The Golden Spoon (2022)

RUSTED SPOONS

The biggest flaw of the story is giving out way too many golden spoon, it kind of reduced the importance of an otherwise powerful selling point.

I will be honest. This is the first Yook Sung Jae series that I have completed (I tried his last show but i cant get past the second episode). This guy is handsome and has the acting chops to boot. Here, as Lee Seung Chun, he caught me in his trap from the very first episode. Something about his pain from being born poor felt effective and believable, and you want him to get out of his desperate situation even if it means somebody else will suffer in his place. As a viewer you'd want to give him the best too.

To be rich, he has to take the place of Hwang Tae Yong, who at first, seems like a despicable character. After a few episodes he managed to switch places, unfortunately for Seung Chun, it is not all greener on the other side as he found out that even the rich Tae Yong has his own personal challenges and demons of his own. Even more unfortunate for Seung Chun, Lee Jong Won's good performance as the new Seung Chun is even better than the original, that you cant help but root for him even more than Sung Jae.

Golden Spoon has managed to convey the rich versus poor comparison very well, albeit, they showed it in a way that poor is synonymous with good and rich is synonymous with evil.

We later found out that there was not only one but quite a few of these golden spoons, which, like I said in the beginning, kind of reduced the importance of the show's most powerful selling point. It felt like a lazy attempt to build the show's tension, to the point that when the last spoon user was revealed, it didnt have the imapct they hoped to create and my eyes just rolled up too high thought it left my skull. It was a waste of cameo from Na In Woo.

Has anyone noticedbhow the seemingly good hearted granny selling these golden spoons is nothing but a creepy Rumpelstiltskin-like character. She just doesn't give a sh*t if the spoon destroys lives, just as long as you buy the spoon. I would have wanted to see her true evil colors, and that she gives all those who used the spoons get what they deserve in return, which comes to that ending that I hated - Seung Chun should have been punished (or at least got the karma he deserved) but instead he got out almost unscathed and looks like he will manage to win the girl after all.

Overall, im still giving it an 8 out of 10. Would i rewatch? Probably not, although Im looking forward to seeing more of Yook Sung Jae and Lee Jong Won's other works.

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Hwang-Tae yong's father

The beginning of the series was well done, yes it was perfect, but after the series came to the middle parts, it started to be processed slowly. I'm still watching because I'm curious about the ending. Although it attracted a lot of attention at first, the audience dropped as the series progressed.

hwang tae young i guessed his dad was already using the golden spoon


Also, right after Hwang-Tae yong's father started eating with Lee Seung-cheon's golden spoon, I noticed how Hwang-Tae Young's father was watching the spoon, obviously his father had a different attitude towards the poor and despised the poor. I hope the series ends well.

yes, it's over, it wasn't a very satisfying ending, frankly, this shouldn't have been the end, but the ending isn't too bad, yes, we've come to the end of another series.

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good start, bad progression

The story started out great no doubt, but personally I hate how the story progressed, I don't know how accurate the drama compared to the webtoon, so I can't say the drama is a bad adaptation. for me this story is a complete fail if its supposed to be a deep story. so I will just assume its just a casual romance story with a fortune game plot,

Pros:
videography is pretty good, plus some young handsome and pretty cast will definitely appealing to your eye, as a drama that constantly tries to show intense scene the music is not too loud not overused and fits well with the emotion, really like it.

Cons:
The characters are irritating, the idealist genius mc degrade to a push-over idiot runs everywhere tries to save the day, second leads somehow stayed a spoiled brat either on poverty or wealthy condition, and I hope his awful past is not just a pity fest material. main girl is just your basic cute pretty angelic girl as a flirt material for the boy, but for the second lead girl somehow has some interesting progression since she is the only character that has certain purposes in the story.
The story has a strong start but weak progression. I thought the real deal started early, its really disappointing to see the mc gave up crying after those determination he shows in earlier episodes, I assume the things starts after ep 6 as he already have a proper plan/purposes. and if the story was supposed to repeat the process of making mistakes, give up , gets backup and then tries again they should have showed more on the mc's emotion of regrets, on how the mistakes changed him, and the shifting of mc's greed for money to something more meaningful.

