So, what are we all watching this week?
What kept you reaching for more (or agonizing when there was no more), and what made you want to throw your remote through the screen? Time to weigh in…
javabeans
Lovely Runner: I won’t overthink this: I leave this drama happy and with a warm glow, and without the need to shine too bright a light on nitpicky quibbles about the story. It wasn’t perfect, but it was perfectly satisfying and I’m grateful to the drama for giving me the past eight weeks of brightness to look forward to, with a side of tears and cathartic cry-alongs. Now, if we could just ban finale-episode car accidents/hit-and-runs/attempted murders forever, I would really appreciate that, although at least in this case it came full circle as a callback to the initial accident that started it all with Sol’s paralysis, this time freeing them of that fate. I love that we got an ending where Sol and Sun-jae were brought equal in terms of sacrifice and pain and memories. (Okay, he’s still up on the sacrifice count but at least he got his memories back — it would be too unbalanced for her to be the only one who knew their whole story.) I also love these underdog success stories of dramas (and talent) that make a quiet entrance to relatively low expectations, then capture the attention and affection of the masses purely on the strength of their own merits. We may have underestimated them before, but we sure are making up for it by flooding the internet with Hye-yoon/Woo-seok interviews and BTS clips and fan theories and just plain love. It’s the least we could do!
The Matchmakers: The most effective advice for a charismatic young actor with limited acting skills has to be: Ruin your image, go petty and silly, and laugh at yourself! Play the fool, and win our hearts. I initially avoided this drama because I wasn’t in the mood to see Rowoon in a sageuk, because while I find him pleasant and likable, his acting has never been able to pierce through that surface layer and I always feel like I’m watching Rowoon reciting lines. But it’s been a pleasant surprise — his performance isn’t necessarily any more skilled now, but he’s so much more interesting when he’s not playing blandly perfect, and instead being an uptight and hilariously uncool fuddy-duddy who cowers in the face of danger and bloviates at the drop of a hat. The first half has been bright fun, and the production value makes this a sparkling fusion sageuk with a lot of enjoyable side characters on their own side quests for love. The bickering chemistry between strait-laced Rowoon and sassy matchmaker Cho Yi-hyun has kept things moving briskly, but admittedly I don’t think that chemistry extends into romantic territory, so as I head into the final stretch with its increased angst and tension, I’m less interested. Politics, coup conspiracies, secrets and cover-ups — all standard sageuk stuff but miles away from this drama’s best features, so I hope the ending revives some of its earlier upbeat charm.
missvictrix
Lovely Runner: Welp, I needed a little more closure on the plot closure, and I don’t buy that Sol would sideline Sun-jae to direct a movie after all that, but I’m just ignoring those Minor Inconveniences because this drama was magic from start to finish. The directing, the writing, the acting, the grabbing my heart and never letting go… Like @dramaddictally said, this is definitely my Best of 2024 drama, and I’m pretty sure nothing will top this in the second half of the year.
mistyisles
Lovely Runner: My heart is full. ‘Twas a lovely ending for a lovely show, and now I just want to go watch the whole thing again (and again!). I already miss it so much! But if it had to end, I’m so glad it ended the way it did. If I could change just one thing, I might have Tae-sung do a bit of time-traveling himself — or at least regain his memories too — and end the cycle on purpose (and still survive doing so, of course!). But I also really liked how it actually played out, so I’m not 100% sure I’d even change that. It was always Sol’s task to save Sun-jae and herself, and I like to think that she accomplished that task in the end by holding onto Tae-sung as a friend when she didn’t have to. (And who would have guessed a Truck of Doom could save the day for once?) In short, this show grabbed my whole heart and ran away with it, and I’d gladly let it do so all over again in an infinite time loop — especially if it meant I got to forget and experience it anew every time!