A high school student from a poor family buys a golden spoon that will allow him to switch lives with anyone his own age.  Although the thought of turning his back on his family troubles him, in the end he chooses to trade lives with his richest classmate.  But he soon discovers that money does not always make your life easier and his new life comes with a whole new set of worries.  But now he has a whole new set of goals that he hopes to achieve in this new life that can help those he loves from his old life.  

Jung Chae Yeon as Na Joo Hee

Na Joo Hee grew up as the only daughter of a rich father.  But despite her position of privilege, she is generous and hard working. She meets Seung Chun while working part-time at a convenience store, because she likes how it feels to earn money herself.  She falls for him instantly, and the couple begin dating just before Seung Chun decides to use the golden spoon.  At that time, Joo Hee’s father is murdered and she is left alone and broke, after her brother’s take all of her inheritance. Joo Hee is able to make her own way in the world, but she never stops looking for the person responsible for her father’s death.  While Joo Hee and “Seung Chun” (who is really Tae Yong now) remain close friends, she lost any romantic attraction to him once he was not the real Seung Chun anymore.  

Na Joo Hee is cheerful and optimistic.  She is also unfailingly loyal, even when she doesn’t know it.  She is the only character in this drama who proves that happiness is possible whether you are rich or poor, and I kind of love her for that.  Unfortunately this unchanging maturity doesn’t give the character much room for development.  And that is too bad, because I feel like Jung Chae Yeon could have handled a bit more complexity in her role.  She ended up more like an object for the lead actors to fight over than a character with her own story to tell.

Yeonwoo as Oh Yu Jin

Oh Yu Jin, like Seung Chun, was originally born into a poor family, where she had an abusive father and a fatal illness.  When she is offered a golden spoon, she takes the opportunity without ever looking back.  Now her only goal in life is to hold on to the power and privilege she worked so hard to get in the first place.  Part of that includes marrying Tae Yong for his family’s status.  She starts to have feelings for Seung Chun when he is still himself, but she is overjoyed when he becomes Tae Yong.  

 ♥ Tae Yong’s Story

While I love Yook Sung Jae and his role as Seung Chun, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I loved Tae Yong’s story.  He had found ways to cope with his life as Tae Yong, but his family’s money and prestige never brought him any kind of happiness, the way it did for Seung Chun.  But with the love and companionship of Seung Chun’s parents, we see Tae Yong blossom into a happy, healthy person. And I was thrilled to see that in the end his happiness brought him a measure of success that would be enough to chase away the financial struggles of his family.  When all is said and done, as far as we know, he is the only one who was given a spoon and decided not to use it.  And for that, he is the only lead who gets a straight-forward happy ending.

♥ Ending

There is so much that can be said about this ending.  But I was surprised to see the number of people complaining about it online.  I just want to go on the record saying I loved it.  Most importantly, they needed a creative way to make is so Seung Chun isn’t dead, and I would say that was definitely achieved.  I didn’t see that coming!!  Second, so much had happened between Seung Chun and Tae Yong, and Seung Chun had become jaded by his wealth.  In my opinion, he needed a fresh start.  I loved this new version of Seung Chun who feels rich just by watching the sunset.  One detail that I missed the first time around is that when Seung Chun left the house as the gardener, he had the spoon in his back pocket.  And now he is reading Tae Yong’s book and has Joo Hee’s guidance.  Which means if he hasn’t already, he will soon be able to recover his memories by eating with the golden spoon.  

Yu Jin’s Ending

So, I really despised Yu Jin’s character, and I didn’t expect or even want her to get a happy ending, but I kind of liked her together with Jang Goon.  That part of the ending made sense.  But why would she ever let her abusive father back into her life?  Even if she was sending him money this whole time, there is a big difference between financial support and letting someone be a part of your life.  And even more disturbing, what is his plan?  Is he just planning on kidnapping the baby for a ransom? Or is he actually going to sell the baby, so that Yu Jin loses her forever?  Not knowing the outcome of this really bothered me.  

Joo Hee in Europe

I’m not sure why they even brought up Joo Hee being expelled in Europe if it wasn’t going to factor into the story at all.  Sure, they use it to show that Joo Hee is brave enough to defend those in need.  But we see this piece of her character in other examples throughout the drama.  At first I thought the experiences of Tae Yong and Joo Hee both facing some kind of trauma while studying abroad might factor into the story.  But the whole story proved to be totally irrelevant.  

“The Golden Spoon” gives us their own twist on a happy ending.   Jung Tae kills himself, and  as revenge, Young Shin helps Sueng Chun get Hyun Do arrested.  From prison, Hyun Do hires one of the staff to poison Seung Chun. Later we see a dead body carried away by EMTs.  Three years later, Yu Jin has married Jang Goon and they have a daughter.  But the final scene of their story shows Yu Jin’s real dad taking the baby as a way to pay back the money he owes.  Tae Yong has become a successful web artist and writer.  He has used his wealth to finally give his mom and sister the home they always wanted.  And Min Ki is there as well, as Seung Ah’s husband.  Hyun Do is out of prison, but Young Shin keeps him drugged and confined to a wheel chair while she takes advantage of his privileged life style.  And lastly, Joo Hee goes to write a story about a famous gardener.  When she meets him, she immediately feels in her heart that he is Seung Chun.  We find out it was actually the gardener who died that night after using his own spoon.  As Seung Chun and Joo Hee enjoy a beautiful sunset, Seung Chun talks about how he understands the hero of Tae Yong’s book, “The Golden Spoon” and wishes that those who loved the hero would recognize him, regardless of his appearance.  It seems that fate has once again brought these two together.