Cheese in the Trap (2016)

Supporting leads stole the romance in this drama since the main leads' relationship was a bit like a train wreck.

I never read the webtoon so this review is for the show only. Very strong beginning and set up of the show but frankly very limited character development and limited relationship development. While the characters did grow a lot of times I'm found thinking about just how average these characters are in their personality. Hardly anything about the characters themselves made it worth watching other than how pretty the overall cast was.

The side plots are very cliche if you've ever read shoujo manga, but then again this was based on a webtoon.

The show had potential. Worth a watch if you like college setting and rich boy/poor girl tropes.

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I hated it

Without a doubt the worst drama I've ever watched. First of all, the male lead, Yu Jeong, doesn't have any sense of empathy towards anyone but the girl he "loves", and if he's had a good development, I would've changed my ratings, but he's just like a plain paper. Outraged me how he did that terrible thing to In Ho and has never shown anything but rancor against him. I got so angry at the way Jeong does whatever he wants and end up as a poor guy who was trying to do his best for the one he loves (I'm not defending what some characters did, but it annoys me how Jeong thinks he is an angel when he is doing the same — if not worse). The female lead, Hong Soul, plays dumbs and ignores a thousand things Yu does it's ridiculous. Anyways I'm not going to extend myself on this because I hated it and I don't want to get angry again.

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the most frustrating drama i’ve ever seen

when i first started this drama i had high hopes but as i continued watching i couldn’t help but resent and hate some of the characters .

jeong gives off a sort of vibe that you like in the beginning and then it slowly fades into a vibe that you can’t stand because and i swear i can’t put this nicely even if i could , a crazy psycho . but not the kind of psycho that makes a scene . his moves are calculated and he knows which buttons to push in order to manipulate people and situations so that he can have his way . he puts people in dangerous situations and then claims he does it because he cares about them and what frustrates me the most is that seol ends up believing that more so after he tells her his story .

he didn’t understand what he did was wrong and he wasn’t willing to understand at all . he claims people always blame others yet he does the same .

another character that absolutely pisses me off is in ho’s sister . she does whatever the hell she wants and shows zero willingness to grow up . i mean yeah she had it tough but how can she have such disregard towards her younger brother who has to do every single thing for her even when she stabs him in the back multiple times . the yelling , the manipulation , the gut tripping just makes her insufferable .

in all my years after having referred to my drama list for something to watch i have never not once agreed with a review but the ones under this drama are spot on . i don’t know if this whole thing is a spoiler or not but i just said what i felt and saw while watching .

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Beyond my expectations ~

Beyond my expectations ~ my own opinion that may or may not others agrees with ....
I like dramas that goes not like what I thought it'll be~
I had nice time watching , which I didn't expect~ I'm glad it was one from the type of drama that kept me day and night watching hehehe till last ep ^^
Kind of typical kromance but so well presented , the acting the osts and the filming I liked all
And so puzzled by how low the rating ? It deserves more at least at least over 8 but why ?? It deserves more ...
I liked the way how she questioned the feelings and the acts by him , and how he do revenges that woah loved it
And ofc I fell for the main although I like the sec but the main ( heart eyes emoji ) XD

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This drama was such a pain to eyes that it forced me to write the review.
Where should i start? The whole story was so dispersed and non-sense. Let's start from the main lead yo jung. The only main lead whom i disliked and eventually hated from the very first episode to last. His personality was so disturbing and so problematic. I just hated him throughout and skipped his scenes. I just didn't want to see him anymore.
Baek in Ho was such a good character. His acting was awesome too. He was the kind of person who was so loveable but i don't understand the logic why he had to go through so much for no reason. He was enduring everything even his love like a one man army. He was a perfect person,friend and brother.
Baek In Ha's acting was just too good. I felt pity for both siblings. They were used by yo jung and his father and then thrown away like a tissue paper.
The most useless thing was their love story. I couldn't understand this love story tbh. The chemistry was so weak and i just couldn't get why they was LOVE out of nowhere. It felt like a forced and dragged lovestory. Hong seol kept on being with him even after his wrong doings and she was like i get you why you did that don't worry. Like what the hell. Honestly i wanted seol to be with baek in ho.
Lastly, the story was so dispersed that i wasn't able to get what was the story actually and why there was baek in ho actually and why he had to go through so much. I don't recommend it to anyone. It's just waste of time and mood

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There is so much about this show I need to talk about, let me air my feelings out in this not strictly review but review-ish rant about this show.

