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BORING - how can this show be this overrated ?
Everything is in the title : boring.I struggle to watch 13 episodes, it was good at the beginning, a lot of potential but EXTREMELY repetitive. Every episode is the same, they could have shorten it to 10 episodes, maybe it would have been better.
Romance was so childish and unreal... I couldn't relate.
Also, the disability part and depression would have been a great plot of this show, but barely developed, this drama wasn't deep enough...
Nevermind, I will have trust issues now with the rating of a Kdrama show ... gave me hope, but waste of time for me.
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This review may contain spoilers
An amazing start, but...1. Something about "fix me" stories as it relates to people with disabilities just doesn't sit right with me, I was hoping the part of the story about the FL being a wheelchair user would return, at the very least because it was wrapped very quickly, but instead it was mainly used to further the plot, with few moments focused on representation, which was disappointing.
2. The serial killer plot dragged on for sooooo long and it ended in such an anticlimactic way, it felt like in the end the writer didn't know what to do with the guy.
3. The constant timeline changes killed the momentum, especially the last one because I absolutely despise the amnesia trope, I find it usually useless because it puts a stop at the character/relationship development.
All of that means that if the drama was shorter, around 12 episodes, some of the issues with the storytelling could have been resolved, at least for me. All in all though, I did enjoy the lead couple immensely, no matter the little things I disliked, their chemistry always made up for it in the end.
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1So many timelines, so little development.
I want to start with - I really did enjoy the show a lot, I hyped it at the beginning like crazy and got quite a few people to watch it too. That said, I cannot act as if it had no flaws. In fact, it had many.Started as a fun and entertaining rom-com delivering some well established cliches in a refreshing way, with just enough angst to keep you invested. And next? It turned into its worst nightmare - poorly written development making the last few episodes lose the initial charm. The fate of many dramas in the past. The fate of many dramas to come.
Truth to be told, I have no idea how to write the review in a way that will point out all the issues I had, while also delivering the clear idea of the fun and joy I felt while watching. The drama is honestly mediocre, but it’s such an excellent presentation, you just forget and ignore how mediocre it is.
The plot was messy, with little explanation of how anything works. Time travel had close to zero rules truly established, the villain had literally nothing going on for himself and I feel like the yellow umbrella had more personality than him. He had no business being so important to the plot with this little fucks put into actually writing it in engaging and coherent manner.
Kim Tae Sung and Baek In Hyuk were pure sunshines, but it’s a joke to call them main characters (and they are named as such even on namu.wiki). The supporting couple was painfully unnecessary and the whole drama had overall too many filler scenes and flashbacks of things that happened even in the same episode.
And yet it was fun and adorable. The chemistry between Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon was amazing from literally the first scene - they aced the romance, comedy, drama. Lovely Runner is filled with scenes that will make you smile and laugh and lighten your mood. The down to earth comedy driven by the characters’ personalities and daily accidents was probably one of my favorite aspects of the show. Even though I felt like the characters were not truly complex and well developed, at the same time I fell in love with their quirky personalities. Seon Jae and Tae Sung? Surprisingly great and fun chemistry. Now I wish to see the two of them in a drama together as close friends.
What’s more to love? Amazing soundtrack with many uplifting and moving songs. Sudden Shower (소나기) just melts your heart when you listen to it. With a great soundtrack goes beautiful visuals - loved the set design, lighting, camera angles. The drama also had amazing timing - turning some romantic and dramatic scenes into comedy bits with a fun presentation. So many things worked, so what didn't?
Ryu Seon Jae is technically the main character, but the writing matches the supporting ones more. Where is the development? Where is the rich characterization? Where are the flaws and personal goals? Why is he Haru 2.0? On paper he is perfect, but would I want a man like that in real life? A person with little to no individuality, whose whole existence revolves around me? That’s how Seon Jae is presented. He is a 1+1 deal with Im Sol and that’s it. Yes, he is good looking, yes he is adorable with his loser charm, he is dedicated, killing viewers with his puppy love towards Sol. But I need more from my lead characters… I need some spice with that sugar.
