cheese in the trap
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Worst Case of Second Lead Syndrome, Ever
9:53 PM
Have you ever had second lead syndrome so bad you want to throw your laptop across the room?
No? That's just me?
Oh. Okay, then.
But seriously, the Korean drama Cheese in the Trap is currently killing me right now. I already had second lead syndrome before going into watching the drama, and it's just been amplified as I've watched the drama. In case this sounds a bit strange to you—Cheese in the Trap is actually a Webtoon penned by author Soonkki that I am totally and utterly in love with and have been since this past summer, when I started reading it.
The lead, Yoo Jung, has always come off as rather...well, simply put, sketchy to me. He's hot and cold too often, and he always seems to have an ulterior motive. While the first season of the Webtoon was a bit better at conveying this because it was comprised of a lot of flashbacks and setup of the entire series (which is currently ongoing, whereas the drama is going to end in a few episodes), the most recent seasons it's still fairly obvious that Jung has some sort of...ulterior motive. I don't know what it is, but it bothers me. What also bothers me is there are some serious markers in both the drama and the Webtoon that show Jung as, possibly, a sociopath.
But what really bothers me, though, is that the main girl, Hong Seol, doesn't even completely trust Jung, either, and she's dating him! And see this guy, here?
His name is Baek In Ho. He's a childhood friend of Jung's, and I absolutely love him in both the manga and in the drama. While his personality is a bit more tame in the drama, he's more of my kind of character that I always fall for. He's a spitfire, he's honest, and he's not good at showing his feelings but he cares. If anything, I absolutely love characters like this because they always have character development.
And, if anyone knows me by now, I love character development!
But on a more serious note, I have an extreme case of second lead syndrome, as I said before, and that image above is what finalized it. I prefer In Ho over Jung in general—whether we're talking about the drama or the Webtoon. In Ho's character is more trustworthy, and he's there when Seol needs him. They've gotten to know more intimate things about each other, such as some of Seol's family problems and her stalker, and In Ho has been there to stand up for and save her. He's even worried about Jung using her, as seen from some inner battles he has with himself in the Webtoon.
Whereas Jung...what? What is he? What is he to Seol? Seol and Jung don't even seem to know why they like each other or are dating, and have admitted on several occasions they hated each other the prior year. And what kind of "getting to know each other" have they been doing? None. They go out to dinners when they can, but most times those plans get intercepted or cancelled (more so in the Webtoon). He hated her so much he's the one who manipulated someone into stalking her. And, speaking of manipulation, that's what he does with majority of his relationships.
And now, apparently, the show is receiving a lot of backfire, from what I've read. The reason? For not following the material of the manga. While I admit I haven't read past season two, I also have to say this—the show doesn't have any responsibility to follow the Webtoon exactly, despite what Yoo Jung's actor, Park Haejin, may think or say on the matter. It does claim to be true to the Webtoon, which is misleading and possibly unfair because Soonkki hasn't given her permission for some of the things that have happened in the drama to happen, and since the show claims it's true to the Webtoon...well, that's just not right. I hope it doesn't influence Soonkki to change whatever plans she has for the comic in the future. But I don't think it's fair, either way, to give the producers such crap about not staying true to Yoo Jung and Hong Seol's relationship. Even the Webtoon has been splitting time between the characters evenly, so I see no problem with what the drama is doing or with the drama wanting to be unique to the parent material.
The rumors that are going around about everything going on concerning the drama are worrisome to me, especially because I like Seo Kang Joon and don't want him to receive a bad rap for this—because Korean fans are insanely fucking obsessive when it comes to their music and dramas—but I can't say I dislike the direction the drama is going in. Sure, it would've been nice for Jung to get some of the backstory that appeared in the Webtoon in order to understand him a bit more...but I don't even like him in the Webtoon, so it's not a huge loss to me. I'm skeptical, anyway, because also despite what Park Haejin may say...well, the lead always gets the girl, from my personal experience of watching dramas. So cry about it a little more, everyone.
I'm rooting for In Ho to win in the end, despite what people say. Because I've been rooting for In Ho since the day he showed up in the Webtoon.
The lead, Yoo Jung, has always come off as rather...well, simply put, sketchy to me. He's hot and cold too often, and he always seems to have an ulterior motive. While the first season of the Webtoon was a bit better at conveying this because it was comprised of a lot of flashbacks and setup of the entire series (which is currently ongoing, whereas the drama is going to end in a few episodes), the most recent seasons it's still fairly obvious that Jung has some sort of...ulterior motive. I don't know what it is, but it bothers me. What also bothers me is there are some serious markers in both the drama and the Webtoon that show Jung as, possibly, a sociopath.
But what really bothers me, though, is that the main girl, Hong Seol, doesn't even completely trust Jung, either, and she's dating him! And see this guy, here?
His name is Baek In Ho. He's a childhood friend of Jung's, and I absolutely love him in both the manga and in the drama. While his personality is a bit more tame in the drama, he's more of my kind of character that I always fall for. He's a spitfire, he's honest, and he's not good at showing his feelings but he cares. If anything, I absolutely love characters like this because they always have character development.
And, if anyone knows me by now, I love character development!
But on a more serious note, I have an extreme case of second lead syndrome, as I said before, and that image above is what finalized it. I prefer In Ho over Jung in general—whether we're talking about the drama or the Webtoon. In Ho's character is more trustworthy, and he's there when Seol needs him. They've gotten to know more intimate things about each other, such as some of Seol's family problems and her stalker, and In Ho has been there to stand up for and save her. He's even worried about Jung using her, as seen from some inner battles he has with himself in the Webtoon.
Whereas Jung...what? What is he? What is he to Seol? Seol and Jung don't even seem to know why they like each other or are dating, and have admitted on several occasions they hated each other the prior year. And what kind of "getting to know each other" have they been doing? None. They go out to dinners when they can, but most times those plans get intercepted or cancelled (more so in the Webtoon). He hated her so much he's the one who manipulated someone into stalking her. And, speaking of manipulation, that's what he does with majority of his relationships.
And now, apparently, the show is receiving a lot of backfire, from what I've read. The reason? For not following the material of the manga. While I admit I haven't read past season two, I also have to say this—the show doesn't have any responsibility to follow the Webtoon exactly, despite what Yoo Jung's actor, Park Haejin, may think or say on the matter. It does claim to be true to the Webtoon, which is misleading and possibly unfair because Soonkki hasn't given her permission for some of the things that have happened in the drama to happen, and since the show claims it's true to the Webtoon...well, that's just not right. I hope it doesn't influence Soonkki to change whatever plans she has for the comic in the future. But I don't think it's fair, either way, to give the producers such crap about not staying true to Yoo Jung and Hong Seol's relationship. Even the Webtoon has been splitting time between the characters evenly, so I see no problem with what the drama is doing or with the drama wanting to be unique to the parent material.
The rumors that are going around about everything going on concerning the drama are worrisome to me, especially because I like Seo Kang Joon and don't want him to receive a bad rap for this—because Korean fans are insanely fucking obsessive when it comes to their music and dramas—but I can't say I dislike the direction the drama is going in. Sure, it would've been nice for Jung to get some of the backstory that appeared in the Webtoon in order to understand him a bit more...but I don't even like him in the Webtoon, so it's not a huge loss to me. I'm skeptical, anyway, because also despite what Park Haejin may say...well, the lead always gets the girl, from my personal experience of watching dramas. So cry about it a little more, everyone.
I'm rooting for In Ho to win in the end, despite what people say. Because I've been rooting for In Ho since the day he showed up in the Webtoon.
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