With undying love that transcends timelines, a relentless will to protect each other, and much-appreciated help from a kind-hearted variable, our leads could finally break the ill-fated cycle and rewrite their happy ending.
It wasn’t the slightest bit easy to get there, though. At least, we got no one sacrificed except for one malicious antagonist whom we can’t be happier to bid farewell to.
- Main Leads: Byeon Woo Seok | Kim Hye Yoon | Seon Geon Hee | Lee Seung Hyub
- Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: Blue Birthday | A Time Called You | Twinkling Watermelon | Extraordinary You
Bunny S. watches Lovely Runner on Viu
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 & 14 | Finale Episodes + Series Review |
Lovely Runner Finale Week Recap
With Sol running a fever and passing out, Seon-jae takes her to his home and gets her treated. In the morning, Sol is shocked to open her eyes in Seon-jae’s house. But she can’t run away like usual since Seon-jae expected that and hid her shoes. So, unless Sol wants to go home barefoot, she should have breakfast with Seon-jae first.
In return for looking after her while sick, Seon-jae asks Sol to return to work. He doesn’t want Sol to give up on her dream of making her own movie. But no matter how much that goal means to Sol, having her beloved one live a long and healthy life tops it all for Sol. (It seems like someone is jealous of himself here.) No, Seon-jae, it isn’t Tae-sung whom Sol wants to protect but you.
Seon-jae might be grumpy as Sol left him behind and got in Tae-sung’s car after calling his name so longingly in her sleep. Still, he should drop off the medicine Sol forgot to take. You know, how serious of a problem it will be if Sol doesn’t take her medicine. Seon-jae can’t let this happen, right? While at it, Seon-jae can help Sol babysit her nephew and put him to sleep.
Thankfully, Sol finally changes her mind and agrees to cast Seon-jae. Instead of having the man live on without the memories of the woman he loved, Seon-jae wants to change that ending into having the man come across the woman and fall in love with her again as if they are meant to be together. Needless to say, Sol won’t have that. If the man ends up dying again, then what about all the sacrifices the woman made to keep him safe?
Yet again, Seon-jae brings up the question that is the essence of the drama. Everyone is destined to die in the end. So, is it better to live a long but lonely life? Or does living happily with our beloved ones matter the most?
The theme of undying love and retained memories has been playing out for a while. We can also see that in how Tae-sung feels like he has been in love with Sol for a long time though they only got reunited recently.
Yet the scene of Seon-jae struggling with the sudden overflow of his memories from all timelines surpasses everything the drama has done so far. That isn’t to say we didn’t get deeply-felt emotional scenes before but to give much-deserved credit to the top-notch acting, writing, and directing in this scene.
Seon-jae has been getting blurry visions for a while. And it isn’t until he turns on the wind-up clock (the one Sol put in the time capsule) that both Seon-jae’s time and blocked memories start to flow again, a beautiful reminder of Seon-jae’s words about his time remaining stagnant without Sol and only being with her making his time pass.
Seon-jae’s heart is thumping and his head is about to burst. He rushes over to see Sol but almost gets hit by a taxi driven by none other than Psycho Killer. Luckily, Tae-sung is there to save the day and stop Psycho Killer from murdering Seon-jae for the fifth time already.
Tae-sung has been chasing after Psycho Killer because of an attempt abducting charge. And spotting Seon-jae about to get hit, Tae-sung swerves his car at the last moment and crashes into Psycho Killer, putting an end to this loop. Pushing Tae-sung away, Psycho Killer tries to escape only to meet a tragic end, falling into water after getting hit by Truck of Doom in the best cameo of the year. Justice is finally served. He met the same fate he imposed on our leads.
Now, Seon-jae remembers everything clearly from the first time he met Sol in the rain to his death by the cliff. Opening his eyes in the hospital, Seon-jae rushes over to see Sol. Hearing about what happened, a worried-to-death Sol is also rushing over to see him. They meet midway. Sol is relieved to see Seon-jae is fine, yet when asked if she came to see him, Sol claims she was only passing by and tries to go away again.
But Seon-jae isn’t about to let her go this time. He remembers everything. How could Sol do this to him? Did she think it was possible to erase herself from Seon-jae’s life? Crying her heart out, Sol gives in and admits to her true feelings. The angst is finally over.
