Lovely Runner – Ep 7 & 8 Review

This is the review + recap page for episode 7 & 8 of the 2024 kdrama Lovely Runner.

TRIGGER WARNING - this kdrama contains depictions of self harm and worse.

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Episode Recap

SPOILERS BELOW

Episode 07 Recap

We get to see exactly what happened to Im Sol the first time when her accident happened. It was every bit as sad and scary as I expected it would be - my heart was racing the entire time. She fell asleep on the bus, and luckily the cutie Seon Jae happened to see her and still be following her around anonymously. He noticed that she missed her stop, and stayed on the bus with her just in case.

As he was about to wake her up, his back flipped open! He got distracted picking it up and didn't see that Im Sol had gotten off at the reservoir. The bus driver wouldn't make a special stop for him. By the time he had backtracked, Im Sol had been abducted by the taxi driver. She tried to get away after seeing the rope and knife in his back seat, but he went after her straight away.

She woke up when the abductor went into his office to "prepare" horrible things for her. Using the knife that was left in the back seat, she cut her bindings and RAN down the road. The man figured it out and got in the taxi to follow her almost right away. She reached the reservoir just as Seon Jae did, and she thought she was safe when she saw him. But she stopped, and the taxi man drove into her. She went crashing into the water below, and Seon Jae jumped in to rescue her.

But just as we think Seon Jae has saved the day, THE TAXI MAN IS BACK. He fights Seon Jae, and then finally we hear police sirens. They arrive just in time to catch the bad guy. We see Seon Jae's watch involved in the altercation, linking it with Im Sol's accident somehow.

After this, we go back to the new timeline. Im Sol recognizes the taxi man just as she's about to pass him. She turns back to flee, but he gets out and abducts her. Once again, she wakes up in time to get out of her bindings and run down the road. This time, the director showed us some of the tools the abductor was preparing...which makes the scene even more urgent and creepy.

Im Sol remembers to take the keys this time, and RUNS for her life. But - surprise! The abductor had another vehicle, and he's not far behind. So this time, she rushes into the bushes. The man looks like he'll chase her, but instead continues down the road. She reaches the reservoir and makes a choice to go a different direction - away from it, and closer towards the nearest police station.

She gets onto a different road just as the man re-emerges! He chases for a while until Seon Jae comes out from the police station. He sees her and makes a beeline, but the car is getting too close...until BAM! A DIFFERENT CAR veers in front of the taxi man! It's the curious detective who had overheard her saying she needed to be kept away from the reservoir on that date.

Both the detective and Seon Jae check to see if she's okay, and that's the exact moment that she goes back to 2023...where she's acting as an extra in a historical film! At first, she thinks she's somehow gone back even further in time. But as she yells out, the director says "cut!" and she finds out it's just a film, and it's 2023. She checks her legs and realises...they're still working. Im Sol succeeded: she avoided her accident!

She checks the date and time and realises it's when she arranged to meet Seon Jae in the future. After a quick search to make sure there's no bad news about him (there isn't!), she rushes to the bridge to see if he's there to meet, but he's not. Then she tries the tree where they buried the time capsule, and again - he wasn't there (but neither was the tree)! So she ends up going to his rich apartment complex and waits outside, not realising that he drives right past her in his car with shaded windows.

After Seon Jae goes into his apartment and finds a friend/coworker there, a stalker tries to get in. She's wearing the same coat as Im Sol! Security chases her, and Seon Jae calls the police. The stalker runs right past Im Sol just before police and security arrive, and they mistake her for the stalker.

She doesn't tell them the truth and is instead angry that Seon Jae is letting people do whatever they want. But the next day at work, her boss is angry about the mess and thinks it's the reason he won't do their movie! We had already seen him discussing how the plot was totally crazy, and that's the real reason he wouldn't take it. But Im Sol's boss is convinced it's due to Im Sol, and tells her to explain the situation in person.

They set up a meeting but Seon Jae is late. Im Sol steps outside and takes a call from her best friend, who is pregnant and has gone into labour. She's shouting for Im Sol to get there fast! Im Sol runs, and nearly falls outside after a concierge gets too close with the luggage rack. She accidentally knocks Seon Jae into the fountain. His manager races after her, and gets her card to pay for the damages. She doesn't realise who he is from the distance.

