Reviews

Time Travel Romcom

Lovely Runner is a perfect mix of time travel, romcom, and angst. Every episode will have you rooting for the two main leads, and BWS and KHY will have you crying, smiling and laughing along with them. The chemistry was off the charts, and the OST was amazing and something I can imagine myself listening to over and over again outside of the drama.

I do have to note though - this is time travel so there has to be a certain suspension of belief. While not everything made 100% logical sense, I feel like the writers have done a great job in executing the storyline to bring everything together. The back and forth between the different timelines felt seamless and natural, and the multiple flashbacks throughout the show never felt unnecessary.

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BEAUTIFUL, FLUFFY AND TRULY LOVELY DRAMA!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I just love how it was a simple drama that wasn't too complicated, and I love that they didn't waste time and focus on creating some backstory for the villain; he is just a bad guy who happens to be present. This is the first time in a while where a drama didn't lose me because I felt the storyline was getting weaker. The drama stayed true to what it was meant to be, a cheesy rom-com with all the cliches and I love when a rom-com is unapologetically exactly that. It was simply full of fluff and I don't remember any product placements being shoved in my face, which was nice. I'm glad everyone had a beautiful and fulfilling ending, and this is definitely a drama I would rewatch.

Everyone worked so hard on this drama after having so many setbacks. I'm glad it got popular, and I really hope more dramas like this will be produced. It truly is nice to simply watch a lighthearted drama. I was giggling and grinning from episode one all the the way to the last episode, even when the last timeline began and Sunjae didn't remember Sol, his personality didn't change and the couple still managed to make me laugh. The music in the drama was also so beautifully done, spring snow in particular might just be one of my favourite OSTs of all time. Thank you to everyone who worked on this and thank you for letting me experience such a wonderful drama. <3

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decent way to spend 20 minutes

Overall: I was put off by the title and how one character looked really young, but their ages were 20 and 30 and it was a decent story. This is one episode https://youtu.be/N36RyPrWRgE?si=qbCEznCpg4ybeo0B from Love Bites season 2 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPcB0_P-Zlj6UzkFSEipwgaNxQraj-S_5

Content Warning: vomiting

What I Liked
- easy to understand plot
- a character was sassy but also like a real person I could meet and not a stereotype
- cute moments

Room For Improvement
- voice over was unnecessary
- unclear on how much time passed, at the end that felt rushed for what he gave him but maybe it wasn't exactly what I thought it was or more time had passed than what I thought

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One of the most well-rounded and enjoyable watches EVER

I considered writing a well thought out review for like a total of five minutes, but I can't. So, allow me to just yap.

This drama had very quickly made it obvious to me that it would become my all time favourite. There are so many core reasons as to why, I'm not sure how to list them all. First off, the casting was splendid. I wouldn't change a single thing. The acting was impeccable. The emotions were so real. I adored that this drama started out with a focus on high school life, giving me that cute high school romance that I love so much. The fantasy undertones were the root, yet they did not take away from the sweetness of their youth. There were so many times when I genuinely forgot that this was a story of Im Sol going back and forth. It feels like she lived so many lives and we got to witness so much of it. I am also so glad that it wasn't a situation in which Sun jae's feelings were hidden for an unnecessary amount of time. You know how sometimes it'll be that the female lead likes the male lead and then you find out later that he liked her all along, but they tell you rather than showing you? I loved that this drama showed us his perspective so early on. There may have been some back and forth with him and Im Sol about their feelings, but we knew. However, I believe the miscommunication was just the right amount. It wasn't like they were going crazy trying to hide their feelings... Even in the last few episodes as Im Sol tried to stay away, it was obvious that Sun jae was just ignoring her completely because he could see through her efforts.

I loved seeing their youth, it just gave me butterflies the whole time. I'm glad we spent time in the past, seeing them all build bonds and grow together. Everyone's story was touched on well, we got see how In Hyuk, Tae sung, Sun jae, and Im Sol had come together as well.

Tae Sung became a very beloved character and somehow one of the most sensible of them all. I appreciate how his intellect was something present even in his youth and he learned how to better channel it as he grew older.

Sun Jae was just a green flag all around. I have so much to say but my mind can't pinpoint a single thing. He was great.

All in all, this drama really touched my heart. It truly was about making sacrifices and learning to sometimes be selfish and give yourself a happy ending. I think the saddest part was knowing that even though Sun Jae and Im Sol have their memories, those experiences that all the characters shared in the past are no longer part of their timeline. It's unfortunate to know that in some ways, they missed out on a very pretty life filled with sweet moments. That's why episode 13 was definitely the saddest for me.

Anyways, this was a 10/10 kdrama with amazing romance, beautiful moments of the past, and really makes you appreciate the privilege of time.