Sol is not much different, so at least we have equality here. Everything she does is done for Seon Jae’s benefit. I get it, it’s a plot driven show about preventing the bad thing from happening - it does not mean they cannot use some screen time to develop the characters a bit more beyond what the plot needs them to do. Why are they giving so much screen time to a side romance when your main characters are 2-dimensional plot puppets even half way through the show?
And it’s not like the plot was well developed. As I already said, time travel has no rules established except how to get back in time. The crime/mystery part is laughably bad with ridiculous conclusions. 80% of the show is just cute and fun moments, and there would be nothing wrong with that if the drama did not try to pretend as if the reminding 20% were interesting and important. Make it 12 episodes and switching a crime to depression and we would get top quality heart warming healing rom-com. You could feel how they did not have enough material for 16 episodes when they started to show flashbacks of events that happened maybe 20 minutes ago in the same episode.
Acting wise I overall loved it. There were a few moments when I found Kim Hye Yoon’s performance not quite convincing, especially during a few lighter romantic scenes - the smile was just too much, it did not seem real. Something about her being so excessively happy did not vibe with me, as if she tried to convince me she is happy with her smile instead of showing it with her eyes. But these were truly just a few moments and overall I truly loved her as Sol. When you think about it, at least in some aspects it was in fact noona romance. Byeon Woo Seok did an amazing job too. Loved how he could be both cool and charismatic and a dorky loser and it made perfect sense.
Overall, often after I finished watching the episode I had this thought: wow, that was really a filler episode, but I had so much fun. It’s happy and bright, overdramatic with its mystery when the mystery is shallow and barely working for this plot. I had a great time watching, but I would hesitate to recommend it.
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Im Sol is a villain. Ryu Seon Jae is a cardboard cutout.
Im Sol is a villain. She treats the experiences, the memories, of everyone around her, most notably her younger self, as disposable. She treats their feelings as trivial, meaningless except in context to her own. She is selfish and has no character growth, no improvement to her personality, no expressions of remorse, aside from when not getting her wishes fulfilled, and no action demonstrating regret. She is the pleasant face of the casually destructive personality increasing common in this world, but no less repugnant for it.Ryu Seon Jae is a cardboard cutout. He has no personality beyond he likes sports and singing and must always and forever, no matter how badly he is treated, love Im Sol and be willing to die to her. It is truly disheartening to see such a non-entity as a leading man.
As to the secondary characters, her mother and his father were mostly background noise, and their moments in the spotlight felt like forced distractions from the plot. His friends and band-mates were even less three dimensional then he was, if you can imagine. Her brother and friend were obnoxious, though their future scenes were actually lovely and one of the few purely pleasant parts of the show.
Her grandmother and Kim Tae Seong are special case. Dementia is portrayed as imbuing her grandmother with additional cuteness and wisdom, which is just wildly inappropriate. And Kim Tae Seong is underdeveloped despite being one of the few engaging personalities in the cast of characters.
Lovely Runner is not a great show. It isn't even a good show. It manages to get by being inoffensive to most modern sensitivities and offering fans an unhealthy fan fantasy to feel encouraged by. Regrettable.
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cansei :(
as viagens do tempo sem sentido, os flashbacks desnecessários, a falta de lógica e a construção rasa do vilão me cansaram e eu não consegui terminar :(mas no início eu realmente me diverti muito com a história do casal principal e adorei cada personagem.
acho que como comédia romântica ele cumpre razoavelmente o papel porque a protagonista passa pelas situações mais constrangedoras possíveis e as cenas do casal são ótimas.
acho uma pena sabe, tinha potencial. se as viagens no tempo tivessem uma lógica, se o vilão fosse bem construído eu acredito que seria uns 8,5/10
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Very interesting plot only for it to breakdown halfway towards the end
Just for disclaimer i was both of the leads fans, but being a fan doesn't mean i can't critic their work ok.I already watched this drama before it became the hot topic over the neighborhood lol, it was because i like the fl and the ml previous work (sky castle and 20th century girl). I was so crazy about it when episode 2 was dropped, i was gagged and it got more exciting.
