What has the New Year brought us? A really good drama, wohohohoho! I was so excited for this mainly because Park Hae Jin is a member of the cast but I actually fell in love with ‘Cheese in the trap’ after watching the first two episodes. This is for sure a good start! Ha!
The first two episodes of ‘Cheese In The Trap’ were good….I think along the way I got too much into the comments of the webtoon’s fans who weren’t accepting the cast or the actual remake and I also ended up being a bit skeptical about the drama. In a way I do understand the fans’ concerns, there were a lot of times when my favorite works were re-made, be it into a live action or made into another drama, and most of the times things turned bad, like really bad (writer and producer of Nodame Korean version, do you hear me ? don’t do that again, ever).
Because of this and out of fear that I may like the webtoon more than the drama I was firm in not reading it until the drama ends. However since I wanted to understand the characters better and was also curious for what will happen in the next episode, I started reading it. While I was reading, I could see that there were definitely some changes made but it wasn’t anything major. What was the most surprising thing was that I finally understood why people were saying about Park Hae Jin being a total match to the webtoon character, Yoo Jung. Not sure if it’s the acting but Park Hae Jin seems to have studied the character and finally got to understand Yoo Jung thus that’s why –maybe- the actor is able to deliver the same feeling as the character.
The thing is that I liked the Yoo Jung from the drama more. Yes, he seemed like a weird lunatic and he did freak me out at times but Park Hae Jin gave Yoo Jung a different flavor. Although he matched the live action Yoo Jung to the one in the cartoon, it was also clear the actor contributed in giving his character something that made him be more charismatic. Even if the character is the same in both works, I couldn’t help but feel that the drama Yoo Jung was polished.
Not only Yoo Jung was given a certain aura but the drama has some scenes with a better or more powerful emotional impact than in the webtoon. Like for example the scene when Yoo Jung waits for Hong Seol after she returns from the blind date, at that time Park Hae Jin showed the pain of Yoo Jung who thought that Seol used him like anyone else, or pretends to be nice because she needs something in return.
The best part of reading the webtoon was the fact that I could understand Yoo Jung. Although in that aspect it will be better to read the webtoon since you will find out some of Yoo Jung’s thoughts but if I am to look at it as a work, personally I didn’t find it that entertaining. Even after just 2 episodes I like the drama more, maybe because I’m more of a drama person, I don’t know it’s just that it wasn’t as good as people were praising it to be. I actually marathoned the webtoon in a night because I was curious not because it was a good work.
Before the drama started I got to read a lot of comments from the fans of the webtoon and to be hones I was pretty intrigued by Yoo Jung as a character but the following line sums up both Yoo Jung and Hong Seol….and pretty much any other character in this drama.
“I tend to draw conclusions about people on my own and misunderstand.”
Even since I found myself tearing up at a scene acted by Hyeri in Reply 1988, I told myself not to judge an actor or an actress before the drama starts airing. Luckily, for me I think, Kim Go Eun did a good job in these two episodes. Even though there is a bit of a gap between Hong Seol from the drama and Hong Seol from the webtoon I, once again, prefer the one from the drama. I don’t know but she made Hong Seol look normal and she didn’t exaggerate like how it happened with Nodame, the Korean version. It may also be a desire from the director to not let the actors exaggerate, or act in a more animated way but in exchange tell them to be more natural, like normal University students.
The other actors are also pretty good. I never understood why people don’t like Seo Kang Joon. Well, he looks like an airhead but let’s not believe everything we see on TV. He is actually a really good actor. Not sure if I should say the same for Lee Sung Kyung but I will wait for more of her scenes. She clearly didn’t establish a relationship with the character she is playing but I will wait for more and then judge. By the way, Nam Joo Hyuk improved a bit. No, nothing impressive but he is trying so I’m going to keep an eye on him in the next episodes.
I’m still scared about the writer and how she will make the future episodes. In the past, her works were bad and the way I see it, the actors and the director are the ones pulling this off. Let’s see if they have a decent script to work with in the next episodes.
Four Seasons Dramas! 
[…] Episodes 01 & 02 […]
this one’s excellent to the point of wow, in these first two episodes. super nuanced by all involved and the leads are killing it imho. look forward to more of your thoughts as this progresses 🙂
You sort of pointed out what I thought. HAHA. Especially with Seol. I’m also reading the webtoon out of curiosity, more than anything, and Seol’s character in the drama is really good – meant to be realistic at the very least. I’m enjoying Kim GoEun’s acting, nothing over the top, just plain realistic.
As I’ve seen Haejin act before, I’m still impressed. His micro expressions are the best and to be honest, whoever created both the drama leads’ characters, really did a good job. It’s close to the webtoon, but also very believable to be in a tv drama.
Exactly, the characters are close to the manhwa but still different. Quite enjoyable so fat XD
Thanks for reading and for the comment ~
kudos for your very elaborate review, and i fully agree with you. the drama has ended and i should say my favorite episodes includes 1&2 the most. i wonder what’s your thoughts to the overall drama.
I will post soon a review, I was too busy with school to write it.
Thanks for the comment and for reading:D