Cheese in the Trap (2016)

 

WARNING: There are spoilers in this review. 

Cheese in the Trap is simultaneously one of more interesting and frustrating K-dramas I have watched – it is a well-acted and well directed drama, with a few interesting twists and turns, but it is also an overcrowded story.  A good chunk of the series’ running time is devoted to subplots that often nowhere and are ultimately forgotten. The other problem with the series is that it becomes a bit redundant – Jung gets angry at a certain person, proceeds to ruin their life and his girlfriend, Seol, is initially troubled by his actions but then rationalizes his behavior and gets back together with him.  The show wasn’t without controversy – fans of the webtoon hated how it diverged from the source material and placed a lot of its focus Baek In-ho, the second male lead. I am not familiar with the source material, so I don’t know how the series differs from the webtoon, but the relationship with Hong Seol and Baek In-ho can be tiresome at times. The writers seem to be setting up a love triangle between Yoo Jung, Hong Seol, and In-ho, but, again, nothing really comes of it. In-ho does confess his feelings to Seol, but she is too under the moon over Yoo Jung to ever really consider In-ho as a potential mate (even though he is a better match for her).  The other problem I have is that the victims of Jung’s wrath often deserve everything they get; it’s hard to feel sorry for Oh Young-gon (a stalker), Sang-chul (a bully and a free loader), and even Baek In-ha (a vapid, materialistic woman) when they finally get their comeuppance.  The show does such a good job of making them unsympathetic that when their world comes crashing down, you don’t feel any sympathy towards them. 

The biggest strength of Cheese in the Trap is its realistic depiction of college life – it accurately shows how stressful the university setting can be. It is a world inhabited by disparate characters who come from different backgrounds, have different work ethics, and different goals.  Without further do, let’s get to know the characters:

Hong Seol (Kim Go-eun)

Seol is the heart of the series – she is a normal girl who is just trying to survive the college experience. She is not really looking to make waves, she just wants to graduate and find a decent paying job, but she often becomes the subject of gossip among her classmates. She comes from an impoverished background, which means she is heavily dependent upon scholarships and working various jobs to help pay for her tuition.  When Yoo Jung, her senior, takes an interest in her, she is initially confused – in the past he often gave her the cold shoulder and she assumed that he didn’t like her.  Their relationship blossoms into romance, but it is not without its awkward moments. It doesn’t help that Jung’s childhood friends, siblings In-ho and In-ha, enter the picture and proceed to upend everything.  When Seol isn’t having to deal with Jung, the Baek siblings, and university life, she must put up with her dysfunctional family and, most creepily of all, a stalker. The stress of all these things would be enough to drive anyone insane, yet Seol never loses sight of her goals and manages to fight through it all.  She is a stark contrast to the other characters, all of whom suffer from victim mindsets. Kim Go-eun does an excellent job in the role of Seol - she runs the gamut of emotion and doesn't miss a beat. In many ways, she has the hardest job of the cast - Seol is the most normal character in the series, which often is stumbling block for actors, who want the showier roles.  Yet our eyes are always on Seol, even when she is surrounded by more eccentric characters.  

Yoo Jung (Park Hae-jin)

Yoo Jung is a senior at the university and the son of a wealthy CEO. He is also a psychopath – he can go through the motions of looking human but is completely lacking in empathy. When he feels someone has wronged him, he will ruin that person’s life often through duplicitous means. He is also willing to use other people to achieve his goals – when he goes after Seol’s stalker, Oh Young-gon, he receives help from In-ha. Jung exploits In-ha’s feelings for him to bring down Oh Young-gon, but once the job is done, he kicks her to the curb. It is this ruthless quality of his that rubs Seol the wrong way.

 Yet, Jung genuinely cares for Seol. At first, he is simply fascinated by her (the same way he is fascinated by an ant crawling on leaf) but as their relationship evolves, he becomes completely smitten with her.  Seol is often confused by Jung’s actions, but she tries to understand him. She recognizes his child-like nature: he was sheltered by his father his entire life and was never allowed to mature into an adult. Their first few dates are extremely awkward. Hell, even their first kiss is awkward, with neither one really knowing what to do.  Neither of them has been in a genuine relationship:  Jung has been dismissive of all his classmates up to this point, while Seol has been more focused on her studies. 

