Lovely Runner

im sorry for the person im gonna be

there's a lot of things that i wanna say about this drama because the more i watched it the more i started to force me to finished it and i couldn't. i watched half of the 14th ep and i decided to watch another thing 💀

i'm not gonna talk abt the acting cuz idk abt those things but instead i'm gonna talk abt sol's character. she pissed me off so bad, she just did things that i didn't like and she was just doing it for stupid reasons. that time where she made the guy from her career eat the mouthwash just because she didn't want sunjae to see her??? and the fact that she wanted sunjae not to fall in love with her and okay, i kinda get it but why would you say that if you're gonna cry and start to date him suddenly?? doesn't make sense. sol needed to make up her mind SO BAD i bet she also didn't know what she was doing

i also didn't know when was the time that sol felt something for sunjae because in 2023, she told him she did but did she really? when was that actually? /gen like, i never noticed that (i think it was when sunjae asked her if she didn't feel anything towards him at any of those times she was in when they were at her house)

also, can we talk abt the crime subplot?? if there's something i hate on romcoms dramas is that mf crime subplot like, why?? if i wanted to watch a crime drama i would. and please don't try to excuse them with the "it's because she couldn't walk" okay i get it, but there's so many options for that, she could've just get in a car accident-

speaking of which, there were a lot of drama at some point because of the guy that abducted her, sunjae confessing and sol's mom at the hospital?? 🧍🏼‍♂️

even tho i gave it a 6.5 i won't say this was a bad drama. like, i actually enjoyed it and it gave me a good chuckle and, if it wasn't for sol's personality i would say sunjae and her had a good relationship, it was cute and all.

btw omg i loved sunjae's personality. he was so cute, he really liked sol and he was so down bad for her. i love when the male leads are a losers <3

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You Guys Gave This A 9.1?

This review is for those who've already seen it. You may enjoy it as it's just a compilation of notes I made watching this drama.

Let me start off by saying this drama is like Twinkling Watermelon meets W. W is one of my favorite dramas and Twinkling Watermelon was amazing. This, however, is really hard to watch. Like really hard. I'm sticking with it, but fast-forwarding quite a bit. I've only quit one drama before because I couldn't stand the FL and I'm trying not to have a repeat of Kill Me, Heal Me.

FL, Im Sol (Kim Hye-Yoon) was really cute and sweet in the first episode. Then when she travelled back in time she became really annoying and kind of ditzy/stupid. ML, Ryu Sun-Jae (Byeon Woo-Seok) was weirdly nice in episode one, despite his clear depression, but past him was a bit odd. In his defense, Im Sol was being a creep and a half.

Someone in the comments (on Viki) said that Kim Tae-Sun (Song Geon-Hee) was the 2nd ML, but when searching the names, I see a different male billed above him. Never seen this guy in any drama before but he looks too old for high school.

Okay, now it's just annoying. He keeps trying to confess, and she's either the world's biggest moron, or she's deaf. Maybe both.

This whole her rushing home to stop the fire, whilst dumb and dumber, her best friend, Lee Hyun-Joo (Seo Hye-Won), and brother, Im Geum (Song Ji-Ho), is not only stupid, it's infuriating.

Her teenage self took over? Ugh. This is going to be exhausting and drawn out for no reason, I can tell.

I feel really bad for 2nd ML. She needs to end it with that poor guy. Also, harsh take but maybe she didn't deserve working legs because the amount of times this girl falls, trips, gets knocked over, etc is annoying.

Omg. He keeps saying "I like you" and she keeps running away. What even is this plot and how on earth was it rated so highly on this site?

Oh good. And now we're at the "I can't accept your feelings." dumb *#&@^$(#& crap.

Baek In Hyuk (Lee Seung Hyub) is completely right. It's been like 15 years and suddenly he just falls for her all over again? Especially after how ungrateful and shitty she was the last time they met in the past.

Her losing her mind about the watch and screaming, "I should have died instead!" like he's not even dead. Go be with him in hospital instead of doing all this nonsense.

