Lovely Runner (2024)

Amazing Youthful Entertainer - Clean Hit of 2024

I'm a big fan of time travel dramas; I watch time travel dramas most of the time." But after watching Some Day Or One Day," the time-travel rom-com caught me on the spot to explore these dramas. But I don't get enough dramas to freeze in those cute rom-coms, except for last year's "Twinkling Watermelon.". So I waited for this drama to breakout from the time-travel slump, as well as for the cast of Kim Hye Yoo, Byeon Woo Seok, and the trend of webtoon adaptations.


I watched all the episodes at once (I did not watch them when they were airing because I had exams), so I think I'm late to the party. The start is as good as I expected. The time travel aspect watch is another new element joined in the time travel mission. The synopsis tells the entire plot of the drama, so now it's up to the makers how they will keep the audience engaged with the plot, but it makes the drama watchable, like, Let's see how she will save him. Every episode is purely made as a youthful entertainer, especially the chemistry of the main leads, Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok, which makes the drama even more beautiful. The scene settings are impressive, and the use of the element "If the time traveler talks about the future or about the time travel, then the time will stop and no one in the past could hear anything from the time traveler '' made the plot engaging, but it will disappear suddenly from the drama. No love triangle; it has one but is not a complete one. The construction of a drama without a love triangle in a teenage love story is really something that we could appreciate from the from the director and writer because they focused on one story progression rather than love triangle points. With that unnecessary love triangle, sometimes the story progression is ruined. Emotional character development is pretty good. Kim Hye Yoon from funny lovable to emotional caring. Byeon Woo Seok a student with dreams to protective lovable. Song Geon Hee is a free-bird student and an understanding friend. The comedy plot is really a good entertainment aspect, and the execution of the comedy is also reasonable according to the story; there are no unnecessary side tracks, especially the comedy scenes of Kim Won Hae, Jung Young Joo, Seo Hye Won, and Song Ji, which will make the drama more enjoyable.

My only disappointment :-

This is not a thriller—time-travel—but they attempted a plot twist in the thriller zone by using a mysterious man (a killer), but the execution of that point is weak for me. If they try to give it some valuable scope and make it interesting, then the output is even better than this. Put the villain character only in boundary to show his face and drive a van or car. The director and writer got the friendship element to create a friendly environment around the male lead, but the protection point of the main lead was overshadowed. I agree; drama had the friendship moments between the main lead and his friends, but that's not enough for me. Even though it was a short time, it was good (male-led friendship).


ACTORS :-

One of the biggest elements of this drama's success is the chemistry between the main leads and the short girl tall guy troop. It was a classic troop in Kdrama Land, and we are missing it. So in the correct time this drama dropped their weapon, short girl tall guy love, it quickly gained the attention of every kdrama lover (also plot). Their acting is simply charismatic. Kim Hye Yoon I've been watching her dramas since "Extraordinary You," and she explored different genres, from dark to lovable, in every character she did an extraordinary performance. And in this drama, she really made me cry and laugh again, but this time more. She gave life to the Im Sol character; her superb emotional acting and ability to make you cry in funny scenes also contributed to her character development. The first half is totally funny, and the second totally emotional—multit character portrayal in a single-layer character—which is what made her one of the best actors in the upcoming generation.
Byeon Woo Seok, although this is my first main work of him, did great as Ryu Seon Jae. He caught me on the spot with his acting and I am now going to check out all his works (movies and dramas). And the supporting characters of Seo Hye Won, veteran actor Kim Won Hae, Jung Young Joo, Song Ji Ho, and Song Geon Hee gave complete decent acting performances in their respective character roles. They will make us laugh. Feel pain and emotion. What I found interesting is that, except for veteran actors Kim Won Hee, Jung Young Joo, and Seo Hye Won, no other supporting actors had a known face. Yet, this drama was a big success with them.

Writing - Direction - Screenplay - Sound Track Departments :-

Since it's an adaptation, the writer Lee Shi Eun's splendid script works very well. Attractive dialogues, lovely lines between the main leads, and hilarious conversations between supporting characters shine in every scene. Director Yoon Jung Ho, this is what made me excited because his previous masterpiece "Flower of Evil" is one of my favorite dramas, so I'm really excited to watch his other work, which is a Rom-com. He did pretty well his job as director. Every scene is stunningly beautiful, and no wonder I got thriller vibes with the killer plot in this drama. The scene settings are absolutely amazing, and his bold move for casting with limited big supporting actors and Byeon Woo Seok, Kim Hye Yoon is really appreciated. The screenplay in this typical drama is a really important aspect, to give the detailed drama structure from going in time backwards and forwards. There is not a lot of scope for the screenplay in this drama, but it is pretty good when it comes. One of the strongest pieces is the melodramatic sound track; it was amazing and fresh from the start to the end.

I would like to recommend this drama to every kdrama fan.

Note :- I’d like to notify that the following thoughts and words in my review are purely my own and not intended as criticism of any actor or drama.

Thank you - @Shinnosuke_Lee

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