Lovely Runner

Lovely Runner - #1 out of 417 KDramas

Contains Spoilers!!

Lovely Runner Review and why it has become my #1 KDrama out of 417 seen (so far).

This will contain a review of Lovely Runner (LR), and giving a few spoilers as possible, but will also provide data showing the uniqueness of this show, and its bombshell effect on the global audience which resulted in a first leading role catapulting ML Byeon Woo Seok (BWS) into a global superstar.

Other than seeing posts of excited fans on KDrama pages, I had no information on Lovely Runner (LR) when I started watching.

It still had several weeks of airing when I “thought” I would just pop in and check out Episode 1 to see what all the stir was about and then wait for it to finish to see straight through.

Ah…NO!

From the concert to the scene on the bridge, I was HOOKED

https://youtu.be/T_uVy8v9-S8?si=onMuDs1mn1vgy039

When we got to the time-travel back to 2008 and her run to “Sun Jae-ah!!”, I was enthralled.

The story is fascinating and fabulously executed by the cast and directors who all went far beyond the norm to make this 3 years in-the-making-story come to life.

https://youtu.be/76CbAftjgRQ?si=_1FDZmxSW5-8p0L4

Due to a challenge to her perspective in the darkest time of her life, Im Sol is Eclipse lead singer Ryu Sun Jae’s longest and most dedicated fan. Through a series of events. when devastating news about him hits, she is transported from 2023 to 2008 where she attempts to change his path to avoid the catastrophe.

This leads to a hilarious intersection of 30-year-old Sol with teenage Sol’s life, much of which she doesn’t remember, as she acts bizarrely for the teenage Sol in order to save Sun Jae.

What she learns is that what is done differently in 2008 has an effect on 2023, some unforeseen.

Since it involves multiple trips as she goes back-and-forth, she begins to understand the patterns of what is transferring between 2008 and 2023, and make adjustments accordingly, with her eye on the goal of saving Sun Jae.

However, Sun Jae has his own thoughts on the new Sol in each timeline.

This brings us laughter, joy, frustration, deep concern for their safety, desperately wishing for things to work out for the future, and ultimately a fabulous romance.

I am a retired professional singer and actress, so music with theatre is my bag. Anytime those two are put together with excellence, I’m in, and that was certainly the case for this show with BWS actually singing the lead for the five Eclipse songs, the majority of which ended up on real life professional music charts, one of which so resonated with the global audience that it broke and set records.

Hearing the behind the scenes footage between the actors and main director lets us appreciate the beauty of KDramas in building depth in a relationship through a directorial fine hand to make the romance heart-grabbing while specifically avoiding pushing it into being explicit.

https://youtu.be/IuF53Sw21UQ?si=zQmSpPiGr21qkkys

Result:

https://youtu.be/vY7AEc7OljY?si=dwM6cp7pPDCqA10q

I applaud that the villain propelled the story forward without overpowering the leads’ story and romance. Even as a very real threat, he was written as the impetus behind their story vs the leading couple’s story being back-burnered as disappointingly happened in the much anticipated KDrama Queen of Tears earlier this year.

I love a story that is intriguing, that makes you stay glued to the screen to keep up with the events happening to put the puzzle pieces in place instead of spelling everything out as it goes, one that requires some effort from the viewer and this one DOES - though in case you missed the clues, everything is put in place for you by the end.

We have comedy, time-travel with multiple trips back and forth, sports, music/idols - and a romance for the ages.

(Spoilers):

https://youtu.be/G273OX8r-bQ?si=FNrP06eer5G7GqAe

Sun Jae’s faithful and sacrificial love for Sol and her faithful and sacrificial love for “Sun Jae-ah” are exemplary of what true love should be. Each repeatedly put their lives and happiness on the line to protect the other.

https://youtu.be/Eh-ImBhwg7E?si=fOzOlHVzzb2Zvf-A

All KDrama fans quickly learn that S. Korea has some pretty phenomenal actors, even with K-Poppers turned actors.

Kim Hye Yoon (Im Sol) is well established as a FL and known for several roles including Extraordinary You which is set in high school (as is part of LR) where she had an even taller ML than BWS.

However for a first lead role, LR was a very ambitious and risky undertaking for novice ML Byeon Woo Seok. LR made Ryu Sun Jae a sink or swim career role for BWS’s first lead, which was a risky “make it or break it” move. The role covers swimming, singing, acting - and portraying the ML from ages 19 to 34, and he made the transitions beautifully.

In many scenes, his emotions are pouring out of his eyes, if you look. I refer you to the scene in Episode 8 right after he dumps his best friend in the bathtub and walks out to see Sol holding what he wanted to remain hidden.

