Lovely Runner

Cheesy Fanfiction Loaded with Fanservice and a Side of Time Travel

I was really excited to watch this show after hearing all the great things about it. It seemed liked everyone was talking about it like it was up there with Queen of Tears, so maybe I had my expectations set too high to begin with because I was rather disappointed with how it turned out. The show isn't entirely bad, but it's very lacking.

I thought the overall tone of the show was fun. There were some funny moments and cute interactions between the leads, but most of it is overshadowed by the poor writing and lack of character development. The cast did good in their roles, though there is a bit of overacting that I suppose kind of fits with the quirky vibe but does seem out of place sometimes. First time seeing Byeon Woo Seok in a leading role like this, so I was excited to see how he does. I think he did good considering the poorly written character he had to play, but some of the overacting bits and exaggerated comedic expressions were a little awkward to watch. I do like how Seon Jae was not your usual cold and lifeless ML that we see a lot of in K-dramas, and he had a bit of a fun personality which was refreshing. Kim Hye Yoon did good as well, but I do agree with others that say her character could be a little annoying at times. The rest of the side characters were kind of just there to be there. They didn't really add much to the story, and I kind of wished the writers would have given a little more screentime to delve into the complexities around time travel and how that can impact relationships in Im Sol's life (something that Twinkling Watermelon did great on). Maybe more focus could have been on Seon Jae's depression and how Im Sol tries to help him through it (like the show "Seasons of Blossom"). The lack of character development for any of the characters, especially the leads, made the emotional aspect of the show suffer. I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters, so it just kind of felt like the writers were trying really hard to make me feel emotional and invested when I was anything but. Everything just seemed very surface level, like they had the potential to dive in way deeper when it comes to time travel and attempting to save a loved one by going back to the past, but instead they focused more on cliche fanfiction-like romance to make hearts flutter. But at the end of the day, even those heart-fluttery moments didn't really feel real or genuine since there was very little character to feel connected with and I wasn't even emotionally invested in their relationship. The time traveling was confusing at times and didn't really make sense. I wasn't a fan of how they kept switching between time periods and basically "resetting" everything multiple times. It got repetitive very quickly and the push-and-pull with the FL got boring.

The villain was kind of a joke. I still don't really understand what the point of him was, and I feel like the writers really tried to squeeze by hoping that no one would notice how poorly written his character is. He didn't seem all that threatening to me, especially when the script was rather predictable and I could tell based on the numerous dramas I've seen with similar villains that it was going to end up playing out the same way. He was just a crazy bad guy who was only there to progress the story when needed and add some conflict here and there. Every time he showed up on screen with his one bad eye I was like "oh great, I forgot about this guy".

I wasn't familiar with Lee Seung Hyub before this show, but he was surprisingly a breath of fresh air. He added that bit of comic relief while also not being too obnoxious or annoying. Im Geum and Hyun Joo were kind of funny and cute sometimes, but mostly just annoying and were clearly there to add comic relief. This wasn't really necessary since the show itself has enough comedic moments.

Then there's the love triangle with Kim Tae Sung. I read that his character was actually written specifically for the show and wasn't in the original. It seems like most people love him, but I felt more annoyed than anything else. His character was also not developed well at all, and he seemed kind of pointless until the last few episodes. He would just show up every now and then to add cheesy fanservice and jealous ML scenes. The dialogue in his scenes felt especially cliche to me when looking at it from a writing perspective. Like it's painfully obvious it was just fanservice most of the time, and of course they had to have the FL's past self be in love with the 2ML, while the present day FL is in love with the ML. Both Seon Jae and Tae Sung are constantly fighting for Im Sol's attention and love (more rivalry fanservice incoming), but both have very little character outside of this and this continues until basically the very last episode. It's hard to see how you could have 2ML syndrome when his character isn't at all interesting and very underdeveloped, added with the fact that he only has a few scenes here and there and doesn't really contribute much until the very end.

