Lovely Runner

A classic: Perhaps the greatest romance drama ever

If you read the plot synopsis you'd think there's nothing new or revolutionary about this plot. And you'd be right. "Time Slip" genre has been done to death in not just Korean Dramas but Asian Dramas in general. Just last year we had three Time Slip dramas, and those are just the ones I watched. The writer has written the story of Lovely Runner in such a beautiful way that these overused tropes feel so fresh. Each episode ends on such a high that all you think about is this drama, while waiting for the next one to come out, so much so that your life will be consumed by it (I really envy people who are going to binge watch this). The ending of Ep 2 is a particular favorite of mine, where the writer spins the narrative on its head and that is the moment where I knew I was in for something special. And there was no looking back after and there was not one episode until the end where I was not captivated by the storytelling. The writer has a unique take on "Time Slip" where the main female character Im Sol is able to travel back and forth between past and the present. The only catch is, she has limited tries and there are some rules she must not break while she is in the past. This raises the stakes of the story and also keeps the narrative interesting.

Im Sol and Ryu Sunjae are the heart and soul of this beautiful story. Kim Hye Yoon who plays Im Sol and Byeon Woo Seok who plays Ryu Sunjae give career defining performances. I have seen Kim Hye Yoon before in "Sky Castle" and "Extraordinary You", and I always thought she was a good actress, but with Lovely Runner she has become one of my favorite drama actresses. This is my first drama with Byeon Woo Seok and what an actor he is! He deserves all the praise that is coming his way for playing Sunjae. Im Sol and Ryu Sunjae are some of the best written main characters in kdrama history and Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok elevate those characters to a whole another level. The supporting characters were all great, especially the SML, Kim Tae Sung who is a breath of fresh air among second leads in kdramas. Never once does he force his feelings on Im Sol and was such a ray of sunshine throughout. I adored his bond with Sunjae and Sol.

Lovely Runner gives us a romance story for the ages spanning multiple decades. Im Sol challenging fate and destiny, failing multiple times along the way trying to save her love Ryu Sunjae. Their story will make you cry multiple times, but you'll also smile like crazy watching them being in love with each other. Unlike other romance dramas which run out of steam in Ep 10, this one just keeps getting better as it takes you through a roller coaster of emotions. And unlike most dramas the payoff at the end is so satisfying to watch. This is one of the rare dramas which gives you a very satisfying ending, an amazing payoff to Sol and Sunjae's love story.

Music is also an important part of the story with Sunjae headlining a famous band called "Eclipse". It is very well incorporated into the story and the songs are all top tier. Half of the songs are sung by Byeon Woo Seok himself, which is such a nice touch. No wonder these songs are so popular in Korea right now.

Dramas like Lovely Runner only come around once every few years. A drama that will captivate you through its storytelling and acting and production. This drama was not at the top of anyone's "Plan to Watch" list before it came out heck even the channel was expecting it to flop but through its sheer excellence it became the raging Hit that it is. Lovely Runner is a masterpiece and one of the best dramas I have ever seen. I am putting it in the same category as "Reply 1988" and "Twenty Five Twenty One" as my all time favorite dramas.

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it has more fantasy then story

it was satisfying to watch. The character build up, there struggles you feel sorry for female mc. and don't like the fact that its taken as Idol and his fangirl, they tried to hide this fact by she was his first love which made it worst.
they could have shown him as a saviour and owe her, her life. i mean she was suicidal, and his words and his presents even as an idol in her life made her want to live again... which was it self a big plot. yeah the drama version wasn't bad but it made the situation comedic, whatever it was really fun. i think they didn't want to make it serious...
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but the last episode felt like a rushed one ... they were like doesn't matter what is it just make a happy ending 😂😂

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One of my favourites.

I really like this drama, it was really easy watch and it didn't make me feel like it's a struggle for me to finish it.

I really liked the idea of fate and going back in time, usually it's not potrayed that well but this time it actually made sense. Also loved how it was showed that when you change one bad thing for a good thing in the past it can change everything, and then because you don't know what will happen you don't know if changing this one thing was a good idea. Maybe leaving it as it was was the better option?
As for the plot, I also was afraid that the crime aspect of this drama would feel like they made it out of nowhere or something but it actually was played well!

I wish that we would see Inhyuk and Taeseong get their happy ending. Yes, we saw that they are happy but it didn't feel full for me at least.

