안녕! We’re back with the second installment in our Kdrama Review series. Pfft, it’s only been three months since our Boys Over Flowers review (don’t judge, peasants). Today we’re looking at Cheese in the Trap, which is honestly one of the best dramas I have ever seen. It was my third drama, I believe, and even now it’s still one of my all-time favorites. Gosh, time for a rewatch? But for your pleasure, here is our very thorough review and analysis—please enjoy!

Nội dung chính Show

Year: 2016

Main Cast: Park Hae-jin, Kim Go-eun, Seo Kang-joon, Nam Joo-hyuk, Lee Sung-kyung

Length: 16 episodes

Source Material: Webcomic

Author Notes: Clara has read the webtoon (most of it? I think?) while I (Hermione) have not. Please take this into consideration while reading our character analyzations.

Smart, hard-working Hong Seol dropped out of college for a year because she was being viciously harassed by a mysterious older classman. Now she’s back…and this sunbae is being strangely nice to her. Maybe she’s just been misunderstanding Jung Yoo, or maybe there’s some darker side to his personality that would be dangerous to overlook. Things get complicated when friends from Jung’s past turn up: Baek In Ho, a moody ex-musician who slips easily into Seol’s life, and his psycho sister In Ha, who’s desperate to prove herself to Jung. Seol finds herself caught in the middle of Jung and In Ho’s decade-long feud–and she can’t stop either of them from sliding into her heart. As she juggles family drama, scheming classmates, and (of course) a crazy volatile love triangle, Seol is determined to make it through college and find her happy ending, whatever that may be.

Hermione: I always find characters with sociopathic tendencies intriguing, and Jung Yoo was no exception to this, especially as his characterization was especially well done. His was a classic case of character growth via romantic stimuli: as Sunbae (I’m just going to call him that, because it’s what Seol always called him!) becomes more invested in his relationship with Seol, he becomes more emotionally open and self-aware, and of course this helps his and Seol’s romance to continue moving in a positive direction. I think the point of Sunbae’s character was that while he couldn’t necessarily change his internal urges (to some degree, he’s always going to view the world as a power play, and be able to pick out social structures and visualize how he might use them to his advantage), it is his choice whether he acts on those urges; it is the idea that he can (and should) exist outside of some cold, perfect mask.

My one complaint with Sunbae’s arc (and this actually applies to many of the character’s arcs) was that it developed rather slowly; there is a fine point between the careful unfolding of a well-developed character arc and the over-careful progression of an arc to the point where the character’s growth starts to feel almost sluggish. I feel as if Jung’s character awkwardly straddled over this line during the second half of the drama, and that the emotional drama needed to bring him to the next step in his personal development just wasn’t happening. His relationship with his father was quite intriguing (it was suggested that Jung’s father was somewhat of a sociopath, and his over-manipulation of his son was one of the reasons Jung turned out the way he did), and while this element was briefly touched on, it could have been explored in much more depth, and it could have proved some additional stimuli to Jung’s character growth. All the same, I was very pleased with what the drama did deliver. I can’t lie—I really love this kind of male lead character arcs. Lucky me that it’s a kdrama staple, right?

Clara: Omo, Yoo Jung! Park Hae Jin is an incredible actor, and because of this, Jung was one of the best male leads I have ever seen in a kdrama. I don’t know an awful lot of sociopaths, (that’s probably a good thing), but the drama did a great job of presenting Jung’s psychological issues while still making him a likable character. He just has so much DEPTH. Characters in dramas often get pigeonholed into stereotypes to make things easier on the writers, but it would be almost impossible to give Jung a single label. All his relationships with other characters were incredibly well flushed out, and I especially like how the writers were able to depict how he uses his different personalities to deal with the different people in his life. With Hong, he shows a more caring, sensitive side, with his classmates he is cold and remote, and with In-ho he allows a much darker side of his personality to show, in that he becomes much more controlling and violent. The personalities he manufactured for In-ha and his father were by far the most interesting; they showed how good he was at hiding his true identity in order to get ahead. How he behaved at school was a little creepy to me. I guess it unsettled me to watch him set up the people he disliked by using their own faults against them. All in all, Jung is a five-star male lead. He was, of course, flawed, but the flaws were supposed to be there (as opposed to being awkward mistakes the writers made) and they only added to the complexity of his character.

