Cheese in the Trap (2015) Review

Cheese in the Trap

Just finished watching Cheese in the Trap. It was based on a popular webtoon of the same name and was a hit with the audience while it lasted. And I must say,, though the webtoon is still going on, the drama ending was really satisfying, if not without a little disappointment to the romantic in me who believes everything should end well with the protagonists.

Our hero, Yoo Jung is, how to say, a manipulative and scary character. He doesn’t get angry, he gets even, often in a very cruel way. He is sweet and dependable to everyone but our heroine, Hong Sul, who understands him right from the first time she lays her eyes on him. Yoo Jung doesn’t like that there is someone who can see past his mask, and is irritated in the beginning, but soon he thinks that there are a lot of similarities between them. Though, once he convinces her to start dating him, he realizes exactly how very different they are from each other, it also makes him ask her earnestly, “Do I seem that strange to you?” Sul understands him, but she rightly tells him, “I understand why you did those things (hurt people by going behind their backs often because they won’t leave him alone) but if you continue doing it, someday all those hurts will come back to you.” And it does. Sul gets into an accident, and mostly because of his fault.

He is rudely awakened when he sees how people around him get hurt because of him. He understands why people think he is strange and are scared of him. He decides to find what sort of human he is and come to terms with it. He breaks up with Sul and tells her he would come back once he can love her properly.

Three years passes, Sul’s life has moved on but she still hopes for him to come back. She emails him but all of those are unread, when suddenly, one email is “Read”, right before the end.

The fact that I liked the most about the ending is that they have kept it open as to the fate of our protagonists. Do they get back together? Does he come to terms with how he is and change? Or he continues being as he was. The audience is left to make their own conclusion about these questions. The romantic in me wants to believe that whatever course is decided by Yoo Jung, it includes Hong Sul as his companion.

I would totally recommend this series, not only because of the complex characterization of the mail lead, but also because of the really hot second male lead who has excellent piano skills to increase his likeability. The only bone I have to pick with the director is I wish Yoo Jung was given more screen time and has more sweet moments with Hong Sul, especially since they are not shown to have an exactly ‘happily ever after ending’.

K Drama Reviews

So, I had promised in an earlier post that will do the review of the K-dramas I have watched. These are not new, but for viewers overseas like me, maybe it will help you decide which ones to watch when you are trying to figure out from the list of k-dramas provided to you by AsianWiki or google.

So I am going to do the following Reviews:

1. Pinocchio (2014)

2. Playful Kiss (2010)

3. The Heirs (2013)

So, let's start.

Pinocchio (2014)

Starring Lee Jong-suk and Park Shin-Hye (both of whom are generally likable by the mass) it had a convincing story and end. The USP of this show was the innovative concept of a person having Pinocchio syndrome. Its exactly as it sounds. People can't lie. Instead of their noses getting longer, in this show, people get hiccups (only the heroine is actually shown to have this hiccup issue though. Though it may be assumed that the Pinocchios has similar problems). It has an air of Lee Jong Suk's debut drama "I can hear you', where the protagonists are bound by a crime in the past and they complement each other in their future work of solving that distant crime. Park Shin is spunky in this drama, unlike in You're Beautiful and The Heirs where she seems to be helpless and too accommodating. Lee Jong Suk is resplendent as usual. 

I won't go into summarizing the show, you'd find it anywhere, instead I would give my impression of it. 

I was hooked onto this show right from the beginning by some excellent acting and convincing plot twists. The added bonus is of course a sizzling on screen chemistry between the leads (I wish, people stopped linking Park Shin Hye with every male she has ever acted with). It has a healthy dose of romance sprinkled judiciously along the tight detective story style narrative. Also, just when you start getting skeptical about demonizing a woman for every crime under the earth all along the first half of the show, her human side is finally shown in an convincing manner. 

All in all, though the pace drops a little in the middle, it picks up near the finale and overall leaves you with a feeling of time worth spent. I would recommend it of you are a fan of handsome heroes with innate sense of style and enjoy crime stories.