At the hospital, Im Sol has more surprises: her brother married her best friend, and this is their second child coming! She's shocked. We see one of the themes of the show pop up: sometimes you give up something to get other things. Im Sol looks sad at this. She remembers that all her fan girl stuff was gone when she returned, and wonders if she's lost Seon Jae for good, too.

Not long after, she gets snarky with his manager about the expensive clothing bill. But - it's actually Seon Jae texting her back! He decides to get a restraining order against her because of it. She has to stay 100m away from him from now on.

Not long after, she realises that Seon Jae's concert was supposed to happen on the 1st. She searches and finds out that it was postponed, and gets scared! She rushes to the event despite the restraining order and asks to see him. His manager comes out, and she basically begs him to pass on her name: Im Sol. Then, hearing that he performed the same song that he said he wrote for his first love, she rushes to the bridge with a yellow umbrella and waits for him.

Just as she's about to give up, a call comes through. It's Seon Jae, and he's standing right behind her!

Episode 08 Recap

More context! In 2022 when the city went to dig up the tree where Im Sol and Seon Jae buried their time capsule, Seon Jae went racing over in his gorgeous sports car. He asked to dig up something, and they let him. He retrieved the time capsule egg.

Then we see him waiting for about an hour at the bridge where he and Im Sol planned to meet in 2023, as planned. He practiced what to say, and got cold waiting. Finally, his manager called and said that the press had already taken photos of him holding an egg. He was wondering what Seon Jae was doing.

Seon Jae asks what it means when someone doesn’t arrive. The manager finds out the meeting was set 15 years ago, and tells Seon Jae that the person probably forgot! Seon Jae gives up and goes home. There, he opens the egg and sees the note from Im Sol where she said she’s glad that he exists/is living. She also included a watch, which he winds up and sets.

Then we’re taken back to a few minutes before the end of episode 7, where Im Sol realises that everything looks the same. Only this time, we also see the man who bumps into her. He’s none other than the evil taxi man!!!! He recognizes her, and its plain to see that he’s up to no good. Im Sol didn’t see him.

Meanwhile, Seon Jae sees Im Sol’s business card in the waiting room! He asks his manager if that was the name of the girl who knocked him into the fountain, and the manager confirms it’s her. He races outside and is surrounded by fans. Im Sol has already left. The manager pulls up with the van and Seon Jae runs over to it. He tells his manager to drive to the bridge they planned to meet at.

The ending of ep 7 plays out again, and Im Sol asks Seon Jae to spend the night with her. So he agrees, and then gets in her car!! He drives them to a hotel, where Im Sol gets the wrong idea. She gives him a cute talk about how she didn’t mean she wanted to do any adult things. He thinks it’s adorable, and then points out the sign for “bar” and tells her it’s a private place where they won’t be watched.

She feels silly, and follows him in. They both act very stiff, and clarify the misunderstandings over the past few days. But when they talk about the time capsule, both of them lie to each other that they didn’t go.

Then, Seon Jae’s manager calls and says that fans already know he’s there with a woman. The rest of his band had posted a photo without him, which prompted the comment to be posted. Seon Jae goes to leave, and tells Im Sol to cover her face. She doesn’t want to let him go, though, because she’s scared it’ll be his last night. She still thinks he got too depressed and ended his life that night.

So she sees a hotel staff walking by with umbrellas, and gets an idea. She races after Seon Jae and drags him to her car, putting the seat down, before the press can get any pictures. They drive away and she tells him that they can’t confirm any of the rumours/cause a scandal if they never get proof!

Once they reach Seon Jae’s house, she makes up an excuse to go in with him. He lets her, and gets super nervous, too. His band mate had also left a provocative cardboard cutout, so he cutely has to hide it fast. He puts it in his bed under the covers, thinking she won’t look there.

Meanwhile, we see the evil taxi man stopping at Im Sol’s apartment – he’s figured out where she lives! Her family are luckily on the way out at the same time as the water pipes have burst. They call her to tell her, and she says not to worry – she’s spending the night out. Seon Jae overhears this and misunderstands! He wonders if she actually wants to get up to something and was just being shy earlier.