Baek In-ho (Seo Kang-joon)

In-ho is a childhood friend who had a falling about with Jung. His sister, In-ha, and him were taken in by Jung’s father when they were children – he hoped that having two other children around the house would help Jung to open up. They were also brought in to keep an eye on Jung and report all his movements to his father. When a group of classmates beat up on In-ho, he blamed Jung (with good reason, as it turns out).  The beating given to by his classmate also derailed his piano playing career – it badly injured his right hand and required him to get surgery.  He is also on the run from loan sharks and, while looking for a place to live, just happens to meet Seol. The relationship starts off on a bad note but the two of them grow close to one another, much to the annoyance of Jung.  Seol encourages In-ho to continue his education by taking his GED and offers to help him study for it. He also encounters one of his piano instructor’s assistants, who offers to give In-ho piano lessons. To further complicate matters, he ends up getting a job at a noodle shop owned by Seol’s mother. 

Baek In-ha (Lee Sung-kyung)

In-ha is In-ho’s older sister, who has spent most of her life living off the generosity of Jung’s father – when the series beginning, she lives in a lavish household and uses all her income to buy materialistic things.  When Jung urges his father to cut her off, she finds herself on the streets and is forced to move in with In-ho in his single bedroom apartment. Despite all of this, she is still in love with Jung and is even willing to help him get Oh Young-gon off Seol’s back. However, the closer Jung gets to Seol, the more resentful she becomes. Her anger is misplaced – she should be enraged at Jung for using her for his owns gain, but all her resentment is directed towards Seol.  The problem I have with this character is that she is so one dimensional, and detestable, that it’s hard to sympathize with her when shit hits the fan. In all honesty, she kind of gets let off the hook for her appalling actions. She is also extremely ungrateful – In-ho allows her to stay at his apartment (even though there is very little room) and she pays him back by constantly complaining and stealing his money to buy clothes.  There needed to be at least one scene where she shows some warmth and affection to her younger brother, but it never happens.

Kim Sang-chul (Moon Ji-yoon)

The most appalling character in the entire series – yes, he somehow manages to be even more detestable than Seol’s stalker. Sang-chul is Seol’s senior at college, he is also an extremely lazy student who copies and freeloads off the work of others. He is twice assigned to the same group as Seol and both times he fails to do his share of the work.  When Seol brings this up to him, he either makes an excuse or plays the victim card. When Seol, and the other members of the group, agree to kick him out and take his name off their report, he makes a huge scene in the classroom and tries to paint Seol as the villain. He is also aware that Young-gon is stalking Seol but doesn’t feel the need to say anything about it. In fact, he openly encourages Young-gon to carry on with his stalking. When Young-gon gets outed by Jung, Sang-chul immediately distances himself from Young-gon and pretends to be appalled. Again, when he finally gets his just desserts, it’s hard to sympathize with him because of how unlikable he is. It feels like the writers want you to have some empathy towards Sang-chul, especially after he gives his “heart breaking” back story but they, and the actor, have done such a good job making him so detestable that the scene falls flat.

Jang Bo-ra (Park Min-ja)/Kwon Eun-taek (Nam Joo-hyuk)

Bo-ra and Eun-taek are Seol’s two best friends. It is revealed that Eun-taek is love with Bo-ra and wants to take their relationship to the next level, but she dismisses the idea. Her reasoning for denying Eun-taek is not due to a lack of interest, but rather she fears that if they become an item (and potentially break up) it could ruin their friendship. It’s only when Eun-taek gets a job as a model, and gets close to his attractive boss, that Bo-ra is willing to admit her feelings for him. They are easily two of the more likable characters in the cast and, as a result, it is easy to root for them, especially when they finally decide to become a couple. They also offer a nice relief from all the drama in Seol’s life. 

Oh Young-gon (Ji Yoon-ho)

Young-gon is Seol’s creepy stalker, who was initially encouraged by Jung to pursue Seol. As the series progresses, he rhetoric and actions become increasingly more violent – to the point where he is threatening to kill Seol. He is also a guy who desperately wants to be popular – he tries to win over his classmates by buying them food and drinks. He also manages to persuade Da-young, a classmate of Seol’s, to go out with him. When he is outed, first on the internet then in public, as being a Seol’s stalker, he tries to play the innocent but to no avail. Seol’s initial plan is to get videos of Young-gon harassing her at school and then give them to the police, but In-ho constantly gets in the way by chasing after Young-gon and issuing threats (his intentions are good, but they ruin Seol’s plans). However, Jung recruits In-ha to help him take down Young-gon and she does this by feigning interest in him and then getting pictures of him compromising positions.  Sadly, Seol often gets blamed for Young-gon’s insanity – when In-ho chases Young-gon out of the library, they blame Seol for the disturbance, and she gets fired from her job at the library. A good chunk of the series focuses on Young-gon, but after he gets exposed as Seol’s stalker, he is promptly forgotten about.  I just don’t think being publicly outed as stalker would be enough to stop someone as deranged Young-gon; he strikes me as a dude who would want to seek revenge on Seol for his public humiliation, but the writers seem to disagree, and they move onto the next storyline. 