Playful Kiss (2010)

The image above describes perfectly the story and attitude of the show. One of my friend's recommendation made me pick up this show to watch and more importantly because I wanted a show where Kim Hyun Joong gets the girl (BOF left me wanting for more Hyun Joong). Well, he does get the girl here, but it seems only because she didn't seem to have eyes for anyone except him. In fact, so complete is her devotion towards Hyun Joong, tom Cruise himself couldn’t have wavered her. It was absurd and kind of offensive at times to all the female population. She is always one step behind him and her eyes downcast, exactly like in the image above. It evident that it is based on a manga written for women of 70s-80s. 

The story can be summarized in one line. There's this girl who isn't that great in looks or studies, falls for this genius, good looking hero adored by the entire school and continues her devotion until he breaks and deigns to marry her. Oh, and this also promotes that getting married before finishing your studies is okay. 

I felt so bad that one of my biggest crushes had to star in such a story line. But except BOF, dramas don't seem to have done much for Hyun Joong's Hallyu success. Though visually striking, I would recommend you to watch it only for Hyun Joong.

The Heirs (2013)

I would always say yes to a Lee Min Ho show- be it a drama or movie. I was kind of saving this show for later view during one of those inevitable blank periods when there seems nothing worth watching. The Heirs, though it started gloriously (despite some cringy moments when Min Ho showcases his English speaking ability), falls kind of flat at times. Min Ho's character seems to be the worst affected right after Shin Hye's. In fact, everybody else's characters seemed to have better back stories than the leads. Also, I did not dig Lee Min Ho's hairstyle plus he looked too old to play a high schooler. They just could have replaced the grand mansion to be college or university instead. It definitely would have been more convincing. 

The story strives to prove the line that "All that money, but still miserable." What the future Heirs of wealthy families have to go through. And in contrast, the middle class families are marginally better from they have their own set of issues not related to their immediate families but to do with their dreams of future. 

The guy who shone the most, in my opinion, was the CN Blue Drummer, Min Hyuk. He is by far the best actor of the band, though I have yet to see how the guitarists have fared in their respective dramas.

The story is nice and has a definite pace, though Lee Min Ho's antics seems to be a rich boy's rebellion against his rich father. The lady playing his mother had a better characterization than him.

I would recommend you to watch it, not because of Lee Min Ho and Woo Bin, but because it was worth watching. And the ending was really nice, though there were still some lose ends, but you don't care about them by the time the last scene arrives. It is a drama, and worthy of repeat watches.

So, that’s it for today. See you next time.

The Usual Whining

So, here I am, back again, with a new post. Its my usual whining my Diary is filed with, of a girl, rapidly approaching 30, halfway towards my retiring age (conventional, I mean), who stays alone in a metro and the associated frustration of not being near her parents or future husband. Add to that, the frustration of not being able to doing anything about her determined purpose of life ('dream' being a too cliched word). Not to mention going to a job which is well paid but does nothing to provide job satisfaction and the fact that the seniors in that job seem to be well satisfied with what they have been doing in their lives.

So what do you do to dispel your sense of helplessness and powerless against this compulsion for your paapi pet? You start finding new ways of satisfying your appetite and trying to convince yourself that you are doing something worth doing. To get over the fact that Mumbai has everything under the earth you may wish for, but the over pricing and travel time doesn't allow you to do anything easily unless you are actually planning for it since beforehand; I joined Guitar class. The result is I have split fingers in my left hand and I rarely get the time to practice it at home. Costly enrollment in a gym where I barely get time to go because by the time I have come back tackling the Mumbai Local, I usually have no life left in me. Consequently, I have also learned why Mumbaikars rush everywhere, even when they have reached the last station and their homes are only minutes away. I feel, very badly for everyone who are forced to stay here. I imagine this city must have been a pleasant place to live at only a few decades ago. Now, the locals hate the outsiders much as the outsiders hate to go through all the nonsense in their daily lives (I daresay that people who actually enjoy staying in Mumbai also hate the aspects I mentioned). It so ironic. So may people suffering, same sufferings, no matter who they are or what they do.

Life seems meaningless now-a-days. Don't know what is lacking. But kids, here's a lesson for you. Don't take for granted what you have today, right now. You never know when life will make you eat your words. And don't ever create dreams for yourself based on vague assumptions, instead make meticulous plans if you really want something to happen in your life. Its so true, life actually hands yo out what you really want. Because, whether consciously or not, you somehow work for it. Problem with mine is, I have had too mane vague and unplanned variables in my wants and thus am reaping what i sowed.