Lovely Runner || Kdrama Review

Lovely Runner has won many hearts since it was released and it continues to be loved by many.

I loved the drama when I first saw it and I'm currently slowly rewatching it. Honestly, I'm quite besotted with the setting, the characters, and the drama. Although I haven't written a Kdrama review in a year (and I feel like I forgot how to?), I want to talk about this drama so here I am with all my thoughts on it.

what is Lovely Runner about?

The drama starts poignantly with parallel POVs from Im Sol and Ryu Sun-jae. Sol is in a hospital bed, paralysed after an accident and Sun-jae's career as an idol is happily taking off. While on a radio show, he ends up calling her phone number as part of their raffle activity.

Im Sol is bitter about life and takes it out on him. However, he responds that he's glad she's alive and says comforting words that make her realize what she's willfully ignoring. Since that day, she's been a fan of his.

Years later, she happens to meet him in person, making it the best day of her life. However, he dies the same night (news articles report it as suicide) and she tries to get to the hospital. In desperation, she falls from her wheelchair and cries, wanting to bring him back.

When she falls unconscious, she wakes up as her teenage self in her high school classroom. When she realizes that she's really gone back in time, she tries to save Ryu Sun-jae by altering the past.

However, changing time is not so easy, especially when Im Sol also has the chance to change her past and save herself from the accident that left her paralyzed. Will she be able to save herself and Sun-jae, or will fate catch up to them despite her effort to change it?

Lovely Runner is an emotional and gripping drama with a great plot and charismatic characters. It is based on a web novel titled "Tomorrow's Best" and features Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon.

my thoughts

Lovely Runner is a popular drama. It was released in April-May 2024 to high acclaim and accumulated high viewership. After it was made available on Netflix, its viewership increased even further.

Although there are several Kdramas that have gained worldwide popularity, Lovely Runner is one of the best. I believe that it so easily became well-loved because it had the right mix of components.

the plot

Right from the start, the plot is engaging and generates curiosity.

In the opening segment, we're easily drawn to Im Sol's bleakness and Sun-jae's radiant happiness. The contrast between the two very different POVs makes it even more interesting.

The first episode quickly sets the tone. We understand how Sol's and Sun-jae's lives are in the present day and get to see them meet in a crazy coincidence. In a sudden twist, Sun-jae dies and Sol ends up travelling back in time to high school years and she decides to save him.

I love a good time travel story. The time travel and time loop tropes are quite popular nowadays in Kdramas (A Time Called You, Tomorrow With You), books (See You Yesterday, The Seven Year Slip) and other media. Over the past few years, the number of stories involving this trope has gradually increased.

Some time travel stories include going to the future but most go back to the past. All of us seem to want to go back to the old (preferably school) days when days shone bright and we had small worries. It's actually a bit concerning if you think about it.

Lovely Runner employs the same idea in its plot. From a busy and stressful adult life in Seoul, we go back in time to a cheery and optimistic teenage life in the suburbs. The shift in colour, tone, and general vibe is stark.

The characters are mature and reserved in the present day while they're more free, optimistic, and headstrong in the past. Although Im Sol is technically an adult in her teenage body and acts very different compared to her actual teenage self, she's determined and less embarrassed to do what's required to save Sun-jae.

Although she's mainly focused on Sun-jae, she can't ignore the fact that she travelled back in time before her accident. She savours her family, makes different decisions, and tries to save herself too.

But of course, changing anything in the past has ripple effects in the future and they're often not what we expect. Sol realizes that and tries to go back in time again to change things for the better. We see how even good intentions can lead to bad results, though. Sol tries and tries but she can't change both their fates drastically unless she takes a drastic measure.

I really liked how the plot kept us hooked at every turn. The plot doesn't focus only on Sol and Sun-jae, we also follow the lives of Sol's brother, best friend, ex-boyfriend, and more. Hence, there's a lot happening on the screen for our attention to be captured.

Im Sol tries to change the past by trying to avoid the dangerous incidents which changes everyone's life drastically. I liked that she took charge of her life and actively tried to make it better. She used the chance to change lives for the better instead of wallowing and being lost.

The pace isn't too fast so we also savour the small experiences along with Sol like tying her shoelaces, enjoying spring in her town, and more. I really liked how the plot slowed down to focus on small things like this while maintaining a good pace on the actual plot.

There were many embarrassing instances which made me close my laptop. I feel secondhand embarrassment from watching characters do embarrassing things and the stuff in this show was high on that scale. It made for a really funny plot, though.

The drama did emotions very well. Be it joy, embarrassment, hopefulness, hopelessness, grief, love, anger—any and all emotions were portrayed so well. I felt everything with the characters.

Despite focusing on bleak topics, the plot kept things light by frequently injecting humour into the story through embarrassing moments and funny decisions taken by the supporting characters.