"I can't die before I save him!" proceeds to close her eyes and make no attempt to save herself. God she's infuriating.

2ML is definitely my favorite character. He's keeping me hanging on. Much like the bromance in Goblin was the only thing keeping going through that because that girl was obnoxious and acted like a child.

"Hey my dad said the killer is stalking you, shouldn't you tell your family and move everyone somewhere safer?" No. That would be intelligent, why would I do that?

So they both learn the killer has escaped, she breaks down to Tae Sung's dad about catching him and then her boyfriend is cautious about everything and she's like "What's up with you?". Good god she's insufferable.

I struggled to get through this drama and the only reason I did was because I skipped a lot. I'm glad we got the happy ending for everyone. The last episode was pretty sweet. And I will say, unlike other dramas, it wasn't a super rushed happy ending so I will give them that.

Justice for my man Tae Sung though. lol

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A Highly Overrated Trashy Piece of Nonsense Paired With Absolute Cringe Acting of The Female Lead.

This story was so cringy that it forced me to question the high ratings of this show. I forced myself to watch it till the last due to its high rating, thinking it would get better. The female lead was absolutely irritating and dumb to the point of making my blood boil. I liked the female lead only in the opening scene, where she showed me that she can act. But later, all she did in the entire drama was Seon Jae this and Seon Jae that. She had no life of her own. I absolutely hate such female leads who have no life of their own other than thinking about the Male lead. I lowkey felt like the creators of this show hated the FL. Because otherwise, you can not write such a dumb female lead. The over-the-top acting of the actress made the drama unbearable as well. The male lead was far better in terms of acting and as a character. Though the music of the drama is very nice but it couldnot save this cringefest. Though the last episode was bearable, the experience was spoiled for me due to the uncomfortable expression of the FL which felt like the ML was the only one in this relationship. She looked visibly uncomfortable to me in response of the ML's affection, which made no sense to me as she was risking everything earlier for the ML. Overall, this was an absolute torture of a drama that can be recommended to others as a punishment.

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Procrastinated Watching For A Reason

I procrastinated watching this show for a very long time. I visited Korea and was shocked by seeing Byun Woo Seok on every cafe, product, and store sign. I even got his photocard as a freebie way before knowing his name. It really hyped the show up for me and I knew it would end with me being disappointed. Boy was I entirely correct.

I want to start by saying that I already have a hard time with shows about idols/singers/celebrities (Record of Youth was fine at this, but most are not great) AND with shows about time travel. Twinkling Watermelon is the only drama I’ve ever seen be able to combine two of my least favorite genres/tropes and make something amazing.

Despite all of these issues, I tried to go into Lovely Runner with an open mind. It clearly had to go viral and get amazing ratings for a reason, right? I like Byun Woo Seok as an actor, I loved being on a swim team as a kid, and mostly I really needed something to watch.

My efforts to enjoy the show were in vain.

Definitely not a show for watchers that struggle with cringe humor/secondhand embarrassment. Reminds me of classic Kdramas in the worst ways. Characters doing embarrassing things all the time, misunderstanding each other, and even potty humor….it just ends up being hard to watch and not funny at all. If this show came out a decade ago I’d give some of the writing a pass, but it’s really not what I want to see.

SPOILERS

Over half of the story makes no sense, and I’m not talking about the fact that time travel exists. It feels like the writers forgot about certain things that happened/were set up and forced their way back in later.

FLs choices don’t make any sense, even considering she’s sacrificing herself for the ML, half the time she didn’t have to. Only time I felt connected to her emotionally was realizing she had to watch the guy she loves die 3 times and never got to mourn him. Watching her get out of bed after he got stabbed, and immediately having to take care of a baby broke my heart.

The entire plot line of the kidnapping is unnecessary to the story and only resurfaces when convenient. She gets kidnapped multiple times, her legs get paralyzed for 15 years, and multiple people die, but the only way it impacts her emotionally (post stanning eclipse) is the next few times she crosses the road she has to take some deep breaths?? Plus she nearly stepped into traffic from not paying attention every single one of those times. Just look at the road babe. After a couple of times that’s entirely forgotten too.