But the disappointment hits me at 10ish episode, because there was no character or even plot development at all. The plot losed it focus when they started to date i think. I know the main point in this drama is to save sunjae, and this drama is a romcom, but i really really hope that the fl and ml could have more bond with other characters too. I think it got to the point that other characters are pointless(?) and written just to fill the void. The ml's world is only imsol, he will do anything just to be with imsol, it's like he has no character at all because his decisions are easily influenced by his loved ones (imsol) (i know it's a romcom but come on... you can be lovey dovey while doing other things too). Same goes for the fl... It's like their character couldn't care less about other people if it's not about their gf/bf.
And the fl character is bad written imo, thank god hyeyoon saves it with her acting. She's supposed to be 30s yo woman trapped in higschooler body, but she even acts more childish than the highschooler could be. I know sol's character main purpose is to save sunjae, but she's too careless, has no plan, and just couldn't think straight (and i can't relate to it maybe that's why i can't empathize with her character).
Overall the acting was good enough, and the chemistry was fire. But there were probably some parts that's not really enjoyable to watch. Idk if it's because sol character is bad written or whatever it's, but sometimes the "i'm shocked" in sol's face kinda unnatural and i could tell that she's trying to act there, but other than that it was just great.
It's just my opinion, yall could try to watch it if you're interested, because i swear the few early episodes was dope tho ngl.
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Sorry but...
"Lovely Runner" from various sources mention that the drama's time travel concept lacks clear rules, making it difficult to follow. The motivations of certain characters, like the psycho taxi driver, are unclear and seem to exist only to advance the plot. Some viewers find the romance and comedic elements overshadow the story's coherence, reducing its overall impact.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Disappointment
I’ll start with the story. I liked the time travel concept as Sol gets to change the past and save herself and her idol. It seemed good at first but become boring and dragging by the end as same things were happening in a never ending loop. It felt like the writer didn’t put effort towards the end. The 3rd time travel was boring af and not progressing the story. At this point even their romance felt hollow. Also watching sun jae dying again and again made it kind of unserious. Like she will still go back and fix it. It makes even the emotional scenes unemotional since it happened soo many times.About the characters, i have soo many questions as to why the female lead made such dumb choices that led her in more trouble? She was given soo many opportunities yet she complicates the things even more.
I really like sun jae but his character hardly showed any development.Why did he not take the opportunity to go to rehab? That was dumb. I know writer wanted to keep him around sol but still that was dumb on his part . Also why did he allow sol to treat him soo badly! He could’ve shown some dignity at this point.
Anyhow all the other characters didn’t play any part in the plot and their presence seemed pointless. It felt like there was just 2 characters in the show, sol and sun jae.
I expected more but got even less by the end. It’s not the endings for me but the story that makes me want to watch a show and rate it well. Considering the hype I was just let down.
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Stunning first half. Second half falls victim to lazy scriptwriting.
I have to separate the first and second half.The first half is a solid 8/10 for me. It's everything I'd ever want from a youth drama, and I absolutely loved every second of it. The characters' love story feels so unique to them. The script also sprinkles in just the right amount of tropes and pulls them off in just the right way to leave any romcom lover feeling satisfied without feeling overdone. The male lead is both cool and handsome while relatable and dorky over his first love. The female lead pulls off the sunshine personality and has great determination as a fan. I especially liked how consistent the story was about her steadfast, optimistic personality which she learned from the hardships she overcame as an adult. The drama never felt heavy, but I could still feel that there was love for the characters and their story. Also, small spoiler (but it happens within the first two episodes), but this is the only time that I have been completely sold on a love at first sight premise. It makes total sense to be a teenager, meeting such a kind, bright personality. It's like that friend crush, that person you wanted to get to know all four years of high school but never worked up the nerve to. Sun Jae's perspective is always so beautiful, and part of why the love at first sight works is because we can see how his feelings for Sol grow into something more meaningful as he gets to know her.
