The Golden Spoon

Trade your parents for other ones?

Sadly, in these days of an overgrowth of narcissism & self absorption, more & more kids wouldn't find that idea unappealing; but for most of us, it sounds preposterous. A non-starter.

Even so, Lee Seung Chun (SC) is so over being poor. So over his worthless father. So over kimchi stew. So over being bullied by rich punks. He's smart - smart enough to attend an elite school on scholarship, but there's a wall between him, in his convex existence, & the /other/ side - the concave side where the rich reside. He's doing everything he can to gouge a hole through, so he can get to that other side. But he feels like he's digging through rock w/ a dull spoon. He feels banjaxed. Knackered. Downright desperate. Stick a spork in it.

TGS opens pretty hot, & very sad. It's really rough for the poor kid (SC), & it's even rough for the rich kid (Tae). Each of them is scraped on different sides of the grater. TGS is a 2022 release that is rated 80 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 80-minute eps. Early on, it proceeds slowly (but steadily) w/ only a couple hiccups. The early eps are only the appetizer, & the main dish emerges around ep9 or 10 when alot of other shows stutter. I appreciated it more as the eps rolled by.

The acting is quite good. At times, it's excellent. The actress who plays Tae's stepmother, Son Yeo-Eun from Band of Sisters, is amazing in a couple of scenes. Yook Sung Jae (Mystic Pop-Up Bar-8.2, Goblin) is ML, SC. They have him in long bangs which means less of his face is showing. Therefore, his lips look absolutely massive. He's a dishy looking guy, but all I see is lips when I look at him. He does a nice job. The beautiful Yeonwoo (Dali and the Cocky Prince) is schoolmate & general interferer. Lee Jong Won (Knight Flower, S2 Hospital Playlist-9), plays Hwang "Tae" Yong. Jung Chae Yeon (My First First Love-8) is the sweet Na Ju Hee (JuH). The 3 forge a tangible bond & seem to be perfectly casted. SC's dad is played by Choi Dae Chul. He has an emotional scene in ep14 that took my breath away. I was astounded to learn, after dipping into his credits, that I'd already seen him in Inspector Koo-8.4, Hello, Me!-6.7, Vagabond-8, When the Camellia Blooms-8, & Revolutionary Love-5.7. I'll never overlook him again. Competence shows: The director is Song Hyun Wook of The King's Affection-8.3 & Another Miss Oh-7.5, & screenwriters, Kim Eun Hee (Live Up to Your Name-7.6) & Yoon Eun Kyung (The Snow Queen), all have proven records.

"Golden Spoons" & "Dirt Spoons" are a Korean adage in reference to the "haves & the have-nots". SC is painfully poor. His family is a slotted dirt spoon - whatever money they do get just drops right through & is lost. It hurts all the time. At his elite HS none of the other kids have any inkling of what that's like. They're all rich, spoiled & entitled. SC's best friend understood, but he commits suicide along w/ his family in the early minutes of ep1. (Ouch) Next, the rent collectors are back. SC's family is on the verge of being homeless.

'Who wants to be rich? Buy a Golden Spoon & get rich...' It was the right day for the crone to scoop him up w/ these words. SC stops at the weird old lady's table of goods & studies the golden spoon. (Korean spoons are shallow & perfectly round - they're very cool looking). 'Eat 3 meals at someone's house w/ it & you will switch parents w/ that someone.' Right then, SC didn't value his parents. He's tired of the plastic utensil life. Hello Tiffany's tableware! By the end of ep1, SC had eaten at Tae's place twice. Tae is... think Gu Jun-Pyo from Boys Over Flowers. He's the tippity-top. He's the most elite HS student in Korea. But it doesn't look like SC will ever get invited back for that 3rd meal. It's looking like convenience store fare for the balance of his life.

For the record, I hate the way he finagles the 3rd meal. The way he got the 2nd one should have been the way he got the 3rd one. As it plays out it's clunky. But he gets the deed done & the food eaten. The switcheroo is complete. Magic is real!! Now his own parents don't know him, & Tae looks so So SO HAPPY w/ his new family.

In a way, it feels like the writer is a mother bird that pre-chews the food for the viewer. The moral choices are quite easy the way the writer stacks it up & ladles it out. Tae makes a horrible mistake that makes eating that 3rd meal, & effectively stealing Tae's Life, almost justifiable. As it turns out, SC is much better suited for the Hwang family, just as Tae is a better fit w/ the Lee clan. SC has the brains & moxie to be a player in the financial world, while Tae is a sweet & artistic soul who loves piano & drawing. He misses his mother, most of all, so after the switch he will keep repeating that he can't believe he has a mom. The viewer will also find out how profoundly dysfunctional the Hwang family is. One night SC spies on the Lees, his real family. They are cozy together, like birds in a nest - they're practically spooning eachother! The family is so happy /without him/. Dad is SO PROUD of Tae's artwork. JuH likes Tae. Well, she actually likes SC, but now Tae is SC. Tae likes JuH. That works out, right? WRONG! SC likes JuH! It wasn't enough to take everything Tae owned. He wants the girl, too.