As a retired actress and former university faculty in Theatre, I have to say that I pegged BWS for global stardom some time back from his appearance in another show

I am very impressed with him - not just his acting ability and talent, but also his tenacity and dedication to his craft.

Not only did he tackle a difficult and complex role as his first lead role and bear the responsibility of carrying the weight of the show as the ML, but he also had to learned to swim (he said he previously could only dog-paddle!) well enough to portray an Olympic level swimmer AND swim credibly against South Korea’s own real-life Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming Park Tae Hwan, which he DID.

Additionally, BWS mastered singing five songs to play an idol, with the majority of his songs placing on real life professional music charts, especially Sudden Shower (Sonagi).

Additionally, we have a wonderful second lead in Sun Jae’s rival for Im Sol, 2nd ML Kim Tae Sung (played by Song Geon Hee), who honorably steps aside when he realizes that it is not himself, but Sun Jae who holds Sol’s heart.

Sol’s goofy brother and her best friend provide many instances of comedic relief (as do the rest of the cast), as their awareness of each other and romance plays out.

We also have other great supporting characters in Sun Jae’s best friend played by real life S. Korean band N. Flying's Lee Seung Hyun, Sol’s not-so-out-of-it G’ma (Sung Byung Sook), Sol’s Mom played by veteran actress Jung Young Joo, Sun Jae’s Dad played by veteran character actor Kim Won Hae.

I shared LR with both of my adult daughters who are also KDrama fans, and for them it has also become the #1 KDrama they have seen, and we have all seen MANY.

Those who may not like LR will probably be those who love depressing, angst driven shows such as My Mister, My Dearest, Moon Lovers, etc.

However, those who liked positive, cute, comedic, music filled, uplifting shows with a happy ending, this one should be your bag.

LR has a great script, including a love for all time, incredibly talented actors, excellent direction, a fabulous OST, much of which was sung by the ML, award winning cinematography, comedy, pathos, intrigue, celebrity, off-beat families and a happy ending - what’s not to love?

_____________

Some of the awards and global response:

The Eclipse band (in the show not a real life band) has won numerous real life awards!

(To hear their #1 song, Sudden Shower’s Official Music Video - no English my subtitles):

https://youtu.be/fBB4MaBybyg?si=id6uGjBiKJaburq7

With English (no video):

https://youtu.be/Rx-R_qIYAiA?si=VCDuztOf02t5vkFL


The complete Lovely Runner OST is so well done it’s worth purchasing as well as being one-of-a-kind with the addition of fictitious band Eclipse’s songs sung by non-professional singer, ML Byeon Woo Seok as Idol Ryu Sun Jae. The OST has released Eclipse’s songs as a Bonus album to the show’s OST.

One of the unique qualities of Lovely Runner among 2024 KDramas showing it’s global fandom is that it brings a compilation of record-breaking and record making accolades including:

• LR script book becoming a #1 best seller BEFORE it hit the market

• LR OST recorded the all-time highest pre-release sales of any KDrama OST

• Sudden Shower sung by Byeon Woo Seok placed on the U.S. Billboard chart which has never before happened for a Korean actor

• Being the #1 show in over 130 countries on its original streaming platform Rakuten Viki

• Being Netflix’s highest rated KDrama to air in 2024 - even though it only aired for NF after the show ended airing on Viki and only aired on NF in limited parts of the world

• Its Fundex/Gooddata numbers showing that even not being originally aired on NF (for which NF viewers gave them major grief), tvN‘s OTT platform’s airing of LR beat NF in streaming viewership for the first time and LR (95,789,84) even beat NF’s Queen of Tears (71,412,39), which had just beaten the record held by Crash Landing on You a month before

• BWS and KHY won many unique awards including multiple fan voted popularity awards for their roles in LR

• And several more, listed below.

• Sudden Shower/Sonagi reached #3 on S. Korea’s professional music chart (Melon) AND placed on the US Billboard professional music chart at #199, ultimately reaching #167 where it beat Taylor Swift and even BTS. Currently, Sudden Shower has over 100 million plays on Spotify, alone.

Now add in the astounding number of awards Byeon Woo Seok and LR have racked up.

We’ve seen K-Pop singers turn into actors plenty of times, but BWS is the first actor to become a real-life professional music Idol - through a KDrama.

He is the first actor who by playing an Idol received:

.• A real life Global Music Award at the professional MAMA Music Awards (which upon winning, he acknowledged his Eclipse band members by their LR names).

