. Opposite her, Byeon Woo-seok is a true revelation, portraying his character across multiple decades with remarkable nuance. He beautifully balances the hilarious jealousy of a teenager with the heavy, melancholic maturity of an adult, creating a deeply sympathetic and layered protagonist. Together, the stellar storytelling and world-class acting elevate the show, leaving an indelible mark on viewers as a truly unforgettable experience.

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Excellent watch and rewatch!

A string of negative reviews prompt me to add my 2 cents here.

If you are going to write a negative reviews please first make sure that you have your eyes wide open about what genre you think this drama is under. If you huffing and puffing about a time travel story line that doesn't make sense, or a thriller that didn't take off then you should add a disclaimer that you have watched this drama with a different/ wrong expectation. Fangirlverdict might have save you a lot of time if you have read her non spoiler review first: https://thefangirlverdict.com/2024/06/09/review-lovely-runner/

This drama is wonderful and will stay as a favourite for a very long time.

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Love that Defies Time

For some crazy reason, I didn’t watch this show until now despite many claiming that it has been the best drama of 2024. But, um, they’re totally right.

“Lovely Runner” SHINES in a year of duds. It is a masterpiece of writing and acting. It masterfully blends comedy, romance, suspense, and sci-fi (time travel) in a completely satisfying mix that will make you binge. I watched the whole thing in three days. I couldn’t stop myself.

And don’t get me started on these leads. Acting? Brilliant. Chemistry? Amazing. Depth? Fully fleshed out. Their story of young love deepening into a beautiful self-sacrificing unconditional love is one of the best romantic developments I’ve seen in any drama, this year or otherwise. Plus, their kiss scenes and overall comfortableness with their skinship is so perfect. Swoon-worthy the max.

It also has one of the most satisfying endings ever. I went from bawling my eyes out in episode 13-14 to grinning like a little kid all throughout episode 16. All their pain and fighting to be together through two (almost three) timelines is repaid with joy and a bright future.

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Fantastic Drama

After a long time, one kdrama without boring episodes. Engaging chemistry between the leads. Started watching this drama mainly for the male lead, totally in love with the series. Can not wait for the upcoming episodes. This one will definitely be one of the best kdrama of all the time. Addicted to this drama.

After a long time, one kdrama without boring episodes. Engaging chemistry between the leads. Started watching this drama mainly for the male lead, totally in love with the series. Can not wait for the upcoming episodes. This one will definitely be one of the best kdrama of all the time. Addicted to this drama.

Personal Rating:
Story: 10
Acting & Cast: 10
Music: 10
Cinematography: 10

Overall: 100/100

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A story that's full of heart

As I’m typing this, the soundbar in front of me is playing out the song list by Eclipse, the fictional band fronting the OST of this amazing drama series. Before I say anything else, let me say that Lovely Runner has probably one of the best OST compilations for a drama series in a long while. It’s just delightful to me that fans are gifted with 5 original songs specially written for a fictional band to be savored long after the drama’s ending. It underlines just how every detail making up this show is taken care of by its producers.

Another remarkable aspect of this drama is the very palpable chemistry among the entire cast and not just the main characters. They each delivered a stellar and very believable performance collectively. Byeon Wooseok is a revelation to me in this, having watched his previous works this one stuck out to me as very, very well pulled-off comparatively. In fact, BWS truly WAS Ryu Seonjae with every delivery be it in words, postures, facial expressions, both macro and micro. I felt his angst, I relished his jubilance. Kim Hyeyoon was also remarkable as always, though I preferred her portrayal of the adult version of Im Sol for some reason. Maybe it’s because I felt that her youthful aegyo from her school days were a little bit overdone at times. I’m very much willing to overlook those instances though, as I felt that her bubbly character complemented Seonjae’s more reticent, boyish charms very well.

Another aspect of the show I truly treasured was Seonjae’s “bromance” with other characters, especially Baek Inhyuk and the occasionally reluctant Kim Taesong. I’ll never forget that drunken scene with the acorns and in the noraebang. In fact, I love the way this show treats all the friendship, sisterhood, bromance, family values and even the way our band members Eclipse regard their fans.

Okay now moving to the story; I do understand how it’s not a cup of tea for everyone. I also feel that maybe time travel as a storytelling device in presenting the plotline can be an overwhelming concept for some. Many have mentioned how it seemed repetitive, with Im Sol traveling back and forth through time as though in a pointless loop. Well, this is exactly the essence of FATE; fate has a way of reasserting itself back into the original path despite numerous interventions. Im Sol had only 3 chances to do that as per given by the watch, and she even (seemingly) failed all three. So how DOES one change fate? That was what Im Sol had to figure out. It’s just so poetic to me how it was Kim Taesong who saved the day for them and changed the course of their ill-fated relationship. And I love how Kim Taeseong’s dad put it in the end, “Maybe (bad guy) Kim Youngsoo had to die so that another innocent life can live”

Despite several minor inconsistencies, plot holes, and plot conveniences, I truly enjoyed watching Lovely Runner for the feelings it evoked within me. It made me laugh in unabashed hysterics, it made me cry inconsolable tears, and it also inspired me to love the people closest to me that much harder. That’s why at least for this drama series, I’m willing to overlook technical accuracies and savor all the ways it made me feel watching it instead.

I’ll truly miss this one. It’s been a while since a drama series affected me this much. The last one was Six Flying Dragons, I’ll have you know.

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One of my favorite romcom

It's not a perfect drama, but I really love it. It's a drama where I can feel the passion & affection from the casts, directors, writer, and staffs... so it feels even more precious.

1. Story - Overall decent, but it had weak moments due to being a 16 episode series.
The first 8 episodes are the best imo. I don't really like the development in ep 9-14, but I love the last 2 episodes. Ep 16 especially is one of the best ending that I've seen... this review is heavily biased due to the ending.

I only dislike Geum x Hyunjoo storyline and the unnecessarily long killer plot.

However, I love that we got ML pov, it makes me feel like reading a novel and feels very appropriate to the source. It also gives more weight to the previous scenes.
I'm also glad all version of Seonjae got saved. I always feel bittersweet when I remember the original Seonjae, so I'm glad that he also got his happy ending.

2. Casts are really good. I really love the 4 leads especially. I like BWS and KHY in this drama, I'm so impressed that they gives off different feeling in each age. They have one of the best chemistry too imo.

Because they were played by KHY and BWS, I really fell in love with Sol and Seonjae... and I can't help but root for their happiness. They did such an amazing job that I really can't imagine anyone else playing these roles.

3. Dialogue - The lines are so pretty, it's a shame that some of the meaning got lost in translation. This is one of the story where I feel like it's worth to buy the script book.

4. Directing - I think it's a blessing that the director got replaced. This director knows how to tell a story. Though this also resulted in some jarring scenes here and there as they use some of the older footage. Given the budget and time constraint, I feel like the director did his best. I love all the parallel scenes!

5. No PPL makes it more immersive.
Can you imagine the white candy got switch to Kopiko?? I'd die laughing.

6. OST - best drama OSTs for me. All the OST lyrics basically narrating the stories, I love it.

7. Ending - best ending for me. I love ep 16 so much! It's the perfect ending for a romcom drama. With the amount of bad ending that I've watched in recent years, I'm so thankful to the writer.

This drama took 3 years to produce and went through rough time due to director change, reshoot, barely any promo and everyone think it will flop... but I'm glad that the result has been amazing. Thank you for making me so happy for the past 8 weeks. It's been a while since I've been so invested into a kdrama from beginning until the end, so I feel a bit empty now that it's completed.

Solseon, please live happily from now on.

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