Son Min-soo (Yoon Ji-won)

Min-soo is Seol’s shy, and dorky, classmate who desperately wants to make friends. She idolizes Seol and erroneously believes that by emulating Seol she will make new friends.  When they come back break from winter break, Min-soo has died her hair the same color as Seol’s (red), has stopped wearing glasses, and wears the same clothes.  As is normally the case, her admiration eventually turns into resentment, especially after she is gas lit by Young-gon into believing the Seol has copied her looks and is the source of all her problems.   Min-soo’s world comes crashing down when she is caught plagiarizing Seol’s work on a report. This was completely unintentional; it was Jung who gave Min-soo the link to Seol’s research. After class is over, Seol confronts Min-soo in the hallway and the two of them fight it out.

Unbeknownst to Min-soo, she has a crush on Seol’s younger brother, Joon. When he asks her for directions, she secretly takes his picture on her phone and makes it her wallpaper. She then proceeds to tell her classmates that Joon is her boyfriend. After, she is caught plagiarizing Seol’s work, Jung gives Seol’s brother a call and tells him to come down to the university. He arrives just in time to see Min-soo and Seol getting into a shouting match. Her classmates recognize Joon and it is then the truth is revealed and Min-soo’s world comes crashing down.  Min-soo is easily the most sympathetic out of Jung’s victims – there was no malice in her actions, she just wanted to belong. Seol even begins to feel sympathy towards Min-soo – she realizes that if she hadn’t blown off Min-soo in past and offered her a hand in friendship, this entire scene could have been avoided. Min-soo, however, is another casualty of the script – after her altercation with Seol, she is completely forgotten about. It would have been nice to have a scene where Seol forgives Min-soo, but that would stand in the way of Seol getting outraged by Jung’s latest hit job.  That’s why this show is so infuriating – the writers do a great job of developing characters but never offer them satisfying resolutions.

Hong Joon (Kim Hee-chan)

Hong Joon is Seol’s younger brother, who has been coddled by their parents his entire life. He is studying in the states, but is thinking about dropping out of college, much to the disapproval of his parents.  He is also in love with Seol’s friend, Ah-young, who is a freshman at the university she attends. Joon, despite his flaws, is an agreeable character, who genuinely cares about his older sister.  When Seol’s neighborhood is being victimized by a peeping tom, he becomes vigilant and initially suspects of In-ho of being the culprit. He also helps his parents run their noodle shop.

As I said before, Cheese in the Trap is its realistic depiction of the university of lifestyle – there are the haves and have nots, and Seol belongs in the latter character.  She is reliant on scholarships to pay for her tuition, but to qualify for the scholarship, she needs to get top marks in all her classes. Indeed, Cheese in the Trap maybe one of the few college dramas I have seen where money is an issue – this is something that is rarely brought up in American dramas.  Seol’s constant pursuit of perfection also puts her under a lot of stress. She gets very little sleep, often misses meals, and foregoes a social life because her mind is so fixated on her studies. In her Business Management class, she is forced to do a group project with Min-soo, Sang-chul, and Da-young, none of whom prove to be much help.  The day before their project is due, Seol asks them all for their part of the project, but all she gets all are nonstop excuses. This enrages her but, rather than create a scene, she decides to do the project all by herself – she simply cannot afford to fail this class. She stays up all night putting this project together and even prepares a script for the other members to read during their presentation. However, the presentation is a total trainwreck: Min-soo struggles with her part of the presentation – when the instructor, Professor Kang, presses Min-soo to define certain terms, she draws a blank. It is only too obvious that Seol did all the work, but since this was a group project she gives them all a D.  This means that Seol can kiss her scholarship goodbye, which means her only option is to work full time during the college break – she ends up getting a job as an office aide at the university – her boss is a fussy TA, Yoon-sub, who is never pleased no matter how hard she works.  During the second semester, she ends up working a part-time job at the school library.  She initially lives in a small, studio apartment in the city, but to help save money, she ends up moving back in with her parents, even though it is a four-hour commute. Every morning, she must get up and take the subway to the University – it’s during these long, tedious rides that she ends up bonding with In-ho.

