It’s no secret I’ve been looking forward to the end of this drama for weeks so now that it’s here, I can’t say I’m sorry. In all honesty, I’d be throwing a party for the end of this drama if I hadn’t just spent the last hour bawling my eyes out over Baek In Ho. (And no, that isn’t an exaggeration.)
So, I suppose we have stuff to talk about as we wrap this drama up but really, what is there to say? This rather weird and disappointing drama ended just as weird and disappointing as ever. Am I surprised by this? No. But it does make it difficult to talk about something when you’re still trying to figure out just what the heck happened and more importantly, why.
Things just went so wacky this week. I mean I guess I should have expected that when In Ha became the star of the show. Seriously, that girl is so messed up. However, throwing her into a mental hospital (and a rather poor one at that) was not cool. Yes, In Ha needs years of therapy and she needed a serious reality check but was it necessary to have all of this come at Seol’s expense? I get that In Ha wanted to make Yoo Jung suffer as much as she had but c’mon! Did we need to go so far as to nearly kill someone? And really, what did In Ha learn from all of this? She got a slap on the wrist and was cut off from one wack-a-doodle family (which was the only good thing to come of all this) but did she actually learn anything? Did she change at all? She seems to have improved her relationship with her brother a bit but did anything else change? Which makes me wonder, did anything good come of this whole fiasco? What was the point of all this nonsense when In Ha learned next to nothing and hasn’t changed a bit?
Of course Seol’s accident brings about all sorts of crazy with it, especially where Yoo Jung in concerned. First the man decides he’s going to kill In Ha for hurting Seol. Then, after his dad is a total jerk at the hospital and talks about compensating Seol for any permanent damage she may have (because money totally makes up for being crippled the rest of your life…), he realizes that he’s been a total jerk himself (as in his whole flipping life) and has a change of heart. But even this revelation/epiphany/whatever you want to call it, only brings about a half-hearted sort of change in Yoo Jung. He realizes he’s hurt people in a lot of different ways and that they were all wrong, however he refuses to apologize to anyone for his actions. Instead of taking any sort of responsibility in anything that’s happened up to this point, he decides to ditch Seol in the hospital and eventually run away. As in to some other part of the world. Because that makes total sense! Way to man up there Yoo Jung!
Because things weren’t crazy enough, we have to strip In Ho of absolutely everything he’s ever cared about in his whole entire life, before we let him find some sort of bright future. After the accident, In Ho is blamed for his crazy sister’s actions and is cut off from Seol’s family which, as we all know, is the only semblance of a family In Ho has ever had. (insert loud sobs here) As if that weren’t bad enough, In Ho finds out he has to have surgery on his hand (again) and give it time to heal before he can go back to doing the one thing in life that actually brings him joy. (insert more loud sobs here) Sure, this injury isn’t permanent and In Ho does eventually go on to become a world-renowned pianist but before he can find happy in that aspect of his life, he has to be completely miserable in every other aspect. (all the sobbing) What the heck In Ho ever did to deserve everything he was put through in these last two episodes is beyond me. Considering he’s the only character who ever tried to learn and grow and improve his life, he certainly got the worst deal. I swear every scene he was in had me bawling, at first because I was mad and then because I was just so disappointed on his behalf. He deserved so much more than he was given and that whole being responsible for his crazy sister’s actions is something I’ll never get over, especially when it was Yoo Jung’s fault In Ha behaved that way in the first place. And while I’m ranting, WHY THE HECK DID IN HO HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO YOO JUNG WHEN THEY WERE BOTH TO BLAME FOR ALL THE BAD BLOOD BETWEEN THEM!?! Again, Yoo Jung fails to take responsibility for ANYTHING and let’s others do all the hard work for him! AARUGH!
My only consolation is that Yoo Jung and Seol don’t end up together. He goes his way, she goes her, and she regrets so much of her life I feel a very sick sort of satisfaction as a result. I’m happy she and Yoo Jung broke up. I’m happy she’s alone and miserable. I can only hope Yoo Jung is as well. And I’m not even sorry for saying any of this because I don’t think they had a right to be happy. Anyone who thinks it’s okay to hurt other people for their own benefit doesn’t deserve to be happy and that’s exactly what both Hong Seol and Yoo Jung did throughout this entire drama. What right do they have to be happy when they hurt so many people around them? I’m sure this makes me a horrible person but whatever. I was put through 8 weeks of hell, watching this drama, I think it’s okay if I revel in the misery of these two, just a little.
I know a lot of people loved this drama but I did not. From what I understand, the webtoon is quite different from this adaptation and I can only hope things fare better in the original story than they did here. Maybe someday I’ll bring myself to read the webtoon and see if I can find some sort of salvation for these characters but I doubt it. Sometimes, when you’ve been burned, it’s better to just walk away. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m walking away from Cheese in the Trap and I’m not even sorry to see it go.
So tell me, what did you think of this drama’s ending? Were you happy with the way things went? Disappointed? Indifferent? You know I always love hearing from you so be sure to let me know in the comments below!
You can catch up on all my reviews of Cheese in the Trap here:
It was just such a disaster all around in the last half of the drama. Originally I expected the characters to grow and become better people. But they didn’t. Instead we get a stagnant pool of dysfunctional characters. It kind of felt like the drama “Fashion King” minus the whole death aspect. But even if three out of the four had died, I don’t think I would have really cared that much. Oh well. On to the next drama and crossing my fingers it is better.
Fashion King had an awful ending, but at least the leading lady ended up with a kind man who adored her and could give her a happy life. Cheese in the Trap was worse from a romantic standpoint. We were upset in fashion King because we liked the character they killed off even though he was flawed. Sadly, we don’t like any of these characters enough to be even outraged at a death if they had written one into the script.
I’m loving Descendants of the Sun so far. Come back, Mister is also looking promising. I need a good drama to get me over being annoyed that this drama and Mme Antoine have both turned into such a waste of my time. Maybe I’ll go back and watch Healer…something to restore my faith in K-dramas. Lol.
TGIO – thank God it’s over. When the horrible accident at the end of episode 15, you knew that episode 16 was going to be rushed.
The second half of the drama was painful to watch and the final two episodes were no exception.
I honestly don’t think that Yoo Jung was all that awful by inviting the men that In Ha had used for money to the black tie event. She was a horrible person who went out of her way to punish him and needed a serious wake up call. He had tried to tell her straightforwardly before that. I might have felt differently if the writers had been able to stir up any pity in me for her, but they didn’t. None at all. She really did have a psychotic break and needed to get some serious help, but once again, the men around her “fixed” things so that she didn’t receive any help and minimal consequences. In the ends she’s still a shrewish woman who uses men to get whatever she wants because she feels that she deserves to be waited on and is too good to work or educate herself. In the end she just lowers her standards a bit to find someone who is not quite so rich but will still put up with her nonsense. She is truly awful.
Hong Seol goes back to her old ways – working very hard to earn recognition. She has a good job and a title but still doesn’t know how to say “no”, and is pining away for a man who left her when she needed him most. At least she got rid of the awful bangs…until the very final scene when they mysteriously returned. Weird.
Yoo Jung went away to find himself so that he could “love her properly”, yet didn’t even read a single email??! (Same thing happened in Oh My Venus. Is this a new theme?) FOR THREE YEARS?? What a jerk. Still selfish.
At least In Ho’s debt was paid off so He could use his prize money to pay his sister’s fine and take care of his hand (I want to believe that he won). The fact that he’s playing in a restaurant later doesn’t exactly match up to In Ha calling him a “world renowned pianist” though, so it leaves me wondering a bit if he actually did succeed. He looked happy, so I’ll write a happy ending for him in my head. (And why wasn’t Seol in the audience at the concourse? I didn’t see her, did you?)
In the final scene where Yoo Jung finally replies to Seol’s emails, are we supposed believe that he’s ready this start again with her? Ugh. I guess they deserve each other.
Overall watching this drama was a waste of time. I’m so glad that some new dramas have started that look promising.
I was wondering the same thing about Seol in the audience of the concourse. I didn’t see her and I was completely disappointed in her for breaking a promise she went out of her way to make. Meeting him outside his apartment on the way to the competition isn’t the same as actually attending but I’m sure in her mind it was good enough.
I’m with you when it comes to In Ho’s happy ending. I don’t believe playing piano in a restaurant is the same as becoming a world renowned pianist so I’m telling myself he was simply playing to amuse his sister. In my head In Ho did win that competition, he got the surgery he needed for his hand, he let it heal properly and then went back to his music. From there he won many more national competitions and eventually went to study abroad. Away from home and his toxic family and friends, he found a new meaning and purpose in life. He finished his education, made new friends who love and support him no matter what, and went on to live a long, happy life.
As for everyone else… I have no happy ending for them. I don’t care about them enough to waste my time on thinking about them. I suppose it’d be nice if they someone wake up and realize the reason their lives are as messed up as they are is because they’ve made them so but we know this will never happen. This story is full of people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions so why would they start now? I’d be perfectly okay with these people being messed up and miserable forever as long as they never drag In Ho down with them again.
Now that this drama is over, I can move on and (hopefully) find something more worth my time. Because seriously, if I have to suffer through another drama as disappointing as this one, I may throw myself out a window.