This is the review + recap page for episode 3 & 4 of the 2024 kdrama Lovely Runner.
TRIGGER WARNING - this kdrama contains depictions of self harm and worse.
Air Dates: Apr 8 - May 28 2024 - [Mon/Tues]
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Idol/Music
Main Tropes: Time travel, emotional scars, injury, HE FALLS FIRST!!!
Synopsis: Im Sol (played by Kim Hye Yoon) was in an accident that left her paralyzed from the legs down. She didn't take it well. By chance, idol Ryu Seon Jae (played by Byeon Woo Seok) called her phone from a radio program. When he heard how desperate she was feeling, he told her to keep going. Fueled by his sudden kindness, she did. Years later, Ryu Seon Jae - now famous and performing sold out concerts - can't take the pressure and takes his own life. By some strange twist of fate, Im Sol finds herself transported to the past - before her accident. Armed with knowledge of the future, she quickly decides that she's got to change the outcome of everything.
Quick review: I put the trigger warning up top but I'm going to mention it again here, too. TRIGGER WARNING. Make sure that you are in a good headspace for episode 1. If you're someone who's gone through a major loss of function, or even a chronic illness, this opening scene will remind you of those first few moments of realising your new reality. BUT while it does have such serious topics, it's also a cute time travel romance kdrama. By the end of episode two, it's a little more light with lots of cute stuff.
Episode Recap
SPOILERS BELOW
Episode 03 Recap
Seon Jae learns that Im Sol has been in some kind of accident, but she can't remember any details about it. This explains why she froze in the middle of the road. And despite the intense moment, he tells her that he's still going to compete in the competition. She worries, but tries to trust him.
Somehow, Seon Jae wins the competition without getting injured! He decides that he's going to use this moment to tell Im Sol that he likes her, and ask her out. But every moment he tries, something goes wrong. So he never actually gets the words out.
Then, the very next day while trying to break a record during training, the injury happens anyways. Im Sol wonders if she can even change the past, or if things are fated to happen. She furiously writes down the date of her accident, only for it to be erased over and over. She feels hopeless about this.
Seon Jae's dad initially held a celebration because he didn't know, and he got angry when Seon Jae suddenly said he was quitting. He told his son to not bother coming back home if he was really going to give it all up. So Seon Jae stayed with a friend.
Im Sol remembers that detail from the future, and confronts the friend. And there, she recognizes the friend as the reason that Seon Jae became an idol...and also the reason he got so many hateful comments. She can't tell him any of this, but instead is trying to request something of him. But before she can fully get it out, a soccer ball crashes into her and she gets a sudden memory.
This happened before, and it was at the same time that her house caught on fire! So she races home, calling her mum and brother, but none of them answer. That's when Tae Sung shows up with his motorbike. He doesn't want to let her ride with him at first, but she insists. Tae Sung decides to believe her, and they see smoke when they arrive. He helps her put out the fire, and changes the fate. Her mother no longer gets a serious burn on her hand, and the photo of her father is saved.
Tae Sung starts to wonder about her after this, and begins to think she is cute. It looks like the beginning of a love triangle, as we can see it all over his face that something big has shifted for him.
Meanwhile, Seon Jae's dad has found out about the injury and goes to him. They talk, and settle things, and we see the depths of how scared Seon Jae is about this situation. His emotional reaction mirrors the one that Im Sol had at the beginning of episode 1, and we can finally understand that this is how he was able to give her the advice to keep going: he went through the same life changing situation, and the same emotions.
Seon Jae goes to have surgery done a few days after the chat with his dad. The doctor says it went well, but that his entire shoulder is busted and might not heal enough for him to ever return to swimming as a career. Im Sol overhears this, and starts providing food for Seon Jae (and all the other occupants in the hospital room). She calls herself "his fan" instead of using her name, and everyone loves what she provides.
When Seon Jae is discharged, she goes to give his dad some chicken. He's so happy that he gives her some home made alcohol in exchange. She spends the evening drinking it and then sees Seon Jae leave for the swimming pool again. While he sits there thinking, she knocks over some chairs because she's completely drunk.
They have a cute moment together, and she falls asleep on his shoulder. She moves in her sleep to cuddle better, and he freaks out. He jumps away. She wakes, and starts talking to him as if its the future again. She tells him that he'll never be alone, and she'll always be by his side. This makes him feel touched and he finally confesses before kissing her.
The next day, Im Sol is listening to her recorder which she had stepped on during their moment at the swimming pool. Just before the confession, though, Tae Sung runs up to her and asks her out. At the same moment, Im Sol finds herself transported back to the future where the billboard sign is still broadcasting the news of Seon Jae's passing.
Episode 04 Recap
We get a snippet of the past and see Seon Jae's perspective from his last night in 2023. HE NEVER FORGOT HER, even as he became a famous idol. As Jongho's OST cover plays in the background (and making the moment much more emotional), Seon Jae watches to make sure that Im Sol makes it home okay after her wheelchair had stopped working in the snow. When she's safely inside, he goes back to his hotel. Someone rings the doorbell...and he looks back at it.