I have a fair bit to say about the main characters so bare with me.

Yoo Jung
Yoo Jung is the 1st male lead, he is manipulative, cold and distant at best of times, a clear psycopath at worst. He is selfish and petty to the point of cruelty and I don't know why anyone would ever fall for him or why the first female lead would find him interesting at all (unless she was studying his case for criminal profiling). He comes off as the kind of guy who would kill someone because they inconvenienced him.
I mean he actually had some guys beat his best friend up (Baek In Ho) because he told some half-hearted lie about him when he was momentarily jealous of his relationship with another friend. Those guys broke Baek In Ho's hand - thereby ruining his future as a pianist, and Yoo Jung just stood by and did nothing.
I bothers me so much that he not only ruined his relationship with his best friend forever, but he also ruined his best friend's life for a very long time.
He's continually set people up for failure and manipulated his surroundings. One of the most disturbing flashbacks from when he was a kid was when he let a little girl drink alcohol to pacify her and manipulate her into being docile and then he maliciously broke her toy - look I'm no psycologist but that screams psycopath to me.
He constantly hurts people around him and he should NOT be the romantic lead. Or at least, he's not a good rolemodel for what a romantic lead should be. The kindest thing he ever did in the entire show was to break up with Seol.

Baek In Ho
He is the second male lead and the most wonderful guy to ever exist. He's warm, kind, genuinley a good person, he's super handsome and honest. It eludes me why he isn't the 1st male lead. It genuinely astonishes me that he isn't treated better. Now, I like a punky lookin' dude with angsty problems, but it's kind of ONLY suffering for him. I feel so sorry for him that I cry almost every episode. And the real question is; why isn't this story about him?? He clearly has the most interesting backstory, certainly main protagonist-worthy.
Fuck Seol and her school problems and crush on a psycopath. I want a good happy-ever after for my boy Baek In Ho. He's so perfect, bless actor Seo Kang Joon who played him with such sensibility! My heart was stolen by him and I am just 100% watching this JUST to see if Baek In Ho will ever have a happily ever after.

Yoo Jung's dad
I will refer to him as ajusshi from now on. Yoo Jung's dad is as much of a psycopath as Yoo Jung. He's just better at hiding it. He pretty much raised the Baek siblings since their teens, them being orphans were thrilled their best friend's dad wanted them to be his kids. Turns out he never loved them at all and just used them as tools to "normalize" his son's behavior. As opposed to say, actually TALKING to his son about good moral behavior. No, he's leaving it up to a pair of grief-stricken orphans to raise his kid for him!
Again people: HE USED ORPHANS FOR HIS OWN SELFISH MEANS!!
Meanwhile he's pretending he wanted to take them in because he cared about their father as a friend. The notion that he ever cared is superficial at best. When In Ha (Baek In Ho's sister) is publicly humiliated, courtesy of Yoo Jung) he treats her less like a daughter and more like some trash in the streets.
Yes she is loud and obnoxious, but to humiliate someone like that is beyond me, and allow it to happen in front of your eyes with less consideration than a stranger when you were supposed to adopt them is unspeakably cruel.
Him telling both In Ha and In Ho at separate occations that their usefulness has reached an end and that he wants nothing more to do with them is heartbreaking.

Seol
This is supposed to be the main character, but honesly her story isn't that engaging as the people around her. She's not nearly as good a character as I thought she'd be. Yes she tells Yoo Jung off for his psycopathic behavior at first, but as soon as she turns her back he goes and does despicable things anyway - but then half way through the drama she kind of just gives up??
When Yoo Jung sets his overbearing clasmate up for failure at an interview for a job (as retaliation for pestering Seol) she hugs him and says it's ok. Like, what?? It was this kind of behavior that made her break up with him in the first place. But because it happened to someone else it's "ok"??
No to mention that his manipulations in the past led to her being stalked by a guy. And she is mad at him to the point that she puts their relationship on a break. But then eventually forgives him. I'm sorry but being stalked by a guy isn't something a woman should forgive, actually if you meet a guy who had another guy stalk you for ANY REASON, run far, far away! It's not up to him who approaches you, that's a matter that is only up to you. So, for Seol to take him back like that was really disappointing, especially since she seemed to have more moxy in the first episodes.
What really gets me though is as soon as she's back with Yoo Jung she avoids Baek In Ho (who is by now her loyal friend) - like they can't even be friends just because her boyfriend (who should have no say in the matter after the things he's done) disapproves. The look on In Ho's face when he overhears Seol say "I won't spend ANY time with him outside of studying" is frankly soul-shattering, and at that moment I was so angry and disappointed. Why can't she hang out with Baek In Ho as friends just because her boyfriend is a jealous asshole? So yeah, Seol -our supposed heroine has some problems of her own.