Sorry if my review seemed all over the place (I was really just typing whatever came to mind). Overall, if you're looking for a cheesy cliche rom-com that isn't necessarily groundbreaking but just as an easy watch, then this show could be for you. If you're looking for more of a complex story and deeper connections with its characters, then you might want to look elsewhere.

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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.

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Stunning first half. Second half falls victim to lazy scriptwriting.

I have to separate the first and second half.

The first half is a solid 8/10 for me. It's everything I'd ever want from a youth drama, and I absolutely loved every second of it. The characters' love story feels so unique to them. The script also sprinkles in just the right amount of tropes and pulls them off in just the right way to leave any romcom lover feeling satisfied without feeling overdone. The male lead is both cool and handsome while relatable and dorky over his first love. The female lead pulls off the sunshine personality and has great determination as a fan. I especially liked how consistent the story was about her steadfast, optimistic personality which she learned from the hardships she overcame as an adult. The drama never felt heavy, but I could still feel that there was love for the characters and their story. Also, small spoiler (but it happens within the first two episodes), but this is the only time that I have been completely sold on a love at first sight premise. It makes total sense to be a teenager, meeting such a kind, bright personality. It's like that friend crush, that person you wanted to get to know all four years of high school but never worked up the nerve to. Sun Jae's perspective is always so beautiful, and part of why the love at first sight works is because we can see how his feelings for Sol grow into something more meaningful as he gets to know her.

The second half is a 3/10 and falls victim to atrociously lazy scriptwriting. There are entire episodes dedicated to comedic relief and one-off scenarios. At that point, the relationship between the leads fails to develop which was such a waste, considering how beautifully their story was developed during the first half. I couldn't help but feel the shallowness in the story after episode 9. The story fails to have any goals or real development after that point. The writing sloppily tries to close the story with cheap plot twists, and none of the scenes really feel like they fit together or have a particular purpose. In essence, the second half of the show is entirely filler and completely fails the beauty of the first half.

I am still so happy to have experienced the first half but am utterly disappointed in the second half.

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Very interesting plot only for it to breakdown halfway towards the end

Just for disclaimer i was both of the leads fans, but being a fan doesn't mean i can't critic their work ok.

I already watched this drama before it became the hot topic over the neighborhood lol, it was because i like the fl and the ml previous work (sky castle and 20th century girl). I was so crazy about it when episode 2 was dropped, i was gagged and it got more exciting.

But the disappointment hits me at 10ish episode, because there was no character or even plot development at all. The plot losed it focus when they started to date i think. I know the main point in this drama is to save sunjae, and this drama is a romcom, but i really really hope that the fl and ml could have more bond with other characters too. I think it got to the point that other characters are pointless(?) and written just to fill the void. The ml's world is only imsol, he will do anything just to be with imsol, it's like he has no character at all because his decisions are easily influenced by his loved ones (imsol) (i know it's a romcom but come on... you can be lovey dovey while doing other things too). Same goes for the fl... It's like their character couldn't care less about other people if it's not about their gf/bf.

And the fl character is bad written imo, thank god hyeyoon saves it with her acting. She's supposed to be 30s yo woman trapped in higschooler body, but she even acts more childish than the highschooler could be. I know sol's character main purpose is to save sunjae, but she's too careless, has no plan, and just couldn't think straight (and i can't relate to it maybe that's why i can't empathize with her character).

Overall the acting was good enough, and the chemistry was fire. But there were probably some parts that's not really enjoyable to watch. Idk if it's because sol character is bad written or whatever it's, but sometimes the "i'm shocked" in sol's face kinda unnatural and i could tell that she's trying to act there, but other than that it was just great.

It's just my opinion, yall could try to watch it if you're interested, because i swear the few early episodes was dope tho ngl.

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An amazing start, but...

1. Something about "fix me" stories as it relates to people with disabilities just doesn't sit right with me, I was hoping the part of the story about the FL being a wheelchair user would return, at the very least because it was wrapped very quickly, but instead it was mainly used to further the plot, with few moments focused on representation, which was disappointing.

2. The serial killer plot dragged on for sooooo long and it ended in such an anticlimactic way, it felt like in the end the writer didn't know what to do with the guy.