Actually, it isn’t like Seon-jae forgot about Sol. His heart remembered what his mind couldn’t. Spotting the necklace he gave Sol before, Seon-jae got teary-eyed and went in to buy the necklace wholly oblivious as to why he was acting like this. Now, the necklace finally goes back to its owner.
Changing the movie ending into a happy one is good and all. Still, it means more work for Sol and less time to meet Seon-jae. But our smitten boy can just go to where Sol is working and stare at her all day.
With many prying eyes, our leads retreat to Seo-jae’s house for a quieter place. But it is too late. Their photos were already taken. More than a scandal about his dating life, Seon-jae is concerned about choosing a ring that fits perfectly with his Sol’s image. That is right. Our boy is planning for a proposal. Also, how can they blur out Sol’s photo and cover her pretty face?
Hearing it is Sol’s nephew’s first birthday soon, Seon-jae deems it the perfect chance to meet her family. And wouldn’t you know it? They choose Seon-jae’s father’s restaurant to celebrate this joyous occasion. Now instead of a first birthday party, we get families meeting vibes. And Seon-jae is all for it. To win some brownie points, Seon-jae even bribes convinces In-hyuk and the rest to perform at the party.
Renting out a ferry, Seon-jae tries to utter the words but ends up stumbling, giving us a flashback to the time he tried to confess his feelings to Sol after the competition. Further, Sol “jokes” about Seon-jae proposing and having In-hyuk throw petals at them. Which is what exactly Seon-jae had in mind.
Long story short: the proposal is hilariously ruined. But more than Sol seeing through his plan, Seon-jae resolves to hold it off to act as a supportive boyfriend and encourage Sol to pursue her dream of becoming a movie director and making her own film.
Mirroring the scene where our sweet couple made a wish while catching spring petals, Seon-jae once again helps Sol catch some falling petals. And under them lies the wedding ring. He wants to spend every waking moment with Sol. And she feels just the same. Our leads are getting married! What a perfect way to end this amazing drama!
Lovely Runner Series Quick Recap
Our diehard fangirl heroine, Im Sol, is given a unique opportunity to travel back in time and save her beloved idol, Ryu Seon-jae. It won’t be easy though as this chance comes with a set of rules and challenges. Yet with a relentless will to protect her idol, there is nothing we can do but root for Sol to beat the odds and rewrite her happy ending.
Lovely Runner Series Highlights
Fluffy and deep-felt romance between a guy with undying love and a girl trying relentlessly to protect him
Even when the girl didn’t know about his existence, Seon-jae had only eyes for Sol. It breaks my heart to think about how Seon-jae lived his life feeling guilty and blaming himself for Sol’s accident. No wonder when we were first introduced to Seon-jae, he looked depressed. Without Sol by his side, Seon-jae’s life was lonely and bleak. As if the poor guy wasn’t tortured enough, the drama went and killed him off just after he got to meet his first love again.
Even if Sol had no memory of Seon-jae and only thought of him as her beloved idol, just seeing her up close was enough to add color to Seon-jae’s sparkly on the outside yet lifeless on the inside life. How Seon-jae followed Sol that day and watched her from afar speak a thousand words about his pain and undying love.
Then, the magic happened, and Sol was transported to 2008, a time when they were both high schoolers living and studying across from each other. Sol might have been too busy crushing on Tae-sung at that time to remember him. But Seon-jae fell for Sol at first sight. The boy even wrote a song based on their first encounter in the rain.
After lots of back and forth, Sol realized she liked Seon-jae too. But because of the time travel issues and how Past Sol could take over at any minute, Sol settled to lie to Seon-jae about seeing him as only a friend, getting both of them heartbroken.
Marking the end of the second trial, Sol was transported back to 2023 where she got reunited with Seon-jae. Realizing that he never forgot about her even for a moment, Sol mustered up the courage and admitted to missing Seon-jae. But this happiness was short-lived. And once again Seon-jae was attacked. But this time it hit more because Sol learned that Seon-jae never committed suicide but was killed brutally “because of her.”
Not willing to see Seon-jae lose his life again, Sol pushed him away. But our smart boy figured everything out. Even if he ended up dying while saving her, it wouldn’t matter to Seon-jae because being with Sol was all he wished for. Thus, Sol should come to him and stop worrying about the future.
