About That Famous Lovely Runner Series…
As I wrote this article, the Byo Woo Seok fever is still going on and reaching a new height, so much so that his agency wrote a stern warning against stalking this rising star. As a rule, I am not into highly popular kdrama and especially not where time travel theme is involved. I am not a believer of time travel (or not just yet) nor my imagination goes as will as time travel. So it was one of those Saturday morning where I fiddle with my Ipad and inadvertently choose this drama to try on that I break my own rule and not regret it.
The story is about Ryu Seon Jae and Im Sol who at the beginning of the series was pictured as a K-Pop Idol and his devout fangirl. Im Sol is paraplegic and is in deep depression. One serendipity (or seemingly so) lead them to connect with each other but in the end one of them died and that send the other back to 15 years and the story goes how they are connected deeply to each other and trying their best to avert what should be a tragic end. It is a story of cross genre, while underlying genre is romantic melodrama but it has very intense criminal genre mixed with strong comedic frames.
While the underlying story of time travel is hard to swallow, but the criminal story element and comedic scenes are well written.The writer is Lee Shi Eun who wrote True Beauty so you can see comedic dialogue is similarly outrageously funny, even the slapstick dialogue is something that will make audiences across generations laugh out loud. The Basic Instinct-related dialogue will without doubt be classic for many years to come. With two directors, Yoon Jong Ho and Kim Tae Yeob, one is adept with crime genre (Evil of Flower) and the other is melodrama (When My Love Bloom), the frame-by-frame showed very strong element of both crime and melodrama. The lighting in the frames of criminal-related scene with its darker undertone and then the softer lighting for the melodrama just as an example how they stand out and make the series technically strong and the result is entertaining for the audience.
Byeon Woo Seok is not a new actor, he is a (young veteran). He has done his shares in many dramas such as Strong Girl Namsoon, Moonshine, Flower Crew of Joseon as one of the main actors and thus already learn the craft for romcom genre. But his experience in film with multiple genres as main lead such as this still a tall order and yet Byeon Woo Seok acting is not at all weak. He definitely showed his craft and experience in comedic scenes with fine comedic timing and his expression in the scenes are intense enough to draw the audience into the (un)believable story. Kim Hye Yoon has the harder job of portraying a girl with multiple personalities and multiple life story one of which involve being paraplegic. Her experience in Snowdrop, Secret Royal Inspector and Joy and as well Extraordinary You are definitely not sufficient as foundation and she has to reach far and deep to portray such complex character. I think as first experience to portray such role, she has done reasonably well. They both show promises as long as they continue to hone their craft. Another actor deserve deserved to be mention is Song Geon Hee, who played as second lead. He played his bad boy character gone soft with Im Sol with tinge of complex character really well, with a mix of intense emotion hidden well mixed with crazy good comedic scenes.
This is a series where the strength is also carried out by the supporting cast strongly. Jung Young Joo and Kim Won Hae where given a lot of long and complex comedic scenes and they carried it very well. I have lough out loud rolling on the floor through some of their scenes. They both displaying their finely honed craft and played against each other well. There are several guest characters that are truly displaying strong promises for the future among other Lee Woo Je who played Seon Jae friend and Seon Jae Eclipse bandmates, Oh Sae Yong who played ex girlfriend of Tae Sung.
The setting Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, Gyeonggi Do HwaSeong Fortress and Hwahongmun Gate are classic setting but at the same time very fitting and beautiful. This is one series where the location selection is absolutely fantastic. Lastly the OST is equally lovely, so lovely that it has been a popular song in Spotify with over 2 million listeners a month up to now (and it is now in my playlist also especially Spring Snow by 10CM).
I have no doubt, this is a kdrama that will over time become a classic and the stars will go from strength to strength provided that they are consistent. This is a kdrama series that is an absolute pleasure to watch and showcase what is good about Kdrama.
Verdict : absolutely a must see !