His heart pounds, and he gets even more awkward. But he tries to play it cool when she gets out of the bathroom. Im Sol is also awkward, and trying to stall for time. She asks for a house tour and sees everything, making weird comments to prolong the tour.

At the end, she asks if she can have some Ramyeon before she leaves. Seon Jae remembers the call where she said she was staying out, and gets more excited. He says she can stay and starts cooking for her.

She eats and then pretends she fell asleep, but Seon Jae caught it and calls her out on it. He asks her if she’s really staying and what’s going on. She finally comes clean and admits that she’s worried he’ll die that night if she leaves him alone. So she doesn’t want to leave.

Seon Jae remembers her track record of having dreams that came true, and takes her seriously. It calms his suspicions and they talk. He calms her fears and says he’s not depressed and had no intentions of doing bad things. Then, he asks her why she cares after so long...and Im Sol panics. She spills the ramyeon sauce all over herself, so Seon Jae gets her a sweater to change into.

But he leads her...into his bedroom to change! Then he promptly remembers that he left the time capsule in there after he had lied about going! He races in once she’s done, and tries to cover it up. But in doing so, he reveals the cardboard cutout he had hid! Im Sol sees it, and is surprised. Seon Jae tries to explain but she keeps going.

While trying to correct the misunderstanding, they grapple and end up in an intimate position! Before anything can happen, though, Seon Jae’s band mate/friend bursts in. He’s completely drunk, so Seon Jae hides Im Sol in the closet and tells the friend he was seeing things.

The friend then reveals that Seon Jae had never gotten over Im Sol, and pined for her year after year. Im Sol heard it all and thinks about it. Seon Jae drives her home, and she admits to him that she liked him all that time, too. She says she’s sorry for not being able to admit it, and had wanted to tell him many times.

He runs after her and meets her at her door. A couple exit the next unit, so Im Sol panics and pulls Seon Jae inside. The mood turns serious, and they share their first kiss!! Neither of them look like they want to stop, but just then...the maintenance man knocks and interrupts. Im Sol sneaks Seon Jae out with a scarf over him, and the maintenance man admits he knows exactly what was going on.

We see a montage the next day of both of them acting happy and giggly. They call each other and are even more cute. Seon Jae wants to meet her that night. When he arrives home, though, the stalker bumps into the van. So instead, he goes to a hotel.

Im Sol remembers she left her car at his place, and goes to fetch it. There, she gets scared because a guy who looked like the evil taxi guy shows up. Thankfully it’s not him, but the man stopped because he bumped into the stalker. Im Sol chases the stalker.

Then...fate repeats. A knock comes at Seon Jae’s door just as he’s on the phone planning to meet with his friend. He says, “that was fast” but the friend says he’s not there yet. We are taken back to Im Sol talking with the stalker, a young 14-year-old girl, when the news reports that Seon Jae was attacked at the hotel.

Im Sol falls to the floor in shock, wondering how fate could repeat like this.

My TMI for this recap:

OH MY GOSH so much happened in episode 7 and I have so many thoughts!

I'm a little sad because I know it'll feel conflicting to everyone with a disability that she was able to reverse hers and is now "perfect" again. BUT I hope that everyone can reframe, and see it as wish fulfillment instead. Wouldn't it be awesome to go back and fix or avoid certain things? I think all of us wish that about something. I know I do because of my eyes. So I'm trying to be happy for the character instead (plus, it's just a kdrama - I wanna see the cute side of it!).

And then next thought: I wrote on the ep 3/4 recap that I was worried Seon Jae's death was probably foul play. And...I think that might be the case. It looked like he had some people on his side, and was reasonably happy with things. I don't know if that's just the timeline shift stuff, but...I'm heavily suspecting foul play at this point.

ALSO - since Im Sol no longer has the fan girl watch...but Seon Jae does...I'm wondering if it's going to be *him* that goes back in time next? We still have quite a few episodes, and Im Sol had a strange dream about another scary altercation, so I don't think the scary taxi man saga is over yet. I don't think he got caught in the new timeline!

UPDATE after ep 8 - I KNEW IT! I KNEW THAT SEON JAE's DEATH WAS FOUL PLAY!!!! OMG the poor guy 🙁 his only crime this whole time was loving his first love enough to care about her and save her.

If you're also watching this drama, let me know what you think over on X (Twitter)!