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Dissapointing and Overrated
So I'll be honest, I did not really enjoy watching Lovely Runner. I had really high expectations but it was just boring...I thought the beginning was interesting as she had suffered a terrible accident and had to learn how to live her life in a wheel chair. She was unhappy and suicidal, but then suddenly, one call from some idol and some simple message like "live to enjoy tomorrow", would completely change her outlook on life. This does not seem realistic. One does not change from suicidal to suddenly a bubbly and positive girl from one moment to the next. After the concert in episode 1, he meets her at the bridge, which is a huge coincidence to be honest. Then it turns out he had been her neigbour, another big coincidence, he was actually the one who saved her at the bridge, another big coincidence... I know fiction always has coincidences and unrealistic occurances, but this was really too much! Also, I thought we would learn of his struggle with depression and suicide, and the plot twist was so dissapointing.
Additionally, I thought it was strange that the whole plot of his "suicide" would suddenly change to a murder case, which was connected to Im Sol's car accident. It is just so typical and predictable at this point. Furthermore, the serial killer does not have any personality and is just a chess piece for the plot.
The second couple in the drama were just so unnecessary. What did that add to the story?
All the problems in this drama are external, and the most important being that the murderer will kill Sun Jae. This is also boring, as there is no character development in the whole story. What did Sun Jae and Im Sol learn in the process? Nothing. Only that they loved each other.
The whole plot was based on saving Sun Jae, and there is literally nothing else the plot is about. He was in love with her from the beginning also making the whole "falling in love" process really gone. I usually love romance, but this drama did not make my heart flutter at all!
Well, throughout the drama until like episode 15 I was somewhat okay with the drama. Nothing exceptional but some light entertainment, but at episode 15, when the killer got hit by a truck, I was really shocked! This is it? That's it? The main characters were not even responsible for the catching of the murderer! I mean what did I watch this drama for? I watched it so that Im Sol manages would put the criminal in prison. So when episode 16 came, I expected something dramatic to happen cause episode 15 was so underwhelming and dissapointing. Turns out episode 16 is just one super long episode about Im Sol and Sun Jae being together. I really felt nothing when I finished the drama.
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(Sadly) I agree, this is overhyped
I really really really wanted to love this. It started off incredibly great, I was on the edge of my seat hugging my pillow for the first couple of episodes and then at some point it just turned so incredibly random.It felt like someone had a pitch for the series and maybe the first couple of episodes thought out and then at some point they just winged it without any plan at all whatsoever. There were a bunch of fillers with a bit too much comic relief and a bit too little plot. They could have cut this show short by 5 episodes and it would have probably been a decently good show.
Although, even so the main plot had a bunch of holes (which is to be expected for this kind of story but still this one overdid it a little on the lack of logic front…).
The female lead is a bit… particular, her choices seem awfully random and not very thought out at all.. considering the whole thing kind of just revolves around her that was a bit annoying.
Now some positives which still made me sort of like this overall:
- it did have some exciting parts (although a lot of it was predictable too)
- I sincerely laughed quite a bit
- I absolutely adored the male lead (although his character does have some issues but I don’t mind particularly)
- male lead actor… just… <3
- soundtrack was pretty great and catchy
That’s it, overall I don’t think this was bad but it definitely does not live up to the hype, and it definitely did not live up to its own potential ..
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Started so good, but they got lost in the story
Overall the acting is good from most characters but the story got progressively worse. I like the time travel aspect, but after the first episodes they tried to much and the time travel and the actions of both leads didn't make sense anymore. The music was great. Just to list two points I found unfortunate:- A majority of the story played with the characters in highschool and for me the actors are just to old to play highschoolers. At least college student or more of the story in the present instead of the past would've been more fitting.
- Another point I thought was unfortunate that the female lead had a disability in the beginning which I found so good and made here character more complex but that part just got erased in the time travel and never got picked up again, besides the fl remembering everything else just that part she and the writers completely ignored.