Loved the chemistry between the main couple, on-screen and off-screen they made it well-known that they have love and respect for each other. I really like how it was Sunjae that was first one to fall in love and HARDER. Also, I was happy to see that they are not "afraid" of skinship.

I was scared that Sol's personality will be only this cute, obsessed girl but it was a nice surprised to see that she was actually really mature but still with a little bit of fun.

Wish we would see more of the friendships in this drama, because I really enjoyed the episode when they went looking for Inhyuk. It felt warm.

As for the not so good points of this movie, well..

I think if this drama had only 12 episodes it would be better, it wasn't tiring to watch don't get me wrong – it just started to feel repetitive. They forgot each other, then they loved each other again, they forgot, they loved etc. etc. It def could fit in 12 episodes.

Sometimes I felt like the love between those two felt too obsessive, I understand the deep bond between them but they made it seem like they literally can't live without each other. Especially in the first episode it kinda felt parasocial.

I feel like the director made her disabled without really putting any meaning to it. It felt like one day she was disabled and the next day it was already forgotten, I actually forgot that it was the plot in the first episodes when I reached the episode 7/8. Which is again coming back to my first point – it should be only 12 episodes drama.

But in the end, even with those not so good things it still a really good drama.

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I might be biased?

I might be biased towards this drama but I have my own reason. Ive stop in watching korean dramas long time ago, i mean in terms of fangirling and binge-watching but Lovely Runner blows my mind!

My fingers are all curl up during “Sun Jae-ya!”. I love Hyeyoon cutesy and Wooseok’s smiley eyes. I love them, i love my pawrents!

Time-travelled story is quite difficult to understand unless you are slowly into it and a lot of questions for sure will pop up here and there, I do find myself in that situation but I keep on watching as I want to know the ending and ya! a super great ending!

All the OSTs are so great and I am still listening to them. Byeon Woo Seok has a nice voice, very good in acting, and he is just a perf-

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Unnecessary dragged

The first episode had me hooked but as the show progressed the story became just like any other Kdrama. Don’t know why some scenes and characters reminded me of true beauty. The character tae sung had uncanny resemblance with true beauty’s seo jun. Anyhow i wish there was more depth to the characters as female lead seemed shallow and same with some other characters. The female lead got on my last nerves with her stupid choices. The more chances she gets to go into the past the more dumb and careless she behaves and gets herself in trouble. I do feel bad for sunjae.

I still continued to watch it but Episode 8 is when it all went down. I was okay with the cliches too but episode 8 completely ruined it for me. Time travel become a joke at this point. Even sunjae’s feelings become a joke based on how conveniently Sol expressed her feelings 14 years later and he didn’t ask for an explanation? Like his feelings literally become so irrelevant after this point because no matter what sol does he kept clinging to her like a puppy. I hated to watch her travel back into past again. I wish they had ended the drama at episode 8 where they confessed feelings and got together. THE END but noo the writers had to drag the story even if they have nothing new to add to develop the plot.
I can easily guess what the final episodes are going to be about soo not curious at all.
Ps I know it’s seems stupid to drop a drama soo close to the finale but it cringe so bad when things get lame. I gave this drama a fair shot but…

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Romance is great, story is lacking

I think romance-wise these 2 actors may have some of the best chemistry I've seen in a minute! They carried as much as they could, but the story was a little all over the place plot wise, and im sol's whole shtick of hating on herself gets super old halfway thru. I also agree with some others that the drama didn't need to be as long as it was, and felt dragged out for an unmemorable climax. All in all though, i would still rate it fairly well since it gave me what i wanted out of it, which was an adorable romance, not a well-thought-out plot (though it was an intriguing and semi-original plot device/concept).

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Very good, although not perfect

I thought this drama was very well-done and highly entertaining. Was it perfect? Of course not. But I don't get the hate I read in some reviews and in the Viki Timed Comments while I was watching. It is surprising to me that this drama provoked such extreme reactions, with people either calling it the best of the best (which it isn't) or hating it to bits (which I don't think it deserves). Personally, I lean more towards the positive, although I found some weaknesses, that I will describe below.

The time travel

I happen to like dramas with second and third chances, where the character travels to the past trying to change things and, if it's done properly, I don't mind at all seeing the same things happening in different ways. It is exciting to think about the implications that changing one single thing can have to the future of all those involved.
I loved "Operation proposal" with Yoo Seung-ho, I also liked "Tomorrow with You", I hated "Manhole" with a passion. I loved "Twinkling Watermelon", except for the finale. I felt really let down and cheated of my happy ending. After all this desperate struggle of the son to save his future father, the accident happens anyway - although the outcome is significantly better. I felt like the writers went for the politically correct ending, with all its absurdities (he gets an executive job, of all things, in a company selling music instruments where everyone learns or at least understands sign language, just to accomodate one person who is not even close to them).
I was afraid of this here as well. I was afraid that they would have her end up paralyzed anyway, but with the love of her man, saying "there's nothing wrong in being disabled, it's just as good as not being disabled, you can be happy anyway". I've heard the argument that her ending disabled anyway would have been more realistic? Realistic? What on earth is a realistic outcome in a time-travel k-drama? Does time-travel exist and does it have real rules, realistic or otherwise? What are our criteria for calling something "realistic" in that context? Thankfully they didn't go that route.
Although I thought that overall "Watermelon" was a better drama, this one had its own charm.
I liked that the female lead does not travel to the same moment in time, and also that her visits are not always in chronological order. This gives variety and freshness, and helps us explore different moments of the characters' lives.
I didn't like that the reason and rules of time travel were not explained properly (was the grandma the Heavenly Granny after all, as was hinted at the end?) Just because the clock showed 3 o' clock and the next time 2 o' cloth, she assumed that there were three tries? That's random. But then, time travel dramas usually are a bit vague about that part, you're expected to just suspend disbelief.

Was the main lead a "loser"?

Someone said that it was unnecessary that the male lead is revealed to have liked her since the beginning. That he has no reason to like her. Yes, it wasn't indispensable, yes he could have grown to like her little by little.
But that revelation makes it much less one-sided, it made for a nice twist to see everything from his point of view. And, more importantly, given her crazy antics the first time she travelled, I don't know whether it would have been reasonable to put up with her if he didn't like her beforehand. He would have brushed her off as a weirdo. I know I would have! And, okay, let's be real, teenagers don't need very deep reasons to like someone. Consider that he went to an all-boys' school and wasn't very exposed to females, dedicated to his sport as he was. And at that age where hormones are raging. He saw a pretty girl with a radiant smile and he was smitten. At that point, it was just a generic liking, someone you would wish to meet again and make an acquaintance with, not the great love of his life, for whom he would be ready to give up his own - this came later, in a much more organic way.
There was the criticism that the main lead only thinks about his love and not enough about his career. He forgets about swimming too easily only because of her. Yes and no. The way I understood it is that while he was young he did like swimming and it was his life, but he was also encouraged a lot by his father, and he was happy to be able to excel somewhere. The time he had taken away from the sport led him to explore other interests as well. He did get interested in singing after that first time he got on the stage. He did write a song (inspired by his love, yes, but aren't 95% of songs love songs anyway?) Let's not forget that we're talking about 18 or 19-year-olds. They can change interests. I think that he really didn't want to go the the US for rehabilitation. First he was afraid that he wouldn't make it anyway and he would have raised his and his father's hopes for nothing. I didn't feel that was an excuse, it was a very realistic fear he had. Yes, not going to the US had a lot to do with his love, we know that. But I don't think it's the whole story. Not everyone goes on to do what they did when they were very young. So I don't find this a flaw. Otherwise, yes, he is ocncentrated on her a lot, but aren't we all like that when we are in love? Why call him a loser, as so many people did? Are you a loser if you are able to feel deep love and show it to your beloved? I know, she rejected him so he should move on. But we also know that in reality she liked him a lot. Her eyes often gave her away, her care for him etc... Why not assume that something within him sensed that, he felt that he was loved back, that while her lips told him to go away, she was unconsciously sending him messages to stay, and that's why he couldn't move on? It wasn't spelled out, but that's a factor to consider.
Was it unlikely that the male lead had no other relationships in every possible timeline, even in the one where he had never met her and didn't remember her? Of course it was. I agree with that. But we're watching a k-drama, and this is a k-drama trope. In k-drama world this is the normal thing. Being an idol, it's slightly more likely, as they are closely watched and fearful of scandals, but we know that real idols have relationships anyway, secretly.
The Viki comments consistently called him a loser. How can you call a man a loser when a woman goes through all of this only to save his life, even to the point of risking her own? Just because she doesn't show it and he does, he's a loser? What a shitty, old-fashioned mentality is this? She doesn't play hard-to-get because she's playing games, but becasue there are very important things at stake.

In defense of the female lead.

While I was watching at Viki, many Timed Comments were very critical (nasty I'd say) of the female lead, especially every time she rejected him. And here on MDL, at least two reviews criticized her for not using her time in the past to enjoy the company of her family, instead of making him her only pursuit. People, did you forget? The goal of this trip was not to have a cozy time with friends and family but to save a person's life! And especially once she got the information that the man dies because of her, it's absolutely normal that this desperate quest takes top priority. Moreover, she doesn't seem to have been the sort of person who didn't spend time with her family anyway, one who didn't appreciate the grandma while she had her with her mind intact. So there was no special need to do something extra to make up for lost time, because there was no lost time. That would have been an important thing to do if she had a weight on her conscience that she took her mom and grandma for granted, that she did not spend enough time with them or give them enough affection. But we were shown that they were a close-knit and loving family anyway, so this need would not have overriden the mission to save the life of an innocent person who died unjustly in the prime of his youth. That's all. I don't think I have to add more to this.

And what? they mock her for crying in every episode? How couldn't she cry? When her desperate attempts to achieve her mission fail, time and again, when she's chased by a murderer and she has to witness this young man's death not once but multiple times? Who wouldn't cry, in real life? Then others criticize her for being too bubbly. Make up your mind, is she too sad or too bubbly? There's no satisfying people. As for me, I found the bubbliness forced in some scenes where she's pretending to be carefree and wants to hide something. She's very obvious. The actress is actually quite good but the character was not necessarily a good actress and they want to show us, the audience, that she's lying, doing it in a less than subtle way.

Did Im Sol always make good choices? Of course not. I thought it was careless of her, the last time, to assume that because the man hasn't met her, the killer is no longer a problem. She should at least search the news of the year 2008-09 to see whether he committed some crime and what happened to him. Because Ryu Seon Jae's fate of being killed by that man did not depend on his connection with Im Sol, as was shown at the end, where the criminal is about to kill him without even knowing who he is.
But if we found ourselves in that situation, would you and I make perfect choices every single time? Probably not. Right? The audience sometimes seems to think that the character knows what we the viewers know - what other characters are thinking or doing, where the killer is and so on. Of course this is not the case. The poor girl has to wing it, to do all she can with the available information she has, and with the chances she is given. She is bound to make mistakes. It's also for the sake of drama. The "hero's quest". Drama is made by overcoming obstacles. If there were no obstacles and she solved everything the first time around, the drama would be over in five episodes!
I kept reading "why is she breaking his heart, why is she so hard on him? Just date him and be happy". Those people seem to forget the main point of the travels her main goal, is to save his life.

My opinion on Im Sol's character? I found her very brave, she had the strength to stick to her main goal without wavering. Of course she longed to do what viewers wanted her to, of course she wanted to confess and throw herself into his arms. But if she did, she might have to face the trauma and heartbreak of his death again. After her first time travel, every time she went back with a very specific plan, and she stuck to it faithfully, no matter how much she was hurt, no matter how much he was hurt. And no, "telling him everything and figuring out solutions together" was not possible. We saw what happened the time before the last, when he understood her plan and said , "I don't care, let's love each other anyway and if I die I don't care". Which happened. He came back to the cliff to save her and got killed. So we were shown how this was not a good idea at all. She wasn't planning to blindly sacrifice herself. She had asked for backup from the policemen. She had a plan. Until he ruined it because he thought she was stupidly sacrificing her life.
This was a very smart heroine. Not perfect, but smart and loyal, and as much in love with him as much as he was with her, although she wasn't allowed to show it for most of the drama.

Secondary characters

Side characters are not well-developed and do not have any development arc, they don't mature, they don't change, they are one-dimensional. Yes, that's true. And, unfortunately this is too often true in k-drama (should I say most of the time?), it's one of the most frequent flaws. They are stock characters (the supportive friend, the goofy friend, the fat friend, the nagging but affectionate parent...) there only so that the leads have somebody to confide in, or just for comic relief. And it's a pity.
The second male lead is also not developed enough as a character. I agree with that as well. His family history and relationship with his father is only hinted at, and there's a sweet scene between them towards the end, which sort of mends things, but it could have been fleshed-out much more, since he does play an important role in the story at the end.
The killer. Yes, we would have needed some more of his motives, what his deal was. Not a lot of time spent on him, just a few hints on how and why he did what he did. Not that all serial killers have real reasons, but for dramatic balance it would have been nice.

Slapstick I hated

I was especially furious at how they used the ML's dad. Kim Won Hae is an amazing dramatic actor (as we saw in many many shows, for instance Good Manager and While You Were Sleeping). But since his role in Strong Woman Do Bok Soon in 2017, they have often been using him for heavy slapstick of the most vulgar kind. Since Strong Woman Do Bok Soon is another inspiration (together with Watermelon) for this show, they thought they would make supposedly fun scenes where he hurts himself and has to wash his soapy eyes with toilet water. I wanted to slap the writer for doing this. And yet people in the comments were saying it's so funny. I really don't understand these primitive people who can laugh with those things. Anyway, the actor being awesome as he is, he still manage to injet some humanity to his puppet-like character and show us his good heart and great love for his son. I thought this serious enough a flaw to take one star from my rating. There are more refined ways to make comedy, and we had some of those moments in the rest of the show.


Tropes.

Were there a lot of k-drama tropes? There were quite a few (way too many) "the female falls and the male grabs her to arrest her fall", there was also an accidental kiss if I'm not mistaken, there was the interruption of intimacy by an unexpected visitor and hiding into the closet, there was the botched proposal, the amusement park date and a few others. Although they were not overwhelmingly bothering, I wish they weren't there. And I was happy to see our old friend the white truck of death, for once in the role of the good guy. He deserved that break, after years of loyal service.

Product Placement

I was happy to not notice blatant product placement. Maybe the ice popsicles and a few others, but it was seamlessly woven into the narrative, so it didn't bother me. No female displaying all the range of a certain brand of cosmetics and suddenly starting to extol the virtues of some lotion out of nowhere. No Subway either. I didn't even notice the brand of the jewellery when Seon Jae went to buy the rings, so thanks show, for not being too pushy with those things.

The ending

One thing I was really grateful for is that the resolution didn't happen in the last five minutes, and we had a whole episode of happiness to enjoy, and we also were given the time to learn what happened to most of the other characters. That was super-refreshing. Some people found it "underwhelming" because the show didn't finish with a big dramatic splash. Personally I prefer them that way, rather than angst until the very end or, God forbid, an open ending, leaving you with all sorts of questions.

Music:

The Shower song was pretty good, I liked it, and there were a couple of other good ones. Not a score that will remain forever in my mind, but it served its purpose well.

All in all, I think it was a good drama. Not one of the ten best of all times, but a very good one nonetheless.

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Yes watch!

This show was great!
When i first found out about it, i was super excited and was waiting for it to come out and the first Tenish eps were good and such a roller coaster. the first weekly ep was happily ended, but the second weekly ep was always sad, but left me wondering what was gonna happen next week.

after some time the plot was kinda like everywhere and it started getting abit annoying how much the FL would refuse him, and the amount of times she kept going back in time was crazyyyy.

I think the show could have been like 12 eps or maybe even 10.

Though there are complaints, i would say the ride and the fandom made it worth it, and i barely finish shows when they are released weekly, but this one i did! overall the chem was good and so was the acting.

I would say a 9/10 is great for this show, would i watch again, def, but idk if ill be able to fully finish it since it's quite long and dragged out.

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Lovely Runner is DEFINITELY worth watching!

I haven't come across any k-drama where I had literally cried my heart out for every single episode, until I started watching 'Lovely Runner'! Every episode is engaging and has a detailed storyline. When it comes to acting, 'Lovely Runner' is top-tier for sure! It gave me so much joy and warmth, yet also made me cry myself to sleep. The chemistry and bond between the 2 leads (Byeon Woo Seok & Kim Hye Yoon) is exceptional too! So many actors/actresses with massive potential were casted for this drama even though they were quite under-rated prior to the film, and it's so great to see them finally getting the recognition and love they deserve. I'm honestly quite worried if I'm going to find any other k-dramas as good as 'Lovely Runner', because this series is already so close to my heart!
During the releasing of this drama, it had made my Mondays from being the start of another tiring week, to being one of my favourite days of the week! Now that the series has already come to an end, I'm definitely going to rewatch this series over and over again, and show it to my future children, their children, and grandchildren. I can proudly say that 'Lovely Runner' is my all-time favourite k-drama! As of now, I am eagerly anticipating for any more dramas that will live up to the standard this series has set for me! (Well I know for a fact it's going to be a hard!)

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