Lovely Runner (2024)

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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copied dráma true beauty with second lead syndróme

it's quite ok, but I'm giving a lower rating because it's a copycat with (true beauty) second ml. I don't care about this drama at all, I don't care about him anymore, I would like it better if there were no secon lead syndróme because this one can't be compared to True Brauty lol it's the only one. , he is the best king. of lead syndrome of all times.. everything is copied here... I don't even like the main woman, she is so annoying, she was the same in the (extraodrynarny you) drama. , which I immediately turned off because of her, she was less annoying here, but I'm already used to bad badass female main characters in Korean dramas .. I only like strong women, not spoiled ones that don't fit in Korean dramas, it's more . in chinese dramas e movie, they like spoiled women, but Koreans are always strong.. that's why I give this rating..... the main actor is very handsome, green flags, I loved him, but everything else seemed very useless to me, all the characters , as for the story, i love time travel.. i love the drama (time called you) it's still the best time travel i've ever seen, it felt a bit similar, i was expecting a lot from this drama when i saw it everywhere. .but I'm probably the only one who has a different opinion because I'm different, I don't like things that everyone likes

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loving this drama but SML

older FL version goes into past and destroyed Younger FL's first Love
Your FL doesn't love ML or even notice him, Her first Love was always SML which was forced to breakup by older FL
which i find disturbing
adding SML even after they grown up, is dragging a love triangle which doesn't even have any hope for SML
Younger FL feelings were dismissed and neglected by her older self and forced her love on younger version

I have no problem with ML and Fl being together , i got this is light hearted but Love triangle make no sense
there is no need after she broke up with him peacefully
why dragging SML ? because there is no other story then love and a kidnapper is promoted to killer

reduced my ratings from 9.5 to 6.5 after watching ep 12 and 13
this was a good drama and it should have ended withing 10 to max 12 episodes, but for more money they will drama four Hour they don't even have any story for that, they don't even have 2nd lead couple neither they want to give screen time to her brother and besties love story,
ML and FL are good to look at but they are being forced together that is showing on there face
all chemistry vanishes after they finally had a proper kiss, that all there love was One kiss and after that there chemistry just leave the planet..
and drama try to become some confusing time traveling epic but its just a mess, when writers don't have any story they are just filling 4 hour to get some commercials
it stared very well then like every other Kdrama it went downhill from mid of the show....
common thing between most of Kdramas

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Dear Future Audience, Doubting the Plot? Trust Me: Writing, Direction and Acting Shine

The plot isn't new, and there's no debate about it, but OMG, the writing is excellent. Each character is written well, evoking a strong sense of the mid-2000s era. No amount of praise is sufficient; every character, regardless of size, is meticulously crafted.

Now, let's discuss the director. What a vision, my friend; the director exhibits remarkable intelligence, understanding precisely what the audience will enjoy. The direction is captivating; there's never a dull moment, showcasing the director's exceptional vision.

The actors, OMG, words fail to express their brilliance in their respective roles, especially our main leads.
The male lead is portrayed exceptionally well, with the character finely etched, this role is a gift for him, and he owns it. He's not just a green flag; he's the brand ambassador of Green Flag.

As for the female lead, there's no doubt she's the perfect choice for the role; her character is tailor-made for her. Kudos to her for embracing this role.

"And she's truly courageous for trusting the lovely runner team, despite many actors rejecting the male lead role in this drama. Yet, she persisted and literally waited 2-3 years to meet Ryu Sun-jae in real life ."

Hats off to the entire production team for their patience amidst the delays and their unwavering confidence in the project. Despite other actors being hesitant to take on the male lead role, they serve as a true inspiration.

Future audience , who want to have doubts because you might think the plot is so average, but my dear, I agree, the plot isn’t fresh, but trust me, the writing is amazing, the direction is super amazing, and the acting is the cherry on top.

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Jekyll & Hyde show that is doing my head in

To say that I'm torn about this show is an understatement. I have seldom seen a series that managed to succeed in one key area and yet screw up another. Please allow me to explain.

This series is built on two drama staples. Swoon worthy romance and the time traveling do-overs.

It nails the first with aplomb. Our leads' chemistry is undeniable and when it works, it is meltingly good. Time and again, when I start to suffer, the writer-nim would bring on the amore and we are floating in a pink cloud. . . until we crash back to earth due to the ham-fisted way the show handles the timey-wimey bits.

The problem is not that the show tripped up on some high temporal concept but rather simple plot management. To wit, the show used weaponised time travel like a blunt instrument. Internal logic and intersecting plots be damned.

It worked ok the first go around but after each do-over, the narrative got more convoluted. It basically tied itself in knots. Did events change? Did time correct itself? Does someone know or cares?! I'm sure the writer doesn't. Forget about time traveling taboos, it was a road kill right from the start.