Hence, our leads’ cute dating era officially kicked off, getting us all the sweetness we could ask for, sealed perfectly with an epic beach trip. One might think that after all they went through, our leads would stop hiding things from each other and be honest so that they could defeat that cruel fate and rewrite their happy ending. But alas. We got another tragedy and wait for it……. another 3 trials to save Seon-jae. (Thankfully, Sol only used one of them.)
Watching Seon-jae die before her eyes is surely crushing. Not to mention that this is the fourth time already. But how can one do the same thing yet expect a different result? I know that Sol had to do something or otherwise Seon-jae would remain dead. But those “selfless” decisions proved futile many times already. So, wouldn’t it be better to try being honest for a change? (Why didn’t Sol freeze time and get the killer caught instead of this Melo movie?)
It isn’t that I don’t understand Sol’s motive. Yet if we shift our focus to Seon-jae’s perspective, what Sol did to him was cruel and selfish. The guy made it clear that he wanted to stay with Sol no matter what happened to him. But Sol discarded this and went ahead and prevented their first encounter.
Erasing herself out of his life might have kept Seon-jae alive for longer but it didn’t make him happy. What is life without love and cherished memories anyway? Ironically, it only took Seon-jae a few minutes to fall for Sol again and follow her around.
No matter how hard Sol tried to push Seon-jae away (I lost count of how many times he got rejected including the last episode.), the sweet guy found his way back to her again. And with the Psycho Killer arc coming to an end, we could finally enjoy some romance without having to worry about when Seon-jae will get attacked again. It has been such a thrilling ride. And I can’t remember being more ecstatic to see an OTP get their much-deserved happy ending.
언제까지 이러고 있을 거야?
저 신호등이 20240528 번 바뀔 때까지💙솔선재 평생 껌딱지처럼 붙어있어주세요( ´͈ ᵕ `͈ )◞♡#선재업고튀어 #LovelyRunner pic.twitter.com/jgdWe4jJsE
— tvN drama (@CJnDrama) May 28, 2024
Beautifully written side characters
The drama might have revolved around Sol and Seon-jae’s story but having compelling side characters elevated the ride and made it more mesmerizing. Better yet, instead of using them as filler, the story gave each character a fair share of the spotlight.
Tae-sung has always been a scene-stealer. If I weren’t team Seon-jae to the bone, I would have rooted for him to win Sol’s heart. Be it his playboy antics, flirting with Future Sol, getting touched when she celebrates his birthday, becoming friends with Seon-jae and giving us an amusing bromance, their petty rivalry, or finally saving Seon-jae and putting an end to this messy arc. The guy has always been on fire.
In a K-drama world filled with messy love triangles, I am glad we got a healthy one here. (Side note: Writer-nim has a knack for second-lead syndromes. Can anyone forget about the epic Han Seo-jun from True Beauty?) Tae-sung might have realized his feelings for Sol late. But he respected her decision. Confessing his feelings wasn’t about trying to confuse Sol or snatch her from Seon-jae but to get closure. And there is no denying the big part Tae-sung played in getting Sol and Seon-jae together, having told Seon-jae that Sol’s heart lies with him.
Also, it was refreshing how Tae-sung’s role wasn’t limited to a love interest. Before that, he was a sad puppy with abandonment issues putting on a bad boy façade to draw attention but turning over a new leaf after meeting future Sol. Being a detective or not, I was also happy to see Tae-sung maintain a good relationship with his father unlike before.
One of my gripes last week was how we might not see Seon-jae and Tae-sung as friends anymore. Yet I am delighted to see the boys retaining the same childish bromance they used to have. Be it Seon-jae getting ecstatic that Sol no longer dated Tae-sung in the past, Tae-sung asking Seon-jae to take care of “his dear Sol” or lastly Seon-jae being grateful to Tae-sung for putting an end to those ill-fated relations.
Given the tense relationship between Seon-jae and In-hyuk in the initial 2023 timeline, I thought the drama was setting In-hyuk up as an antagonist of sorts. But never have I been happier to be proven wrong. In-hyuk remained a good friend to Seon-jae in all the timelines. And I was jumping for joy to see them retaining their friendship and not falling out like before.
In-hyuk giving Seon-jae dating advice and making fun of his undying love for Sol is hilarious and all. But what touched me the most was Seon-jae and In-hyuk’s conversation by the beach where Seon-jae said he could muster up the courage for a career change only if he had In-hyuk by his side. “If there is the brightest moment in my youth, I want it to be with you.”
