This is the review + recap page for episode 13 & 14 of the 2024 kdrama Lovely Runner.
TRIGGER WARNING - this kdrama contains difficult topics.
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 13 Recap
N.B - I’ve decided to adjust how I write my recaps, and only cover the parts that I thought were important. I feel bad writing everything out in case it’s overwhelming people. Recaps are supposed to be fun! I think, anyways. I've always had different interests, so I was often left out of those kinda talks.
Anyways!
This episode was a doozy. And writer-nim dragged it out after that brutal preview from last week. We knew that the cliff scene was going to happen, and many of us were wondering if that meant Im Sol had fallen and gotten injured again.
But 20 minutes in, and we’re still in the middle of a flashback to a few days before Im Sol got off the train! She was happily celebrating her birthday with our cutie pie boyfriend-of-the-year: Seon Jae. He got her a gorgeous necklace with the initial “S”, and even brought a cake and candles for their romantic Ferris wheel ride.
They also shared another kiss on that Ferris wheel! But unlike their other cute moments, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy this one because everything felt...heavy. I knew something bad was coming, and I just couldn’t settle the nerves. Maybe that was a clever way that writer-nim got us to experience the same feelings Im Sol was going through as the clock ticked down?
Back in regular time, we see Seon Jae piecing things together slowly, and Im Sol calling her favourite detective – TaeSung’s dad - for backup. He comes, but so does Seon Jae.
The attack is thwarted because Seon Jae also calls for help in his desperation to help Im Sol. Realising what’s happened, Im Sol runs to the cliff where she had her premonition...only to watch as Seon Jae is stabbed, falls, and dies.
Writer-him broke my heart in that moment. I begged for someone to catch him, and patch him up. But no one did. The moment was super heavy.
Then we spend the rest of the episode back in the future where Im Sol has returned to. She’s doing her best, but clearly still misses Seon Jae. A lot of other things have changed, too, but it’s easy to pass off as plausible outcomes...until the end of the episode.
At the very end, we see another flashback. Seon Jae’s watch that he wore as he died...became a time travel device again!
Im Sol saw the flash and ran over to it, and pressed the button. But this time, she prevented herself from ever meeting Seon Jae. He never fell for her, she never got abducted/rescued, and thus Seon Jae was never at risk. She’s been carrying this loss and grief with her for a long time ever since.
Back in the future/present at the very end of the episode, she runs into the very much alive Seon Jae who doesn’t seem to recognize her at all! The preview is extra juicy, as our boyfriend-of-the-year looks like he’s falling *again*. And with a few more episodes to go, plus at least two more time travel chances, I think we’re in for another whirlwind.
This is about the time that people say stuff like, “Buckle up”, right?
Episode 14 Recap
Ohhhhh the pain. This episode was all about anguish.
Turns out that Seon Jae became a famous actor. He caught Im Sol stealing her bosses purse (to get back her drunk resignation letter that she put in a red envelope), and thought she was a thief. But...because it was an awards show, he also had a red envelope - with the name of the award winner! The two envelopes got switched, and this is what began their new tango in their adult lives.
The rest of the episode is literally everything conspiring against Im Sol to make sure she runs into Seon Jae again and again. First, her friend sends the wrong screenplay over to his agency (it's an idea that Im Sol pitched which is basically their twisted love story). He loved it, and instantly felt like he had to do it.
When Im Sol finds out, she tries everything to make sure he won't accept it. But this just makes him more curious. Then, Im Sol's grandma wanders off to the restaurant that Seon Jae's dad owns. Seon Jae brings her back home, and meets Im Sol there. Her mother makes her buy him tea, and due to a cute situation...she ends up laughing and smiling in front of him.
And that's the moment that he falls again. Seon Jae seems to LOVE her laughter and happy spirit. So he becomes even more determined to do the movie. Im Sol begs him not to put them in that situation, but doesn't explain why. How could she? He doesn't remember anything, and she doesn't know that he's starting to see flashbacks about it.
When Im Sol finds out from her boss that they're going ahead with Seon Jae, she quits. No one can believe it, but she's serious about staying away from him.
Fate, though, had other plans for them. She wanders to the same amusement park that they visited on her birthday in 2009, and she loses track of time. Meanwhile, Seon Jae was also at the same place for a commercial shoot...but it got cancelled last minute. He remembers bits of that day they spent together in 2009 just as he sees Im Sol get on the Ferris wheel in the present, and rushes in with her.
She can't escape - the door is shut and the Ferris wheel is already moving.
She tries to get him to ignore her and leave her alone, but he won't. Eventually, she asks him if he's willing to die in order to keep getting involved with her. And at that same moment, the Ferris wheel has some kind of malfunction or hiccup as if emphasizing that she isn't joking. They end up cuddling while they wait out whatever is going on.
And we also find out....that the evil taxi man is still at large, and still abducting girls. This time, he's after the other Seon Jae fan, and she luckily got away to confirm what he looked like. TaeSung, who's now a detective like his dad, seems to know all about this man. Does he remember everything that happened? The preview for the final week is a little ambiguous, but it's possible he might!
My TMI for this recap:
Ep 13 kinda broke my heart a few times. Insert sobbing emoji here. But on a positive note...I ended the episode going, "Wow - self sacrifice is really a theme in this show." And since I have a REALLY hard time spotting themes, it feels nice to be able to spot it for once. Writer-nim has made it really obvious, which makes me concerned about the ending for the show. Is it going to be happy....or does the villain get what he wants?
Another theme might be that...love persists, or fated things are really hard to change. Our cutie pie Seon Jae keeps falling for Im Sol. And it's so squeeee every time he does. The music and the actor's expressions are just so perfect that it gets my heart strings every time. The actress for Im Sol is also so amazing, and it's so nice to see a strong female lead who's trying to intelligently do the right thing instead of blindly run after love at the cost of everything else.
Also, ep 11/12 recap is currently missing. I had some things come up last week and didn't get a chance to write. I may work on it this week once 14 is up.
Ep 14 update: the anguishhhhhhh was way too much. But one really important thing about this episode is that it highlights what life is like for people who are single vs in love. We clearly see this portrayed through Seon Jae. Even Im Sol thinks he has a different personality at first, because he's so different. But really, when you don't have someone by your side for a long time...you're just a different person.
I guess I'm saying that love is meaningful, and helps us a lot. And if you watch to the end of 14...I think Seon Jae agrees!
If you're also watching this drama, let me know what you think over on X (Twitter)!
Photo credit: these are just screenshots I took from watching the drama!