Lovely Runner

Cast: Ryu Sun Jae -Male Lead (Byeon Woo Seok), Im Sol- Female Lead(Kim Hye Yoon), Kim Tae Sung- Second male Lead (Song Geon Hee), Baek In Hyeok- Sun Jae’s Best Friend (Lee Seung Hyub), Ryu Geun Deok- Sun Jae’s father (Kim Won Hae), Park Bok Soon- Im Sol’s Mother (Jung Young Joo), Lee Hyun Joo- Im Sol’s Best Friend (Seo Hye Won), Im Geum- Im Sol’s Brother (Song Ji Ho), Jung Mal Ja – Im Sol’s Grandmother (Sung Byoung Sook)
Based On: Tomorrow’s Best by Kim Bbang
Directed By:Yoon Jong-ho; Kim Tae-yeop
Editor:  Kim Ok-sun
Cinematography: Yoon Dae-young; Jeon Hyun-suk; Shin Gi-chang; Park Min-hyun
Platform: Netflix
Production: Bon Factory

Rating: 3.6/5

Lovely Runner is a romance with time travel as a backdrop, though it does have some other elements like romance, mystery, suspense, comedy and a serial killer on the loose interwoven in the narrative.It’s set across the years: 2009 to 2024.

Im Sol – She is a paraplegic, who is a die-hard fan of Sun Jae, the lead singer of the popular boy band eclipse. Ever optimistic and surrounded by Sun Jae paraphernalia; Im Sol, is a contrast to the initial days that she spent in the hospital post her freak accident. Venting out heartbreakingly as she views with despair a world with shining blue skies from the confines of the hospital bed. Im Sol played by the actress Kim Hye Yoon manages to make even crying pretty with her dimples peeking out on both cheeks.

Sun Jae – Sun Jae was once a promising swimmer, who by a fortunate or unfortunate twist in fate ends up in Showbiz. His character shows great depth since the very beginning, where he motivates the depressed and bed ridden Im Sol through a radio show promotion of eclipse.

Kim Tae Sung – The second male lead, his apparent neglect at home leads him ending up as a delinquent in the original timeline. He develops a deep connection with the time traveling Im Sol, with time altering consequences. It’s Tae Sung’s father who leads the investigation of the serial killer and future Sol’s influence plays a huge role in turning around Tae Sung’s original destiny.

Im Sol travels to the past, to the year 2009 with the help of Sun Jae’s watch, which was originally a collector’s item.Sun Jae and I’m Sol apparently studied in neighbouring schools and Sol attempts to change the past as she wants to prevent Sun Jae’s untimely demise. 

Sol experiences several time freezing moments when she communicates or lets slip information regarding the future. She tries to stop Sun Jae from competing in the 27th Swim Meet and later even tries to sabotage him getting picked up by a talent agency in an attempt to alter his tragic fate. Complications arise, when Sol’s actual High school crush Kim Tae Sung comes into the picture. Besides, getting into an altercation involving smoking where Sun Jae now thinks she smokes, she apparently had proposed to Tae Sung just a day prior to arriving from the future…

Three Tragedies of lives waiting to happen…will they get averted? For the better?

Im Sol and Ryu Sun Jae – Their relationship is characterized by several serendipitous moments, motifs include: their sheltering each other under umbrellas, Sun Jae’ s watch which gets converted to a time machine, an ironic grab Sun Jae moment, hand warmers, embarrassment of possessing a basic Instinct DVD that just won’t leave Sun Jae’s family alone etc. Im Sol travels through time several times, to avert the persistent attempts of a serial killer on the loose.

It’s clear that they fall for each other, Sun Jae multiple times over different timelines while Sol oscillates between giving him hot and cold treatment in her attempts to safeguard him from an untimely end.

The Plot

Sol lands in the future over multiple periods, each time altered a little more. There are discrepancies in the behaviours of the past and future Sol’s which leads to complications in her relationships and overall hilariousness.

As Im Sol reminisces in episode 5 over a monologue: ’breathing the same air, living in the same space, he knew her name, she never knew he was so close…’ Im Sol discovers that having Sun Jae’s presence in her life was a long foregone outcome even then and that he had his eye on her all along; as she witnesses firsthand their first meet cute which she does not even remember in the original timeline.

Lovely Runner just stops short of being confusing with events spanning different timelines. It attempts to squeeze in too many genres from romance to murder mystery and suspense.  It explores tropes such as childhood love, love across time and how a famous guy falls for a regular girl. There are several questions which remain unanswered however; like how did Sun Jae’s watch get converted to a time machine in the first place, and how is Sol’s grandmother mixed up in all this?

Korean dramas have their own unique brand of comedy that tickles you silly and they are my favourite part of the show! Lovely Runner is the same in this regard, interspersed with comic scenes that give relief or add-on to the already genre packed series.

The romance between Im Geum and Lee Hyun Joo seemed over-dramatised, which is a pity, because Hyun Joo played Seo Hye Won really impressed me with her performances and the uniqueness she brought to her roles in Business Proposal and Alchemy of Souls. We have the talented veteran artist Kim Won Hye in a ridiculously funny bathtub scene that is reminiscent of his comedic performance in Strong Girl Bong Soon.Be ready to watch some major fangirling. Also, if you think Sun Jae and Im Sol are not soppy enough in the drama, the last episode is full of sugary gooeyness. It’s full circle as they ride the ferris wheel together and time finally catches up with the two as Sun Jae experiences Deja Vu of all their previous times. But, with a killer on the loose, will their love finally finally live or lose?!