'CHEESE IN THE TRAP' - EPISODE 2

In today's episode, Yoo Jung is even more up front about his feelings (?) toward Hong Seol, and Seol is extremely uncomfortable by all this unwarranted kindness and interest from someone who's been ignoring her from day one.

We already know that Yoo Jung isn't the genuine guy that he makes himself out to be, so why does he want to eat with her all of a sudden? What does he really want from Seol? Are there any hidden motives behind all this attention he's giving her?

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Yoo Jung pesters Seol to eat everyday no matter how much effort Seol tries to avoid it. But there is no tree that doesn't fall after being pecked at multiple times. He finally gets Seol to agree and eat with him, and they end up at a convenience store. A CONVENIENCE STORE.

But this is also the first time that we see Yoo Jung and Seol together, alone, carrying on a conversation for more than just couple minutes. If we got a glimpse of the cold-hearted and manipulative side of Yoo Jung, this is a whole new Yoo Jung who seems to have let his guard down just a little bit. The subtle expression changes that Yoo Jung goes through, especially when he's with Seol, is perfectly executed by Park Hae Jin.

This episode introduces a new character, Kang Ah Young, a close younger friend of Seol, who falls in love with Yoo Jung at first sight. The conversation between Ah Young and Seol is cut abruptly just as Seol is about to answer Ah Young's question, awkward.

In Ho makes his second appearance in the drama and is mistaken for a bum when he calls Seol over. She has her guard up being the paranoid girl she is. Seol drops to the floor awkwardly while trying to brush off In Ho before the school securities appear and the bum and In Ho run away. 

The short-lived relationship between In Ho and the bum seems a bit out of place and doesn't add onto the storyline, but this is where you can see more of In Ho's charitable and humane personality, a complete opposite of what we got from Yoo Jung.

Seol is faced with yet another predicament as she finds her laptop broken on the day that her report is due and her classmates are no help. Yoo Jung notices that Seol is becoming frantic with each second passing by and swoops in like Superman, offering his computer.

His generosity doesn't stop here as Yoo Jung becomes Seol's guardian angel throughout the lecture until she finishes retyping her report, shifting the attention towards him each time Seol is about to get singled out. He even punches in his ID when Seol's account is too low on funds to print her report.

Is it safe to assume that Yoo Jung is being genuine towards Seol yet? Although it's not the first time Yoo Jung was nice to Seol (refer back to when he gave Seol fruit smoothie because she 'drinks too much coffee' in first episode), it is the first time Yoo Jung is nice to Seol even when no one else is watching.

This must mean that Yoo Jung's actions are no longer just an 'act' for others to see, but he's actually doing it for the sake of gaining Seol's attention.

Joo Yeon falls under the cliche female antagonist stereotype as she goes above and beyond when it comes to sabotaging the main lead, all out of jealousy. She quickly becomes a pesky mosquito-like person in Seol's life, all the while surprising herself at how horrible of a person she can be.

Though her actions were overlooked in the past, Yoo Jung isn't having any of this drama and subtly warns her to back off in the best Yoo Jung-like way possible.

As of now, Eun Taek and Bora show off the best synergy, yet their puppy love cuts are cut short each time without much substance and are mostly used as transition scenes. I desperately wished that they had more screen time so I can see the development of their relationship, but I wouldn't be surprised at this point if they just one day blurt out that they are dating, an unfortunate yet inevitable fate every secondary love line faces in every Korean drama.

All we know for now is that Eun Taek clearly likes Bora and Bora is either ridiculously oblivious or is ignoring Eun Taek's more than apparent feelings for her.

If you thought that Joo Yeon couldn't get any worse after taking Seol's report, this time she directs a homeless a drunk person (the same guy who made buddy buddy with In Ho) to Seol who is studying alone at Eun Taek's club room.

She tries to draw Yoo Jung's attention and earn some sympathy votes, bringing up Seol's name to provoke him, only to get a chilling and uninterested response: "You caused the situation, you solve it yourself."

Next day, Yoo Jung is back to his sweet and caring gentleman in front of Seol. He pretends like he doesn't know what happened and it's not clear yet as to why he acts as if he didn't hear anything.

From the viewer's point of view, it is suspicious that Yoo Jung, who's already admitted that Seol 'bothers' him ('bother' used in this setting suggests that he thinks a lot about her), would just turn the other way when hearing that she might be in trouble.

There is no way that Seol knows any of this as Yoo Jung continues to put on his nice guy act in front of her until the end of the episode, and the two even end up taking a very unflattering photo together.

Flashback to the day Seol and Yoo Jung first met, Jae Woo walks out of the restaurant, complaining about Sang Chul. Yoo Jung then hands him the receipt from their committee dinner, hinting that there is something fishy about everything. Jae Woo catches on and knows what he has to do.

Another turning point in this episode happens on the day of Seol's blind date where she makes the grave mistake of setting up Ah Young and Yoo Jung before heading off. Oblivious to her initial intentions, Yoo Jung is all smiles when Seol asks him to eat. When Yoo Jung hears that Seol is going on a blind date, his expression changes for the worse.

We see more of Yoo Jung's stalkerish tendencies towards the end when he is seen waiting for Seol. He and lets his dark side loose and stares emotionlessly, and a little disappointedly, when Seol asks him how eating with Ah Young went. 

I don't buy Yoo Jung's words when he says that he thought that he felt a bit closer to Seol, especially since he has proven himself to be extremely calculative and careful when approaching others. Just because he finds Seol interesting, he's just going to let her in? 

But the line did grab Seol's attention, who is now shaken that he threw her the whole "you're just like everyone else" line.

The last interaction before the episode comes to a close is between In Ho and Yoo Jung, who seems to have known each other for much longer than we've expected, according the hostile conversation that two shared. They are reunited after years of being apart thanks to Seol's cell phone.

In Ho and Yoo Jung clearly have contrasting personalities as Yoo Jung is much more trained when it comes to hiding his true intentions while In Ho's emotional outburst, even during their conversation, is readily available for the viewers. The reason for their lasting dent in their friendship is shown in glimpses through flashback scenes.

Aside from a couple awkwardly transition scenes and underdeveloped relationships (i.e. Eun Taek and Bora), the drama is pretty spot-on when it comes to executing each interaction between the characters. Even compared to the webtoon, the drama version of 'Cheese In The Trap' does well in trimming down the excess details. What really made the drama, though, is the nearly perfect casting.

It was only a bit strange to see Seol being depicted as a clueless and clumsy damsel, but Kim Go Eun did well in making the character come alive in a much more lovable and charming way.