The second half is a 3/10 and falls victim to atrociously lazy scriptwriting. There are entire episodes dedicated to comedic relief and one-off scenarios. At that point, the relationship between the leads fails to develop which was such a waste, considering how beautifully their story was developed during the first half. I couldn't help but feel the shallowness in the story after episode 9. The story fails to have any goals or real development after that point. The writing sloppily tries to close the story with cheap plot twists, and none of the scenes really feel like they fit together or have a particular purpose. In essence, the second half of the show is entirely filler and completely fails the beauty of the first half.
I am still so happy to have experienced the first half but am utterly disappointed in the second half.
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Your mileage may vary...
This show is very polarizing in the sense that either you really love it or you really hate it. I think I fall squarely in the middle, especially now that some time has passed (it's been a couple of months since I finished it).I'd suggest to anyone thinking about watching this show not to get sucked into the hype. Watch it with an open mind and no expectations. That's what I did, as I pretty much ignored this while it was airing and even for a while afterwards; I personally don't enjoy stories that feature time travel, I'm not a huge fan of the concept (and honestly watching this drama further cemented why).
It was during a lull between dramas that I finally decided to pick this up, and I pretty much inhaled it over the course of two days. It was just the right amount of fluff I needed at the time, with comedic moments and great chemistry from the cast. The leads really make you believe in the romance, that there really could be a love so strong and so powerful that not even time (and a very persistent serial killer) can do anything to stop it.
But as enough time has passed that I can say that while I enjoyed the bingeing experience of this drama, it will not necessarily hold up for me as time goes on. For me, the greatest draw of Lovely Runner is the charisma of its leads. They embody their roles so well and also play off one other quite well. However, not even they can save a weak script and characterization.
To be honest, I'm getting less and less enamored with crushes/attraction being propped up as "abiding love at first sight." What really does Sunjae see in Sol, and vice versa? How much do they really know about each other? BWS pulls off the pining quite well with his "melo eyes", but what really was there to wait 15 whole years for? KHY is effervescent and bubbly as Sol, but how much does she know about Sunjae to fall for him beyond his being the idol she wanted so desperately to save? Why are they so willing to go so far for each other?
I learned that the webtoon that Lovely Runner is based on didn't have Sol's disability or the killer plotline, and I think that perhaps the show should have stuck to the premise of the original. Especially because the disability erasure left a bad taste in my mouth, and maintaining Sunjae's death as a suicide would have given the show more opportunity to delve into some heavier, more poignant themes and develop the characters a little more.
I didn't like that Sunjae's passion for swimming and the subsequent loss of his career were just waved aside because of this supposed great love for Sol, and I didn't fully understand his relentlessness in trying to save her, especially when she'd rejected him so many times.
And where does Sol's love for directing/filming come from? We don't see any hints of that when she goes back to the past (apart from the video she did for Taesung I guess?). I also would have loved her to spend more time with her family and BFF, especially her grandmother. There just wasn't much else to their characters apart from being squee and in love with each other.
The rest of the cast was sadly underutilized (and in some cases, overutilized *ahem ahem* Imgeum and Hyunjoo, just had to skip over some of their scenes). I understand that it's a romcom and not a family drama and so the main leads are the focus, but that doesn't mean that side characters need to be caricatures either.
And poor Taesung; the actor is so good and so charismatic; I wished we could have seen more of his journey to becoming a police officer. I don't usually get SLS but I wanted more for him than just being the 2ML.
I don't even want to go into the inconsistencies with the fantasy/sci-fi/time-travel elements or how unnecessary the serial killer plotline was. I can only pray that the trend of inserting murder mysteries into romcoms dies in 2024 and we can maybe go back to focusing on character development. That's the strength of romcoms; they don't need to be plot-heavy, it's about watching how the leads grow and how said growth is reflected in their relationship with each other.
Maybe this review isn't very coherent but these are just the thoughts I've been wrestling with since I finished this drama. I suppose I can understand why people like this a lot. I'd even recommend this for anyone looking for something light that doesn't require too much emotional investment.
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This review may contain spoilers
When the Idol is a fan of his fan (So many adorable scenes): This is Peak Rom-Com!
It is finally here! I love both the leads so it is damn good to watch this.That phone call made me cry. Wow, what a powerful 1st episode. I especially like the meet cute part of the relationship, how the people first connected. With these two, the first connection was over phone call and it was anything but cute. It was a wake up call for our FL and uplifting one at that. The ML came across as such a caring person, saying something so beautiful to a stranger, and he didn't say it because he was on the radio but those were heartfelt words. The rom-com gods must love me right now, coz we did get a very lovely meet cute of them meeting in person. Aww.
During his live concert, he looked so damn good in the white shirt, black pants and the almost red lips, in the middle of the podium, playing his piano reminded me of Taylor swift.
Loved the first episode, I was always checking how much of it was left and wishing that there was more of it. If only they made 2 hours long episodes. It was so damn lovely! I loved it so much, that I'm gonna go watch it again
2nd Ep: I was bit worried that the 2nd episode might not follow through on the promise delivered by the 1st one, but it was in vain. These two are so adorable. I love the kind of comedy that Kim Hye Sun brings to this, love her in the "Extraordinary You" and I'm kinda sad that she doesn't do such roles more often. The last few minutes of the episodes were eye-opening. Here we thought that this was one sided fan crush, but he knew & liked her before she even knew that he existed. I also like our SML, he has personality. I do wonder what their photo appearing at the end means. The scene is still the same except for that photo, does it mean that he still dies or that more changes need to happen in the past for the result to change.
3rd Ep: It started with a round of flying kisses. Oh god, that was so damn hilarious and something a teenage boy would definitely do. Can we name this episode, "When the idol is also a fan of his fan." Such adorable moments. Like his friend said, it was all about the timing and every time he tried to tell her about his feelings, something happened. I love how the episode ended, I thought the majority of it would be in the past, this back to the present is great. Now, the picture on the table makes sense, but is that picture going to get our Im Sol in trouble? Will she be a suspect? That's kinda farfetched but you never know. Gotta wait another day to figure out what happens.
4th Ep: What kind of weird memory loss does Im Sol have? Even if she had forgotten the things she did when her older self took over her body what about Sun Jae's presence during the times she was just herself? How did she completely erase everything about him from her life? Maybe, its the accident that led to it. This episode felt so damn short. Now, it is looking like he somehow contributed to the accident that led to her becoming a paraplegic. They are giving us the hints. It could be that he like many leads just carries guilt even though he isn't directly responsible for it. With the lack of information we have on Tae Sung, we have to wonder what role he played in all of it.
5th Ep: It was another episode with cute moments with our lovely leads. I felt like they aren't trying to create a SML syndrome here. Since, the SML doesn't have much of screentime with the FL, not like True Beauty. Sun Jae-ya is so damn adorable, more so than Im Sol. The ending was perfect, but from the preview of the next episode, it seems like a sad one. With Im Sol probably rejecting Sun Jae.
6th Ep: While the episode was good, and Sol's misunderstanding about Sun Jae's feelings was a bit frustrating but the preview for next weeks episode is wow! It looks so good, thankfully its going in the direction, I didn't expect. I tried reading the translated webnovel but its just so poorly translated and missing pieces, it was hard to read it. But from what I have read so far, the drama is better written.
7th Ep: I want to thank the creators for giving us such exciting rom-com after a while. It just make me look forward to every episode and enjoy each & every moment of it. Im Sol is just amazing. And it is glad to the the future Sun Jae retain his corny ways in the changed future. Can't wait for the next episode!
8th Ep: We thought they were gonna give us another lovey dovey episode. We got that, but along with that we also saw that Im Sol couldn't prevent what happened to Sun Jae. The ending was so heartbreaking. Ever since the last episode, it was understandable that the guy who kidnapped her might have had a hand in harming Sun Jae. There's still more than half of the series left, what more do they have in store for us? Im Sol going back in time again? I'm for it. Or Sun Jae having amnesia after he wakes up? Not really a fan of that arc. Hopefully he doesn't die this time. I'm a bit worried about the ending now. I assumed that this one will have an happy ending, but with the ways things are going, it might have an ending where Im Sol will be learning a lesson that she can't really change some things no matter how many times she goes back in time. (Here's to hoping that Sun Jae stops dying)
9th Ep: Why was this one so short? Finally got to see Tae Sung again. I like him as a character, from the preview it seems like we'll be seeing more of him at least in the next episode. The preview has me so anxious. Love the soft curls Im Sol was rocking. They really pulled the Spiderman kiss for the Geum & Hyun Joo and it looked good. I'm always glad to see In Hyuk, who tries to pull Sun Jae back from his insanity. Although Sun Jae's a bit delulu, his delusion is fed by Im Sol's mixed signals. Poor guy, gets his head messed up with.
10th Ep: Love that everything is out in the open now, a big thanks to Tae Sung who helped Sun Jae realize what Im Sol wasn't willing to tell him. But the current story makes me think they are going to pull an amnesia arc in the future, where Im Sol forgets about Sun Jae and her time travel, with Sun Jae having to woo her again. Hope that isn't the case, cause poor Sun Jae needs to get his happy ending. I wonder what's with the ending, does that mean Sun Jae won't be an Idol in the future? Im sol might end up traveling back again.
11th Ep: Now we know why Sun Jae is such a goner about Im Sol. He poured all his passion into it, like he once did with swimming. He is such a silly goose in love that Im Sol silliness feels toned down. Loved the scene where their families find out. Poor guy has no idea where those packets came from. Oh God, that was so fun to watch. His phone conversation with his friend: "Con? What Con? Unicorn?" Overall, a beautiful episode. If it keeps up with the performance, this drama has such a high rewatch value. Every moment is precious.
12th Ep: After a good run, this was just an okay episode. With only 4 episode left, things are coming to head now. Sol needs to start making better decision. Trying to do it all on her own is going to get her or Sun Jae killed. I'm also worried that Tae Sung might die.
13th Ep: So Tae Sung is finally a police office, we finally got a confirmation that he is one. Missed Sun Jae in this episode. We got to see less of him compared to Im Sol. You gotta love Im Sol, always going out of her way for Sun Jae. At first, it was because she was grateful and now because she has genuinely come to care for him. So Sun jae never met her, he never wrote the song about her, and never became a singer. But the kidnapper just won't quit, he's here again. We only have 3 episodes left.
14th Ep: That was such a nice episode. What I like about this drama is that they have so many new beginnings. It is good to see them meet time and again, experience a new story. It's nice to see that Sun Jae hasn't lost his charm. I wanted to hear more about his dating history. I'm a bit worried about Tae Sung this time around. Can't wait for the last two episodes even though I don't want it to end.
15th Ep: The only distressing part about this drama is the leads not putting their heads together to come up with a serious plan to get rid of the taxi driver. I mean the leads also had supportive parents, friends, siblings, all of whom could have helped them anytime they asked. But not, they didn't learn. Especially, Im Sol, she didn't think strategically at all. Her emotions were running so wild all the time she made one bad decision after another. Don't blame her though, in her place my mind would panicking as well. Sun Jae is truly a terrific character brought to life by Byeon Woo Seok, who has done justice to the role. No a single actor could have done a better job or even come close to what he brought to this character. I laughed so much during this episode as well. This is the 2nd last episode. I'm gonna miss Im Sol & Sun Jae. They better not give us a sad or open ending!
16th Ep: This episode gave us and Byeon Ooo Seok the happy ending that he deserved. This is going to be my all time favorite drama. Everything was just about perfect. I can't believe that it has ended. I still feel like there's going to be another episode next week. Wow, I think half of the world was addicted to Lovely Runner, because the entire drama was roses and sunshine with one recurrent issue that we felt would be resolved by the end. I just felt happy throughout the drama, not a single episode failed to make me laugh. I'm gonna miss seeing these two together, here's to hoping they collaborate on another drama together & do a wonderful job at it.
Now that it is over, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to find a drama with the same vibes. There isn't a drama with the same vibe. The story might not be all that unique but the absolute charm these leads brought to it turned it into a powerful rom-com that might inspire everyone.
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