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artsy/realistic vibe

Overall: watched this 20 minute short movie on YouTube https://youtu.be/6wj77bybP_Y?si=IDX9OzVAx1rqmYmh According to MDL it was inspired by the song Rerun, the music video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfaBrj275co&ab_channel=PPKritEntertainment

What I Liked
- hooked me with the beginning conversation
- how the painting was titled open-ended
- the vibe

Room For Improvement
- the timeline of the first 2 scenes after the voice over in the intro wasn't clear until later
- the romance was an undercurrent/spoken but not really shown
- open endings aren't my favorite

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An addictive, super-romantic drama with a superb OTP

There is a lot of hype for this show. As a romantic comedy/drama this show hits out of the park and deserves that hype. It's addicting, fun, hilarious, melodramatic, romantic, and has writing that if inconsistent still attempts to be somewhat thought-provoking and character-driven. And the main pairing is one for drama history.

If you're expecting anything other than that, this will fall very flat for you.

Watch this immediately if you are looking for:
- Painfully dreamy ML
- Heart-fluttering romance, high chemistry, sweet and touching love story
- Humor, fun, something to binge/be addicted to

Skip this or save it for a slump if prefer stories that have:
- Plots that are super coherent/tight
- Engrossing/realistic character arcs
- Though-provoking explorations of ideas/ themes

Here are the elements broken down:

SUPERB----

MALE LEAD: The absolute highlight of this show. Sun Jae is the ultimate "lovable loser." On the outside he pretends to be cool, logical, and independent, but on the inside he is a clingy, cringy, dork. He will steal your entire heart. Played pitch perfectly by Byeon Woo Seok.

SECOND MALE LEAD: Tae Sung re-invents the definition of second male lead syndrome. In any other drama I would have been rooting for him over the ML. I expect to see Song Geon-lee leading a drama soon, he stood out in every single scene he was in.

ROMANCE/CHEMISTRY: The main couple oozed chemistry out of every pore. The longing looks, the cute interactions, the sexual tension. Your heart will flutter, then it will break. you'll scream, you'll cry, you'll jump for joy and throw things at the screen for them.

BROMANCE: The ML with is various homies (including Tae Sung) had such natural, fun chemistry. Just as engaging as the main couple romance. I loved every scene he had with his bros.

HUMOR: 10/10: I laughed out loud more times than I can count. The writer put them all in such ridiculous situations, played by a cast of actors who all had fantastic comedic timing. So many memorably funny moments.

MUSIC: The sountrack is top notch, including the songs sung from the band in the show.

GOOD---

FEMALE LEAD: For most of the drama she is funny, quirky, cute, fiesty and compassionate. But there are a few eps where she is so frustratingly stubborn and clueless in service of a poorly executed plotline that I came to dislike her for a while. I adore the actress on the whole and think she captures the soul of Im Sol well, she has to cry almost every episodes and cries so convincingly and with such heart. But there were times when she pulled the same facial expression over and over (she had a very overused wide-eyed look of clueless surprise quite often, for example).

MEH---

SIDE CHARACTERS/PLOTS: There were some funny moments involving the MCs families, but for the most part they had nothing to do with the main plot and seemed like filler, I had no real connection to any of the family. I started fast-forwarding through most of them by the end. The acting was serviceable but none of them stood out especially.

CHARACTER ARCS: While they went through a lot, I didn't see that the characters actually grew or changed much in any particular way. 2ML had a small arc, but it was glossed over and he was not used as much as he could have been. The characters have the same exact personalities and tendencies in the beginning as in the end, although there were many touching moments of realization and character moments throughout. Just no strong overall arcs.

MIXED---

PLOT
- EPS 1-8 (9/10) - The first 8 eps are full of intriguing twists and turns and raise a host of questions about the meaning of memory and fate.
- EPS 9-13 (5/10) - The middle episodes are dominated by an unnecessary and repetitive almost wholly unrelated crime storyline that drags and makes the characters act in uncharacteristic and frustrating ways. There are some cute and funny moments, but the romantic plotline became fluffy filler and the story completely loses its thematic center and meanders sloppily along.
- EPS 14-16 (7/10) - The story finds its footing again towards the end, but never really pays off the questions or ideas raised in the theme at the beginning of the show, even if it does somewhat try and close that loop. The romance tension fires back up at this point as well, and the ending is satisfying if nothing spectacular.

100% worth a watch if romantic comedies are your jam.

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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.

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A perfect drama to rewatch every once in a while because it gives you the FEELS ?

One thing about me is that I will always give a time travel series a go and this didn't disappoint. Maybe it's the high school sweethearts, nostalgia, the going back and forth in time, the aesthetics.... Idk .. but this worked so well. Im sol and sun jae invented soulmateness.

