DRAMA REVIEW | Lovely Runner (2024)
Lovely Runner it's undoubtedly one of the best dramas of 2024.
It has all the elements that make a drama a mega hit: comedy, romance, time travel, well written characters (both leads and supporting ones) and an engaging plot line that never bores you. Starring Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok, adapted from the web novel The Best of Tomorrow by screenwriter Lee Shi Eun and directed by Yoon Jong Ho and Kim Tae Yub, the Lovely Runner team achieved a perfect execution in front and behind the camera.
I think the true star of this drama it's the writing and on this I can't commend Lee Si Eun enough. I had already seen her potential in dramas like True Beauty but here she really manages to shine through a well crafted, smart and cohesive story with no loose ends. I'm incredibly impressed by her talent.
The writing was perfectly complemented by the directors's outstanding work in leading a film crew that was on every detail of each part of the story, in each timeline, never missing a beat. Always delivering their A+++ game. But there was also great work done from the directors part in helping the actors get the comedic timing exactly right, the more emotional scenes to deliver and the team work among cast and crew to be flawless.
Lovely Runner might be a big hit now, but it's actually a sleeper hit. The lack of promotion this drama had was embarrassing and if it wasn't for the devoted fans, studio executives would have never realized they had a gem in their hands. So, it's not only a great drama with a super fandom that really fought for this story, it's also becoming yet another prime example in the list of films and tv that achieved all of it by themselves because artists delivered nothing short of excellence.
On this point I can't ignore the incredible performances given by the entire cast. Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok are definitely the standouts, they stole the show, this is their story and the actors chemistry it's electrifying. But the way supportive actors would show up in a scene and push the story forward in a coherent way and even make it better, it's wild to me. The chemistry this cast had it's a rare feat for an ensamble cast and how they managed to transition seamlessly through different phases of their characters's lives and relationships when events, in each timeline, were changing because of the things our leads did they still remain truthful. So, not only the leads are well developed in this drama but also every single character that shows up, no matter how small the role is.
The best example of this it's actor Heo Hyeong-Gyu who has been working for sixteen years, playing very minor characters, finally having a breakthrough in the industry because of his role in this drama. And while his presence was prominent and important to the story, he barely had lines. So his entire performance is mainly based on micro-expressions or physical stunts.
I also fully expect the actors like Song Geon-Hee, Lee Seung-Hyub, Song Ji-Ho or Seo Hye-won to receive a lot of what korean entertainment industry calls "love calls" aka commercials, dramas and films, among other things.
Experiencing watching Lovely Runner alongside the fandom, waiting every week for a new episode, it's a big part of what made this drama so good. Healthy and good loving fun people, clowning, poking fun at our faves and crying at heartbreak. It's been a long time since I have been able to engage in this way with other fans and I am thankful for them, the cast and crew for all these amazing weeks of fun.
Rating: 10/10
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if I had a nickel for every time I watch a kdrama and become rapidly obsessed with the imaginary relationship of side characters in the drama- who weren't interested canonically, have/had different partners, are not gay(as far as the writers know), have like two scenes together, and ultimately don't care that much about each other/ aren't onscreen much together- I wouldn't have much but it's really really weird that it has happened thrice.
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Masterlist - Sweet Home
All - Ticking Time Bomb
Cha Hyun-Su - Coming Soon
Lee Eun-Hyuk - Coming Soon
Lee Eun-Yu - Coming Soon
Pyeon Sang-Wook - Coming Soon
Seo Yi-Kyeong - Coming Soon
Jung Jae-Hoon - Coming Soon
Yoon Ji-Soo - Coming Soon
Park Chan-Young - Coming Soon
Kim Yeong-Hu - Coming Soon
Tak In-Hwan - Coming Soon
Min Seo-Jin - Coming Soon
Kang Seok-Chan - Coming Soon
Lee Dong-Jun - Coming Soon
Ha-ni - Coming Soon
Jung Ye-seul - Coming Soon
Father Peter - Coming Soon
Bong Sun-Hwa - Coming Soon
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오페라의 유령 / The Phantom of the Opera - South Korea (Third Season) | Pt 4
Program Books Ver 2-4 (Busan + Seoul)
Notes I / Prima Donna
1. 이상준 Lee Sang-jun
2. 윤영석 Yoon Young-seok
1. 송원근 Song Won-geun
2. 황건하 Hwang Gun-ha
1. 황건하 Hwang Gun-ha
2. 조하린 Cho Ha-rin + 김아선 Kim Ah-seon
1-2. 한보라 Han Bo-ra + 박회림 Park Hoe-rim + 이상준 Lee Sang-jun + 윤영석 Yoon Young-seok
Il Muto / Poor Fool He Makes Me Laugh
1. 한보라 Han Bo-ra + 손지수 Sohn Ji-soo
2. 이지영 Lee Ji-young + 송은혜 Song Eun-hye
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extraordinary attorney woo
8.5/10
i think it is super well done. so why not 10/10? i feel like there was so much buildup in this drama and so much of it led nowhere… i did mostly like the relatively open ending, though i feel that maybe one too many threads were left loose.
park eun bin delivered an absolutely stellar performance and the others were great too and i loved seeing them and their characters!
i think it’s a shame they changed kwon min woo’s demeanor so drastically without any explanations, but overall i think it’s nice that the characters went through some sort of development.
i think maybe the first half was too slow of a set up to then go through three subplots per episode towards the end… overall though it was great, i loved the characters and i definitely do not regret watching! it’s definitely a must-watch, but i don’t think i will be reeatching this eventually.
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