• The first actor to sing at MAMA before 55,000 people - LIVE

• AND BWS’s Sudden Shower/Sonagi (소나기) just won S. Korea’s Melon professional music award for Best OST song

- All of which has never happened before.

And believe it or not, LR and its beloved leading couple have received even more awards, attention, applause, mentions and imitations than I have listed here, with even S. Korean celebrities taking selfies with BWS’s life-sized ad cutouts as the industry clamors to cast him or hire him for endorsements.

Obviously, LR hit a record breaking home run with S. Korean and the global audience.

Hats off to Byeon Woo Seok and Lovely Runner for giving us a great show with a love story for all time, fabulous music and for climbing new mountains in the industry and with the global KDrama fandom. 🫡

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He may be the most successful Stan in history

This started off pretty depressing. Based on the massive amount of love and fluff posted in socials, I was taken a back by the first scenes with our leads. While it was unexpected, I do wish they would have leaned more into that plotline. The first episode was a great foundation to open up the depth of the characters, especially Sol. I was disappointed by the lack of development in her character. Her logic matched that of her teenage self more than the 'grown woman' who was traveling back and forth in time. I think we were all annoyed at her attempts to help Seon Jae but push that poor guy away.

Seon Jae. The newest tree in the forest of green men. A cinnamon roll. As stated in the above title, he is the most successful Stan in history. This man not only pined after her as teens but held onto her (mentally) in just about every timeline. I would have loved to see more about his side of the world as things changed. He really provided the community with unrealistic bf expectations. From the hand scene in E4 to the apologizing to her when he couldn't remember, when SHE removed herself from the narrative.

The side characters didn't add much but I really enjoyed them. I would have loved some more screen time for Tea Sung, In Hyuk, and Hyun Joo (minus the husband, he was aggravating as all hell.)

I see a lot of people ranking this at a 4/5 or a 10. I'm somewhere in the middle. I liked the storyline and characters but they took an interesting idea and watered it down.

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Instant k-drama classic, Don't believe the recent low ratings

I watched this show 2 years late cuz I didn't want get caught up in the hype when it was airing. This show is one of the best k-dramas I've ever seen. And I've watched a lot as you can see from my watch history. This is not just another high school drama. The low ratings are because of people who wouldn't have enjoyed this drama anyways. They're not the target audience. If you want pure dopamine, great acting, cohesive plot and a gorgeous male lead who can sing like an angel, this is the show for you. No, I'm not exaggerating.

One of the themes is time travel. This isn't a spoiler because it happens pretty early on and it's literally mentioned in the episode blurb. This show reminds of the great shows of the past like While You Were Sleeping, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, etc. It's definitely it's own thing but is just as enjoyable. It will put a smile on your face and make your heart race like those shows did. Instant classic.

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I'm in love with the main couple and I will sure as hell be watching their other projects. I'm a big fan of them both. It was super cute, engaging and well-paced but the plot was at some point too frustating and took the easy path. It was always the same sh*t happening... Ending was really simple in the end so not very satisfying imo. That being said, Lovely Runner has one of the best last episode but not because of how things wrapped up plot-wise (with the Villain) but because we finally had our MLs happy without worrying about anything or breaking up or whatever !!! Liked it overall

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"I'm thankful that you exist in this world"

Beautiful, Captivating & Chemistry - These are the words I would use to describe this drama. This time-traveling romance masterfully explores the concept of fate, setting it apart with its exceptional execution. The story transforms a complex narrative into a compelling reality, making the extraordinary feel profoundly real.

I absolutely adore this drama - everything about it captivated me every Monday and Tuesday without fail. I was eager to keep watching each week. Every episode left me with a flurry of emotions: it tackled difficult topics such as grief, love and growing up. The one thing that I loved the most about this drama was the realism; it portrayed the difficulties of life and love as well as the difficulties of losing the one you love to keep them safe. All around: this drama was incredible.

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A Solid Drama

This drama is one of those k-dramas that is really great overall but is perhaps missing that something really, really special that makes it resonate below the surface and takes it from a great k-drama to an outstanding drama. Don’t get me wrong. This is a special drama in that it got a lot of things right. It’s more solid in execution than a lot of the k-dramas of late. You absolutely won’t regret watching it. The first couple of episodes were strong and I think it has the type of ending execution we’ve all been yelling for years that we really want (even though the non-romantic plot side was anti-climatic and wrapped up somewhat too easily for the amount of tension that was built). The middle and the very last episode were less polished but again, great overall.

