Cheese in the Trap (2016)

I liked it as a drama, but...

Yoo Jung was an abusive, manipulative, toxic character. I found it quite uncomfortable that whatever he did Hong Seol accepted it and rationalized it. There were also bullying classmates, and she continually found herself in extremely dangerous situations that she treated as perfectly normal. For example: why would she not block the phone number of an extremely creepy stalker? Even Baek In Ho often had a tendency to immediately resort to violence in any situation.

Even so, this was an unusual gem of a drama. The acting was quite impressive all around, but Kim Go Eun and Lee Sung Kyung were both phenomenal. Park Hae Jin managed to portray a sociopath with skill, and his moment of realization was masterful. Seo Kang Joon absolutely shined as Baek In Ho - both his performance and the character were stellar.

The story was well written, even while being disturbing, but I felt the ending was rushed, and it made me sad Seol was still pining for Jung three years later - he realized how harmful he was to her, but she seemingly never did.

I find it a bit odd that Viki tagged this show as a romantic comedy - the genre is more akin to a slow-paced psychological thriller or straight drama.

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Not your typical romance K-drama

Cheese in the Trap appears to be a light-hearted, simplistic college-life romantic drama at the first glance. The true essence (and vision) of this series explores the complexity of human relationships and how each person's inner motivations and past life experiences influence their emotions, state of mind and finally, actions and choices in life. This exploration is done through the lens of the protagonists.

The male lead was written as someone who has sociopathic tendencies. Sure, but honestly, I don't think it's fair to say that he's the sole individual who is "problematic". Each character has his or her idiosyncrasies and personality flaws, which drive them to make ambiguous life decisions. What I found weak in the drama. perhaps, is that instead of SHOWING us the growth or inner conflict of each character after a traumatic experience, oftentimes, they were TOLD to us by the characters verbalising those experiences. This left me somewhat unconvinced of the message the drama was aiming to convey.

In my view, I thought the one with the true psychological issue might just be Baek In Ha. I mean, seriously, who acts like that on a day-to-day basis? Her persona seems to fit the criteria of someone diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (I've worked in psychiatry before), and even in the flashbacks of their childhood, the kid actress also portrayed that eccentricity. I don't know how Yoo Jung was able to tolerate her for so long. She needed the most professional help in my opinion. She was actually also my most disliked character in the series.

Cute stuff in the drama included the supporting characters' love arc, and the friendship of the Hong Seol and Baek In Ho. After this drama, I am a new fan of Seo Kang Joon! Park Hae Jin was also great in his portrayal of Yoo Jung; there was a lot of subtle emotions that he was able to convey very well.

I think it is good to go into the drama knowing that it is more than meets the eye. Good for those who want a drama that requires some reading between the lines. So, if you're looking for your typical feel-good K-drama, this is not it.

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the fact that it made me furious is a sign of how well-made it was

I wanted to write this review because so many people adore this drama but it has a pretty bad rating.

Ok so I've never seen a pack of annoying characters huddled in one story like this in one go and that's really saying something. The character arcs were very realistic and well portrayed as in I've met people like this before. Which was why it was infuriating to see the male lead get ultimately chosen. All those annoying characters at uni and In ha, they're shown as people trying their best to get better, which I loved seeing. But I couldn't help but group them together with the male lead. Let's face it, realisitcally speaking, these are the type of guys that end up hurting girls the most, even the girls they love and care about. The fact that he was offered redemption again and again was not great to watch. I get it, he's actually a good guy, but to what extent? The fact that this drama made me feel all these emotions and think all these thoughts is the reason I gave it such a high rating. Because Kdramas with a good prodction value usually always connnect with the audience we take it for granted. This drama really did do a very good job of keeping me engaged even though I was extremely annoyed with the plot points. Kudos to them for a good production and most of the actors for a great performance, honestly.

Now If I actually get into what else there is to bite into besides the great production value - eh not much. It's a romance genre so there some sweet moments between but nothing that particularly illicited a response from me ( in comparison to other dramas in the genre which realltymake me FEEL you know). I'm not one to go on about the second lead usually but I have to say, the second lead and the female really did give me more feels than her with the ML. As much we love second leads, we have to admit the director always makes sure to make the ML shine more. But somehow that's not the vibe I got from this as an audience. I don't if it's because the ML's character but the SL and the FL gave a lot more romance and feels. So that was a bit awkward. But like I said, becausethe production was so good, the romance is notable and worth watching if not a little mediocre.

Obviously it's not a comedy, but the uni friendship dynamics did have some light, fun elements to it. As always, Kim Go Eun's great acting and expression kept me amused enough that I didn't feel like it was missing comedy. As a uni student, I quite enjoyed the uni life portrayal. I wouldn't watch it again though and unless someone asked me to reccommend them a drama which'll make them angry and annoyed, I wouldn't reccommend this to my friends either.

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A favorite of mine

I watched this drama years ago and I still rewatch it often to this day, Hong Seol is a very relatable and endearing character and Jung Yoo is mysterious, and dark. Seeing their story unfold was very entertaining and unique since all these character's in this show are all different from one another. I definitely rooted for Baek InHo and Hong Seol all throughout this drama, his character was my favorite and he was just so full of warmth despite his life struggles. This story is full of friendship, personal growth, family growth, and yes unrequited love. This review honestly does not wrap up at all how unique this story is, I definitely recommend this drama.

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Expectations were low and I finished within days

I'm a huge KGE fan so I *had* to watch this to see her first drama, and based on other reviews, I went in with super low expectations, thinking I'm going to hate this...and I absolutely loved this. I had no idea how the love triangle was going to end, and I loved both couples chemistry and story. I would have liked more of the history between the boys, but still...super enjoyable story with some novel twists and turns I hadn't seen in a k drama before. Wonderful acting from Park Hae-jin playing a romantic lead with a sinister twist and Seo Kang Joon as a bad boy you want to root for. and I loved Nam Joo hyuk and Park Min ji as adorable side characters who were never unwelcome distractions from the enemies to lovers story here.

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IS IT A MESS YES BUT IT'S MY MESS

Alot of people call out this drama beacuse of the toxic male lead but i for one think this drama was REFRESHING i had been in an endless slump watching the same type of man plastered across every single k drama the perfect understanding charismatic rich sensitive basically perfect boyfriend who is basically a god compared to u i think for me it was refreshing to see a k drama with a different type of male lead not just a photocopy put in a different body type format although i agreee he was extremely toxic and any girl should run away if they meet someone like him irl nobody can deny it was amazing to see a change a pace in the k drama world another honourable mention are the twins because they carried the backbone of which this drama was built on they completely devoured their roles i would say anyone should at least try and watch this drama with an unpredejuiced mindset

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Is this show horrible? Yes, but not horrible "Ugh,", but horrible "Weird".

Before I watched this drama, I'd seen it on different platforms as one of the worst and most ugly shows they had seen, so I did not expect too much from it. But surprisingly, this is much better than the worst dramas that I have watched.

I'll start with what I like about this show. First are the characters; all of them are good when it comes to acting, though I find the character of the male lead (Jung Yoo) lacking, but I guess that is really how he should portray his character given his background. I like the mystery that is happening about whether you really know the male lead or not. And the growing relationship between the two main leads.

Now let's tackle what I find weird. First, everybody in this drama is just obsessed with anyone. And second, the male lead. He is interesting at first, but as the episodes go by, his weirdness is just scary weird, not cute weird anymore. I do find Hong Seol and Jung Yoo adorable, especially that they understand each other, but their relationship is just so fast and didn't get a proper buildup. The male lead looks 10 times older than the female lead, too.

I'll just give this a 7/10. It is not unpleasant; I actually had fun watching this "horrible" drama. It is just that it is weird, there are a lot of annoying characters, and the ending is rushed and a disaster.

(I hope this review made sense.)

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Most say it's bad, but I loved it. It didn't become one of my favs because it didn't have a 100% closed ending. Shippei right as always. And I didn't think Jung was crazy and psychopath. I do think he had a certain problem because he got irritated easily and for anything, and that even though it was a small thing, he felt the need to get revenge and want to pay back. However, in certain situations, I fully agree with Jung to want revenge because I don't see a problem in getting revenge, as long as it's not for insignificant things (as he did many times) but for something that had an absurd impact on his life. (I am scorpio girl. Revenge is a characteristic of my sign). I defend him because I'm someone who loves revenge stories and not because he's a man, standard, handsome, as many say.
About the couple's ending: it was an open but not vague ending. That's because as Jung finally read Seol's email, it means he was finally confident and ready to love her. And we know and we can clearly see that even after 3 years, love for each other still existed. After all, it was a very intense love. Don't say he was crazy, psycho, just because you wanted her with In-ho. It wasn't Jung's fault that he became that way. It was the events since his childhood that made him that way. And thanks to Seol and all the things that happened from their relationship, they served to make Jung realize that he had something wrong and so go after improving for himself and especially for her.
I absolutely loved In-ho too, but he didn't and would never have the possibility of Seol choosing him because Jung was always undoubted for her.
Another secondary couple calling attention as if they were the protagonists too. Bo-ra and Eun-taek were too perfect. A pure, light and funny relationship.
In-ha was just so insufferable. I have nothing to say about her except that she is a freak and that her expressions, speeches and actions as if she were a child, irritated me absurdly. I hated her from start to finish.

I loved this drama and all the lessons, conflicts and revenge. But mostly I loved the two couples and Baek In-ho.

And by the way, a lot reminded me of True Beauty. And True Beauty is one of my favs ever. This also had an influence on me.

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Loved it!

This show wasn't what I was expecting at all. I really don't understand the low rating! I suspect it's from people who are (understandably) turned off by the sociopathic traits. Yeah it's in pretty bad taste to give a ML sociopathic traits, but the entire theme of the show is about misunderstandings, and he's majorly misunderstood - and while we shouldn't expect someone like him to be "misunderstood" in real life, it's just a drama people. I feel this show in general is misunderstood. It's about young characters in a high school setting, and comes across as something lighthearted at surface level, yet is all about very mature and complex subjects. I can see how some audiences could be put off. I absolutely LOVED it. Each episode kept me hooked from scene to scene. I'm already a huge fan of SKJ and I went into it expecting major second lead syndrome. That didn't disappoint...but I also totally felt the chemistry with the ML who was actually very sweet. A must see, just don't go into it expecting a fluffy high school drama.

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white sheep in a flock of black ones..

Slightly wrong description of the drama..” Yoochun has some kind of secret” .. he doesn't have any secret! The whole joke is that he had a strong sense of justice that so interfered with the others (who used the position of his father ) that they called Yoochun "strange" thereby spoiling his life .. and those close to him ..
Actually Yoochun is the most adequate character in this drama!!! He is just not strange, but fair, with character and his opinion, who knows how to stand up for himself and for people close to him!
And strange here, his father, who wanted and tried to raise an obedient doll / vegetable from his son and did not allow him to show emotions (anger), thereby himself is to blame, and Inho's sister, Park Inha. Those are really weird! Inhuman to the point of impossibility, trying to convince anyone that Yoochun is strange just because he refuses to be their toy and rag and behaves as he sees fit and also takes revenge on everyone who offended or used him at any time.
I don’t understand a little the idea of the screenwriter (I don’t like this idea at all, he unhealthily hyped it throughout the drama) who promoted the idea to the masses “Yochun is strange Yoochun is strange ..” ( the idea of people which respect themselves and don’t give others play with them ) where almost all the people around him thought of him that way ..
Where is he weird? All his actions here are so clear and transparent that there is no trace of strangeness! Everything is logical and consistent .. probably the scriptwriter was trying to show how difficult it is for people to survive in a society of idiots (in this case, this is the society where Yoochun was) such as Yoochun who differ from the herd by having a brain, thinking and a sense of justice and self-respect!
And if Yoochun also set everyone up or crap everyone, or okay, didn’t betray those who set him / anyone up or allowed him to sit on his neck, then he would not automatically be strange because he would not resist and would not take revenge .. they want such people see everything? Not able to stand up for themselves..?!
It was a pity for Yoochun, he suffered the most ..
The topic with Yoochun and Park Inho is not fully revealed
It is not clear who actually betrayed the guys, what club they will be in when InHo then broke his arm ..
Maybe it was the pianist who wanted to be closer to Yoochun so that Inho couldn't perform..
It was also very pitiful for Yoochun when Sol went to the hospital and he chewed for the only person who understood him a little and was on his side .. he was afraid of losing her.
In general, this topic is still relevant now, there are very few intelligent adequate people who do not give themselves offense .. and very few who stand on the side of such people. Most of them are like Sangchul, Mina, Ingun...

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Needed Better Balance with the Supporting Characters, but the Main Characters are Good

I did not the point of certain characters being in the series (i.e. Nam Joo Yeon) and other characters I had seen more of (Hong Joon, Kang Ah Young). Neverthelesss, I liked a lot of the main characters in the series.

Bo Ra always sticks up for Seol. Additionally, her bickering with Eun Taek is pretty comical.

Seol is a very strong character who doesn't let her life situation or peers get in the way of her studies.

Baek In Ha comes off as very needy, annoying, and a bully, but you see why she is the way she is through flashbacks of her experiences growing up. There's a lot of depth to her character.

Baek In Ho was my favorite character in the series because he is very dynamic. He picks on Seol and his sister a lot, yet he is very caring. He appears very tough, yet expresses a softer side to him when he plays the piano or when Seol or his sister get into trouble.

The one main character I didn't like as much was Yoo Jeong. He appears mean at the very beginning, then kinda creepy, and then more caring toward Seol. The transitions in his character seemed kinda abrupt. However, that could also be the point to his mysterious character, I dunno.

Overall, I would recommend this one, but maybe not put it at the top of your list.

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Most say it's bad, but I loved it. It didn't become one of my favs because it didn't have a 100% closed ending. Shippei right as always. And I didn't think Jung was crazy and psychopath. I do think he had a certain problem because he got irritated easily and for anything, and that even though it was a small thing, he felt the need to get revenge and want to pay back. However, in certain situations, I fully agree with Jung to want revenge because I don't see a problem in getting revenge, as long as it's not for insignificant things (as he did many times) but for something that had an absurd impact on his life. (I am scorpio girl. Revenge is a characteristic of my sign). I defend him because I'm someone who loves revenge stories and not because he's a man, standard, handsome, as many say.
About the couple's ending: it was an open but not vague ending. That's because as Jung finally read Seol's email, it means he was finally confident and ready to love her. And we know and we can clearly see that even after 3 years, love for each other still existed. After all, it was a very intense love. Don't say he was crazy, psycho, just because you wanted her with In-ho. It wasn't Jung's fault that he became that way. It was the events since his childhood that made him that way. And thanks to Seol and all the things that happened from their relationship, they served to make Jung realize that he had something wrong and so go after improving for himself and especially for her.
I absolutely loved In-ho too, but he didn't and would never have the possibility of Seol choosing him because Jung was always undoubted for her.
Another secondary couple calling attention as if they were the protagonists too. Bo-ra and Eun-taek were too perfect. A pure, light and funny relationship.
In-ha was just so insufferable. I have nothing to say about her except that she is a freak and that her expressions, speeches and actions as if she were a child, irritated me absurdly. I hated her from start to finish.

I loved this drama and all the lessons, conflicts and revenge. But mostly I loved the two couples and Baek In-ho.

And by the way, a lot reminded me of True Beauty. And True Beauty is one of my favs ever. This also had an influence on me.

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