ML getting stabbed could have been the perfect set up for him finally getting a chance at time travel and them making things work together, but no somehow the FL just gets extra bonus tries??? Like the 3 she got at the start meant nothing. Not to mention, she doesn’t go back again after that.

Not a fan of the way the FL only got a chance at happiness because she saved herself from becoming disabled. I really would have loved to see her become happy and in love in the wheelchair. I understand that was a point of frustration and limiting for her but it sends the message that disabled people can’t be happy/fall in love. They also don’t do anything else with the MLs anxiety/depression after the first death. It’s very lightly hinted at in the second (?) timeline but again it’s like the time travel cured him instead of him going to therapy, doing anything else to get better. I guess as long as you have a girlfriend you can’t be depressed??? Not great.

Side characters were impossible to watch. I liked the trope of best friend’s brother but every scene with them was so over the top cringe. And toilet humor? Juvenile.

The second male lead definitely grew on me after a couple of episodes, but I also feel like they could have done more with him. I liked that he was fine with her “multiple personalities” and that he became a cop later on. That was pretty cool. However, I would have loved to see him get memories of the past timelines back as he solved the case. I think that could have been a cool addition. Also I swear in the beginning they mention he’s in eclipse (inhyuk knows him somehow) but he never was. Could have just been another thing that didn’t make any sense to me.

I do want to say Byun Woo Seok doesn’t deserve all the hate he’s getting right now for his acting. He was the only thing I liked about the drama. Even without his visuals his acting was well done.

This is the longest review I’ve ever written and it’s because of just how frustrated I was watching it. Maybe if I watched it when it came out or if it was my first kdrama then I’d have enjoyed it more. I’m happy other people like it.

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Such potential....wasted

This drama could have been wrapped in 12 eps. Alright with that out of the way I will confess that I had dropped this drama at Ep 12. I was so hyped about this drama back in the day and even visited the locations in Seoul of this drama. Super cute ML and bubbly chirpy FL was super fun to watch first few episodes. The chemistry was amazing. All of that lasted for the first 5 episodes. Then the repetition of the plot started to get boring. I felt sorry for the ML who kept chasing the FL and she kept wasting our and his time. :b
Around ep 10 the ML also figured out the time travel plot and even confronted the FL so they could have worked together as a team but she chose to once again do it her way and fail...again !!
So after a couple of years I picked it again and remembered all the reasons I had dropped it.....this time screaming, shouting at the screen, mostly at the FL. So much potential with the cast and story....!! ><

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I wish I could travel back in time to stop myself to watch Lovely Runner!

ABSOLUTE MESS! DON'T SHOW THIS TO ANYONE WHO NEVER WATCHED A KDRAMA!!!

Other than the two main lead being cute (and cringe) together, and the OST, what else is good in this show? Honestly, I can't mention anything else.

I don't understand how this drama can have a 9.0 rating. Like everyone is blinded by the eye candy?

I watched a lot of movies and shows about time traveling, but oh my God, this has one of the most inconsistent writing EVER! If you want to write a story about time traveling, and create your own rules, at least don't change it in every episode!

1st: We NEVER get any explanation how can she travel back in time. I'm not talking about the method, I'm talking about the whole reason why she can do it. Who made it possible?

2nd: If she can't tell anything about the future, because the time will freeze, how did she manage to tell multiple people still? The writing was so sloppy! The fact that her past-self don't remember anything, just made the whole plot meaningless. The fact is, she never loved the guy, she was a fangirl, and she falls in love with him in the past, but her past-self didn't even know the guy.

3rd: Sol is THE DUMBEST female character I've seen in a Kdrama! Like, she never tells anything to anyone. Not even her kidnapping. How is that even possible, I don't know. I mean, the police just thought: "Let's not say anything to her family, even tho she's a minor, and a guy wanted to kill her, it's not important!" No wonder he was outsmarting the police for 15 YEARS! Absolute JOKE!

What's more irritating is that, Sol isn't even trying to change the future. She knows exactly how it's gonna happen and where, yet she goes to the same place rather than just travel to another city or a country. If I know how my loved one will die, I'm not gonna act like Supergirl and fight with the killer. To be fair, it's not like the police can handle anything. Even a toy version is more reliable.

This isn't all, the worst part in the story is probably the last couple of episodes when she removes herself from the memory of everyone, except her family, but of course, somehow her grandmother with dementia still remembers, and the guy will slowly remember as well, because why not, right? They can remember the past that never happened!

So, yeah, this show doesn't deserve the hype or the high score, at all!

I mean, I could say, if you can ignore everything, it's a fun show, but what's the point of ignoring everything? You could just watch the paint dry on your wall. Same experience, without the cute female and hot male lead!

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Dissapointing and Overrated

So I'll be honest, I did not really enjoy watching Lovely Runner. I had really high expectations but it was just boring...

I thought the beginning was interesting as she had suffered a terrible accident and had to learn how to live her life in a wheel chair. She was unhappy and suicidal, but then suddenly, one call from some idol and some simple message like "live to enjoy tomorrow", would completely change her outlook on life. This does not seem realistic. One does not change from suicidal to suddenly a bubbly and positive girl from one moment to the next. After the concert in episode 1, he meets her at the bridge, which is a huge coincidence to be honest. Then it turns out he had been her neigbour, another big coincidence, he was actually the one who saved her at the bridge, another big coincidence... I know fiction always has coincidences and unrealistic occurances, but this was really too much! Also, I thought we would learn of his struggle with depression and suicide, and the plot twist was so dissapointing.

Additionally, I thought it was strange that the whole plot of his "suicide" would suddenly change to a murder case, which was connected to Im Sol's car accident. It is just so typical and predictable at this point. Furthermore, the serial killer does not have any personality and is just a chess piece for the plot.

The second couple in the drama were just so unnecessary. What did that add to the story?

All the problems in this drama are external, and the most important being that the murderer will kill Sun Jae. This is also boring, as there is no character development in the whole story. What did Sun Jae and Im Sol learn in the process? Nothing. Only that they loved each other.

The whole plot was based on saving Sun Jae, and there is literally nothing else the plot is about. He was in love with her from the beginning also making the whole "falling in love" process really gone. I usually love romance, but this drama did not make my heart flutter at all!

Well, throughout the drama until like episode 15 I was somewhat okay with the drama. Nothing exceptional but some light entertainment, but at episode 15, when the killer got hit by a truck, I was really shocked! This is it? That's it? The main characters were not even responsible for the catching of the murderer! I mean what did I watch this drama for? I watched it so that Im Sol manages would put the criminal in prison. So when episode 16 came, I expected something dramatic to happen cause episode 15 was so underwhelming and dissapointing. Turns out episode 16 is just one super long episode about Im Sol and Sun Jae being together. I really felt nothing when I finished the drama.

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Kim Hye Yoon stuns and Byeon Woo Seok is great, but after that?

Attempting to keep this brief.

Kim Hye Yoon and Im Sol are as perfect a pairing of actor and character as can be achieved by human effort.

Byeon Woo Seok is more than capable as a lead and is particularly good when Seon Jae is uncomfortable and awkwardly trying to make something happen with Im Sol. Somehow, when he's supposed to be cool and under control, doesn't seem as natural.

The two together are fantastic particularly through the first time loop sequences up until Im Sol finally (in present day) comes clean about her feelings and the big scene in her apartment doorway delivers the awaited romantic payoff.

These two can duke it out with the lead couple of just about any drama and hold their own.

But the rest?

Not great.

There's a second couple but 1. it's forgotten almost completely from episodes 4 through 15 and 2. they are clearly intended to be the comic relief in a show where the leads provide plenty of laughs so the second couple has to take their acting to a sketch comedy level that is nails-on-chalkboard grating.

Kim Won Hae is great (as he almost always is) but the relationship between Sun Jae and KWH's father is rarely given any in depth play. What could have been a terrific subplot, particularly when dealing with Sun Jae's swimming career, is ignored.

Tae Sung is a promising character but he needed a bit of backstory and consistency. Like a lot of characters that aren't the main two, Tae Sung is too frequently simply a convenient device that transforms in to whatever the story requires him to be. A bad boy that needs to fake a relationship with Im Sol. Later a buddy for Sun Jae. Then an object of jealousy. Intermittently, a character teased as the third spoke of a triangle (thankfully only teased but even the teasing of it was unwelcome). Finally, a cop to pursue the villain. Although the time loop changes can account for some of this, it's jarring when in one loop he's a successful fashion entrepreneur and then suddenly he's a civil servant.

Back to the villain: it's the most bland villain ever and the final confrontation with him is so painfully anticlimactic.

And the storytelling overall is lacking. It starts after major events that drive the storyline have happened but the context is never adequately exposited. The time loops are fairly well handled but there is absolutely one more loop than there needed to be and it's clear that the writers grew tired of incorporating how the most recent loop back changed the present day circumstances.

It's a show that could have 1. been a show exclusively about the lead couple for about an 8 episode run (like a longer "Soundtrack" drama) or 2. a more traditional 16 episode drama that invested more screen time in the secondary stories and characters. Either way, with this lead couple, it could have been an all-time great show. Instead, it's a fun watch and certainly recommended but falls well short of what it should have been.

[EDIT: Wow. Thanks so much to everyone who has liked this review! The positive feedback is very appreciated :)

The review should have mentioned that Im Sol's grandmother, both the character and the portrayal, were wonderful but, frustratingly underutilized.]

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Cheesy Fanfiction Loaded with Fanservice and a Side of Time Travel

I was really excited to watch this show after hearing all the great things about it. It seemed liked everyone was talking about it like it was up there with Queen of Tears, so maybe I had my expectations set too high to begin with because I was rather disappointed with how it turned out. The show isn't entirely bad, but it's very lacking.

I thought the overall tone of the show was fun. There were some funny moments and cute interactions between the leads, but most of it is overshadowed by the poor writing and lack of character development. The cast did good in their roles, though there is a bit of overacting that I suppose kind of fits with the quirky vibe but does seem out of place sometimes. First time seeing Byeon Woo Seok in a leading role like this, so I was excited to see how he does. I think he did good considering the poorly written character he had to play, but some of the overacting bits and exaggerated comedic expressions were a little awkward to watch. I do like how Seon Jae was not your usual cold and lifeless ML that we see a lot of in K-dramas, and he had a bit of a fun personality which was refreshing. Kim Hye Yoon did good as well, but I do agree with others that say her character could be a little annoying at times. The rest of the side characters were kind of just there to be there. They didn't really add much to the story, and I kind of wished the writers would have given a little more screentime to delve into the complexities around time travel and how that can impact relationships in Im Sol's life (something that Twinkling Watermelon did great on). Maybe more focus could have been on Seon Jae's depression and how Im Sol tries to help him through it (like the show "Seasons of Blossom"). The lack of character development for any of the characters, especially the leads, made the emotional aspect of the show suffer. I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters, so it just kind of felt like the writers were trying really hard to make me feel emotional and invested when I was anything but. Everything just seemed very surface level, like they had the potential to dive in way deeper when it comes to time travel and attempting to save a loved one by going back to the past, but instead they focused more on cliche fanfiction-like romance to make hearts flutter. But at the end of the day, even those heart-fluttery moments didn't really feel real or genuine since there was very little character to feel connected with and I wasn't even emotionally invested in their relationship. The time traveling was confusing at times and didn't really make sense. I wasn't a fan of how they kept switching between time periods and basically "resetting" everything multiple times. It got repetitive very quickly and the push-and-pull with the FL got boring.

The villain was kind of a joke. I still don't really understand what the point of him was, and I feel like the writers really tried to squeeze by hoping that no one would notice how poorly written his character is. He didn't seem all that threatening to me, especially when the script was rather predictable and I could tell based on the numerous dramas I've seen with similar villains that it was going to end up playing out the same way. He was just a crazy bad guy who was only there to progress the story when needed and add some conflict here and there. Every time he showed up on screen with his one bad eye I was like "oh great, I forgot about this guy".

I wasn't familiar with Lee Seung Hyub before this show, but he was surprisingly a breath of fresh air. He added that bit of comic relief while also not being too obnoxious or annoying. Im Geum and Hyun Joo were kind of funny and cute sometimes, but mostly just annoying and were clearly there to add comic relief. This wasn't really necessary since the show itself has enough comedic moments.

Then there's the love triangle with Kim Tae Sung. I read that his character was actually written specifically for the show and wasn't in the original. It seems like most people love him, but I felt more annoyed than anything else. His character was also not developed well at all, and he seemed kind of pointless until the last few episodes. He would just show up every now and then to add cheesy fanservice and jealous ML scenes. The dialogue in his scenes felt especially cliche to me when looking at it from a writing perspective. Like it's painfully obvious it was just fanservice most of the time, and of course they had to have the FL's past self be in love with the 2ML, while the present day FL is in love with the ML. Both Seon Jae and Tae Sung are constantly fighting for Im Sol's attention and love (more rivalry fanservice incoming), but both have very little character outside of this and this continues until basically the very last episode. It's hard to see how you could have 2ML syndrome when his character isn't at all interesting and very underdeveloped, added with the fact that he only has a few scenes here and there and doesn't really contribute much until the very end.

Sorry if my review seemed all over the place (I was really just typing whatever came to mind). Overall, if you're looking for a cheesy cliche rom-com that isn't necessarily groundbreaking but just as an easy watch, then this show could be for you. If you're looking for more of a complex story and deeper connections with its characters, then you might want to look elsewhere.

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Very disappointing

I had really high hopes for this show because of all the hype that was going on around it. I have one more episode left but so far I'm very disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it has some really sweet moments and their chemistry is really good. There are also lots of funny moments and the humor is very good too. The story really had a great potential but I just feel like they had no idea what to do with it.

First episode really had me hooked and the plot was portrayed as very unique and deep with FL being disabled and also talking about ML who is a famous celebrity with depression problems. After that the show became very shallow and predictable. I don't even understand why they portrayed them like that, because that was never mentioned again for the rest of the show.
For me it got good again around 8th episode, when they meet as adults, but that lasted only for that one episode and after that it became progressively worse. I was expecting the story to develop around their adult life but she went back in time once again. I don't understand why tho because they showed him being hurt but they never said anything about him dying. At that point I was very tired of all the time travel because it made no sense.

Talking about time travel, I don't understand how was she able to change the fate and prevent her home from burning but wasn't able to save ML, not even once and it happened three times.

The more I watched the more I realised that her only goal was to save ML and nothing else was important. All other characters weren't important at all and they never got the chance to develop. At some point, during her time travel, she found out her mom was in a hospital because she was sick but they never explained what was going on and they never mentioned that again.

Also, in the first half of the series they never really explained how she became disabled and it was obvious we would find out during the show. Then they decided to make the second half all about that and her kidnapper and also her saving ML form the kidnapper. It gave a feeling as if they didn't know what to do with the story so they just decided to put that there.

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Suffers from hours of useless filler scenes

When I read the plot I wasn't really interested at first, but the very high ratings made me curious.
The first few episodes were nice, but nothing new. FL and ML were OK, but I definitely preferred them in other dramas.
The supporting roles only serve for comic relieve, but in the most annoying way. I found myself skipped most of their scenes.
I think the middle episodes were the only time I was really hooked and then it spiraled in completely filler boredom. Like episode 13 was so out of pace, that for a moment I thought Netflix made a mistake and started a different drama. It picks a bit up after that, but I found myself using the skipping button every few minutes.
Especially the last episode was totally redundant and unnecessary. I only kept watching because I was sick and had nothing else to do. Otherwise this drama would have joined the growing pile of dramas that started strong-ish and after 2/3 just consists of of product placements or filler scenes.

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