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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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I WANTED TO PUNCH HER SOOO BAD....
It's just me that I found the FL annoying, unbearable, and extremely hard to watch?She is sooooooooooooooo annoying that it almost ruined the whole show for me.
It has good aspects and bad as well but because of her, I wanted to punch her every episode. The lying and the stupid actions made me soooooo angry... right right I get it, she did that to protect him, but even when it wasn't needed anymore, she still tried to act as a stupid and ridiculous little girl...
Anyways, he's perfect! That alone its enough to watch the show hahaha.
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You Guys Gave This A 9.1?
This review is for those who've already seen it. You may enjoy it as it's just a compilation of notes I made watching this drama.Let me start off by saying this drama is like Twinkling Watermelon meets W. W is one of my favorite dramas and Twinkling Watermelon was amazing. This, however, is really hard to watch. Like really hard. I'm sticking with it, but fast-forwarding quite a bit. I've only quit one drama before because I couldn't stand the FL and I'm trying not to have a repeat of Kill Me, Heal Me.
FL, Im Sol (Kim Hye-Yoon) was really cute and sweet in the first episode. Then when she travelled back in time she became really annoying and kind of ditzy/stupid. ML, Ryu Sun-Jae (Byeon Woo-Seok) was weirdly nice in episode one, despite his clear depression, but past him was a bit odd. In his defense, Im Sol was being a creep and a half.
Someone in the comments (on Viki) said that Kim Tae-Sun (Song Geon-Hee) was the 2nd ML, but when searching the names, I see a different male billed above him. Never seen this guy in any drama before but he looks too old for high school.
Okay, now it's just annoying. He keeps trying to confess, and she's either the world's biggest moron, or she's deaf. Maybe both.
This whole her rushing home to stop the fire, whilst dumb and dumber, her best friend, Lee Hyun-Joo (Seo Hye-Won), and brother, Im Geum (Song Ji-Ho), is not only stupid, it's infuriating.
Her teenage self took over? Ugh. This is going to be exhausting and drawn out for no reason, I can tell.
I feel really bad for 2nd ML. She needs to end it with that poor guy. Also, harsh take but maybe she didn't deserve working legs because the amount of times this girl falls, trips, gets knocked over, etc is annoying.
Omg. He keeps saying "I like you" and she keeps running away. What even is this plot and how on earth was it rated so highly on this site?
Oh good. And now we're at the "I can't accept your feelings." dumb *#&@^$(#& crap.
Baek In Hyuk (Lee Seung Hyub) is completely right. It's been like 15 years and suddenly he just falls for her all over again? Especially after how ungrateful and shitty she was the last time they met in the past.
Her losing her mind about the watch and screaming, "I should have died instead!" like he's not even dead. Go be with him in hospital instead of doing all this nonsense.
"I can't die before I save him!" proceeds to close her eyes and make no attempt to save herself. God she's infuriating.
2ML is definitely my favorite character. He's keeping me hanging on. Much like the bromance in Goblin was the only thing keeping going through that because that girl was obnoxious and acted like a child.
"Hey my dad said the killer is stalking you, shouldn't you tell your family and move everyone somewhere safer?" No. That would be intelligent, why would I do that?
So they both learn the killer has escaped, she breaks down to Tae Sung's dad about catching him and then her boyfriend is cautious about everything and she's like "What's up with you?". Good god she's insufferable.
I struggled to get through this drama and the only reason I did was because I skipped a lot. I'm glad we got the happy ending for everyone. The last episode was pretty sweet. And I will say, unlike other dramas, it wasn't a super rushed happy ending so I will give them that.
