10/10 is my rating. This is a 2024 romantic comedy drama that centers on time travel. There are 16, 70 minute episodes. It is based on a webtoon titled “Tomorrow”s Nest.”

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

An accident leaves Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon) paralyzed and wheel chair bound amd ready to end it. Ryun Sun-Jae (Byeon Woo Seok) calls her “randomly” from a radio show where his band “Eclipse” is being interviewed. His call reaches Im Sol on one of her lowest days but his words inspire her to go on. She becomes his top fan and it is one of the brightest days in her life when she meets him through a “chance” encounter. On that same day she is devastated to learn he ends his own life. Perhaps the universe gets her devastation and responds to her desperation as a magical watch takes her back in time 15 years when they both went to adjacent high schools. During her many attempts to garner Sun Jae’s attention in order to change their future, she is indifferent to most people around her which catches the widely popular Song Geon Hee’s attention (Kim Tae Sung). Tae sung is used to girls vying for his attention. Im Sol’s utter indifference sparks his competitive nature and he finds himself falling for this unique girl. As Im sol travels back and forth through time, her teenage self vascilates between a girl that is in love with Geom hee to an embarassing extent, to the 30s year old version in a teenager body that finds him ridiculously bad boy narcissistic. And as she changes from one persona to another depending on which stage of life brain is driving the teenage body, she changes between idolation and indifference of Sun Jae as well. Which makes for some very comedic moments. Can Im sol fulfill her heart’s desire and change both of their grim destinies?

Review:

This is a unique twist on time travel with a very heartwarming love story.  After this series ran Byeon Woo Seok became known as the nation’s boyfriend and it is clear why.  The main lead character was so sweet, steadfast, and loyal to the main female lead character, that most would want to have a boyfriend or girlfriend that had all the qualities he had.  You will also experience second lead syndrome as second guy is awesome as well.  While there are some sad moments, I would not consider it sad at all on balance.  Though if you have been impacted by anyone having ended their life, be aware it could be tough emotionally in the first episodes. It dragged me down a bit because anytime that topic comes up it brings things back. For me the emotional drain around him seemingly ending his life was not severe enough to avoid a really good story like this, but it is good to be aware and prepared.  I always check before and most indicated it ended happy. I can confirm that it does have a very happy ending.  I would highly recommend this to anyone that loves really good romance, likes time travel, or is a fan of any of the actors.  All the actors did an incredible job of portraying the characters. I would watch this again and would recommend it to anyone without hesitation. 

 

Spoilers

My daughter said it would be slightly rated down in her opinion to maybe a 9/10 because she felt like it was super confusing how often it flipped around in time.  I completely agree.  It did get very confusing as she traveled back and forth to know if certain events happened in that particular timeline.  Not only did she travel 15 years back and forth but, at times, they would flashback within the same timeline.  Lead guy even, at one point, thought Geom Hee had dated Im Sol and she had not dated him in that timeline.  So, the writers were acknowledging that even the characters would have been confused.  But, I differ from her in that I do not think you could have portrayed the complexity without it being a little confusing at times. 

There were some things I wish had been better explained.  Like, how exactly the watch was working.  How did she know how many times she could travel?  How did she know when she was going back?   What about grandma?  Was she controlling some of the events?  It also did not explain whether Sun jae actually ended his own life or if it was the killer got to him, drugged him, and he wound up falling off the balcony and it looked like he had ended his life.  At times it seemed the killer had some awareness, like he knew things he should not have known, and it wasn’t clear why that was the case.  I think it had to do with something the grandma said that memories do not go away that they become embedded in your soul.  And then there was Sun jae’s puffer jacket stalker.  That was really developed as a key event in one timeline but then it was like they just dropped it.  I thought it might play out on all the timelines in a very essential way but it seems the only point of it was for him to have these frustrating passing moments, where he misunderstood Im sol and they almost but not quite got together. 

 
I got really frustrated with her for pushing him away.  I understood she was doing it because she became convinced he would die or get seriously injured from being around her.  But, her original purpose for traveling back was to keep him from ending his life.  So, if you are worried about someone being sad enough to make that horrible decision, why would you do things that would make them depressed?  Even understanding her concern about the killer targeting him, I wanted her to realize she should not make him sad. But I did finally agree with her when he was stabbed and fell off the cliff.  I know I would make the same decision in that case.  I might talk to others around him to get them to check in on him more and make sure he was doing emotionally well, but I would likely conclude that he need not be around me if I couldn’t get the killer to stop no matter how things changed. 

#LovelyRunner #KimHyeYoon #ByeonWooSeok #SomhGeonHee #LeeSeungHyub