I mean I watched it because I saw the cast, there was like Seo Kang-joon, Nam Joo-hyuk & Lee Sung-Kyung which were all really good actors and characters were really funny to watch how different they could be.
But I think I didn't really like how the story of the two main actors Kim Go-eun & Park Hae-joon ended up like, I don't know, I think it was a little confusing and I just didn't like how it ended. I finished watching the whole thing just to see how it would have ended up but, I don't think I liked it very much.
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The worst 2nd lead syndrome
Story was decent, so was the female lead and 2nd male lead. However, this is the worst kind of 2nd lead syndrome.. not only does the female lead have much better chemistry with the 2nd male lead, but the male lead she ends up with is a piece of trash, his past does not excuse his actions. Maybe because i skipped a lot of the scenes between the two leads, but I don't even remember when the male lead actually started liking the female lead... I only felt it in the final episode.Kim Goeun really carried this show with her amazing acting
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The actors (especially KGE & PHJ) were amazing and played their parts really well, even in the episodes I didn't really enjoy, I thought almost everyone did a good job, but LSK's character was crazy. I almost had to fast forward thru the scenes with her in them, they were painful. I guess she did a good job portratying a spoiled rotten vengeful crazy person, but still painful.
It all started sliding downhill and fell off my list in a hurry. Ep 10-14 were kind of a mess. There were moments of greatness, that kept me hanging on, but it was a struggle. Then they hit rock bottom with the ending. What kind of ending was that? Anyway, best I can give it is a 3 because the beginning was so good.
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Interesting enough though, this show kept me hooked from start to finish -- for the wrong reasons. I feel like the more I got into the show, the less I cared about the characters because I really just wanted to see justice, because let's face the cold truth here, everyone minus maybe 3 people, did Seol completely wrong and dirty.
The story was really interesting, there is no way I'll say it wasn't. While it was your typical drama, it did have it's uniqueness in it's own way. I also really loved everyone's acting in this show except Sung Kyung (In Ha) don't come at me, I love her acting....in other things but in this show I felt like she was extremely over dramatic and walked like a zombie half the time and when she stood she reminded me of a Monster High doll. Remember how they used to be bent weird like something was wrong with their spines? Lol That is what she reminded me of.
I hated probably 98% of the characters. I loved Seol and her 2 friends, --oh, and her brother. That's it. I wish more friendships where like that though. No matter what she went through they were always there for her... even the small bit when they were mad at each other. Lol Those kinds of friendships are so rare.
Everyone else can fuck off though. For me my most hated characters were probably In Ha, Stalker Boy, and lazy drunk bitch. I don't care enough to remember their names... and I say that with my whole chest. oh and add on that snobby little bitch she had class with. lol Ol crusty musty ass.
ANYWAY!!! back to the review.
Everything about this show was left open and I hate hate hate hate HATE open endings. This took it to a whole new level though. Because everything was left open. Characters were there then suddenly they weren't? People were with others and just nothing was explained? I get that this was adapted from a webtoon, but that doesn't mean you should leave out information. Lol Especially since these characters were there since episode one. By episode 10 you shouldn't be like "okay well.... we just don't need you anymore" that's not how that works. Lol I mean I'm glad to see them gone but because there was no information on how or where they went, It kinda stressed me out always looking for them because I expected them to come and fuck shit up some more. cuz you know.... fuck happiness? Lol
Speaking of happiness... what kind of damn ending was that? What kind of main character treatment was that? You do on and on about people are using her and she needs to put a stop to it -- then you proceed to use her in manipulative ways. and let's not forget any time she was attacked, somehow it was her fault and if it wasn't her fault they made it super clear they she shouldn't hold it against ol-pwoor-pwiddful-widdle *insert someone's name, there's a list to choose from at this point*. Like wow, okay - she ended up physically injured how many times but still, she should forgive them? All while saying she needs to stop putting up with people's bullshit.
Geez the more I go on about about this the more I want to take away stars. So I better stop here.
All in all, yes the acting was good, the story, while hole-y like swiss cheese, was good. i just wanted more justice. I wanted actual ending.
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A mixed bag
I’ll be honest, I almost dropped this drama so many times through my watch, but managed to keep my interest just enough for me to continue.This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy this drama at all..I did, but I found it very frustrating frequently.
The main source of my frustration really came from Soel’s constant insistence to excuse Joeng’s toxic and very often manipulative behavior...often coming to the conclusion she has to attempt to understand him more etc.
Every time she’d find out about a situation he caused I’d think “okay, this’ll be the final straw..she’s gonna put her foot down” only to come to this conclusion.
I found myself being the most drawn to In-ho’s portion of the story... not just his relationship to Soel, but his entire journey from being a “delinquent” type starting over, to overcoming his fear of approaching the piano again...
I also found his conflicts much more engaging..dealing with his friendship and later love with Soel..his conflict with Jeong and In-ha (who is insufferable) his damaged hand and gang past.
I really believe he’s what kept me watching.
Definitely would’ve preferred a relationship with him and Soel, who I felt had much more chemistry.
This leads me to the ending which I really can’t say I’m fond of.
Soel and In-ho oddly kinda...dropped eachother? Him confessing really did completely ruin their friendship and it seemed like Soel..who seemed to value their relationship earlier, just didn’t seem to even care that he was leaving or keeping in contact...even the last mention of him seemed to make her uncomfortable...
A lot of the conflicts built up just seemed to dissipate at the end in an unsatisfying way..like suddenly the injured hand is no longer an issue..the gang is no longer an issue etc..it made this drama feel like it just suddenly...stopped? Not to even mention that she technically isn’t even with Jeong at the end (although it implies they’ll get back together)
Just a very messy ending all-around.
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However, after episode 9 or so, I watched this solely for Baek in Ho and his sister, Baek In Ha. I disliked Hong Seol, (and this is just my personal preference) but I cannot stand her being sweet, naive and innocent. The romance between Hong Seol and Yoo Jung had no chemistry, and I constantly felt like Yoo Jung was out of place, like he didn't belong in college because of his personality and the way he was portrayed. This might have been intentional because of his past and his original personality. He's a cold and strange character who only opens up to Hong Seol.
When the backstory of Yoo Jung was revealed, I was kind of disappointed. I had been expecting something great because of all the tension previous episodes had built up. It just made me dislike Yoo Jung and think of him as a guy with a lot of issues even more. The fact that Hong Seol never pushed him away and just proceeded to hug him after seeing him do something immoral really ticked me off. This couple didn't move me.
The acting was decent. Park Hae Jin pulled off his role perfectly, and I've never seen Kim Go Eun before, but even though I didn't like her character, she was played well. Seo Kang Joon captured my heart and Lee Sung Kyung portrayed Baek In Ha very well. At first, In Ha was annoying, but later on, I ended up liking her and In Ho more than Seol and Yoo Jung. In Ha was incredibly cute and childish and her character really added dynamic to the drama.
While there is a lot of controversy about the ending, I feel like it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened, and I was pretty satisfied with how everything turned out. I do have to say that it was a little rushed, as some more time could have been spent in showcasing Yoo Jung's father's role in Yoo Jung's life.
Music could have been better. I barely noticed anything except for the selection of piano pieces. The OSTs were so lowkey that it didn't really make an impact. If I heard an OST being played, I probably wouldn't be able to identify it as a CIIT OST because all the songs were just typically chill to me.
Decent drama overall, but Hong Seol and Yoo Jung just weren't my cup of tea.
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You should start this show and decide for yourself if you think it's worth your time
This is one of those shows that people either loved or hated, and I lean more toward the camp of not liking it.Let me start with the cast. I thought all the actors were excellent and I've enjoyed most of these actors in other shows previously. I think that Kim Go Eun as Seol might have been the weakest link (she seemed pretty one-dimensional) but that may have been more due to the writing than to her acting abilities.
I could barely label this a romance, partially because there was so much other stuff going on, and the fact that Kim Go Eun and Park Hae Jin seemed so uncomfortable with one another. Hae Jin's character, Yoo Jung, was completely unlikeable throughout the show, so I spent a lot of time wondering that Seol saw in him. Did she think she could change him? Did she want to go against everyone else's advice? Every person that came into Yoo Jung's orbit suffered in some way. So, as I watched Seol trying to have a relationship with this guy, "run away" was playing in my mind.
I felt that Seol would have been a better match with In Ho (played very well by Seo Kung Joon), so even though I knew this wasn't the direction the writers were going in, I was disappointed.
