Lovely Runner (2024)

i don't like this one

most of the actors are overacting all the time, too many filler, too many "coincidental" scenes between main characters (falling into each other,...). Additionally, there are many details that are given only once and are not repeated or developed or explained (the first time the male lead dies of depression - why is he depressed?, the scene where the female lead discovers that
her mom hides her illness - has their relationship changed?, the female lead can escape the fate of being crippled but find it difficult to save the male lead?). In particular, what annoys me the most is the pair of supporting characters (the female lead's brother and best friend). They're too loud and don't really contribute to the main story line

Lire davantage

The curse of the 16 episode Kdrama strikes again

For me, this show was a solid 8.5 when I first started it. I have to say, I had no interest in this show. Then I heard about the plot and how it's about a girl going back in time to save her favorite idol...I thought the plot was so pitiful and sad! I started this out of pity! I just feel like it's sad when you have regrets about people you can't save. And the show didn't disappoint. The start of this show was exhilarating. It was relatable and emotional and so sincere. Then after the sad start, there was the humor, and the love interest developed into one of the more endearing male leads of Dramaland as he wore his heart on his sleeve and was just dorky and handsome at the same time. Not many can pull that off so kudos to Byeon Woo Seok for that. In addition, our leading lady is a tried and guaranteed good actress. The chemistry was sizzling, the plot was engaging, the humor was delightful, and the second male lead was not too annoying...it was all too good to be true. And it was, in fact, too good to be true.
It is a truth, universally understood but everyone is too chicken to acknowledge it, that all kdramas have the potential to end on episode 12 but get dragged on for four more episodes until the show loses all its unique charm and rots away in the cesspool of cliched stereotypes. My only wish while watching a kdrama is either for it to end with 12 episodes or if it has to go on, at least go with grace. Very few shows do that.
I was really rooting for this show. I really was. But sadly, the show started to stutter around episode 10/11 and by episode 12, the plot was lost, dead, and buried.
Here's the thing, you need to let your MacGuffin macguffin! You need to let your plot device be a device to drive the plot ahead. Not for the plot to run after the plot device on a bicycle! What I'm trying to say is that a lot of Korean rom-coms add murder mysteries or thriller subplots to their shows both to make them longer and to spice up the plot. And I'm gonna assume at some point this worked but lately, these subplots are becoming so intense, convoluted, and clunky that they totally derail the show and ruin its final arc. Here it was no exception as the plot began to fall into a repetitive cycle, the female lead lost all her brain cells, misunderstandings and miscommunications ensued, and characters actively made choices to sabotage the progress of the story.
Girl, you're traveling back in time. Putting aside the ludicrous shock of such an event, after figuring out the rules (which the show took as guidelines, instead of rules as they frequently and shamelessly broke them for plot convenience) why do you keep repeating the same pattern of behavior, hoping to get different results?!
The plot really fell in a loop. It became exhausting. Then the murderer plot became too big and it was like the villain had extra superpowers because why was he absolutely undefeatable for 16 bloody episodes?!
It was just too much and then episode 15 rushed to close the plotlines while most of episode 16 was fan service. The pace of the show was a mess. They should've established better rules for their universe and stuck to them at least in important plot moments. Unfortunately, logic and narrative were sacrificed for melodramatic effect, ultimately ruining the second half of the show beyond repair.
Now the actors were okay. I would especially say just the mains stood out as good. The side actors were so-so. The subplot of the brother and best friend was really bad. It was boring and wasted time more than anything else. Every other character was written only as background decoration or comic relief, making them too caricaturish to be taken seriously.
Production was minimal but it worked. Music was tolerable I guess. But I was still tired of the ballad by the end.
I won't rewatch this. The second half ruined it for me but the first half will always remain an exceptional "One that got away" for me.
I wish they had done better by the show. It deserved better. It could've been so much better. I still think if you really wanna watch it, it's a good rom-com and the leads' dynamic is worth enjoying. Just maybe prepare to clench your teeth in the second half.

Lire davantage

Very disappointing

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

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

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

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

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

Lire davantage

Just a drama filled with all the cliched romantic scenes we have been watching for years

I am a Wooseok enjoyer so I decided on giving the series a try. As a fan of Wooseok, I am really happy he got his limelight through this show. But other than that there is nothing new or unique about this drama. Maybe the romance works well for new kdrama watcher. I am just so tired watching the show. The writers really didn't care to explore any other characters in this show. Except ml and fl, every other character are just there as a decorative purpose. The writers were hyper focused on fl saving the ml that they didn't even care about any character development in any of the characters in the story. Just bad writing and cringey fl doing random things leading her in trouble always. Don't know what's the hype abt this drama. Anyway Wooseok lets grab those awards for this year because he really was born to do this role and he played his part really well as always. Could have given better story for the sml, but unfortunately he is also just there to make the ml jealous and for decorative purpose.

