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MattPeddlesden

Kent, UK

MattPeddlesden

Kent, UK
Cheese in the Trap korean drama review
Completed
Cheese in the Trap
2 people found this review helpful
by MattPeddlesden
Nov 6, 2019
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
I have mostly good things to say about this so i'm going to get the stinker out of the way first - I thought the ending was executed extremely poorly. I agree with the ending they are trying to portray but I thought that the execution was incredibly underwhelming and left a sour taste on what had otherwise been an enjoyable and different story to watch.

There are lots of strong characters in this one, the main leads are of course there but the seconds are just as present and have good interesting plots and backgrounds in their own rights.

My favourite character by far was Baek In Ha - her character teeters on a fine line between "ugh she's so annoying get her off the screen" and wacky enough to be different and given the relatively flat and understated natures of the main leads, In Ha's stark contrast was actually a welcome shot in the arm. The actress (Lee Sung Kyung) did a brilliant job with an almost constant stream of outlandish facial expressions - this girl wears her heart on her sleeve and hides nothing from anyone around her, but she's selfish, bitchy and clearly has some issues. It was good to see that ultimately those issues got explored as part of the male leads story, and I particularly liked the utter contrast when In Ha has something of a breakdown and ends up in care for a short while as things come to a head in the story. I am absolutely going to look up some more work from Lee Sung Kyung though, I absolutely need to see her talents in other roles!

I can draw some parallels in this story against "Remember - War of the Son" - both stories cover the warped way that chaibol kids are raised and the impacts that it has on them as they grow, how they react / respect the people around them and the impact that it has on those people. Baek In Ha and Baek In Ho are hugely impacted by what looks to be a wonderful gesture from Mr You, the father, to bring them in and adopt them - but they ultimately pay a price because of how it affects them, and that starts to talk to how In Ha ends up the outlandish character that she is.

I've read some reviews and other commentary on this show and it seems a lot of people wanted Hong Seol (the female lead) to end up with the second lead (Baek In Ho), but I must admit throughout I was routing for her to end up with Yoo Joung (the male lead) - throughout the story he is clearly developing as a person, she's dragging him to some sense of reality and she's the one person that he wants to hold on to enough that he improves himself to do it. I enjoyed his transformation including the ultimate realisation of just how far he needed to come to ensure that he didn't hurt those around him any more, and taking responsibility for that change.

For those looking for the fluffy romance, look no further than secondary characters Bo-Ra and Eun-Taek - at the start he jokingly comments that he's her "servant" but wonders when she will release him from being a servant. It's clear that he wants more out of the relationship but she seems dead set on things staying as they are. This is developed and explored throughout and was as well done as some main couple stories. I'm glad this was present in the story, it created some light moments as well as giving you multiple couples to support and hope would find their way to a happy future.

Music - nothing really stood out, I need to listen to the OST to see if I was just paying too much attention to the story.

On the topic of Music, Baek In Ho is portrayed as a character who is a genius with the Piano and numerous times in the story he is seen playing various pieces. The piano is my favourite musical instrument and I was delighted to see it included in this way - some of my favourite scenes were with In Ho and Hong Seol sitting side by side playing a piece together and having fun.

Conclusion - I think it's worth a watch, i'm not sure if i'd rewatch it in a hurry but that's almost entirely down to the absolutely rubbish way they concluded it in the final few seconds. I genuinely thought i'd pressed a skip button on my phone or something. On reflection I think they were just trying to be coy or imply the start of something bigger but having gone to the extent of the setup prior to the final moments (trying to avoid spoilers here) the final scene was just a complete let-down. One more episode was almost needed, at least, in order to put a proper conclusion to this and then i'd have been much happier with it overall.
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