Overall the drama is not bad, I don't think this drama is good enough to watch each week, but maybe worth to be considered in your binge watching list and for rewatch I don't think this drama will have something meaningful enough to see some different sides of the story, and definitely not a drama you can enjoy as you relax laying back on your sofa.

First impression
This series started out great. grudge, anger, insanity, ambition set up and potrayed very well. laugh scene at police station was pretty awesome, and I can see the actor tries to potray greed on eating scene with the gold spoon, imho that didn't went well could be better.

For the story, I really loves it. the spoon could be the light of hope, or a pandora box for the mc. so much possibilities for story progression "every light cast a shadow" story that tries to defines gray area between good and evil, a perfect plot for a dual protagonist. yet no good progression so far, mc is busy flirting with girls and revealing second lead's past instead of fulfilling his ambition. while second leads enjoying carefree life taken for granted protected by mc. female leads ? so far they are just a flirting targets for mc

As for acting I just feel its weird, I know the spoon only swap their fate in the past not talents, personality, and habits. but after the swap I can see that somehow mc is corrupted by anger and revenge that drives him insane. but not for second lead I can hardly feel he is relieved that now he is away from his fears, he says some good things but still feel like a brat that taken everything for granted like no progression at all.

Music is good, not too loud yet pretty intense, 3 meals scene is very well done reminds me of death note "erasing" punishment scene, small petty details that was so important.

For rewatch value, for me personally depends on ep 4-6 forget about rewatch I might even drop the series

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“Isn't the sunset here beautiful? this is my favorite time of the day”

What a ride. Even though there were times that I didn't actually like how the story goes but I did enjoy the whole show.

The beginning episodes are absolutely amazing. I did shed some tears and got hooked. The ending was not that bad. The cast was amazing, I think they are really destined to portray each of them.

The osts... I like it.. I really love how they used it in a scene. A very good job there.

Anyways at the start I was here for kang min and woo hyun,(my lomls) but stayed for lee jong won. he is great actor and of course sung jae as expected of him.

This is not for everybody I think, but if you'll watch it. Its worth the time.

P.S . Looking forward for lee jong won's next drama. <3

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Superb drama that will break your heart in so many ways.

This story is about a poor high school kid, who decides to swap his life with his wealthy friend with the help of a magic golden spoon. The transition between Lee Seung Chun and Hwang Tae Yong was pretty smooth without confusion and the story is heartbreaking in many ways.

Honestly, although LSC became wealthy, the one who got the short end of the stick from this swap was also him. LSC loved his family so much and he couldn't handle seeing them suffer because of his incompetent dad, so he had to take things into his hands and decided to swap his parents with a rich one. But he felt guilty and lived with that guilt for over 10 years while looking at his family continuing to live happily with the HTY instead.

Why I say he got the short end of the stick was because the one who gained the most from the swap was HTY. He got two loving parents and no longer had to live in a stifling rich family. He could live however he wanted and he had LSC who was looking over their family like a guarding angel. Although poor he didn't have to suffer as much as LSC did when he was poor. And LSC lived that most dangerous 10 years for him and survived. Because if HTY had to live those 10 years, with his cowardly personality he would have been fertilized in some vineyard in a foreign country, with Seo Joon Tae behind his back. While LSC lived it for him and successfully made a comeback.

The overall story had lots of ups and downs and every moment was perfectly delivered by the cast, until the very end the writer kept us on the hook on who will end up as who. I'm not going to judge this drama because of the ending of this drama because overall it is really damn good. Because I didn't see that ending coming. It was abrupt and I kind of felt that all of LSC effort went to waste in just a few seconds. But also, I am glad he survived in some way or the other. So in a way, the ending had me conflicted but the story was superb and I won't let the ending make me feel bad in any way.

This drama is also a place we get to see, Yook Sung Jae in his sexy suit, making my heart melt in so many different ways. I would recommend anyone to watch this drama because each episode will keep you wanting to watch more.