3. The constant timeline changes killed the momentum, especially the last one because I absolutely despise the amnesia trope, I find it usually useless because it puts a stop at the character/relationship development.

All of that means that if the drama was shorter, around 12 episodes, some of the issues with the storytelling could have been resolved, at least for me. All in all though, I did enjoy the lead couple immensely, no matter the little things I disliked, their chemistry always made up for it in the end.

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So many timelines, so little development.

I want to start with - I really did enjoy the show a lot, I hyped it at the beginning like crazy and got quite a few people to watch it too. That said, I cannot act as if it had no flaws. In fact, it had many.

Started as a fun and entertaining rom-com delivering some well established cliches in a refreshing way, with just enough angst to keep you invested. And next? It turned into its worst nightmare - poorly written development making the last few episodes lose the initial charm. The fate of many dramas in the past. The fate of many dramas to come.

Truth to be told, I have no idea how to write the review in a way that will point out all the issues I had, while also delivering the clear idea of the fun and joy I felt while watching. The drama is honestly mediocre, but it’s such an excellent presentation, you just forget and ignore how mediocre it is.

The plot was messy, with little explanation of how anything works. Time travel had close to zero rules truly established, the villain had literally nothing going on for himself and I feel like the yellow umbrella had more personality than him. He had no business being so important to the plot with this little fucks put into actually writing it in engaging and coherent manner.

Kim Tae Sung and Baek In Hyuk were pure sunshines, but it’s a joke to call them main characters (and they are named as such even on namu.wiki). The supporting couple was painfully unnecessary and the whole drama had overall too many filler scenes and flashbacks of things that happened even in the same episode.

And yet it was fun and adorable. The chemistry between Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon was amazing from literally the first scene - they aced the romance, comedy, drama. Lovely Runner is filled with scenes that will make you smile and laugh and lighten your mood. The down to earth comedy driven by the characters’ personalities and daily accidents was probably one of my favorite aspects of the show. Even though I felt like the characters were not truly complex and well developed, at the same time I fell in love with their quirky personalities. Seon Jae and Tae Sung? Surprisingly great and fun chemistry. Now I wish to see the two of them in a drama together as close friends.

What’s more to love? Amazing soundtrack with many uplifting and moving songs. Sudden Shower (소나기) just melts your heart when you listen to it. With a great soundtrack goes beautiful visuals - loved the set design, lighting, camera angles. The drama also had amazing timing - turning some romantic and dramatic scenes into comedy bits with a fun presentation. So many things worked, so what didn't?

Ryu Seon Jae is technically the main character, but the writing matches the supporting ones more. Where is the development? Where is the rich characterization? Where are the flaws and personal goals? Why is he Haru 2.0? On paper he is perfect, but would I want a man like that in real life? A person with little to no individuality, whose whole existence revolves around me? That’s how Seon Jae is presented. He is a 1+1 deal with Im Sol and that’s it. Yes, he is good looking, yes he is adorable with his loser charm, he is dedicated, killing viewers with his puppy love towards Sol. But I need more from my lead characters… I need some spice with that sugar.

Sol is not much different, so at least we have equality here. Everything she does is done for Seon Jae’s benefit. I get it, it’s a plot driven show about preventing the bad thing from happening - it does not mean they cannot use some screen time to develop the characters a bit more beyond what the plot needs them to do. Why are they giving so much screen time to a side romance when your main characters are 2-dimensional plot puppets even half way through the show?

And it’s not like the plot was well developed. As I already said, time travel has no rules established except how to get back in time. The crime/mystery part is laughably bad with ridiculous conclusions. 80% of the show is just cute and fun moments, and there would be nothing wrong with that if the drama did not try to pretend as if the reminding 20% were interesting and important. Make it 12 episodes and switching a crime to depression and we would get top quality heart warming healing rom-com. You could feel how they did not have enough material for 16 episodes when they started to show flashbacks of events that happened maybe 20 minutes ago in the same episode.