One of the drama highlights is the scenes featuring our three boys together with poor In-hyuk stuck between Seon-jae and Tae-sung. Be it trying to stop Seon-jae from causing trouble and hitting Tae-sung, taking care of them while drunk, or sitting there baffled as to why those two are shooting lasers out of their eyes while drinking scorching tea and pretending to be fine with it.
Female lead’s best friend and brother getting together is nothing new to Kdramas. Yet Geum and Hyun-joo’s relationship never felt boring or forced. Instead, it had its own flavor of sweetness, mostly because the drama didn’t rush things but took proper time to build it up slowly. Better yet, Geum and Hyun-joo remained their normal hilarious selves no matter the timelines.
Even the bickering scenes between Sol’s mother and Seon-jae’s father were entertaining. Not to mention Sol’s grandma’s epic role in the time travel. If there is a drama where I enjoyed every single scene, minus the ones Psycho Killer showed up in, of course, it will be Lovely Runner.
Lovely Runner Series Musings
Going back in time to save a beloved one is nothing groundbreaking. But the back and forth between the timelines made the drama more refreshing. While the first trial helped us learn about the time travel rules and the second one gifted us much-needed romance between our leads as adults, the third trial ended on a quite frustrating note given how it basically knocked down all the progress that we got between our leads.
Objectively speaking, the third trial was a golden chance to catch the killer and put an end to this tragedy once and for all. Conclusive evidence was found proving Psycho Killer was a murderer. Also, seeing how he kept chasing after Sol, it would be easy to prove he is a remorseless criminal and throw him in jail for life. Having him fall off the cliff was a good option too. So, why drag this arc out and frustrate us?
The only way I would get behind that last-minute change in rules was Seon-jae being the one time-traveling this time or him retaining his memories from the past. But the Seon-jae we got introduced to had no memory of anything. Still, the drama made up for that with the epic scene of Seon-jae regaining his memories from all timelines. And having Tae-sung be the variable breaking this toxic loop also helped alleviate my frustration.
In hindsight, the drama gave us a glimpse into what kind of future we are getting. #1 Having Sol and Seon-jae’s photo pop up at Seon-jae’s hotel room indicated that they had a connection unlike the original timeline but the police line hinted at Seon-jae remaining dead. This is the exact thing Sol opened her eyes to after the first trial ended. #2 The picture of a 3-member Eclipse. Which would have been the case if Seon-jae remained dead.
Some questions are left unanswered like the time travel mechanism, the reason why Seon-jae wanted to retire (Was that only because of his guilt?), the cause of In-hyuk and Seon-jae’s falling out, why Tae-sung showed up at Seon-jae’s place after the second trial, and the motive behind Psycho Killer chasing relentlessly after our leads even in the latest timeline. But instead of dwelling on this for long, I am more inclined to turn my head away.
The only issue I hoped the drama handled better was Sol’s character arc. Except for achieving her dream of becoming a movie director, we had nothing going on for Sol besides wanting to save Seon-jae. Rather than solely existing to protect Seon-jae, I wanted to see more of Sol as an individual like how we got some insight into how Seon-jae made the same choice of pursuing the idol career.
입꼬리 내려와 티벤 연애 아니야.
솔선재 꽁냥꽁냥에 수범이들 광대 🙌항복 항복🙌#선재업고튀어 #LovelyRunner pic.twitter.com/aukikRW1FF— tvN drama (@CJnDrama) May 28, 2024
Lovely Runner was a drama I didn’t know I needed. It brightened up my Mondays and Tuesdays as I stayed glued to my screen and waited impatiently for new episodes. And now that it ended, I can feel a big void in my heart. Seon-jae and Sol’s journey was delightful to watch. And I am now imagining them walking down the aisle and enjoying their happily ever after.
If I could get my way, I would write volumes about the drama’s strength points. From the impeccable acting by Byeon Woo-seok, Kim Hye-yoon, Song Geon-hee, Lee Seung-hyub, and the rest of the cast members, to the solid story, to how the show kept its light-hearted tone throughout the run, …..etc. But I will settle for what I mentioned already and go for a re-watch without worrying about the ending this time.
Photos and Videos: tvN Drama