Baek In Ha
In Ho's sister may be vapid, inconsiderate and a drama-queen, but she's not evil. She's been treated with as much disrespect as her brother by the foul Yoo Jung and his asshole father.
All she wanted was to be ajusshi's daughter, to have a family (and yeah brag about being rich and spending money) but who doesn't, lol. She's a bit rash and her emotions tend to run hot like her brother's, but she could probably be easily directed in the right path if she had someone with a firm hand to show her he really cares, like say ajusshi. So it breaks my heart that ajusshi just used her like that and he was the one who treated her the worst. He even had her committed into an insane asylum for crying out loud!! My heart breaks for the Baek siblings. They continually face injustice and I just can't..

Summary:
My final thoughts on Cheese In The Trap are that Yoo Jung the first male lead treats Seol the first female lead like shit and she's in love with him for it??
This one is a hard abusive relationship warning!
Main romantic lead is a stalker and a psycopath and possibly a sadist and I just don't get why someone would choose him over a passionate friendly guy (like Baek In Ho) who would treat you well and respect you and love you sincerely. Seriously? What is up with that??
The ONLY reason to watch this drama is because Seo Kang Joon's performance as Baek In Ho is F A N T A S T I C <3 - honestly he's the only reason to watch this show! His character is amazing! In Ho is unfailingly kind, so freaking gorgeous, has this deeply intriguing backstory and I would have been so much happier if this entire story was just a Baek In Ho revenge story of how he got his hand back to playing piano and his road to success.
I mean, I'll give Cheese In The Trap that it at least wasn't boring. But to put a psycopath as a romantic lead is so wrong on so many levels, and then have the girl he's pursuing constantly be hurt physically or emotionally over him is a very damaging depiction of a romantic relationship.

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Disclaimer: I have never read the webtoon.

I am genuinely confused as to what rating is appropriate for this show. I would honestly give it a 10, if it weren't for the disturbing romance between the female lead, Hong Seol and the male lead, Yoo Jung. As the show went on, I definitely felt genuine sympathy for Yoo Jung and wanted him to learn and grow. I did not, however, appreciate how his character was validated in his unhealthy tendencies by Hong Seol. There is a difference between feeling sympathy for someone and engaging in a relationship with them. It is not Hong Seol's job to fix him! It just felt like a toxic relationship to me.

Similarly, I understood Yoo Jung's resentment towards Baek In-ho, but his sense of entitlement was out of control. Being hurt by someone does not entitle you to hurt someone the way Yoo Jung hurt Baek In-ho. By the way, Baek In-ho demonstrated a much healthier way of interacting with Hong Seol and caring for her, but for some reason Hong Seol chooses toxicity over him.

Other than these criticisms, everything was fantastic! The music was phenomenal. Every track was on point for each moment, and the songs are excellent listening in and of themselves. The characters felt three-dimensional and compelling; I loved Baek In-ho, Baek In-ha, Eun Taek, and Bo Ra! All of the actors (including Park Hae-jin) did a great job, and it was so refreshing to see such realism in a K Drama.

In summary, I believe this is an excellently crafted K Drama. It feels real and compelling. But I personally can't get over how the show rewards and exalts a toxic relationship, and this alone results in my relatively low rating of the show.

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STORY: 6/10
This drama really brings out the ugliest parts of human nature, which is dark, but okay and fun to watch for some people.
My issue is that nearly no one redeemed themselves till the end of the series. The male lead had nearly no character improvement at all and the female lead only accepted his flaws till the end.

ACTING: 9/10
Everyone played their roles well, minus point because Baek In Ha's character was so annoyingly bad I have no idea why she existed in the story. Her only role was to be a hazard to the main couple all the way to the last minute of the final episode. The way she spoke was very bizarre and loud.