Another contributor to this mess is the serial killer/kidnapper subplot. How I wish k-dramas would stop using this trope, but I digress. As before, his first couple of appearances was impactful and fits within the context of the central premise. However, one of the fundamental purposes of a do-over is to change the timeline so that history does not repeat itself. In this case, the plot around the killer is more like a rubber band. It becomes a millstone.

It doesn't help when the antagonist is a "faceless" bogeyman who won't go away. I get that he is obsessed with the FL, but the rationale is lost in the mist of plot disarray. He has a name but no backstory, no motivation for any of his actions. They shouldn't have met, or he should be in jail as each timeline changes. Then what happened to him in the 15 years since he may or may not have kidnapped the FL? Did he killed more girls or just looked for the FL all those years. What are the police doing? Watching reruns of Dr. Who?!

The antagonist finally got his just deserts in the last EP but how I wish it happened 6 eps earlier. The last EP is total fan service on steroids! It speed-run through a stack of dating tropes and it is total guilty pleasure. It compensates for some of the mid show confusions.

There is a decent amount of skinship throughout the run and they felt right. Not the most passionate I have seen but swoon-y nevertheless.

In terms of acting, it is the same split personality. I love the leads to bits, but the support cast is all over the place. The grandma is sweet. The mum is bearable. The ML's dad is a buffoon who goes for the cheap laughs. The FL's bestie and her brother are so cringy. Their roles get more and more exaggerated as the show progresses. Are they 13 or 30? I groan during some of their scenes.

The kidnapper deserves his own paragraph. He is so one dimensional. Basically, a cardboard cutout. He shows up, does the Death Stare with bonus grimace and retires to a dark corner to await his next money shot. So little effort yet so pivotal a role.

In the end, if they do a director's cut of our leads’ romantic journey, it would be 10/10. I would be a happy couch potato watching it on repeat. The rest gets a 6/10. In view of balance, the show gets an 8/10.

I can totally understand the hype and attention surrounding the show but I also get why some would defer as well. I need therapy.

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A drag to watch

As you can tell by the number of episodes watched(13/16 at time of writing), I'm having a hard time finishing this show, with about 3~ hours worth of content that I still need to get through to mark it off my list.

The same occurred for me with the shows 'Destined with You' and 'What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, and it's not because I don't like romantic drama series or that those two shows are bad by any means, it's just that all these shows have one thing in common, and that's that their stories are non-existent or shallow.

What baffles me is that this show seems to be highly favored on MDL and I still have to find what is so great about it. The majority of people seem to adore the couple, which isn't strange, but aside from that... if you take away that couple and replace them by literally anybody else, what does this show have to offer? It's a highly forgettable show that has the couple carrying it's entire existence, which is telling as a great show overall doesn't need actors carrying it, as great storytelling and great acting ride the boat together down the stream.

The story is shallow and while it starts off interesting, it becomes more and more frustrating to watch..... At the start she has a disability, after 3 episodes it seems that never occurred or existed, they never talk about it again. There is no backstory on the serial killer, nor is there any information on previous killings, nor is there any reasoning given up till episode 13 on WHY exactly he's so hard focusing on this couple, transcending time and space seemingly to get to them at all costs. The serial killer is 1-dimensional, there is nothing else to the character besides being a serial killer.

Personally I think you can remove the serial killer and the time travel and the series would be better for it, as you would have removed two of the weakest elements of the show.

If I had to give an apt description of this show I would say it's similar to eating a single bland cracker, while it may quench hunger for a moment, it leaves a lot to be desired.

If we're going to compare this to other shows with time travel and/or romance elements my personal opinion is as followed:

Time travel romance better done in:
Mr. Queen
Twinkling Watermelon
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
My Perfect Stranger
Chicago Typewriter (Not exactly time travel but timeskips)

Mystery/Crime better done in:
My Perfect Stranger
(Don't recall other shows at the moment, would have to scour through my list of watched shows for that)

Romance/Chemistry better done in:
Gyeongseong Creature
My Dearest
Our Blues (Multiple couples but I'd say this couple the most - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_xuO7s06Tc)
Chicago Typewriter
Tell Me That You Love Me

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Love transcending time and timeslips

✅️ Nostalgic kdrama feels
✅️ Leads bursting with chemistry
✅️ Lots of gushing, blushing romance
✅️ Unexpected plottwists
✅️ Lovely OSTs
✅️ Beautifully shot scenes
✅️ LOL comedic moments

If you thought you are in for the usual fluff, then you're mistaken.

For all the cute previews and fluff fanservice, you find someone stick a hand in your chest and squeezed your heart. First was Im Sol after she lost mobility. The helplessness and lost of hope. Then theres ML and his depression. Lots of teary heart wrenching moments. You will ache for them.

Then my greatest surprise was the curveball at the last 5mins of ep2. Didnt see that coming. That was d ML point of view I didnt know I needed but was so glad director/writer gave us this. Then theres the onpoint acting. Always a fan of Kim Hye Yoon. We wouldnt be this hook without the good acting and the leads' chemistry.

In an afterthought, I just realised its like reading a novel with an epic love story. Theres the sweet romance build up that makes yoi giddy and reminds you of first love. But then theres the grittier bits, heavy emotion from darned fate and stakes against the CP. You watch your leads struggle but ultimately their hearts lead to each other. You feel healed in the knowledge that there's this kind of love.

Ps: Have bumped up the ratings. Its hard for a drama to hold my interest and make me a fan of their love. Even rarer that it has such a high rewatch value

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A Green Forest Kdrama

This is undoubtedly my favorite kdrama of all time!

I had started this unexpectedly because the plot was something which is not everyone's cup of tea and I really liked KHY and BWS as actors so gave it a go. And ngl I was seated from 1st ep to the 16th one with rewatching each ep after it aired. It was also surprising to see a drama do well with next to zero promotional activities.

This drama had all tropes like time travel, love at first sight, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, comedy, bromance and what not. It was hard to bring all these together, but the director and the writer did a fabulous job portray it wonderfully. Even the 3 timelines shown were also beautifully put together. The acting was top notch from everyone and this drama had one of the green flag SML. The OST's are also so good that I listen to it almost everyday.

The chemistry here is one of the best I've ever seen. The way KHY and BWS portrayed sol and sunjae I don't think any other actor could have done it like them. They made me laugh, cry, gave me so many butterflies and made me stuck with them in this joyful ride together. For me they've become the best on screen couples of all time.

This drama had everything in it that captivated the viewers hearts from the beginning. It made my 2 months so wholesome that it'll forever remain in my heart. It'll be hard to get over this masterpiece but till then I'm gonna just rewatch the eps or else I'll miss each monday and tuesday from now on.

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Watch this after the drama is finished! if not, the waiting for episodes is hell.

I was a manhwa fan. At first, I was worried how the drama would turn out as the adaption drama story line and manhwa/novel story line are tend to be different. I’m not worried about the actors’ acting tho. They have already proved their acting with their previous works.
But when it aired, I love it! The drama gave more solid reason for Sol being a fan of Seon Jae and tried fo save him.
But I didn’t expect that in drama story line, Seon Jae fall Sol first. It seems that drama and manhwa/novel have only core similarity like time slip and FL tries to save ML.
The chemistry between leads are so superb that I fall in love with this cp.
I give this 10 out of 10.
As I said, because the drama is so good, you should wait for all episodes. I’m here regretting that I watched it as soon as they aired as the waiting for next episode is hell. :’)

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if you don't want some draggy confusing drama plot with cliché leads, don't watch

the ost and acting for this drama is actually a banger. all of these actors really doing great with their characters. but im so sad the plot didn't doing great

i think there's just too much unnecessary plot. there's a lot of plot hole where watchers didn't get much proper explanation of the story. like when im sol jumping from one to another timeline, there must be some explanation where im sol got every memories from each timeline. when im sol time traveling for the last time, why suddenly im sol traveling using sunjae's watch instead of the one in her hand, and why she can traveling in traveling time mode(?) when she's not even ended her time travel era first before traveling again??? and it seems like there's no end to her last traveling era? is she living in the past?? and by calculation im sol's soul's age must be around 47 years old by the time she met sunjae again?? isn't it weird?? idk there's just too much weird things and didn't make sense even if you called this fantasy genre.

and there's scenes where it repeated heavily, draggy, and the female lead character getting more annoying as the time goes by (no hate to kim hyeyoon. ik she's just doing amazing acting, im criticizing the writer).

maybe if the writer cut some unnecessary plot and make this drama into 10 or 12 episodes only, the drama would be less draggy and less depressing.

overall i just want to take back all the time I've spent watching this drama... im here just for byeon wooseok ??

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Perfect Romantic Comedy with All the Right Elements

As someone already mentioned here, it's literally one of the rare gems of K-dramas. The series has everything that's necessary for romcoms and K-series in general:

✓ Great from start to finish
✓ Green flag main characters
✓ Interesting plotline
✓ Happy ending
✓ Suitable cast for the characters
✓ Focus on main characters with minimal focus on side characters
✓ Beautiful OSTs (Sonagi and Spring Snow!!!)
✓ Green flag second male lead
✓ Many more things I probably forgot to mention

It had many emotional scenes, but overall it wasn't depressing at all, so it's perfect if you want to watch something to feel entertained and feel like you're a teenager again, kicking your feet, lying in bed giggling, and blushing out of adoration for the characters.

literally 10 out of 10

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