For me personally, there are great dramas that don’t connect to me that deeply simply because I can see the actors playing the characters rather than just being immersed in the characters. This is not to say the acting isn’t solid. It is. However, this reminds me of when you go to see a play and although you can appreciate and are impressed by the seasoned acting, you can very much tell the actors are acting in a play. In order for me to connect to a drama on a deeper level, I need to not see the actor but only see the character. For this reason I can only say this drama is a solid drama that was executed well and deserves praise but I cannot say it is a drama that gripped me or will stay with me in any way. I admired the love and strength of the characters and what they went through but it was like watching actors in a drama and that’s it. Other less polished dramas have that really, really special something that gets you below the surface; that has so much heart you know you are experiencing something unlike others when you watch. For me, this is not such a drama (although great overall).

If I could, I would rate this an 8.7 as I think it’s higher than an 8.5.

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Absolutely knock out!!

Since My Dearest finished I’ve only given out a couple more 10 ratings in about a year. Wow, wow, wow. What a masterpiece!

Finally Byeon Woo Seok has his day. Why on earth it took the drama land folk this LONG to give him a ML lead part with a happy ending I don’t know. Let’s hope he stays squarely in that spot now. We all know we only endured that disaster of a show Strong Woman volume 2 because of him.

So well cast. Everyone- and I mean absolutely everyone on this cast played their roles to perfection. Lets give that casting director a gold medal.

While yes the revolving nature of this story started to get exhausting-I have to admit it was well written.

I was hooked from start to finish. The chemistry and the humor hit the spot.

The arc was simply beautiful.

Thank you for a wonderful show, that goes on the list of must watch reruns.

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THE BEST K-DRAMA EVER!! ☀️✨

Wow! I can't believe that was the ending of such an amazing drama. The chemistry between the characters was so sweet and overflowing, I just want to eat them up their are so cute, words can't literally describe how much I love them. Watching this drama was an emotional rollercoaster for me. One moment I was crying, the next laughing, then swooning over the actors, and then shocked and crying again. Despite being a mess of emotions, I enjoyed every second of it. This is now my top favorite drama☀️.

As a long-time fan of Hyeyoon since "Extraordinary You" and Wooseok from "Record of Youth", I was excited to hear that they were cast together. My anticipation grew so much that I even read the webtoon "Tomorrow's #1", which I thoroughly enjoyed. I watched as the title changed from "Time to Walk Through Memory" to "Carry Sunjae and Run", and every time they attended award shows to promote the drama or posted teaser photos, I constantly checked for updates and eagerly awaited the premiere. Like many others, I didn't anticipate its immense popularity. Seeing them reach this level of success feels incredibly rewarding and I am truly proud of their achievements. They say opportunity comes to those who are ready, and they truly deserve this success!!

The anticipation for each episode was like no other show, except maybe “Queen of Tears” and “Twinkling Watermelon”. But even then, I was more excited for this one. The chemistry between Sunjae and Im Sol is incredibly insane, it got me kicking my feet and punching my pillow. Their journey from sweet first love moments to intense, angsty scenes was incredibly portrayed, and their love story is so heart-wrenching that it transcends every time line. Kudos to the actors for executing all these shifts flawlessly🦋✨. Ugh, and the comedy aspect of this drama, I was laughing so hard lol. Whether it was Im Sol embarrassing herself in front of Sunjae, Sunjae's peak loser moments (which was my favorite), Sunjae’s dad and Im Sol’s mom moments, Inhyuk being stuck in between the 2 leads, or the interactions between the other characters, they made me laugh with tears🤣.

The cinematography was breathtaking. Each scene made my heart flutter or drew me deeper into the drama, especially when paired with the beautiful OST’s and BGM. I appreciate the hard work and attention to detail from everyone involved in making these captivating scenes possible, including the director, writers, Hair/makeup artists, staff and everyone else that was involved. Thank you for your tireless work and attention to detail you made this all happen, I really appreciate you guys. THANK YOU LOVELY RUNNER TEAM AND CAST 🫶🏻.

Oh my gosshh!! Don't even get me started with the OST’s every single one was so emotional that made me cry a river or enjoyable to listen to. A shout-out to the composers and musicians who made these beautiful pieces. And the Original classic timeless BGM where so good too. My top favorite songs right now have to be “Sudden Shower”, “I Think I Did” (Original and Cover), “I’ll Be There”, “Star” (both ver.), “A Day”, “Spring Now”, and “Run Run”🎶💽✨.

Kim Hyeyoon and Byeon Wooseok deserve an award for their impressive performances. Watching the behind-the-scenes and interviews, I saw how hard they worked in the cold weather, pouring out their emotions to create beautiful scenes every day for 10 months. I'm glad they had each other for support and had fun while filming. I hope they maintain their wonderful friendship, and I look forward to seeing more of their work in the future💗☀️✨.

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