Acting wise I overall loved it. There were a few moments when I found Kim Hye Yoon’s performance not quite convincing, especially during a few lighter romantic scenes - the smile was just too much, it did not seem real. Something about her being so excessively happy did not vibe with me, as if she tried to convince me she is happy with her smile instead of showing it with her eyes. But these were truly just a few moments and overall I truly loved her as Sol. When you think about it, at least in some aspects it was in fact noona romance. Byeon Woo Seok did an amazing job too. Loved how he could be both cool and charismatic and a dorky loser and it made perfect sense.

Overall, often after I finished watching the episode I had this thought: wow, that was really a filler episode, but I had so much fun. It’s happy and bright, overdramatic with its mystery when the mystery is shallow and barely working for this plot. I had a great time watching, but I would hesitate to recommend it.

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Procrastinated Watching For A Reason

I procrastinated watching this show for a very long time. I visited Korea and was shocked by seeing Byun Woo Seok on every cafe, product, and store sign. I even got his photocard as a freebie way before knowing his name. It really hyped the show up for me and I knew it would end with me being disappointed. Boy was I entirely correct.

I want to start by saying that I already have a hard time with shows about idols/singers/celebrities (Record of Youth was fine at this, but most are not great) AND with shows about time travel. Twinkling Watermelon is the only drama I’ve ever seen be able to combine two of my least favorite genres/tropes and make something amazing.

Despite all of these issues, I tried to go into Lovely Runner with an open mind. It clearly had to go viral and get amazing ratings for a reason, right? I like Byun Woo Seok as an actor, I loved being on a swim team as a kid, and mostly I really needed something to watch.

My efforts to enjoy the show were in vain.

Definitely not a show for watchers that struggle with cringe humor/secondhand embarrassment. Reminds me of classic Kdramas in the worst ways. Characters doing embarrassing things all the time, misunderstanding each other, and even potty humor….it just ends up being hard to watch and not funny at all. If this show came out a decade ago I’d give some of the writing a pass, but it’s really not what I want to see.

SPOILERS

Over half of the story makes no sense, and I’m not talking about the fact that time travel exists. It feels like the writers forgot about certain things that happened/were set up and forced their way back in later.

FLs choices don’t make any sense, even considering she’s sacrificing herself for the ML, half the time she didn’t have to. Only time I felt connected to her emotionally was realizing she had to watch the guy she loves die 3 times and never got to mourn him. Watching her get out of bed after he got stabbed, and immediately having to take care of a baby broke my heart.

The entire plot line of the kidnapping is unnecessary to the story and only resurfaces when convenient. She gets kidnapped multiple times, her legs get paralyzed for 15 years, and multiple people die, but the only way it impacts her emotionally (post stanning eclipse) is the next few times she crosses the road she has to take some deep breaths?? Plus she nearly stepped into traffic from not paying attention every single one of those times. Just look at the road babe. After a couple of times that’s entirely forgotten too.

ML getting stabbed could have been the perfect set up for him finally getting a chance at time travel and them making things work together, but no somehow the FL just gets extra bonus tries??? Like the 3 she got at the start meant nothing. Not to mention, she doesn’t go back again after that.

Not a fan of the way the FL only got a chance at happiness because she saved herself from becoming disabled. I really would have loved to see her become happy and in love in the wheelchair. I understand that was a point of frustration and limiting for her but it sends the message that disabled people can’t be happy/fall in love. They also don’t do anything else with the MLs anxiety/depression after the first death. It’s very lightly hinted at in the second (?) timeline but again it’s like the time travel cured him instead of him going to therapy, doing anything else to get better. I guess as long as you have a girlfriend you can’t be depressed??? Not great.

Side characters were impossible to watch. I liked the trope of best friend’s brother but every scene with them was so over the top cringe. And toilet humor? Juvenile.

The second male lead definitely grew on me after a couple of episodes, but I also feel like they could have done more with him. I liked that he was fine with her “multiple personalities” and that he became a cop later on. That was pretty cool. However, I would have loved to see him get memories of the past timelines back as he solved the case. I think that could have been a cool addition. Also I swear in the beginning they mention he’s in eclipse (inhyuk knows him somehow) but he never was. Could have just been another thing that didn’t make any sense to me.

I do want to say Byun Woo Seok doesn’t deserve all the hate he’s getting right now for his acting. He was the only thing I liked about the drama. Even without his visuals his acting was well done.

This is the longest review I’ve ever written and it’s because of just how frustrated I was watching it. Maybe if I watched it when it came out or if it was my first kdrama then I’d have enjoyed it more. I’m happy other people like it.

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Very cheesy drama with plotholes

Started off as one of my fav drama but after ep 12 the story felt dragging and many points were missing from the drama like the story of the taxi driver , the grandmother, how the watch helped Sol to travel back in the past and why did she get another chance to save Sun jae and I felt that there wasn't any personality of Sun Jae other than being a loser for Sol..I wish that it was a drama where Sun Jae actually committed suicide without the taxi driver plot and in the end Sol had to become disable as it is an inevitable fate like they did in Twinkling watermelon and Sol and Sunjae would help each other to overcome their depression...I thought that the drama will be like this but then I was like no it's again that same serial killer plot...my fav character is Tae Sung ...he had the most significant role in the drama because without him Sunjae and Sol wouldn't have a happy ending

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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.

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long and boring and basic

i loved both FL & ML they are incredibly amazing actors and really good at what they’re doing, however, the story is too typical for a time travel drama
I feel like we have seen those type of dramas a lot, and there’s nothing really new in this one
only thing that kept me going are the actors I loved their chemistry together
but the storyline it just does not have anything special.
I feel like I have watched too much better time travel Kdramas with a better story( thats just for me at least ) And it was really unnecessarily long. It could’ve ended in 10 episodes, overall it’s not that bad I guess

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Time Loop Romance That Struggles to Carry Emotional Weight

Lovely Runner (2024) is slightly overrated for me. When you look closely at its emotional core, the story feels far less effective than it initially appears.

Across every timeline, the ML is portrayed as endlessly devoted to the FL, to the point where it feels unrealistic and emotionally flat. His character comes across as artificial, as it is hard to believe anyone would sustain unrequited love for over a decade without growth or change. The FL, meanwhile, is often slow to catch on and repeatedly makes poor decisions. Much of the conflict could have been avoided if the characters acted more thoughtfully, which became increasingly frustrating.

A major issue lies in how the show handles time. Lovely Runner functions more as a time loop than true time travel, which limits its emotional weight. Because events repeatedly reset, character growth feels stalled rather than earned. This puts it at a disadvantage compared to time travel dramas like Twinkling Watermelon (2023), where each shift in time carries lasting emotional consequences and meaningful development.

What also bothered me was how the timelines treated Sol. The younger, more immature version of her does all the hard work. She studies through high school and college, graduates, and struggles to build a life, only for the 2023 version to enjoy the results. The 2023 Sol, aside from her period of paralysis in the first timeline, feels like she has not truly lived through the experiences that shaped her success.

Timeline 2 is easily the strongest and most engaging. This is where the characters feel most alive and actively involved in the story. It is also the timeline we spend the most time in, largely due to the watch being used twice. However, the repeated failure of the police to apprehend an obviously clumsy killer strains credibility. Aside from Kim Tae Sung, who resolves the case in the final timeline, law enforcement is portrayed as consistently incompetent. The killer feels more like a plot device than a character, created solely to add tension. Without a meaningful backstory, his presence becomes repetitive and tiring, especially when compared to better-written villains like the one in I Can Hear Your Voice (2013).

Timeline 3 shifts to the college years but offers little that is new. It mostly feels like filler until the countryside arc, where the ML finally gains insight into his backstory. Timeline 4 attempts to wrap things up with a happy ending, but it feels rushed and somewhat forced. While I am not against a happy conclusion, the resolution feels familiar, reminiscent of W: Two Worlds (2016).

In the end, Lovely Runner had an interesting premise and strong moments, but its time loop structure, inconsistent character writing, and repetitive conflicts prevented it from reaching its emotional potential.

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