MUSIC: 8/10
Nothing noteworthy but my rating is biased because I love piano music.

Rewatch value: 4/10
Probably not gonna rewatch this at all because of the nonredeemable characters that never get punished properly but just vanish after they're exposed.

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Where to Watch: DramaFever, Dramanice, NewAsianTV

I get it, Baek In Ho has stunning eyes… At least in the drama.

The drama sounds like a generic, typical drama but the plot is different from a lot of dramas I’ve watched. It’s definitely the characters that control the plot, I’ll say that, anything that the characters do takes the storyline to a different direction. Bottom line is that you would watch Cheese In the Trap for the characters, not the story. I don’t think that is a bad thing as long as you are invested in the characters. I also find that Cheese In the Trap teaches you life lessons about working with people if it’s school, a job, or any type of working environment.

I’m going to talk a little bit about Hong Seol the female lead; I had mixed feelings about her at the beginning, she didn’t exactly grab my attention, I didn’t find her that interesting, she also has a Bella Swan pout which was annoying to me, that’s a complete personal preference though. I grew to like her character as the show went on, and when she was taken advantaged by her classmates for a group project, having to do all the work I really understood her because I went through that, I think a lot of people do as well. I also knew where she was coming from for all the decisions she made.

My favourite character has to be Oh Young Gon, Hong Seol’s misunderstood stalker, he’s not exactly a good guy but doesn’t intend to be a bad one either, I just found him really funny every time he was on screen, his humour was dark since he was a bit off and I liked that about him.

Baek In Ho, who’s the second male lead was interesting to me initially, I was really into his character actually, but I lost interest in him by the middle of the drama because his story did not latch onto me, what I really like like was his conflict with Yoo Jung, those two completely clashed due to their past with each other.

We get to know Yoo Jung, the male lead toward the end as the plot unveils his past, just like Hong Seol, we see a different outlook on him and understand his character.

Now the ending for Cheese In the Trap has raised some controversy due to the producers no longer following the webtoon, it was rushed and some characters just disappear with no explanation, it was incoherent, you might be left with questions and confusion, I honestly blame the fact that they produced this drama before the webtoon ended, the ending probably would’ve been smoother if they had done it when the webtoon wrapped up. I will not spoil this part of the drama, but Baek In Ha, Baek In Ho’s sister has a meltdown and many fans were angry with that direction of the story but I found it very fascinating and was very invested on what was going to happen next when it occurred, and I don’t think that it happened just out of nowhere since Baek In Ha is evidently not a stable person and she did have some mental problems.

Cheese In the Trap is a decent drama, I cannot say it’s for everyone because I was not hyped about it but I know many others who were, you will just have to go into it and see for yourself if you like it or not. It did have some great acting by Seo Kang Joon who played Baek In Ho and I actually find that some of the supporting characters had excellent acting such as Yoon Ji Won who played Son Min Soo, Hong Seol’s follower (not to be confused with her stalker) and Ji Yoon Ho who played Oh Young Gon. I think Kim Go Eun who played Hong Seol was promising too. Cheese In the Trap is worth checking out, watch an episode or two to see if you like it because it may (or may not) appeal to you more than others.

I give Cheese In the Trap a 7/10 stars for it’s promising acting, diverse set of characters, but weaker plot, and unsatisfying conclusion.

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I will say before I get into the pitfalls of the plot, that I thought the actors were all really great. They are what kept me going through this show. I can't tell you how many frustrated tears I cried about how the plot was developing mostly because Seo Kang Joon especially kept me supremely emotionally invested in the plot. I thought all of the actors were really great. I believed them. I felt their pain in their eyes. The problem inherently to me lies in the writing. The main lead and female leads characters are just the worst. For the male lead, there is Tsundere...and there is sociopath. And the amount of red flag behavior that the female lead justified and brushed off was such a concern for me as a woman. If I'm watching a romantic plot and the male lead is someone I would warn my friends about or even have an intervention because that gives me a pretty large cause of concern. I just couldn't really enjoy this show. It stressed me out and made me unhappy and Im pretty relieved I managed to get through it.

It's nice to see some early roles that are well acted from actors I really enjoy, but if you aren't here for a purpose like that I would honestly avoid this drama unless you like being frustrated and upset and the end of a drama.

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