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A wasted potential
It started off with quite sensitive content but soon the story turns into a joke. Female lead had no idea what she was doing. Very little development in the story with respect to the timelines. But that's okay as long as the comedy is good and making me laugh but there were some odd comedy moments. I was okay with that too but most important thing was how story got soo boring in the middle. I didn't feel like going forward with it as show was soo dry. Even the serial killer couldn't bring any thrill in the show. I found myself bored through many episodes.Was this review helpful to you?
Fizzles out but stays cute
I’m kind of surprised by the glowing reviews on this one, because as cute as the main couple is (and not only are they cute, they’ve got an AMAZING kiss scene)…I really think this is one of those dramas that starts out strong but ends up fizzling out.The first episode is extremely strong; the heart-wrenching tragedy of the male lead’s death gives our female lead a purpose in her time travel journey, and the added layer of her being able to walk after being in a wheelchair for so many years adds is also great. There’s commentary about disability and inaccessibility, which I really appreciated. I also really loved how we saw Im Sol getting back the will to live.
The next few episodes were still promising; it was the right balance of funny and heart-wrenching, and I was also pleasantly surprised that the FL already went back to a changed future.
The first thing I didn’t really like was the mystery element. The recent trend of inserting a random serial killer into a rom-com drama is something I really do not enjoy, and this was no different; it felt like a lot of the profound commentary we got at the start about living with a disability or depression and suicide became reduced to “actually there was a villain, so our ML was never depressed, and our FL shouldn’t have been disabled anyways.”
As the drama went on it felt like the story focused more on the mystery, with the second lead randomly popping in to fulfill his police officer role, while our main couple also got more repetitive: Im Sol was always sad because she had seen a sad future, while Sun Jae was in a perpetual state of ignorance, or even amnesia. The actual state of the future switched around, sure, but their core characters were always the same.
Ultimately, I think this was still a very cute watch; there are funny, chaotic scenes and the male lead is one heck of a green flag. I just wish it kept all the substance and momentum it had at the start.
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1A 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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tropey writing makes one dimensional characters
there was immense hype around this drama when this was airing. i finally got to watch this, and unfortunately i do not see what the hype is about. I feel like this drama is like those trope books which restrict the characters to one dimensional attribute and do not allow them to grow from their initial role. I cannot even begin to think/elaborate how frustrating the time-travel was - just too many plotholes, like i get that it's fiction, but even fictional stories are bound by their own rules of magic and world-building. For instance, Sol gets 3 opportunities to go back in time to save Sun-jae, then somehow there is a fourth try too with Sun-jae's watch after he was stabbed/drowns. I liked the way Twinkling Watermelon handled the timetravel shift . Sol's character had limited expressions - shocked, tearful, scared and annoyed - her role as a 16 year old girl and 34 year old woman were exactly the same lol, one would think a 34 year old woman would know better to use her brain and not cry at the smallest inconvenience. The only feel-good aspect to their romance is them saving each other's lives at multiple instances and the angst to override/change their fate by maintaining Sol-imposed distance. I wanted to know why were ML/SML head over heels over Sol despite her rejecting them at various instances and being mean/rude to them. So many elements of this drama was uneplored like why was that killer behind Im-Sol, time-travel rules. Sol had so many resources - SEEING GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE - being one of them, yet she failed to use them in her favour. Sun-jae's own journey with his music/acting was left unexplored. I do not think the acting was bad but imo the actors didnt have a lot of room for expression and which is why i felt they were cringe and immature. Nevertheless, just because this drama live up to the hype doesnt mean i didnt enjoy it. The ending of ep 4 will forever be iconic. I will be enjoying sappy edits of Sol-Sunjae,Was this review helpful to you?
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 alright. 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.
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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.Was this review helpful to you?
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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 greati 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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Typical kdrama with a typical story
I don’t know which lovely runner everyone else is watching because the one I am watching is just a mid and typical kdrama story. I don’t understand what was soo good about the show !!First episode showed a lot of potential which went down the drain just after a few episodes because there was nothing much to look forward to..
Time travel become a game( try try again) and sun jae died soo many times it wasn’t even serious anymore 😭 made me laugh the third time he died and that scene was in slow motion like wtf. Totally killed the serious vibe.
The female lead got on my last nerves, she was soo annoying ( forced attempt to be cute). Not to mention her dumb explanations, she was in her 30s and time traveled to her 18 year old self but acted like 15 year old. Soo much could’ve been done with the time travel plot but we got soo little. And the character development was nil.
Kdramas at this point have become soo repetitive with the same plots and storylines. Its hard to keep watching after few episodes. And the story gets too predictable just as with lovely runner.
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Had high expectation but felt short!
Lovely Runner has been on my plan to watch list forever and I finally completed it. Unfortunately, I am disappointed after watching it, especially given the high rating and awards the show has won. I struggled with the first 10 episodes, from episodes 11 to 15 it got better and then there was the last episode ( not sure if we even needed it…)What’s good:
1) ML’s acting. I thought he did a decent job as a ML. Only saw 1 movie of him prior to this show so no real expectation.
2) Chemistry between the three actors, BWS, SGH and LSH. Whenever there was a scene between them it brought a smile to my face or a LOL.
3) Decent OST
What’s not great:
1) The plot - too repetitive, boring and confusing. I did want to drop the show because of it but I preserved until the end because I don’t like dropping dramas lol.
2) Chemistry between ML and FL. I know this is possibly an unpopular opinion but for me it was just average. I really don’t feel the electrifying chemistry between them, which made it difficult to watch because the show is about great first love who timed travel many times over to save each other. I felt there was better chemistry between the FL and SML (SGH).
Overall, I would not rewatch this show. If you like the actors/actress then give it a go. It is an ok show to watch but definitely no more than that, in my opinion.
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Overrated for sure
I didn't know until now that the writer of True Beauty also wrote this drama. It suddenly made sense why there were so many similarities, even down to the sequence of certain events. The love triangle, the "bad boy" second male lead, the male lead constantly saving the female lead it all felt very familiar.The comedy was another major letdown. Some scenes were so cheap that I genuinely couldn't understand how they were supposed to be funny. The scene where the male lead doesn't hold the bathroom door, leaving a guy exposed in front of everyone, or the female lead's friend pooping her pants... seriously? Instead of making me laugh, they just made me cringe. I don't understand why supporting characters have to be humiliated for comedy.
The female lead was probably my biggest issue with the drama. She spent most of the series confused, making frustratingly dumb decisions that created problems out of nowhere. There were several moments where I stopped rooting for her altogether and just wanted the male lead to run away. She also behaved less like a fan and more like she was already his girlfriend from the very beginning. What fan acts like that?
The male lead started off as the drama's strongest character. He was attractive, driven, and had goals beyond romance. Unfortunately, as the story progressed, it felt like his entire personality became "being in love with the female lead." Once that happened, he lost much of what made him interesting.
The drama completely lost me after Episode 9. The constant time travel became repetitive, and watching the male lead die over and over again stopped being emotional—it was just exhausting. Instead of raising the stakes, the story kept repeating itself until it became predictable and boring.
The soundtrack was genuinely excellent, and the chemistry between the leads had plenty of sweet moments. Those were the main reasons I kept watching. But even the romance eventually crossed the line from cute to overly cheesy.
In the end, nothing about the story surprised me. Every twist felt predictable, and despite all the praise this drama receives, I never understood the hype.
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The story is pretty lackluster and not something overly new or exciting. Im Sol wakes up to find her entire life changed as an accident had caused her to lose the use of her legs. In her most desperate moment Ryu Sun Jae gave her the spark she needed to keep living. This spark carried her through her days and years as she fan girled for the one that saved her. But when Sun Jae unexpectedly dies her despair and a magic watch take her back in time where she can rewrite his history and save him. In the process of trying to save him she realizes things she did not know before and it takes her several attempts to try and change the fate they seem to be entangled in.
What this drama did best was the chemistry of the cast. I will never not fall in love with Ryu Sun Jae and Kim Tea Sung. Im Sol's interactions with both male leads are so much fun to watch and this cuteness is what attracted me each week wanting to watch them again and again. While the plot had its holes; such as no explanation for the stalkers obsession and no established rules for the time travel; this drama was a solid 9.5 rating for me until the last 4 episodes. In the final stretch this drama does lose its charm but still provides the happy ending fans were wanting.
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Started Strong but Lost Its Direction
Another drama where we get to the halfway point and it completely shifts into something else. I really liked the beginning because it had an intense mystery element that kept me engaged and wanting to know what would happen next. The early episodes balanced suspense, emotion, and time travel in a way that actually felt exciting. There was tension, there were stakes, and it felt like the story was building toward something meaningful.But somewhere along the way, the drama lost focus. Instead of developing the plot and its themes further, it became almost entirely centered around Ryu Seon Jae and Im Sol being in love with each other. The problem is that both characters seem to have no identity outside of that relationship. If you remove the romance from their personalities, there's barely anything left. They don't really feel like fully realized individuals with their own ambitions, struggles, or inner worlds. Both characters seem to exist solely for the purpose of loving and protecting each other, and after a while that became repetitive and emotionally shallow to me.
For people saying this is one of the best dramas out there, I honestly don't get it. The story goes in all sorts of directions and feels increasingly inconsistent as it progresses. The tone shifts constantly, plot points get dragged out or repeated, and some developments feel more convenient than well written. I understand that the drama was trying to sell this destined love story, and to be fair, both actors did a good job portraying longing, devotion, and emotional attachment. Their chemistry carried a lot of scenes, and I can see why many viewers became emotionally invested in them as a couple. Maybe that's ultimately what people connected with the most. But strong chemistry alone isn't enough for me to call something a great drama. What started as a compelling mystery with emotional depth slowly turned into a repetitive cycle of sacrifice, separation, and reunion. Instead of building momentum, it felt like the drama kept resetting itself emotionally and narratively.
I wanted more from the characters individually and more coherence from the story overall. The drama had a strong premise and a genuinely engaging start, but for me it couldn't maintain that same level of quality all the way through. In the end, it felt like the romance overshadowed everything else, and once the mystery and tension faded, there wasn't enough substance left to keep me fully invested.
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