I am someone who easily can drop a show, not because I don’t like it – I get spoiled a lot on TikTok. But this show is different – I decided to not let TikTok spoilers stop me from finishing this show and I’m absolutely glad that I made that choice. After finishing this show in one week straight, I can now understand why this show won the hearts of Korean people. It has all the ingredients of a really good K-drama.

Let’s begin…

Lovely Runner is a 16-episode K-drama, now showing on Netflix, starring Kim Hye-yoon as Im Sol and Byeon Woo-seok as Ryu Sun-jae.

Ryu Sun-jae is a popular member of a group called Eclipse. However, amidst the glitz and glamour of the popular group underlies a little hostility between the members as Sun-jae decides to retire from the group to focus on his individual career.

Im Sol, who is paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound (it is important I mentioned this as it is an important part of the story, I’m not an ableist…), is a die-hard fan of Eclipse and particularly of Sun-jae after she received words of comfort and motivation from him through a random phonecall during a radio show when she was contemplating on un-aliving herself due to her condition. She has everything a fangirl possibly would have of an idol she adores – even his old watch.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and news of Sun-jae’s death reaches Sol. Sol, heartbroken, is on the way to the hospital when she’s accidentally hit and the watch drops into the water. Distraught, she throws herself into the water and the watch strangely changes to “3:00:00” and Sol finds herself back in 2008, in school, before her accident. Finding out that she’s transported back in time, she’s determined to help ensure that Sun-jae stays alive in the future in 2023. But it’s not as simple as she thinks it is. Was Sun-jae’s death an alleged suicide or was there more than meets the eye?

I would just like to start it off as – I absolutely love the show, all 16 episodes of it.

The thing about time-travelling shows or movies is that it can get confusing if the story-telling or editing is not well-done. Example: A Time Called You. I stopped watching at Episode 2 because I was just hella confused and got more questions than answers. Another example is W: The Two Worlds – now this is not a time-travelling show but it is a drama of two worlds (duh). I wanted to cite this as an example of story-telling going wrong because the rule that the writer placed in the beginning was then adjusted to ensure that they get the ending that they want, which leaves the show with inconsistencies and loop-holes. And Lovely Runner got these things right.

Lovely Runner is as straightforward as it can be for a time-travelling show. The watch is the tool that transports Sol back and forth between the past and the present to help her try to save Sun-jae. Whatever she does in the past will change the future and the editing was done well enough that they showed what changes in the future without disrupting the flow of the story. The pace is also consistent and no parts are draggy. The rule set in place with the watch being the tool stays as it is and there’s no shocking revelation like the villain finding out the game and ruins the party (hint, W, hint). No, only Sol knows (eventually Sun-jae figures it out and there’s a little surprise at the end) and only she is the one being transported back and forth. As clear as day, the audience will not get unexpected shock or turn of events. We do, but the good kind.

The show has everything that makes it enjoyable – the laughter, sadness, anger, suspense, romance, familial ties and little surprises. Every character in the show plays a useful part. You don’t see any character as useless from the second lead, Kim Tae-seong (Song Geon-hee), to the people around Sol (her mom, brother, grandmother, best friend) and around Sun-jae (his best friend, In-hyuk, and his dad). Everyone has a part to play. I don’t watch the show seeing a character and going: “Why are they there and what’s their role in this?” No, I adore all of them.

But Siti, surely there’s just something that you don’t like. No. If I want to be nitpicky, I would say that the ending of the criminal is not as satisfying. However, knowing the justice system in Korea can be atrocious, maybe the ending of the criminal is “cleaner”, so to speak. And karma bites, I guess.

So, I’m going to rate this show a 5 out of 5. Love it. Absolutely love it. Watch it on Netflix.

Also, the soundtrack is just chef’s kiss. The main song, Sudden Shower, did so well it charted in Billboard Global 200 and domestically in Melon. An amazing feat for a song by a temporary group created for the drama itself. When I was listening to the OST album earlier today, instantly transported back to the drama – even the instrumentals during the suspense scenes. I will embed the soundtrack below.