We're there plot holes and some things were brushed over or never explained, were there scenes that pissed me off and could have been done better to make the drama a 10/10...... YES but it's over now and I can't bring myself to get into it all and complain because I have a silly little smile on my face. I loved watching the story unfold and seeing how the main character would find their way back to each other.

One thing I LOVED and I don't think it gets enough appreciation is the relationship between sun jae and his dad. If I remember correctly sun jaes mother was only mentioned briefly once by sun jaes dad in passing and never again which shows how deeply sun jars father cares for sun jae. He never made sun jae feel the absence of his mother and filled the role of a parent so well and we hardly get a role of a single father like this. it made me teary up so much watching him cry over sun jae.



SPOILERS
(Okay I need to get it off my chest sue me ....
Things I probs missed or needed more explanation..
1) I swear there was more to the grandma ... The scene in the last ep ... The "missed him" comment, this could have been explored and would have bought more dept to the drama.
2) there was a scene idk between ep 12 to ep 14 where sol is in the country side and the killer found out she was there and went there ..., the scene of sol calling her mam and the killer being in the mam's shop, it was dark outside and when the killer left he was walking the way the scene transitioned made it seem like he was time traveling too. If this was also explored it would have made it even more entertaining.
3) the ending of the killer just dying and sun jae fainting on the road . ???? Whyyyyyyyy it was so anti climactic I was like..??? That's it???? Lmaoo come one the build up and that was all we got.
4) I needed more time with taesung. The way he was acting and him being friends with sol all these years I which how in the final timeline, how that worked out.
Anyways bye

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I really enjoyed this drama! I wasn't sure about the plot at first because I get tired of the chabeol plots but after watching an edit on TikTok I decided to give it a try and I'm so glad I did!

It was a perfect blend of emotional, funny, action, detective work. I really enjoyed Ahn Bo Hyun's character. I also enjoyed the way all the characters developed. It was fun to see them becoming a team and working so well together.

The cases they worked on were interesting and that plot twist at the end was oooof! I would absolutely watch it again and am hoping they follow through with a second season!

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LOVE IN TIME

My SolJae.. What will I do now every Monday and Tuesday? As much as I have loved other dramas, I think this might just be in my top five all time. With the love story that I have been following between these two, and have been watching since basically the beginning, I don't know how quickly I can let them go. These two either brought a smile to my face or tears with each episode.

The acting within this project is phenomenal. I felt as if I was genuinely a character in the show with how much emotion and attachment I've grown upon these characters. The chemistry made me feel as if they were actually together. I love both of these actors so much, and I will continue to love them, but Lovely Runner will forever hold a place in my heart.

The story follows Im Sol, a girl who's a fangirl of a K-Pop group called Eclipse. She had bought a watch at an auction that once belonged to her favorite member, Ryu Sunjae. Once 2023 begins, that Sunjae passes away, but there's nothing she could do from stopping his death, right? Things began to go into a spiral when she clicks the watch and she goes back 15 years into the past. While there, she meets her favorite member when he was a high schooler. Now she's in her 2008 body and finds that she lived across from him. What will she do now that she is trying to correct time and keep him from his "unfixable" fate?

I just want to say that this romance is one of a kind. My favorite part about this story is the fact that Sunjae is a loser in love. No matter if he is a singer, an actor, or just a regular highschool boy, he still acts out in front of his crush. He may have lost his memories throughout each lifetime, but he will always find his way back to Sol. It didn't matter what universe or weird time jumps occurred, he always found his way back to the one he loved. His destiny was to be with her, even if he were to have died.

This drama deserves all of the hype!! I'm so sad to see them go but I'm also so happy that I got to experience such a wonderful story. This marks an end of a chapter, but there will always be more to come.

ALSO!! I loved the fact that even when the future changed, Sunjae was always meant to be some sort of famous person in South Korea. He was a singer whose group sold out tickets, but he was also an actor who had successful dramas. But his occupation didn't matter, he was still Sol's.

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best drama

beautiful nice highly recommended drama.

































































































so so hearttouching drama

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Enjoyed it overall!

The casting was perfect! Li Xian is so handsome and Zhou Yu Tong is charming. The music was also good and I liked the plot. I liked the way it talked about death, as that is one inevitability of life. It had a good combination of emotional scenes with romance and comedy.

The leads had such good chemistry that during their intimate and vulnerable moments, I would forget that it was a fictional story. I was swooning a long with them.

The issue is with the character of Zhuang Jie, her insecurities really made it hard for me to fully root for her. I especially disliked when she left for Shanghai without telling Chen Maidong until the last minute and after essentially trapping him into an engagement so he wouldn't easily leave her. I just felt that was glossed over a bit, but the ending made it worth it. So, overall, I enjoyed this drama. Would rewatch it too.

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