Justice for my man Tae Sung though. lol
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Criminally overrated
The fact that this drama has a 9.1 rating over here has made me lose faith in this website's rating system and the current generation of drama raters.Firstly, apart from the semi-interesting but not original premise of going back in time to save someone, there is not much in this drama, once again, but fluff. Fluff and the usual new-gen formula -- make them fall in love as soon as possible (with hardly any sexual tension). Just make them fall head over heels in love with each other with hardly any conflict at all. And then make it all be cute and fluffy couple scenes. Then when we hit episode 10, insert a totally artificial conflict about a serial killer that the couple must vanquish. What a sad state kdramas are in these days. Except for those, of course, who want nothing but cuteness and fluff, which seems to make up the majority of the new drama viewers, as evidenced by the totally undeserved 9.1 rating.
The drama actually gets off to a relatively good start, but it actually is a bait-and-switch. At first, you think you're getting into a complex drama about time travel, depression, suicide, disability, fan culture -- but all of that seem to exist only in the first episode and are hardly given a second look by the writers for the rest of the drama. Instead, what we actually get is a failed attempt at various disparate genres -- slice of life, teen romance, sci-fi, crime/thriller, comedy. All of these are thrown in the mix but none of them are done well. The slice of life is shallow. The characters that make up the family and neighborhood are just not written well enough to rise above their flatness, and to make you care or feel any real warmth. The teen romance, as I had already mentioned, has no tension at all. It is just there almost from the very start that they are equally smitten with each other. No sexual tension. No conflict. No push/pull. It is romance wrung dry of all negativity, so that what we are left with is a squeaky-clean perfect vision of sunshine and rainbows and heart-eyes and fluff fluff flufffffff that is so perfect that it is utterly boring. We all know that romance and all matters of the heart are fraught with a lot of stormy emotions -- doubt, fear, jealousy, anger. Hardly any of these are portrayed with any conviction. It is just a perfect teen daydrem, utterly bland and uninteresting. But cute!! Don't forget cute because that is what netted the 9.1 rating, that attempt at cuteness. That trying to be as cute as possible. Because apparently the modern drama watcher will go a single awwww and run here and rate it a 10. In my honest opinion, the leads actually lack enough chemistry to elicit any kind of real awwww from me. But maybe that's just me. I never felt any real spark between them. They have the chemistry of siblings, IMO.
As for the sci-fi, which is the time travel element, it is so hollow and thin that it is practically not there. It is obviously used as just a device to create the "interesting premise," but the writers couldn't be bothered to create a clear explanation or rhyme or reason to it. Apparently, the grandmother developed dementia-related superpowers and am able to go beyond time. How or why, no one knows. The comedy is just dismal and does not deserve even a single sentence. The thriller aspect is totally predictable and uninteresting. The killer is just some rando person out to get the couple, again just to serve as a plot device to sub for the missing conflict in the story.
The drama does not even delve into the very real issue of kpop idol depression and suicide, which it selfishly again trivializes and uses as a mere plot device. It does not even go 1-inch deep into this matter. In fact, it is unclear whether the ML actually did commit suicide or was just offed by the killer. The drama does not show whether he truly was depressed. Depression and idol culture are totally shoved under the rug, discarded and forgotten. So is disability. It is used as, again, another plot device to make the drama seem interesting but is magically done away with within the second or third episode and is totally forgotten for the rest of the drama. The drama writers just could not be bothered to insert any depth or substance into their story. Apparently this is the new in thing -- squeaky clean, sanitized fluff that is bleached of all negativity or conflict and of all sexual tension, which it seems is considered by the new generation as "toxic." Romance is apparently toxic nowadays, apart from fluff. Fluff is the only thing that is safe and will not draw the ire of the new woke public.
This drama was actually the final death knell that marked the end of my love affair with Kdrama. After seeing this, I have decided it is high time to stop. There are other, better alternatives, such as Jdorama, which is not as woke, not as sanitized and still has the courage to delve into very real human concerns that at least make you feel something.
As a postscript, I do want to add that this drama has one shining light -- the second male lead! How I wish he would have been the ML instead, but alas. He is, of course, relegated to the sidelines, just like everything else in this drama that could have been good if given better focus and treatment. But again, we are left walking away with nothing but air and fluff. No substance. No depth. No real drama. Just fluff.