The scene cuts with the sound of someone landing heavily in water, and Im Sol wakes up in 2023 in the hospital. Someone found her in the creek where she had retrieved the watch. Quickly, she finds out that she's in the same hospital where Seon Jae was taken and she rushes to go check things out for herself. His father is crying hysterically, but his friends remember her. Police come to interrogate her because of the photo that appeared from when she went back in time, and Im Sol realises she can change the future.
She races to the creek again and throws herself in, pressing the watch. But...nothing happens. Dejected, she goes back home and tries to process everything. She gets a phone call from Seon Jae's friend, who says that Seon Jae was always sorry towards her (but he won't explain why and hangs up). Not long after - at midnight - the watch flashes, and she tries pressing the button again!
She's transported to the past again, and is in the middle of an exorcism! While she was gone, her past self had complained about feeling possessed. The shaman recognizes that something is going on and tries to banish her, but she pretends everything is fine and runs to Seon Jae. He acts cold, and she remembers what happened in the 10 days that passed. She called him a pervert, and decided to start dating Tae Sung.
So the next day, she tries doing damage control. She tracks down Seon Jae and tells him she was possessed, but he isn't buying it, She falls while he's leaving, and he's about to run back to help her, but Tae Sung arrives at the same moment and scoops her away. He notices the difference in Im Sol's behavior right away.
Later on, Im Sol goes to see Seon Jae's friend (the one who called her in the future). She tells him to fully explain things if he has to tell her something later on, and also tells him not to take Seon Jae to the audition with him. Not long after, she sees the CEO of their entertainment company handing out business cards. Seon Jae and his friend both collect one!
Im Sol hatches a plan to get it back, and sneaks into Seon Jae's house. She uses the strange ability to stop time to do it - she shouts about future events every time Seon Jae's dad is about to see her, and uses the few extra seconds to hide. Doing this, she successfully gets the business card and rips it up.
But while trying to leave, books fall on her and knock her out! Seon Jae sees her sprawled on the floor when he gets back home. She wakes up and they talk, but it doesn't go well. There's definitely tension, although he's also not ready to forgive her. He wraps her in his blanket and carries her out again.
Meanwhile, Tae Sung is telling his friends how he's just using Im Sol and doesn't care about dating her. Seon Jae's friend overhears, and finally realises that something is up. Maybe he will become Im Sol's unwitting ally later on?
Im Sol goes to meet with her "boyfriend" Tae Sung to break up with him, but finds out that she prepared a super cringe happy birthday video for him. She feels awkward about trying to break up after that happens, and we find out that Tae Sung is a little bit pitiful. So she doesn't go through with it. In the middle of dinner with him, she finds out that Seon Jae went to the audition and races to go stop him. He wasn't there, though: he left to help at his dad's restaurant!
So Im Sol takes the bus home, but she sleeps through her stop. Seon Jae sees this, and gets a taxi to chase after her. But he isn't fast enough. Im Sol gets off at a shady stop, and a bunch of bad things happen at once. We see a suspicious taxi drive by, scared off only by the appearance of another man. But this other man is totally drunk, and keeps approaching Im Sol.
She makes a run for it and tries to call for help, but the man attempts to take her phone. At this point, they're on a bridge over some water. Seon Jae arrives at the same moment, but the man lunges again and she falls into the water. Seon Jae jumps in after her right away, and Im Sol finally remembers that the person who saved her was Seon Jae all along. She hadn't been able to remember the incident nor her saviour at all until that moment.
Was this her accident, and did it happen early? Or is it still due to happen again? This time, it looks like she doesn't get paralyzed from the waist down from what we can tell. She hugs Seon Jae and holds him close.
The episode ends with Seon Jae's perspective of the radio call that saved her life. He called her on purpose - it wasn't a random call.
My TMI for this recap:
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's a little different from Marry My Husband, because she's going back and forth. It's looking like fate has some really strange tricks up its sleeve to keep Im Sol from changing things willy-nilly.
The preview for 4 looks brutal, but I can't wait to see it! I might have to start giving this a full 5 star binge rating, because I'm definitely thinking about this drama a lot more. Especially after finding out that Ateez's Jongho will be lending his voice to the kdrama, too. He's prepared a song (called "A Day"), and I can't help but feel emotional about that.
As every Atiny knows, Jongho had a major knee injury last year and had to take time off in the middle of their tour to get surgery and heal. It must have been such a scary and emotional time for him, and those same themes are covered in this kdrama. So knowing that Jongho is a romantic at heart, I can't help but wonder if he heard about the content of this kdrama and felt it would be meaningful to participate in some way?
And after seeing ep 4, I'm kind of thinking two things: 1. Seon Jae's death was probably foul play, and 2. that suspicious taxi man is going to be a repeat problem, and it's probably going to make everyone cry.
If you're also watching this drama, let me know what you think over on X (Twitter)!