LOVELY RUNNER || DRAMA AND CHARACTER REVIEW

Skai April 24

“When an idol is a fan of his fan”

Where good looking men with broad shoulders and a lean build are, that’s where I’ll be. I started watching this drama entirely because of Byeon Woo Seok and ended up falling in love with the storyline.

Mild Spoiler Alert!

Right from the start, the plot is engaging and generates curiosity. In the opening segment, I was easily drawn to Im Sol’s bleakness and Sun-Jae’s radiant happiness. The contrast between the two really made me want to understand their past and how they got to where they were.

Time travel tropes are all the rage nowadays, and you know I love me a good time travel story. Lovely runner employs the idea of travelling from the present to the past in its plot; from a busy and stressful adult life in Seoul, they go back in time to a cheery and optimistic teenage life in the suburbs. The characters are mature and reserved in the present day while they’re more free, optimistic, and headstrong in the past.

I really liked how the plot kept us hooked at every turn. We saw how changing anything in the past has ripple effects in the future, and they’re often not what we expect. We see even how good intentions can lead to bad results.

Despite focusing on the bleak points, the plot kept things light by frequently injecting humor into the story through the embarrassing moments and decisions made by the secondary characters.

One of the main aspects of the story is the romance. The chemistry between the two leads is so magnetic that if you have a romantic bone in your body, you will get sucked right into the storyline. Sol and Sun Jae are hard not to fall in love with, the love story between them is so real, so intense, and just perfect.

The ing cast delivered outstanding performances that were so convincing to the point that I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing those roles.

Now let me talk about the OST. It was so incredible and perfectly captured the emotions of the drama. The soundtrack added depth to every scene, making the love story between the leads unforgettable. The tracks are beautifully composed, blending soothing melodies with heartfelt lyrics that stuck with me long after the episode ended. I especially loved “Sudden Shower by Eclipse”, the song was so good it gave me goosebumps, and still does.

The ending was totally worth it. Lovely runner gave me the happy ending that I totally deserved, and ending that left me with warm, fuzzy feelings. It’s definitely the kind of ending that will make you want to go back and rewatch just to experience it all over again.

Im Sol is strong and bright like sunshine. She is sassy but also vulnerable. She is adorable and relatable, and she is instinctive and resourceful. I loved how she would do anything for the people she loved, like how when she returned to her teenage self she was determined and wasn’t embarrassed to do whatever it took to save Sun Jae. She did so many embarrassing things, I just can’t oh my God, but it was all with good intentions at heart.

Sun Jae is swoon worthy. He is so soft and has a good heart. This is the greenest flag male lead to ever exist, no toxicity whatsoever and he was just giving me butterflies. He wears his heart on his sleeves, and his facial expression are just the easiest to read. I found it endearing how he tried to act cool in front of Sol when he was just a lovesick puppy.

One of the moments that really got me crying was when he got that shoulder injury. He is a swimmer and he was forced to give up his dream because of his shoulder injury. Instead of dwelling on it, he tried his best to move on and helped those around him to move on. He was really down-to-earth and calm like the moonlight.

Byeon Woo Seok was able to embody the emotional depth of his character and it surely didn’t feel like acting.

I will be honest y’all, I did not care about him at all when he first showed up in the drama as I kept my eyes on the prize (Sun Jae). But hands down, he had the best growth in this drama. I really liked how his growth was shown, and how the smallest things turned his life around.

Tae Song doesn’t have a great life at home because he lives with his divorced policeman dad who is always occupied with cases. It was easy for me to understand how he turned out the way he did; a playboy who cuts classes, smokes, and is in a band. He is just rebellious, but deep down he is a nice person, the greenest second male lead there is.

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If you are into time travel stories, romance, love stories that will make your heart ache, flutter and send goosebumps down your spine, then Lovely Runner is a must watch.

Fun Fact: Many of the soundtracks by the group in the drama ECLIPSE were sung by the male lead Byeon Woo Seok himself.