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Was good at the beginning but went downhill

I was hooked into the drama on ep 1 and was intrigue, the plot was so good UNTIL things started to get messy with a ton of unnecessary twists. It got draggy and ruined the drama, I did not like how the fl was portrayed, her role was kinda useless after the timeskip, I don’t hate her as a character but she is just there, nothing important besides being the ml love interest. The cast did an amazing job at acting, would love to see more works from them. Would’ve given it a higher rating but the ending was lacklustre, just very unsatisfying, don’t waste your time watching it.

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ALL OVER THE PLACE

Story: At first I love the intesity of this drama, like you can't take your eyes off from every scene. But I think the story start to get messy after that 10 years later. I see how the writer do not care at all about the consistency of the character, and some scene just do not make any sense, especially towards the end. I think the writer only care about the tension and twist after twist. Too much twist also not good tbh.

Cinematography&Video Editing: I have no comment with the cinematography but their editing was so lackingly noticeable, how they cut the scene and move to another angle, also the billboard news scene like idk if you guys notice but I can't really explain with words.

OST: Tbh all the ost was good! I do have few song that I added to my playlist so I don't have anything to say about OST

Acting: The reason why I stay watch this drama until the end was the acting of the cast. Especially Sungjae... I watch him since School 2015, Goblin, Mystic Pop-up Bar and I would say his acting was the best in this drama. The emotion, facial expression, his narration and tone was really good! Chaeyeon also good this is my first time watching her acting and she will do good in the future
But overall the acting was superb, also Choi Wonyoung as villain seriously giving me a goosebumps, indeed I can trust him with any role

Ending: The ending not satisfying but I'm okay with that

The conclusion I don't think I want to watch any work from this writer of the drama but looking forward to all the actors next project

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Great drama

I just finished watching this. I will say that as I was finishing the final episode and it got to one part in the story I thought "NO you can't end it this way." But finishing it, there was a nice twist with a happy. end. I loved the message that money isn't everything. I really enjoyed this drama, It's one I definitely will re-watch. I have already re watch it once while waiting for the ending.
I loved the chemistry between the actors. I thought they did a great job .Definitely a good one to binge watch. If you love fantasy you like this. Is it perfect ? NO but it was very good.

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Interesting Plot, Great Acting - just the drama pace can bother some (like me)

I was drawn to this drama given its premise - the focus on greed, class system (gold vs dirt spoon) and how far can humans go to achieve their desires and call it justifiable. And the storytelling was honest in depicting all the above while tying to a supernatural element : the magical golden spoon. Overall it is a decent drama - with the right amount of mystery, strong cast and acting, little bit of romance and cool soundtrack. There were only 3 things that I did not like in the drama and hence rated it 7/10.

WHAT WORKS:
✦ The Concept:
We see the drama through mainly through the lens of the male characters that are either dirt poor or drowning in riches. The protagonists in each class looks at the other and longs for what the other has - one hopes for the riches, while the other hopes for love/family. So it gets interesting to see the choices they make which then propels the story forward when their fates get twisted using the golden spoon. Now that both have what their heart desired - would they be content or long to be back to their original selves?

It was interesting to see the choices of the main leads as well as that of the supporting characters. We discover that the magical spoon is not unique and more common. There are others who know its secrets and have it in their possession so it is interesting to see how they have used it and whether they have achieved their goals or not.

✦ Yook Sung Jae:
Technically this is my first drama of YSJ. I have seen him before in Goblin and Mystic Pop Bar - but in both he did not have that much screentime as this one. Have always known that he is a good actor, but this drama proved it. He lives both the characters - rich or poor to perfection, and makes them believable, you will feel the angst and cry with him when he is poor and well as love the suaveness when he plays the rich guy.

I personally though that since he is baby-faced, like other actors of similar appearance it might be that he just a pretty face and not have the acting chops to boot. But am happily going to admit that I am wrong and will now definitely not think twice before picking any of his work. He carries 80% of the show and delivers in every single second/frame of the drama.