I adored Lee Sung Kyun in Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok-joo, and she played a completely different character here. She was wound a little too tight and you were never sure what she was going to do next.
Overall, I felt that the show was never able to fully realize its potential, because the writers didn't seem quite sure of what they were hoping to accomplish. Did they want to redeem You Jung? I know they were trying to portray accurate university life (though Park Hae Jin seemed entirely too old for this to be effective) and the foibles of the different characters, but I felt that the characters were SO odd that I couldn't warm up to them much.
And the ending? The obligatory time jump (three years!) and very vague and non-committal ending left me completely frustrated and dissatisfied.
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Watch it for yourself, and you will quickly see that this is a gem among many other dramas. Yes, ill be the first to say (while i would not have predicted this when watching the series in the beginning) it was imperfect (but really, only in the last few episodes), HOWEVER, as i am the first to drop a show as soon as i think ill be disappointed with the end, I can say that I don't regret watching this show at all and that's primarily because of how strong the series as a whole was.
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Strong Start, Weak Finish
Cheese in the Trap was a drama that started off really strong for me...but ultimately fizzled out toward the halfway mark. I never read the webtoon so I went into this with zero context. CIIT is not the worst drama I have ever watched. Despite its low rating I don’t vehemently loathe everything about it.Going into this I knew the plot was going to be not that exciting since it’s main focus is around college students. Even though they tried to add drama with Seol’s classmates or the plot around Jung’s borderline sociopathic tendencies everything was grounded in reality. And I loved it. As a college student I definitely related to Seol and her struggles. It felt so good to watch a drama where college is the setting and they actually show the struggle of juggling classes, friendships, jobs, and everything else. Nothing was happening plot wise but I was unable to stop watching it. Which leads to my main issue with this whole entire drama: the romance.
I want to start out by saying this: the acting in this was amazing. Everyone gave it their all and it was flawless. However, the characters are what I have an issue with, more so than the messy plot. Seol was a somewhat relatable character (as was Eun Taek and Bo Ra) but no matter how much I tried to force myself I couldn’t root for Jung. In the webtoon I’m sure we got to learn more about his character but in CIIT he felt like a minor character. I was unable to feel anything more than annoyance with his character. His psyche is super fascinating but because the drama pushed the romance I kind of forgot how intriguing he was at the start. Kudos to Park Hae Jin because he played Jung very well.
As for the side characters I adored Baek In Ho. He’s not somehow better that Jung morally or perfect for Seol but he was interesting. He was fleshed out. I grew to love and root for his character early on. I know fans of the webtoon was complaining because In Ho got too much screen time but since he was my favorite character I was okay with it. That’s probably why I didn’t like Jung at all, if he was the lead he should of had more screen time so that the audience can give him a chance.
Baek In Ha was a truly complex and messed up character but once again I found her interesting. In my opinion, The Baek siblings stole the show from their very first scene. With dramas I never ask for perfect characters who never do anything wrong. I just want properly fleshed out characters. We had 16 hours to flesh out Seol and Jung’s relationship but it was not that believable to me. Again, this solely lies in the messy plot.
As for the controversial ending: I liked it. I won’t spoil it but I was okay with what happened because sometimes an open ending is better. It would of felt rushed if they tried to give every character their fairytale ending.
Anyways, Cheese in the Trap was just an okay drama for me. The only thing it had going for me is the side characters (such as Seol’s friends/family + the Baek siblings), the acting, and the emphasis on showing what a college life is actually like. This might be the first drama in awhile where I actively was rooting against the leads to not get together so...do with that what you will.
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I’m not a fan of the show, but the actors were great
I dropped this show twice before I just powered through it on my third try so I could feel like my review is legitimate.At least half of these actors are flat out sociopaths: they feel basically nothing for anybody outside of themselves and (sometimes) those they care about. The mental gymnastics to turn themselves into victims are astounding.
As far as the male lead is concerned: I’ve always been a big sucker for the stoic/angry male lead falls for the hardworking female but this guy has absolutely no redemption arc, he just stays shady. I feel bad for the FL over and over that she doesn’t get out of his web, she seems like she should be smart enough to.
The only redeeming points for this show are Hong Seol’s best friends because they are amazing, and the fact that many of the really bad people *eventually* do get them comeuppance in very satisfying ways.
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