Review by: Shamra

Synopsis

This is the drama version not the movie version - though they are the same plot and have very similar casts.

How do you handle a relationship with someone who doesn’t really know he is manipulating people, a friendship with someone who wants a relationship, family who doesn’t seem to appreciate you, friends who aren’t always there, and people who tend to use you every chance they can….?  Answer…you don’t…not without finding out who you really are along the way. College can be so tough!

Sophomore Year

Hong Seol (Kim Go Eun) absolutely cannot stand Sunbae Yoo Jung (Park Hae Jin). She doesn’t like the way he seems to calculate everything and everyone. He seems to manipulate various situations he is involved in, but in the process, he also singles out Hong Seol and turns others against her. All the while he seems to be nice and friendly with her while others are around, but a jerk when they are by themselves. Hong Seol feels so threatened that one night while drinking with the Sophomore class, she starts talking about taking a year off of college to escape the feelings of his torture. Jang Bo Ra (Park Min Ji), her best friend, doesn’t want Seol to leave school so she offers her some money, but then Seol tells her about how it's not about the money. Suddenly, Seol is awarded a full-scholarship for the next semester. 

Junior Year

All the kids are registering and Seol has the perfect schedule, until she runs into Yoo Jung and Kim Sang Cheol. Kim Sang Cheol (Moon Ji Yoon) is complaining about wanting to be fed, which is a common theme with him, he is always mooching off his “friends” for something, mostly food. Nam Joo Yeon (Cha Joo Young), who has a crush on Jung, lets it slip that the only reason Hong Seol got the scholarship was because the teacher’s assistant, Mr. Heo Yoon Seob, lost Yoo Jung’s paper. Hong Seol and Yoo Jung meet later in the library and she gets so flustered she forgets to sign out, and all of sudden she is no longer in Mr. Han’s class, but instead stuck with the evil “Witch teacher,” Professor Kang. Seol suspects that Jung changed the schedule on her after she left the library, but when she investigates, she realizes it wasn’t him. However, Jung finds out that it was Sang Cheol who changed her schedule. (He’s a real lazy piece of work)

Seol is stuck with Professor Kang, and she is determined to make the most of it, until Yoo Jung purposefully switches classes and sits beside her on the first day. She is so flustered she runs out of there and every time he invites her to lunch, she comes up with an excuse and avoids him. He sticks close to her and comes to her aid in various circumstances that demonstrate sincerity towards her. On the day of Yoo Jung’s senior pictures, he takes a picture with Seol and her affections start to change towards him so she invites him for a meal.

She gets tricked into a blind date by her friends, Bo Ra and Eun Taek, and before the blind date she asks Sunbae Jung to go with her to lunch, where she tries to convince him to date one of her friends. He meets her at her house later and tells her that he thought she was different, but she seemed to be just like everyone else, someone who used him to get something they wanted. She starts to see him in a different light after that. They actually make a sweet couple. Throughout the series they demonstrate to each other that communication is an important part of maintaining a strong relationship and that they do have a genuine connection towards each other.

Yoo Jung used to live with two friends, Baek In Ho (Seo Kang-Joon) and his twin sister, Baek In Ha (Lee Sung-Kyung), when they were kids. As they got older, Jung realized that his “friends” were used as spies for his dad to keep an eye on him and know his goings-on and his whereabouts. He doesn’t like people who use others, and tries to seek retribution in his own way against people who use others.

Baek In Ha is my least favorite character in this entire story plot. She practically sells her soul for money. She nags, complains, lies, steals, and uses people…she is the absolute worst when it comes to money. Baek In Ho ends up liking Hong Seol. He works at her family’s restaurant to help make money and plays the piano at her uncle’s coffee shop. He is actually a really sweet character with a very troubled past. Of all the people who were friends with Jung, In Ho was the sincerest.  He was genuinely confused about what happened with their friendship - and rightfully so, as he was betrayed by Jung, which ruined his piano career.