WHAT DOES NOT WORK (hence minus 3 from my rating):
✘ The pace: (-1 point)
I personally think if dramas have a revenge plot, or power play. politics or mystery element it should keep you at the edge of the seat. Also the ending of one episode should give you sleepless nights and make you watch another episode and another just to know what happens next. Personally I did not feel this throughout the drama - it was there in the beginning and ending, but the middle plateaus a bit. Not in a bad way, just not to my preferred liking speed. Hence I feel a few elements and golden spoon swaps could have been avoided and the drama could have been more enjoyable had it been of 10 or 12 episodes.

✘ The ending of the last episode & overall handling plot twists (-2 points)
They could have avoided it altogether. We had our happy ending in the middle of the last episode, but then they added an unnecessary twist. While it overall did end well, it was completely unnecessary. In fact this is true for some other twists in the show - it was unnecessary - but overall you won't mind it.

Had the above been not there the rating for this drama would be more - cause it has it all: a good refreshing plot with a message, great cast and acting/cinematography and soundtrack - the whole pack. But these make it a little lower than being a good/great drama and recommended as a one time watch!

Summary:
If the plot interests you like it did for me, I would ask you to go ahead and watch it one time. Maybe on 1.5x speed and with an open mind that the mystery will not blow your mind but would be nice. And of course, watch it for Yook Sung Jae and Choi Won Young characters' secrets and acting! ♥

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Honestly I think it was better than expected even though I knew Sungjae would rock it since hes an amazing actor!
But the plot was interesting and the characters were really well made... But even like this, the middle of the show felt like it was a bit dragged (specially in the two episodes after Taeyong's return from the US) but it was needed for the plot so even if it felt tiring it was understandable and for me didnt become a big problem.
Through the ending I was about to turn it of and go diss the writers and directors whoever made this but once again they gave us a good plot twist ! So overall its an amazing show, I could binge watch it without getting tired and it surely deserves a second watch in the future!

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Some things in life can't be bought

PLOT - I love the plot. A boy that gets his hands on a magical spoon that allows him to switch lives? That’s not gonna go wrong at all. This is going the way I pictured and yet not at the same time. The first ep will def hook you as it did for me and is great to binge.

CHARACTERS - Sungjae surprised me in this. This is my second drama with him(first was Mystic Pop Up Bar). He’s def one of the better idol actors I’ve seen and although isn't perfect he really suits this role. Juhee is nice but doesn’t really stand out as she seems too one-dimensional. Yeo Jin is very intriguing and conjures up more questions about her character as the show continues. Not really sure how to feel about her motivations but I won’t get into that cause I don’t wanna spoil. Taeyong is ok, but his attitude between all the switching is interesting. Taeyong’s father is someone who doesn’t care for things like love and instead finds fulfillment in the things that money brings him.

CONCLUSION - I think the moral of the story is simple and that is money isn’t everything. The protagonist’s dilemma is that he can live a better life with money but he realizes rather quickly the new problems that pursue in his newfound wealth. I do believe he loves his family, but his love of money begins to overcome him and it may end up costing him something he can’t buy back. Each time he chooses to trade lives with Taeyong, that is more time spent away from his family and the one person who loves him despite his situation--Juhee. Although money is important and can change one’s life, it would be a disservice to tell this type of story without exploring the downsides with wealth. If you're poor, you can be happy, but all you'll do is survive and nothing more. Only money for food and possibly shelter — no real luxuries.
You might not be happy if you are wealthy but you could travel far, make friends in high places, and be able to afford things that the average person can only dream of. However people around you will only think about you because of what you have, your trust in others may not be great, and you may even lose interest in spending money altogether(which is what Taeyong did). I’m not saying that being poor is necessarily “better” as every possible path in life has its pros and cons. But the warm unconditional love of family is a luxury that some people desperately need but don’t have. If you have everything but love the things you have hold no real value. Real love is a currency that can’t be exchanged.

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Must Watch!

This Kdrama is by far the best one to come out this month. The plot is amazing and the whole cast is even better, you can instantly tell that they have so much chemistry together. It’s only a few episodes in, but it’s already so intense, filled with many emotions that makes you intrigued wanting to watch the next episode. The drama is all about an underprivileged high school student who was given a chance to exchange life with his chaebol classmate through a golden spoon.

I highly recommend this drama, and it’s definitely a MUST WATCH! You won’t be disappointed.

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