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Average writing but watchable because of leads chemistry
I enjoyed watching this, but it wasn't what I expect. I first realized this when they revealed Sunjae actually liked Sol after all that time. It was a bit unrealistic, and it felt too orchestrated. The part I most enjoyed was watching the time they were in high school since that's when we see the most development. But most of all, I really enjoyed the chemistry of the leads. Even though the writing was lacking, this made it entertaining. Onto the things I disliked, the back and forth between the present and the past started to drag, and I feel like it impacted the story a lot. I also didn't like the murder storyline and like in most romance kdramas, it just didn't fit. The change of tones was too drastic. One minute we have comedy and romance and then we have thriller and suspense. Doing this successfully is a task but this drama is another one that failed at it. After episode 12, I just started to skip scenes and I was just too impatient to see something with substance and finally know if destiny was going to favor Sunjae and Sol.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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Let me just say...
I'll be honest, I think the reason people love this show is because of Byeon Woo-Seok's portrayal of Sun-jae. The fact that he's very attractive, tall, and is generally likeable makes this show nice to watch, lol. The love story itself is interesting, but there's a few things I think the show did a poor job at.1. I WISH that we got a richer back story on all the characters
2. I wish more things tied the ML and FL together besides the FL's ability to go back in time. Maybe if they had known each other since childhood rather than high school? Idk. I just feel like the relationship itself sort of lacked depth.
3. It would have been nice if the themes of class or poverty or something substantial were highlighted. Casting such attractive characters is great but I wish the producers/writers also put more thought into adding more complexity to this plot.
4. The person who was trying to hurt Im Sol -- wish we had background on him? Like if the reason he wanted to hurt was for revenge idk I just feel like it was a weird plot twist that made no sense to me. I wanted MORE! ?
I like the relationship between the leads, I think the love story itself is nice, Sun-jae is a good bf, etc etc. But I just wanted more. There's 1000s of romantic storylines, but very few are able to have substance and unfortunately, as adorable the couple is, thats kind of the extent of what makes this show memorable. Their on-screen chemistry made me want to continue watching and it got me hooked on the show for a bit, but that's about it sadly.
Great songs though, 10/10.
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Entertaining but plot feels lacking
This drama was entertaining - the actors did a great job, the music was great, and it contained all of the classic k-drama elements. I loved the side characters! However, the overall plot is a bit disappointing. The plot required a lot of coincidences to occur for the story to go on - while I think some of them are fine and can add to the comedic aspect of the drama, some of them felt very annoying. I was constantly yelling at the screen because the female lead was doing something unnecessary, especially towards the beginning of the drama. I found the ending for the main thriller plot quite disappointing as well. There were so many attempts at catching the bad guy throughout the entire show, but the final attempt was very quick and lackluster in comparison. The romance scenes and character dynamics were cute though.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
BORING - how can this show be this overrated ?
Everything is in the title : boring.I struggle to watch 13 episodes, it was good at the beginning, a lot of potential but EXTREMELY repetitive. Every episode is the same, they could have shorten it to 10 episodes, maybe it would have been better.
Romance was so childish and unreal... I couldn't relate.
Also, the disability part and depression would have been a great plot of this show, but barely developed, this drama wasn't deep enough...
Nevermind, I will have trust issues now with the rating of a Kdrama show ... gave me hope, but waste of time for me.
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Ratings and the series quality are opposite to each other
How can this have such high rating!!!For the first time, I can't understand how Lovely Runner has a rating above 6 stars. The story is incredibly repetitive, making it a chore to watch. The acting feels forced and often grates on the nerves. Even though the drama involves time travel, it frequently abandons basic everyday logic and common sense whenever it suits the plot. This lack of consistency ruins the immersion, making the experience more frustrating than enjoyable. I expected much more.
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