How does school change Seol…

She deals with bullies, stalkers, her first romance, she learns how to become a stronger team leader through the group projects of the “witch”, friend drama, a thief/pervert, and so much more.

How does her family change Seol…

She realizes when her parents ask her to commute 4 hours to and from school while her brother moves back home, instead of using her scholarship money for school that she is underappreciated in the family. She stands up to her dad, but being the filial daughter she is, she still commutes each day.

Seol obviously starts to like Sunbae (Jung) so she buys him a watch. He takes the watch out of the container and looks at it with such a smile. He instantly takes off his watch, and opens up a drawer full of designer watches, and he wears it diligently.

Seol and Sunbae are in the middle of a fight and she chooses to sit at the front of the class away from him during an exam. She gets up before the exam to get some coffee and use the restroom and when she comes out, he is waiting there with more coffee for her and gives her a hug from the back. He puts his chin on her shoulder and slips the coffee into the pocket of her sweater and then walks away, but it was like he needed that extra support himself to get him through.

Seol and Baek In Ho spend a lot of time together commuting back and forth to campus and she starts working with him on earning his GED. Honestly, sometimes they feel more like a couple when they are playing piano together in her uncle’s shop than Seol and Sunbae. Sunbae does actually get jealous of their interactions together, which causes a fight between him and Baek In Ho and results in fracturing In Ho’s hand.  In Ho then has to have surgery before he can play the piano again. 

The final act

All students who are graduating must take and pass a final, which is apparently really difficult. Sunbae gives Seol his notes from when he passed.  Everyone begs to use them, especially Kim Sang Cheol who is lazy with his classwork and will likely not pass without them. Seol accidentally leaves them on the table one day in class and comes back to them missing. She asks around but cannot find them. Day of the test she passes, but so does Sang Cheol. With his passing marks, he secures a job placement, but Sunbae finds out that he stole his notes. Sang Cheol secures a job interview at Sunbae’s father’s company. With the interview at the company, he will lose his position at the other firm. Sunbae gives him notes to purposefully make him fail the interview.  Instead of doing his own research he uses the fake notes, and loses both jobs. However, his dad finds out from Baek In Ha that he set up his former friend because of a girl who is “below his stature.” Baek In Ha gets cut off by the family and takes it out on Hong Seol by pushing her into oncoming traffic while she was on the way to see him, she ends up in the hospital. Jung’s father forces him to move overseas for a few years. Three years later, Hong Seol has written him tons of emails that he has not read and it appears that they cross each other on the street. Then all of the emails start to switch to read.

Final verdict: SKIP  

The music is really good. The OST is phenomenal, it definitely is a plus to this drama, as it draws you into the storyline. The storyline does have some sweet moments with the cast between the different couples and with Seol’s family, but nothing that stands out as amazing. Also, even though I don’t like Baek In Ha, her fashion is insane! She has an amazing wardrobe in this series.  But y’all, this drama made me lose my mind. Sunbae and Seol are so similar that they don’t communicate about anything.  It causes a lack of trust, and what could be a really strong relationship seems to just barely touch the surface. The other couple, Bo Ra and Eun Taek, can't seem to just openly admit their feelings. Instead, he gives her all these hints. And Bo Ra’s reasoning for not wanting to date Eun Taek is a common and silly recurring K-drama idea - “because she doesn’t want to lose him.” I’m glad they finally ended up as a couple. Also, who deals with a stalker so long without going to the police and filing a report? I really don’t like Baek In Ha as a character; she is an awful person. Like seriously, I dislike her character to the point I fast forward through her parts because of her voice. And how can the drama just end that way…seriously?! It just ends. There is a hope of a reconnection, but it just ends. Because of these reasons, “Cheese in the Trap” is a solid SKIP on our list.

So, there it is, our review of “Cheese in the Trap.”  What did you think?!  Thank you for joining us on this journey. 

Have a favorite K-drama you think we should review, comment down below!!  We look forward to seeing you back again soon!

Up next, “The Secret Romantic Guesthouse”