I think some of the "funny" scenes were unnecessary. There's a small romance arc between Sol's best friend and Sol's brother. I didn't like how their romance was present purely for comedy. It was dragged on a bit too much. There was one scene where Sun-jae's dad got locked in the bathroom while Sun-jae was on a trip that I didn't like at all.

I also didn't like that this drama has "the time-traveller's wife problem" i.e. one character runs around changing things while the other has no clue and has to deal with it. Sun-jae was lost a lot of the times because he didn't understand Sol's motives and the max he could do was work with her when he eventually finds out. It kind of reduced his character.

The plot was a bit repetitive towards the end. I understand the point of showing Sol try different things to change their fates. I understand that it takes many tries. However, seeing it play out without zooming through it makes for some repetitive plot.

I usually hate Kdrama endings. For some reason, many writers know how to write a great story but don't know how to end it well and it ends up being a random mess (When The Phone Rings is the most recent example of this. I was going to write a review on it but don't want to after that last episode).

Lovely Runner's ending wasn't bad, though. Some parts were really cute and the villain's arc ended well. The reason I don't mind rewatching the drama is because I know that its ending isn't terrible.

the romance

One of the main aspects of the plot is the romance. Sol and Sun-jae grew up in the same town and were actually neighbours but their lives turned out very differently. He became a popular singer and she became a huge fan of his. When Sol goes back in time to change his life and save him, they grow closer and fall in love.

Sol and Sun-jae are hard not to fall in love with. Even though I looked at them through a screen, I couldn't help but be affected by their personalities and actions. They have different interests and ways of doing things which complement each other.

The romance is both superstar-dates-fan and love-next-door. The drama shows them meeting as adults with very different lives, bonding as teenagers who live opposite each other, and reconnecting again as changed adults.

Their bonding as teenagers was the cutest. I love how Sol exuberantly meets Sun-jae and tries to become his friend in an effort to save him from harm. Sun-jae is initially a stoic boy but is soon revealed to be a total simp for her.

I loved Sun-jae in love, he was too cute. Whenever Sol would reach out to him or say something cute, he would turn away and smile in order to not seem like a loon in front of her. He did mini-celebration dances and planned dates for them. I loved him.

Im Sol is a girl on a mission. She first loves him as his fan and eventually grows to love him romantically. She cheers for his wins and is by his side during his lows. I loved how she never wavered in her faith in him and support for him.

I liked their romance arc in the present day as well. It was a bit too cheesy at the end but was great overall. I liked how they were still like their teenage selves even when they met in their thirties.

The way Sol and Sun-jae saved each other multiple times felt like the actual loop instead of the time loop. They kept saving each other from the villain, even if it put them in the path of danger. It was a great way to show how much they loved each other but got repetitive towards the end.

Overall, it was a great romance. It was swoony at the right moments and I whispered "kiss" to the screen a few times. There was tension when they were getting to know each other. Both of them were adorably hesitant when they wanted to be with each other before they openly dated.

the characters

Im Sol

I've seen Kim Hye-yoon play a high school girl in 2 other Kdramas before (Extraordinary You and Sky Castle) and she's nailed it every single time. Her performance as Im Sol was great in Lovely Runner too.

Im Sol is a delight to watch. She is a burst of energy whenever she is on screen. She's cheerful most of the time but she makes hard decisions when necessary and feels strong emotions. She always chases her true north. She will do anything for the people she cares about. She ends up doing many embarrassing things because she sometimes acts before she thinks but it's all with good intentions.

Sol goes through a lot in the drama and grows through those experiences. (I wish her growth was shown more on-screen but it's fine.) She also doesn't share her troubles with others and keeps things bottled up, trying to save everyone alone. In the end, it's a relief when she can finally rest because she was constantly running to save lives (including her own) for most of the drama.

Hye-yoon's acting was really good. She portrayed all the emotions very well—especially hopelessness and shock. It didn't even feel acting.

Ryu Sun-jae

If Im Sol is like strong and bright sunshine, Ryu Sun-jae is like unbelievably beautiful and calm moonlight.

I've seen Byeon Woo-seok in a couple of media before (20th Century Girl and Strong Girl Nam-soon). I'm really glad that he got a lead role in a major drama because he's very talented. Byeon Woo-seok nailed the role of Ryu Sun-jae.

When we first meet Ryu Sun-jae, he's a bright shining star with several fans. He's one of the most popular celebrities and a talented singer. He's kinda stoic and gives off "unattainable superstar" vibes. We quickly find out that he wasn't doing behind the scenes which leads him to suicide.

As a teenager, Sun-jae is the cutest boy ever. He was still a bit stoic and gave off "unattainable" vibes in the beginning but we quickly—and very funnily—find out that he's a regular boy in a crush. Once that image is broken, we often see Sun-jae doing cute antics.

He goes through a bunch in the drama as well. Sun-jae is quite different from Sol but there's one thing that he has in common with her—he is also always chasing his north star. He doesn't waver from his values. He always chooses to save Sol in every timeline even if it put him in danger.

