CHEESE IN THE TRAP - EPISODE 1

The first episode starts off strong at a dimmed bar where you see Hong Seol (Kim Go Eun), the female protagonist, drunk as a bird slurring on about how she is going to take time off from school to her best friends, Eun Taek (Nam Joo Hyuk) and Bora (Park Minji). Bora, best friend of Seol, tries to settle Seol down, and Eun Taek mocks Seol's drunk talk.

Seol then points to an empty chair in front of her and asks where he went. Where who went you ask? Where Yoo Jung (Park Hae Jin), the popular senior hoonnam, went. When Seol finds Yoo Jung minding his own business, she trips over her drunk self and heads towards the floor. Yoo Jung runs over with a confused expression and you hear Seol's voice over, "It's all your fault. Fine, I'll be gone from your sight, okay?!"

Even for those who haven't read through the webtoon (of the same title), you immediately know that there is some tension between the two though nothing is articulated.

Flashback to a year ago at a beginning-of-term drinking gathering for her department (business administration), the day when Seol meets Eun Taek and Yoo Jung for the first time. Seol is immediately fond of Eun Taek, aka Bora's 'slave' and a persistent admirer of Bora. Seol has taken the past year away from school to earn money.

As someone who has read the webtoon version, it was strange to see Eun Taek being so straightforward about his feelings towards Bora so early on. Maybe the producers wanted to add in the love line early so the story doesn't solely focus on the prolonged suspicious relationship between Yoo Jung and Seol.

It works though especially since Nam Joo Hyuk did well in illustrating a guy who is hopelessly in love with Bora, going as far to get in trouble for a kiss on the cheeks. They look absolutely adorable together, but I digress.

As for Yoo Jung's first impression of Seol, it's dramatic to say the least. When Yoo Jung first sees Seol, she is covered in ssamjang and alcohol and he is absolutely disgusted at the sight of it. Thanks Kim Sang Chul (Moon Ji Yoon), ya nasty.

In the webtoon version, Seol actually devours the alcohol infused wrap that Sang Chul created like a boss as others cheer and even poses for a picture as proof. She's not the helpless little girl that you see in the drama.

Back to the drama, Bora raves on about Yoo Jung to Seol, ignoring Eun Taek who is obviously getting jealous. Seol isn't fooled and comments that Yoo Jung looks a bit cold. All the other girls share Bora's sentiment as Yoo Jung is receiving unwarranted attention, especially from Nam Joo Yeon (Cha Joo Young) and the two proceed to hassle over the pitcher of beer which ends up in Joo Yeon's lap. Yoo Jung apologizes, but Seol thinks that the spill was deliberate and catches Yoo Jung's sly smirk. Seol thinks, 'He did do it on purpose.' The two lock eyes for a brief second. He knows that she knows.

It's not unusual for someone to get weird vibes from someone just at first glance, but Seol takes it to another level during this scene and suspects that Yoo Jung spilled the beer on purpose. The webtoon depicts Seol as a highly sensitive and highly observant character who catches Yoo Jung when he brings out his sociopathic side, but the drama version of Seol does little in showing that side of her. Since this is the just first episode, I'll let this slide.

Next comes the game changing scene where the real tension between Yoo Jung and Seol begins as Sang Chul accuses Seol of snitching on him for embezzling money from the party fund. Seol is clueless about what is going on, but gets irritated when seeing Yoo Jung's smirk once again. She is finally taking a stance for herself as she barks back at Yoo Jung in front of everyone.

Their little conversation ends with the two staring into each other's eyes for a few seconds before he puts on his infamous smirk and leaves the premises.

This follows a series of subtle bullying scenes initiated by Yoo Jung and executed by Joo Yeon. Joo Yeon is infatuated by Yoo Jung at this point and you know how some people get when they are blinded by love. Unable to handle the stress, Seol is tempted to take another year off.

Moving on to possibly one of the most accurately portrayed scenes in the drama, the trio are getting ready to register for their classes. If you are currently a student or have graduated from college, you know that this is possibly the most frustrating moments ever. I've been there and it's not fun.

If you haven't already, you can sense the eerie vibe from Yoo Jung and his strange fascination with Seol from this scene and predict that the two will cross paths coincidently or not.

Lo and behold, Yoo Jung is in the same class as Seol and Bora. There isn't anything suspicious about this since the professor is known to give easy grades and basically everyone is dying to get into his class. Just look at all those happy faces getting ready to get their study on.

However, Seol soon finds out that her name isn't on the roster and when checking with the department, the record showed that she had canceled the class herself. Never a quiet day with our lady protagonist as she finds herself entangled in every college student nightmare possible.

For the sake of the review, I did a bit of skimming through the webtoon again and couldn't find this particular scene. There is a chance that I might have missed it, but I assume that the producers created this scene in to increase the tension between Seol and Yoo Jung and add in another drama between Yoo Jung and Sang Chul. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Sang Chul's backstory also threw me off as I had no feelings of sympathy towards Sang Chul when reading the webtoon. As depressing Sang Chul's reality was, the additional scene wasn't significant enough, but it did make me feel a tiny bit sorry and somewhat understand his situation.

Finally, moving on to our last and possibly my favorite pairing of the episode: Baek In Ho (Seo Kang Joon) and Baek In Ha (Lee Sung Kyung). Just like any other siblings out there, the two hold a very hostile and aggressive relationship and continue to bicker back and forth until the end of the scene.

Though the two seem to despise each other, blood doesn't lie as the two are exactly alike when it comes to their hot-tempered personality and brute word choices.

The casting was perfect for the sibling as they look pretty much like a real brother and sister. Lee Sung Kyung is also exactly like how I'd imagined In Ha would be like in human form. There were various critiques against her acting being overdone, but I think it was spot on when compared to In Ha in the webtoon.

In the last scene, Seol finds herself in a hot mess yet again when Yoo Jung arrives in the class that she was transferred to due to schedule mishap. Yoo Jung reveals that he switched over to the class because he thought it might be more fun. Ah.. yes... fun indeed.

At this point, Yoo Jung is no longer the unfazed hottie that we saw in the beginning. Still good looking though.