Hermione: Hong Seol is one of my favorite Kdrama protagonists to date. She is an introvert (!!!), over-conscious about her grades, realistically worried about college tuition and finances, hard-working, a little over-sensitive and emotionally screwed, and the perfect girlfriend for Yoo Jung. (Also—she had curly hair. Totally a win in my book). Seol’s character arc was appropriately subtle: Jung’s transformation was obviously the emotional focus of the drama, but Seol was also growing as a person, starting out as someone who was too passive for her own good and a bit of a push-over, and then maturing into someone who knew how to stand her own ground. This arc was mostly developed over the first half of the show; the latter half of her arc was more focused on her growing in maturity in her relationship with Jung, and her learning the fine line between accepting a person and holding them accountable.

I did not like at all how her character arc ended (and thus the deduction of one star): she ends the show as someone with no interest in human relationships or meaningful connections, and she seems disillusioned with both her career and her life. She almost turned out like…Jung…say what??? (The ending of this show is mostly crap though, so I won’t hold it against Seol). One more positive to end things off: I love when shows characterize introvert characters through an audible internal monologue, and this technique worked especially well with Seol. Her actions and thought processes were always explained, keeping her a relatable and understandable character. Kdrama people, take note: I!!! Want!!! More!!! Female!!! Leads!!! Like!!! Hong!!! Seol!!!

Clara: I didn’t really care for Hong, but I can’t deny that she was a very well written character. She reminded me a bit of Hermione, (my Hermione, not Harry Potter Hermione) since she was all studious and a bit stuck up. It’s difficult for me to identify with a character I have nothing in common with, so I had a hard time emotionally connecting to Hong. At least she had some internal dialogue which saved her from coming off as a cold-hearted turd like Jan-di. The viewer is always filled in on what Hong’s thinking, so she’s able to maintain her integrity as an introverted character without shutting the viewer completely out of her head. She loses a star because her character became static in the middle of the drama. This seems to be a common problem with female leads: their character arc is rushed into the first ten or so episodes, and when they’ve achieved all their character growth for those episodes, they just—stop. Yet the other characters continue to grow around them, and in Cheese in the Trap, this resulted in Hong holding back the plot as she refused to trust Jung or push In-ho away. It got irritating really quickly.

Hermione: Urgh, as an ardent Seol x Sunbae shipper, I occasionally wanted to throw a brick at Baek In Ho and tell him TO GET AWAY SO MY BABIES COULD KISS, or at least move off the screen and give Jung a chance, yeesh, but other than that…Baek In Ho is one of the best second male leads I’ve seen in a drama, hands down. He had a very touching character arc: he was largely driven by his search for belonging and family, even as he was trying to reclaim the musical parts of himself that he had shoved away due to some past trauma. He was quite a charismatic character; not only did he have a natural chemistry with all the other characters, but he brought a unique brand of vibrancy to his own scenes. The camera could literally just be focused on him playing the piano and it would be enough.

Baek In Ho worked as perfect character foil for Jung; essentially, one was fire and the other was ice, and this contrast brought a natural amount of friction to their relationship, though it was easy to see how they had been such good friends in the past (I friendshipped them so hard, really). I do think however that his character might have actually benefited from less screen-time—there are moments where his arc feels almost overdone, and the same characterization in smaller beats may have actually been more effective. Additionally, I felt that at some points he was a bit too perfect—almost unrealistically Perfect Boyfriend Material, which is great for Seol and Viewers Like You, but not so great for character realism. At times I felt like the drama was secretly wishing he was the male lead instead of Jung, which is understandable, given how the depth and interest of Baek In Ho’s character, but I hold that he and Seol had a much stronger brother/sister relationship than a romance and that any romantic relationship between the two of them would not have been overly healthy.