I didn't like two things, though. Sun-jae didn't have much character growth. I don't like it when characters don't have growth. He was the same throughout no matter any change in his life. He was the handsome, sometimes cute, and unflappable person all the time.

I didn't like that mental health issues were used as a plot device. In Episode 1, Sun=jae dies supposedly because he was battling with depression. It's alluded to in another time as well. However, we get zero context on it. It was treated as a normal/known thing as if of course celebrities struggle with this and hence it doesn't need an explanation.

Also, can I just say, Byeon Woo-seok is very handsome. He looked great as a popular celebrity and as a high schooler. There's this one shot in Episode 1 that I cannot get out of my mind because he looks too good in it. How is he real? He's also multi-talented because he sang a bunch of the songs for this drama?! I'll talk about this in a bit.

Kim Tae-song

Kim Tae-song had the best growth in the drama. Played by Song Geon-hee, Kim Tae-song is initially a high school playboy who was liked by teenage Im Sol. He was a footnote in the story until Im Sol went back in time and changed things.

For a while, I did not care about Kim Tae-song at all. He felt like another supporting character who is just there for comedic purposes. However, his role grows and he becomes an integral part of the story. I really liked how his growth was shown and how the smallest things turned his life around.

Kim Tae-song did not like Im Sol. But when the adult Im Sol shows up (who is very different from the teenage Im Sol), he becomes intrigued and hangs out with her more. He actually begins to care about her because she showed listened to him and showed him empathy.

He doesn't have a great life at home because he lives with his divorced policeman dad who's always occupied with cases. It's easy to understand how he became a playboy who cuts classes, smokes, and is part of a band. But he's actually a nice person who pays attention.

Kim Tae-song is the first to realize that Im Sol seems to have two personalities. When she tells him to change his ways because his parents care about him, even if they don't say it, he listens to her. By the end of the drama, he's a totally different person.

Unfortunately, his main role was being a corner in the love triangle with Im Sol and Ryu Sun-jae. I didn't like the love triangle and I didn't even think he and Sol made sense together. But I liked him. I liked his growth and his confidence.

Lee Hyun-joo

She wasn't a major character but I want to talk about her because a disservice was done to her character. Hyun-joo, played by Seo Hye-won, is Im Sol's best friend. When we first meet her, she's a girl boss. She's dressed well, got a big car to drive Im Sol around, and is clearly a woman that people will want to know.

As a teenager, Hyun-joo is much less refined. She loves eating good food, cares about her looks, and is a funny character. That's my problem: she became only a funny character who sometimes seemed wise before her years. She deserved much more than that.

Most of her story is tied with Im Sol's brother Im Geum. Geum and Hyun-joo were a bit too cringe in the past. I lowkey hated their romance story. I did not like Geum at all until I saw his adult self being mature. I still don't like that Hyun-joo and Geum ended up together. It did not make sense to me.

Both Hyun-joo and Geum were mainly present for comedic value. They did not have much growth or proper character arc. A couple of times, they were shown as normal people only because they had to nudge Im Sol towards a specific direction. I know that supporting characters mainly exist to support the main story but I still expect some plot for them.

the soundtrack

Lovely Runner's soundtrack is one of the best Kdrama OSTs I've listened to. The music perfectly complemented the scenes on screen while also sounding really good. After watching the drama, I listened to the OST and fell in love with it.

It's been several months since I first heart the soundtrack and it's still one of the top playlists on my Spotify. Whenever I want a good playlist in the background to enjoy while doing chores, I put this on. I now know all the songs by heart. You can listen to all the songs here.

Here are my favourite songs from the OST:

Of course, Sudden Shower by ECLIPSE has to be #1. Remember when I said that Byeon Woo-seok is also a great singer in real life? He sang multiple songs for this drama. Sudden Shower is one that has a big significance in the story and sounds amazing. I absolutely love the song.

Byeon Woo-seok got an award for this and absolutely deserves it.

Spring Snow caught my ear the first time it was played in the drama and I knew that it would be one of my favourites from the OST. I actually started listening to more songs by 10CM because of this song. It's so slow, reassuring, and nice like a spring night (I've not seen snow so night is my closest comparison lol).

overall

There were a few things that I didn't like but Lovely Runner is a great drama. The plot and characters kept me hooked. I love the way the drama was shot and the aesthetic scenes of the past.

It's so good that I'm listening to the OST months later and still think about that one scene where Sun-jae throws flying kisses at Im Sol's house and, when caught by his best friend, throws flying kisses at his best friend to cover up his crush. It was too funny.

If you're looking for a good drama to watch that will basically check every requirement, watch this.

check out more Kdramas

let's chat!

Have you seen Lovely Runner? Is there any book, movie, or show involving time travel that you love? What's your favourite soundtrack?