Also, The fl's disability got forgotten and after few episodes it felt like she/the writers just ignored it. The writers should have made fl taking time and relive her past like Twinkling Watermelon show. The story and the characters were so shallow which is the main drawback imo. The show had two great lead actors (BWS and KHY) with good side actors but never fully used their potential.

Positive things
1. The comic timing and lil expression variations of BWS and KHY were so good.
2. The chemistry of the leads.
3. The first 5 episodes were really good.
4. Music/OST

Lire davantage

Interesting Story ruined by Annoying FL

I know is hard to explain and picture but I loved and "hated" watching this at the same time..
There were too many moments where I really just had to push through because of how exasperated I was at what was happening on screen. (and the only reason I enjoyed it was honestly because, in between all of the cringy worthy dialogue and incredibly unbearably annoying actions, there truly are some really funny moments in this and I liked all of the supporting characters (for the most part, the brother is annoying af and so is her best friend but I'll give her a pass))

The story starts out with a very interesting and promising plot. from the get go we get introduced to this once-bitter female lead that has now changed into someone brighter and more positive because she was inspired by the male lead. However the situation is very cringy since she does start out as an obviously obsessed Kpop fan. doesn't matter why she started liking them, she ended obsessed. and that obsession/love for her idol ruins like 75% of the dialogue between the leads in the first like 7 episodes. she can't say something that doesn't sound stupid or crazy for the life of her.

The way they wrote the female lead really made this unbearable to watch sometimes.
She was super annoying and lacked any common sense. She was supposed to be acting like a 30 year old that goes back in time but instead she acts like she is 13 the entire time. Like, miss girl, did you NEVER watch ANY time travel media?? like, there are so many movies and tv shows about time travel that it can be considered general knowledge at this point. it should be obvious that if you travel back in time you should try and at least act normal about it. SHE NEVER ACTS NORMAL!! she is so incredibly dense.

I honestly wouldn't rewatch this drama ever, not even for the "good parts". Seriously. A drama not worth a rewatch is not a good drama.

Casting 20/10 tho.. Loved the actors. ❤️


edit: okay, some of yall are not understanding. I personally, did in fact watch the whole thing and found it good. Simple as that.
There were annoying moments and things that I could, and have, nick-picked about the female lead because I can. It's my opinion and my take on my watching experience. that's it.

Lire davantage

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.

Lire davantage

The romance and music are great. PLot Holes. And characterizations greatly diminish the enjoyment.

The effervescence around this drama is excessive. If one can watch without a critical eye it is absolutely wonderful And I agree. If you are The type of k drama watcher, who likes cohesive plots and well developed characters.Then you may have issues with this drama. It may still be well worth watching for the emotional beats and the music. The acting is very good and the couple is amazingly cute. I do not regret watching this show but it was stressful at times.

This is my first review. I wanted to present overall a more balanced view. I rely in part on these ratings to decide whether to watch a show or not. If I relied on the ratings and reviews here I would have thought this is The absolutely Best drama ever and this is definitely not the case.

Lire davantage

Kdrama version of all that glitters is not gold

I usually watch kdrama after checking it’s rating and Lovely runner has 9.2 rating!! I have completed watching the show and am shocked as it’s rating is same as twinkling watermelon( that show is a legit masterpiece) and lovely runner doesn’t even come close to it. Still wondering what made people give this show such a high rating. The show feels like a low budget time travel.

I am sorry but story was average and execution was below average. There were soo many timelines but hardly any character development in those timelines. Sol goes back in past many times and still can’t get things right. It felt like she didn’t care about her disability that much and was just obsessed with ML. She wasn’t in love with him in the beginning so why was she acting as his long lost lover.
Her actions made no sense and left me plain confused in the beginning episodes. I was expecting more because she is the FL not just any other character.

I have no issue with the SunJae as he was clueless and such a sweetheart. I kept watching the show for him.
The serial killer guy made no sense to me till the end. He was used only to drag the story as there was nothing else to add in the plot. The supporting characters weren’t used that much and felt irrelevant at times. The show could’ve been made more exciting by adding thrilling factors in it as time travel is soo vast and have multiple dimensions in it. I feel like the excitement factor was not there. The show is not bad but just not worth the hype and definitely not worth the rating.

Lire davantage

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

Lire davantage

If I got to be that guy so be it. SADLY RUNNER is more like it

Lovely runner started off as a show that seems to show promise. I love the fact that they have two great cast and probably an exceptional storyline. However, it's get too draggy and boring real quick. The show tries to show multiple ways that indicates how the story plays out. It doesn't help if the FL keeps messing up and tries to keep it a secret. Messing up does unlock a lot of potential plot twist or surprising moments. With poor execution and pretty predictable, it wasn't gonna work. I say this show had everything and just could deliver. At least make the bad guy better since he wasn't even feared at all.

Lire davantage