Seol’s classmates often paint her as a villain – at one point she notices that Min-soo has a lion charm that is very similar to the one Jung bought her and has gone missing, so she naturally asks Min-soo where she got it from. It turned out that Min-soo picked it off the ground, and was initially going to return it to Seol, but decided to keep it for herself. So, when Seol confronts her about it, Min-soo turns the tables and makes it seem like she is being bullied – this has the desired effect, and their classmates can’t believe Seol is picking on poor Min-soo. When it is publicly revealed that Min-soo did steal the lion charm, and was copying Seol’s look, none of these classmates offer up an apology.

Later, Seol’s stalker, Young-gon, is dating Da-young and tells her that Seol is stalking him; even though there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Da-young, who already dislikes Seol, naturally believes him and publicly scolds Seol for harassing her boyfriend. Of course, Young-gon, like Min-soo, is publicly embarrassed when photos emerge of him stalking Seol and Da-young is caught with an egg on her face. Seol’s classmates constantly jumped to inaccurate conclusions about her and when they are proven wrong, time after time, none of them have the courage to admit they were wrong – they just shrug it off and move on with their lives. When she calls them out for their behavior, they pretend she is wrong.

The main reason Seol takes a liking to In-ho (despite his often-abrasive behavior) is that he is one of the people who is willing to listen to her and legitimately cares about her.  He ends up losing his job at a university for sticking up for Seol – Young-gon harasses Seol outside of a convenience store, In-ho sees this and beats up Young-gon. Later, Young-gon complains to In-ho’ superiors and they fire him (In-ho is a staff member and him beating up a student makes for bad optics).  Later, knowing that he won’t always be around to protect Seol, he buys her items she can defend herself with (pepper spray, a taser, and a nightstick). The pepper spray later comes in handy when Young-gon follows Seol home and attempts to assault her.  Their relationship isn't one sided – Seol wants to see In-ho get a head in a life and offers to help him study for the GED. When she learns that he was a pianist in his past, she encourages him to start playing the piano again and even gives him sheet music he can practice with. 

A professor recognizes In-ho (he was assistant to In-ho’s piano teacher) and offers to give him lessons for free. The fans of the webtoon took issue with this subplot – so much of the show is devoted to Seol helping In-ho study for the GED and him training to be a pianist, but the payoff is almost anti-climactic. In-ho owes loan sharks $10,000 and he persuades them into giving him more time, because he is going compete in a piano concours and the top prize will be enough to cover his debts.  The writers have effectively set up the stakes and now it’s just a question as to whether In-ho can succeed in his goal. (SPOILERS) It doesn’t matter, Jung has a change of heart and pays off Seol’s debt. Even more disappointing is that all the studying he has done with Seol turns out to be a waste of time, he decides not to take the GED.   I also think the main reason the fans of the webtoon hated the second half of the series is that fact that there is significantly better chemistry between Seol and In-ho, then there is between Jung and Seol. They have a lot of in common – they are both fighters. Both have struggled to get by in life and often had to do it with very little help. They both support their families, though in different ways – after In-ha gets kicked out of her house, it is In-ho that takes her in and gives her money to live on.  In Seol’s family, she is the one everyone comes to with their problem – her mother constantly complains about her father and their financial situations.  Her brother whines to her about wanting to drop out of college and settling down with Ah-young.  They are both are humble people (despite In-ho boisterous exterior) – they are willing to work menial jobs to support themselves.  In-ho does janitorial work at a college and then later is willing to wait on table at the noodle shop owned by Seol’s mother.  Seol works multiple jobs throughout the series: a barista, an office aide, and librarian. Life has dealt both a rotten hand, but they never view themselves as victims and just roll with the punches.

This is a sharp contrast to all characters in Cheese in the Trap, who often justify their awful behavior by playing the victim card.  The worst out of the lost is Sang-chul, who often comes up with some sob story to rationalize his lazy personality. When he is kicked out of Seol’s group, and has his name taken off the final project, there is no self-reflection on is part, instead he goes into full victim mode – he just can’t believe Seol would screw him over so badly.  He was banking on Seol caving in and doing his work for him but when she finally stands her ground, he can’t believe and proceeds to cry like a baby.

