Lovely Runner or Run Away With Sun-Jae On Piggyback

I honestly am not sure why I was so looking forward to this one: Lovely Runner, a new timeslip romance. It just came out and is still releasing, but I've watched the two episodes that are available. I am really liking it so far. Why did it tickle my fancy enough to make me start it when it's not fully out yet and I've got other shows on the go? I really don't know. I HATE having to wait around for new episodes and almost never pick up something that I know is still releasing.

Is it because I've wanted to see the female lead (Kim Hye-Yoon) in something? She's from Extraordinary You, which has been on my list for ages but somehow I've never found the time to watch. I have seen her as a bit part in a number of things (where, strangely enough, she has often played a delinquent).  I've also only seen the male lead (Byeon Woo-Seok) in small parts as well, though he's also in some that are on my huge backlog list. So I dunno if that's it.

Is it because it feels quite topical? I don't know. I guess I don't need to analyse it though--just enjoy it. Which I am, two episodes in.

Im Sol (the girl--though I should say woman, as she's a 27 year old playing both a 16/17/18(?) year old and her older self (early 30s)---both, I should add, convincingly) had an accident (probably run over by a car) when she was a teen and was in despair in the hospital, paralysed from the waist down. She gets a phone call from a radio talk show randomly calling people to see if they've heard of a new band called Eclipse, of which Sun-jae is a member). They offer her a prize of running shoes and she breaks down--and Sun-jae says some words that give her new hope.

Flash forward 10 or 15 years and Sun-jae is 34 (the actor is 32 and, while he does look slightly old to be playing a HS student (19), he's pulling it off) and completely burnt out by the Idol life and commits suicide, coincidentally on the same night that Im Sol runs into him when her wheelchair battery dies on her way home from (trying to get into) his concert. She's devastated, as she's a total stan (but not in a creepy way). She'd previously bought his watch, which is somehow magical(?) and winds up going back in time to when they were both still in high school. 

It's also back before her accident, hence, I imagine, the English version of the title. She thinks it's a dream at first and runs right to Sun-jae and hugs him (in the middle of a hidden swim meet), completely surprising him. You find out at the end of episode 2 that he, who also happens to be her neighbour, actually had a crush on her (though, originally at the time, she had no idea who he was and she was crushing on some bad boy band member named Kim Tae-Sung (Song Geon-Hee). She's so far beyond him after being in her 30s that she barely remembers who he is though in this timeline/the past, she'd literally confessed to him the day before.

I feel like I'm trying to cram a lot of information in her and am not totally making sense or structuring this well, but, ah, well. 

Anyway, she spends most of the 2nd episode trying to figure out how to protect him--now and in the future. She realises that the next swim meet he has is the one that was his last when he completely ruined his shoulder. She's doing everything she can to get him to not compete, but, to be fair to teenage him, she is acting a bit like a crazy person. Honestly, if he hadn't already noticed her and been crushing on her, he probably would have called the police by now for harassment.

That's about where we're at after 2 episodes, but I am really enjoying it and if it doesn't have a happy ending, I am going to go postal. Not really. But I'll think about it. There's at least hints that things can turn out happy--a glimpse into the present day shows a change in the crime scene when a picture of the two of them appears on the table...

Will write more after I've watched more. Still confused as to why I'm torturing myself by watching one I have to wait for, but there you go.

Edit: I'm up through episode 10 and anxiously awaiting new ones. This is a great show. Not entirely sure all the time travel stuff is making sense BUT it is just flat out an enjoyable watch.

Edit: Okay, finally finished it! I couldn't get Viki to work at the gym anymore and I couldn't get it to connect out in the shed either, so I was stuck watching only when hubby was gone...and he stopped working in London. So it's July and I would have rushed right through this one if I'd had the chance (luckily Netflix and Crunchyroll were still working for me).

Anyway, I really loved this one. Good storyline, the leads had great chemistry together, the supporting cast was great (including Lee Seung Hyup from N. Flying), it ended well and wasn't too drawn out. I'm not going to rehash the story -- just going to say it was great and I'd even watch it again after awhile. They even did a great job making the actors look different for the different time periods in their lives. So, yes, very glad I watched this one. Just wish I could get Viki to work at the gym again.