Most things roll out gradually - there's over 20 hours of programming, afterall. SC helps his family from behind the scenes, & he checks on them frequently.

'Whoops. I forgot to tell you about a rule. If one of you runs into his real parents on your birthday, you'll switch back.' That's in the note from the old lady. Switching back is possible. It's possible at 1mo, 1yr, & 10yrs. Apparently it's a danger on every birthday as well. SC ends up scrambling at a birthday party to keep real Tae from running into his bio-dad.

'Don't tell me you wouldn't trade your poor parents for rich ones in a heartbeat.' SC (in Tae's shoes) is incredulous. Tae had everything, but he's happy, very happy, w/ SC's poor, pathetic family. 'I love my parents more than anything in the world. No matter how much money, I would never trade them,' Tae (in SC's shoes) insists. He then drops this dollop on top: 'I don't like your parents at all. I'd rather live in my poor house than in your suffocating one.' He means it. SC is speechless. Next, it's Tae's dad that is jealous of the love SC's family has. He doesn't respond well to such feelings, so he wants to prove a point about the value of money to SC's father. What he doesn't know is that his own son has already chosen to be poor, alongside this poor man, rather than be rich w/ him.

TGS scoops out quality elements generously. They're stroon, eh - strewn - everywhere. Some flashbacks & memories in partial B&W & have a washed out feel. It's a refreshing & effective technique. As of ep3 I couldn't be certain who will end up w/ whom - except big sis, Lee, is definitely destined for Munki. They can run a mixed martial arts studio - ep3 has a couple of dazzling fight scenes. One is amusing & the other is professional & smooth. The way SC looks, after a cooling off period in the USA, is hilarious. That's how they see us. It's fair. In the background is slightly stylized pop music; it's not bad. Answer, by Yeji Kim is very nice, as is Falling by Jeon Sang Keun. They can be found on Shazam & Spotify. Just when I started to wonder if things were getting stale, there's a mid-show shift! A biggin. There's another big twistaroo at the close of ep13. The ending is yet another excellent double-take.

'Desires are always for something we feel we lack.' "Your choices weren't always right, but I still think you're a good man." The theme is wants vs needs, how what we want may not bring us happiness, & how people that become powerful & successful tend to become stingy & believe that they really are better than those less fortunate. Power is corrupting & corruption starts in the heart. The history of the world is the history of a few that have too much, & the many that have too little. Hard work is a great equalizer, but even hard work cannot overcome a corrupt & flawed system. It's not right to blame someone for working hard & becoming successful. However, once a person becomes successful, what is h/h obligation to society? We should all give back, right? Nobody gets a pass on this. Before you judge rich people too harshly, realize that if you are even lower middle class in the USA, you ARE rich by world standards. I had to look at myself at one point & ask if I was as guilty as the ones I despise. Generosity is not taking someone else's money & giving it away; we all have a duty to give. If you don't have a dime to spare, maybe you have something worth more - time. The funny thing is that humans seem to be designed to feel blessed when we give to others. So give to receive! That kind of selfishness is the good everyday magic.

QUOTES📢

The weak always fight amongst themselves, while the true enemy is someone else.

The truth doesn't pull people together, but rather makes them hate eachother.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.9 📝8 🎭8 💓7 🦋5 🎨7 🎵/🔊7.7 🔚8.2 ▪ 🌞5.3 ⚡5.8 😅3 😭4.5 😱3 😯3.5 🤢3 🤔5 💤0

Age 13+ Language, violence, some blood

Rated TV-15+

Re-📺? ☑

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Modern Day - Crazy Love l-7.8, A Witch's Love 7.8, Love to Hate You 8.9, Her Private Life 8, Touch your heart 8.2, Crash Landing On You 9.1, Oh My Ghost 10, It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9, Love Struck in the City 7.3, Hospital Playlist 9

⛔Mini spoilers follows⛔

It seemed that the writer was setting up a situation in which it would come out that Tae's dad had switched places w/ SC's father, years back. They do come up w/ a passable twist, but it is not as good as the father switch would have been. The fact that SC is so much like Tae's dad and visa versa is wasted, and it makes a poor red herring. We are in a day when surprises and subverting expectations are valued above quality, sadly.