In-ha is just as bad – Jung’s father has agreed to support her, but in exchange she was supposed to go to school for accounting. She constantly put this off and continues to spend his money on clothes and materialistic things. When Jung persuades his father to cut her off, she bitches and moans, but never once reflects on her actions. This is not to say that Jung and his father are saints, but In-ha could have easily prevented all of this had she shown some initiative. Hell, if she had enrolled in accounting classes and failed, Jung’s father probably would have still supported her – at least she would have given it a try. When she learns that Jung is in love with Seol, this really pushes her over the edge – she is convinced that Seol has stolen Jung away from her. Even though, she never had Jung to begin with. 

Jung claims that he hates people with a victim mindset, but he is just as guilty as the rest.  His main reason for ruining the lives of others (even though they deserve it) is not to seek justice, or protect his loved ones, but rather it’s because they annoyed him. If a classmate even has wronged him in the slightest, he immediately starts plotting their demise.  This also makes you wonder: How would he react if Seol rejected him? Would he have been okay with it? Or would he have plotted her demise?  Even worse is that he will deliberately ruin someone’s life and then pin the blame on someone else. In episode one, it is revealed that Sang-chul pocketed some of the nest egg money the students use at the end of the semester to throw a big party.  Jung notices this but rather than expose it himself, he brings it up to his fellow classmate, Jae-woo, who then exposes Sang-chul’s theft on the college message board. Sang-chul is convinced it was Seol who ratted him out, because she had witnessed him pocketing money. He does his whole “woe is me” act in front of his classmate and, even though he did steal the money, Seol’s classmates look down on her in disgust. Jung and Jae-woo could have stepped forward and clarified things, but they are content with letting Seol take the fall. In fact, in the end, it is Seol who ends having to pay for Jung’s sin – his cold treatment of In-ha has worked her up to a state of frenzy that, without thinking, she assaults Seol on the sidewalk and pushes her into the road and, predictably, Seol gets hit by car and is hospitalized. 

The biggest issue I have with Cheese in the Trap is how rushed the final episode is: I will not go into full details, but it feels like the writers realize they needed to wrap up multiple storylines and only had one episode left to do so, and half assed their way through it.  Though, it is interesting to note that two years later, there was a movie adaptation of Cheese in the Trap, and it is even less satisfying than the TV series. It is an example of things getting lost in adaptation – to condense the story into two hours, characters and storylines get thrown to the wayside. The character of Sang-chul is a glorified extra, while Min-soo, Joon, and Seol’s parents are nowhere to be seen.   The best way to describe the relationship between In-ho and Seol in the movie is friendly acquaintance. They have a few scenes together, but it never develops into full-fledged friendship. In-ha has even less screen time and her character arc is that she helps Jung take down Young-gon. A good chunk of the movie’s screen time is devoted to Young-gun and an out of place subplot about a sexual predator who rapes woman and then assaults them with a hammer.  The depiction of university life, which was so prevalent in the TV series, is only hinted at in the movie. It’s also interesting to note that Park Hae-jin reprised his role of Jung for the movie, but there is less nuance to his performance and its pretty one note.  In short, the movie was a complete mess. The TV series, while infuriating at time, is still worth a watch, largely due to the appealing cast and its top-notch direction.

Cast: Park Hae-jin (Yoo Jung), Kim Go-eun (Hong Seol), Seo Kang-joon (Baek In-ho), Lee Sung-kyung (Baek In-ha), Park Min-ja (Jang Bo-ra), Nam Joo-hyuk (Kwon Eun-taek), Kim Hee-chan (Hong Joon, Seol’s brother), Ahn Gil-kang (Hong Jin-tak, Seol’s father), Yoon Bok-in (Kim Young-hee, Seol’s mother), Ji Yoon-ho (Oh Young-gon), Moon Ji-yoon (Kim Sang-chul), Yoon Ji-won (Son Min-soo), Kim Hye-ji (Lee Da-young), Cha Joo-young (Nam Joo-yeon), Yoon Ye-joo (Kang Ah-young), Oh Hee-joon), Son Byong-ho (Yoo Young-soo, Jung’s father), Lee Woo-dong (Heo Yoon-sub), Kim Ki-bang  (Kong Joo-yong), Hwang Seok-jeong (Professor Kang).
Director: Lee Yoon-jung
Writer: Kim Nam-hee, Go Sun-hee. Based off the webtoon by Soonkki.
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes.