This review may contain spoilers
I was pleasantly surprised that the romcom and time travel aspects went well together, but the serial killer scenes were a bit off due to the abrupt shift in tone- the scenes would go from warm and sunny to cold and overcast with menacing background music in one instant. The villain was also flat and caricature-like, but given that this was just a plot device to keep the leads apart longer, I didn’t expect an interesting antagonist as if I were watching an actual thriller.
It wasn’t a deal breaker though, and I found myself enjoying this for the most part. The female lead was spirited and charismatic, the male lead was lovable and warm hearted. They had a cute, adorable chemistry.
I also like the creative way the drama used time travel, like when the female lead blurted out spoilers to be able to pause time so she could get from one location to another. Im Sol's determination to protect the male lead, Sun Jae, was endearing and admirable, but it could get frustrating at times; the results of her efforts would tell her time and again that trying to change certain events would only make things worse, but she kept making the same mistake. Then again, I understood why. If you knew your loved one would end up getting murdered, I guess you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from trying to prevent it either, even if your efforts were in vain.
This is a female centric show, but I don’t think of this as a flaw, more like a preference. If you want to see something that has an equal focus on both the leads, or is male centric, this may not be your cup of tea. Most of the story is from the female lead’s point of view and you only get bits of Sun Jae’s perspective later. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a preference for one trope or the other, but if one automatically dislikes a drama because of that one aspect/trope, it might be more practical to just choose another drama that has what they like. There is no point in watching a sports drama if you hate sports, anymore than it being counterproductive to watch a detective story if you hate that genre. I have my own set of preferences and tropes which I normally go for, but if another drama didn’t have what I liked but was still good, I wouldn’t rate it badly either.
Regardless of a drama being female centric, equally focused, multi-perspective, or male-centric…I want a drama to be good at what it does (be good at what it's trying to do), entertain me, be fast paced and have likable characters.
I think Lovely Runner succeeds for the most part. The plot didn’t slow down from beginning to end and while the leads were an odd couple- not just in terms of how they looked together but also how opposite their personalities were (manic, headstrong female lead, shy and vulnerable male lead) they were likeable and sweet together.
My main gripe is that I dislike the drama's over-the-top, slapstick humor. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the jokes and gags, which were exaggerated. The male lead’s father getting stuck in the bathroom for a whole day because he was too weak to open the door... the second couple (the female lead’s brother and her best friend), were excruciating* in their courtship. They would jump into ponds in plain sight in the middle of the their school campus to avoid being seen, hide in lockers and cabinets, talk in extremely high pitched voices even a deaf person could hear…the toilet humor incident they had which got the best friend to like the brother...I felt that these scenes were plain unfunny and just added filler. They did more to detract from the drama and did nothing to enhance it.
The female lead herself, while spirited and charismatic, was a bit grating at first; she was way too over-the-top for me (shouting at the top of her lungs, etc), especially during her “high school” days, however, she gets better and mellows down during her college years. I don’t particularly care for her voice. I was trying to pinpoint what exactly bugged me about it. I’ve watched many an anime and asian drama with an annoyingly voiced female lead (ex: Orchid in Love Between Fairy and Devil, Sang Zhi from Hidden Love, etc) but they didn’t bother me…finally I realized that it’s because these female leads have high pitched girly voices which fits their age/character type.
The actress playing Im Sol has an old lady voice which doesn't sync with her appearance. It was like watching a 70 year old woman (with a syrupy sweet voice) talk in the body of a 30 something year old. The scene were Im Sol dresses in a monk’s costume with her face covered where she warns Sun Jae not to become a swimmer…I could really imagine an old woman as the embodiment of that voice.
The actress can’t help it though. It's her natural speaking voice and that aside, both she and the actor did fine; their performances weren’t extraordinary or anything like that. I could easily imagine another actress or actor playing them, but they delivered well and entertainingly. The rest of the cast were alright. There’s also a love triangle here, but it’s mostly played for laughs. I think the story does best when it focuses on the leads.
It wasn’t a deal breaker though, and I found myself enjoying this for the most part. The female lead was spirited and charismatic, the male lead was lovable and warm hearted. They had a cute, adorable chemistry.
I also like the creative way the drama used time travel, like when the female lead blurted out spoilers to be able to pause time so she could get from one location to another. Im Sol's determination to protect the male lead, Sun Jae, was endearing and admirable, but it could get frustrating at times; the results of her efforts would tell her time and again that trying to change certain events would only make things worse, but she kept making the same mistake. Then again, I understood why. If you knew your loved one would end up getting murdered, I guess you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from trying to prevent it either, even if your efforts were in vain.
This is a female centric show, but I don’t think of this as a flaw, more like a preference. If you want to see something that has an equal focus on both the leads, or is male centric, this may not be your cup of tea. Most of the story is from the female lead’s point of view and you only get bits of Sun Jae’s perspective later. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a preference for one trope or the other, but if one automatically dislikes a drama because of that one aspect/trope, it might be more practical to just choose another drama that has what they like. There is no point in watching a sports drama if you hate sports, anymore than it being counterproductive to watch a detective story if you hate that genre. I have my own set of preferences and tropes which I normally go for, but if another drama didn’t have what I liked but was still good, I wouldn’t rate it badly either.
Regardless of a drama being female centric, equally focused, multi-perspective, or male-centric…I want a drama to be good at what it does (be good at what it's trying to do), entertain me, be fast paced and have likable characters.
I think Lovely Runner succeeds for the most part. The plot didn’t slow down from beginning to end and while the leads were an odd couple- not just in terms of how they looked together but also how opposite their personalities were (manic, headstrong female lead, shy and vulnerable male lead) they were likeable and sweet together.
My main gripe is that I dislike the drama's over-the-top, slapstick humor. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the jokes and gags, which were exaggerated. The male lead’s father getting stuck in the bathroom for a whole day because he was too weak to open the door... the second couple (the female lead’s brother and her best friend), were excruciating* in their courtship. They would jump into ponds in plain sight in the middle of the their school campus to avoid being seen, hide in lockers and cabinets, talk in extremely high pitched voices even a deaf person could hear…the toilet humor incident they had which got the best friend to like the brother...I felt that these scenes were plain unfunny and just added filler. They did more to detract from the drama and did nothing to enhance it.
The female lead herself, while spirited and charismatic, was a bit grating at first; she was way too over-the-top for me (shouting at the top of her lungs, etc), especially during her “high school” days, however, she gets better and mellows down during her college years. I don’t particularly care for her voice. I was trying to pinpoint what exactly bugged me about it. I’ve watched many an anime and asian drama with an annoyingly voiced female lead (ex: Orchid in Love Between Fairy and Devil, Sang Zhi from Hidden Love, etc) but they didn’t bother me…finally I realized that it’s because these female leads have high pitched girly voices which fits their age/character type.
The actress playing Im Sol has an old lady voice which doesn't sync with her appearance. It was like watching a 70 year old woman (with a syrupy sweet voice) talk in the body of a 30 something year old. The scene were Im Sol dresses in a monk’s costume with her face covered where she warns Sun Jae not to become a swimmer…I could really imagine an old woman as the embodiment of that voice.
The actress can’t help it though. It's her natural speaking voice and that aside, both she and the actor did fine; their performances weren’t extraordinary or anything like that. I could easily imagine another actress or actor playing them, but they delivered well and entertainingly. The rest of the cast were alright. There’s also a love triangle here, but it’s mostly played for laughs. I think the story does best when it focuses on the leads.
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