Clara: If I was a boy, I would be a less moody In-ho. Because I had so much in common with him, In-ho quickly became my favorite character. Aside from personal bias, he is the best second male lead I have seen in a drama to date. He had a tragic backstory but wasn’t consumed by it; he had faults, but they weren’t constantly justified; he was part of the love triangle, but he wasn’t joined at the hip with Hong; he had attitude, and most importantly, he wasn’t a carbon copy of his female lead. In-ho was entirely his own person, so he and Hong had way more chemistry then they would have if he had also been a quiet, studious introvert. Jung and Hong were the two that were actually more alike, which was refreshing. The writers tied In-ho’s past as a musician into his character beautifully, and it added untold depth to his emotional journey of accepting himself. Perhaps his one fault was that his character was a little too interesting. His character arc was so emotionally compelling that at times it became more interesting than any other element of the plot, the main romance included.

I hated the ending In-ho got, and it was a total slap in the face to all the screen time he was given. It’s like the writers realized In-ho was taking over the drama so they quickly pushed him to the background so they could finish sorting things out with Hong and Jung. In-ho honesty needed a romance of his own to complete his emotional journey. While I know that it wasn’t possible to introduce another romantic subplot right at the end, it could have been slowly fed into the plot earlier in the drama. In-ho’s reconciliation with his sister was fulfilling, but it wasn’t enough. Inho also had way too much chemistry with Hong, and a romance for him would have helped deter some of the HongxIn-ho shippers and move the show’s focus back to Hong and Jung. I mean people were shipping In-ho and In-ha even though they’re siblings. That just tells me how desperately he needed a ship of his own, though sadly, there weren’t any other girls in the drama that would have made for a good potential love interest.

In the webtoon, In-ho was portrayed as a really shady guy. He seems to want to get to know Hong just to hurt Jung, and this makes him and Hong much less shippable. The drama chose to portray him as more of a slightly burnt cinnamon roll as opposed to a stalker, which was fine, but then they should have anticipated the number of people who would want him with Hong. He became a precious emo baby who was spurned by evil selfish Hong. If your second male lead is more well-liked then your two main characters, you know you have a problem.

Hermione: Seol and Sunbae’s romance was beautiful and emotional and shippable, and I dare you to watch this drama and NOT BE AFFECTED BY THE BEAUTY OF IT. But really, the two leads had a great amount of chemistry and played off one another well. As I mentioned earlier, their romance had direct tie-ins to their characterizations, which always makes for a more well-constructed drama. We deducted one star because at certain points Seol and Jung’s relationship felt like it was going in circles with very little progress forward: they would be happy together, and then Jung would either do something creepy and/or some creepy action from his past would surface, Seol would get upset and pull away, and they would eventually talk it out and reconcile. There’s nothing wrong with this pattern, except that seeing it repeated over and over for a good half of the series got rather tiresome. There came a point where Seol’s and Jung’s relationship could have moved up to the next level of trust and commitment, but instead, the writers just kept playing it safe and the characters never reached their full potential. I did like how the romance didn’t follow the typical kdrama pattern of 1.) Absolute Enemies, 2.) Flirty Friendship, 3.) Dating!, 4.) BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, 5.) Break-up, 6.) Get Back Together Just Before the Final Episode Closes. Seol and Jung never really broke up, and it was nice to see a couple that actually tried to verbally work through their issues instead of stalking around and being mad at each other.

Clara: I shipped this, I won’t lie. Jung and Hong were both really emotionally fragile, and it was uber cute watching them open up and trust each other. It was also a mutually beneficial relationship; I don’t mind girl-fixes-broken-boy relationships, but they happen so often, they’ve basically become a trope. Jung obviously needed some fixing and Hong stepped up to the plate, but she wasn’t flawless either. Once she learned to trust Jung and rely on him, he was able to help her a little too. What completely broke me was watching Hong strip away Jung’s persona and help him accept himself. The moment where they’re asleep at the hospital and he grabs her hand… *has a heartu attacku*. Of course, there was a love triangle, but this one was surprisingly well developed. The guys were at odds, so they punched it out at one point, sparing us the annoying “we’re-best-friends-we-can-share-her” dynamic. In-ho and Jung weren’t afraid to throw some punches for the girl. I do like to see a little damsel in distress now and then.

Hermione: As someone who is headed off to college this fall (update: I’m at college rn losers; we wrote this review last summer

procrastination), I couldn’t help but be partial to the college setting. It’s always refreshing to characters in school that actually have to do schoolwork, and Seol spent an appropriate amount of time struggling with her homework. Of course, I can’t speak from experience, but the college setting seemed like a realistic reflection of college-life in Korea. The show had a well-constructed plot: every subplot worked as a catalyst for character growth, and the character drama itself was the heart of the series. The conflicts that arose from Oh Young-gon stalking Seol circled back to Jung’s characterization and his relationship with Seol. The day-to-day problems Seol faced (family problems, her creepy imitator classmate) played into her character development, as she learned to overcome her shyness and be more open with Jung.

Clara: Nice, I guess? The college had actual professors and assignments, so that was a step up from Boys Over Flowers. I liked the setting of the individual scenes a lot. In-ho finds himself alone in the storage room of a shop, shadows clouding at the corners, and the scene is melancholy and bittersweet. Jung and Hong pause outside of Hong’s little apartment with its flickering light, and the moment is tense and hopeful. Also, the houses of the characters seemed very realistic to the families: Jung’s house felt rich, Hong’s house felt middle class, In-ho’s apartment felt poor. This drama had a great backdrop.

Hermione: The extra characters in the drama were well-done, if not perfect. Oh Young-go was equal parts creepy and pathetic as Seol’s stalker. Bo Ra and Eun Tak were likable as Seol’s friends and adorable as a couple. Seol’s family was realistic, and I liked how their relationship problems weren’t immediately smoothed over but made to be a realistic issue that the family would have to work through together. The drama did suffer from not fully fleshing out Jung’s father and his relationship with his son. Jung’s father honestly seems to be the true sociopath of the show, as he manipulated both the In Ho twins and his own son, and ruined the entire “family” in the process. Yet the drama seemed unwilling to present Jung’s father as the bad guy, even though it was strongly suggested that his influence on Jung was a large part of why Jung turned out the way he did.

Clara: There was a lot of really well-done background characters, but they rather swallowed up the main ones at times. Some of the especially interesting and compelling background characters had a tendency to outshine Hong, but this isn’t that surprising when you think about it. Take In-ha, who has a more fiery, forceful personality than Hong does, and who naturally overshadows Hong when they’re onscreen together. Aside from this, all the other aspects of the background characters were fine. Hong’s family was actually believable, and her parent’s marriage had an interesting dynamic. I liked her brother’s cute little romance with her art friend, and of course, her two besties romantic journey was too cute for words. All of the background romances only helped buoy up the main one rather than overshadow it.

Hermione: I do not think the time-jump was well-suited to this drama. It honestly felt like a cop-out by the writers, in that they didn’t want to have to take the time to walk Jung through a complete character arc, so they just threw him out the window for 3 years until, whoops!, he’s back and he’s a whole new person. The same characterization could have been completed within the drama if only the character arcs had been sped up a little. At least things ended with some possibility of a happy ending…but the drama’s finale was not very satisfying. Baek In Ho pretty ends up back where he started: he can play the piano now, but he still doesn’t have any meaningful relationships in his life (other than Baek In Ha, obviously, and she’s a little…unpredictable). At least Bo Ra and Eun Tak ended up together.

Clara: Happy Ending Please! My perfect ending would have had Hong and Jung married and moving forward in their careers, rather than being complete strangers. In-ho would have a girlfriend and would be competing with piano again, and I would have given some screen time to Hong’s lil bro and his girlfriends. There was some closure on Hong’s besties, but what about the other little love stories? What about Hong’s family? I know that real life doesn’t have neat, tied up endings, but they could have at least matched the main couple up. It was verrryyy frustrating.

What happens in Cheese in the Trap webtoon?

Having returned to college after a year long break, Hong Sul, a hard-working over-achiever, inadvertently got on the wrong side of a suspiciously perfect senior named Yoo Jung. From then on her life took a turn for the worse and Sul was almost certain it was all Yoo Jung's doing.

What genre is cheese and the trap webtoon?

Cheese in the Trap
치즈인더트랩 Chi jeu in deo teu raep
Genre	Romance, drama
Author	Soonkki
Publisher	Jfun

Cheese in the Trap - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cheese_in_the_Trapnull

Does Cheese in the Trap have love triangle?

Cheese in the trap tells the story about a college student and her relationship with her senior who is not the guy he appears to be. Unlike other K dramas, the romance doesn't get all cheesy and cute, but stays within reasonable levels, most of the time anyway. Also the love triangle is well managed.