The Golden Spoon: Episodes 9-10

by solstices

Our protagonist makes a triumphant (or should I say wayward?) return, and he’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeve. His spoon counterpart has mostly settled into his humble life, but this unexpected comeback will certainly shake up the playing field — and set unforeseen consequences in motion.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

We catch up to our characters after the ten year timeskip, and they seem to have settled into their respective places. Tae-yong, who’s been living as “Seung-cheon,” is currently unemployed, but he’s filled out his resume with various jobs and even a webtoon award (yay!). His latest job interview has him putting a haughty interviewer in his place by responding in fluent French, which is as satisfying as it is endearing.

Joo-hee’s managed to pick herself back up, and she’s doing pretty well as an investigative reporter at a broadcast station. Her current scoop is the illegal gambling within Amicus, which leads to an undercover operation to gather evidence (with Tae-yong’s help). Unfortunately, her team gets busted pretty quick, and Joo-hee’s on the verge of being caught too — until someone pulls her into a tent.

That someone is Seung-cheon, who’s returned from the States as an incorrigible party animal and greasy womanizer to boot. It’s an awkward reunion for Joo-hee and our spoon boys, though it quickly escalates to a confrontation when they all get caught by Yeo-jin, Joon-tae, and the snobbish interviewer (because of course he’s Joon-tae’s buddy).

The Seung-cheon of the present is a loser with a capital L, and he’s firmly under his fiancée Yeo-jin’s thumb. The reason? Joon-tae, of course. While Seung-cheon was in the States, he’d been plagued by countless car “accidents” and shooting attempts, courtesy of his dearest uncle. Badly injured and fearful for his life, Seung-cheon had voluntarily given his golden spoon to Yeo-jin as collateral, pleading for her to save him.

Well, it turns out Seung-cheon’s Casanova persona is a ruse to lower his opponents’ guard. He intentionally lets himself get photographed stumbling into a hotel, drunk and with a woman by his side — except that woman is a crossdressing Moon-ki. HAHAHAHA OMG. Help, he’s so disgruntled but so pretty!

Behind the scenes, Seung-cheon has gathered a team to uncover Doshin’s business secrets and take down Joon-tae. Seung-cheon manufactures a drug scandal to make Doshin’s stocks plummet, after which he buys an exorbitant amount under the name of his company.

At Doshin’s board meeting, Seung-cheon exposes Joon-tae for embezzlement and bribery, revealing all the evidence he’s collected over the years. That gets Joon-tae ousted from his position as CEO of Doshin Hightech, putting “Tae-yong” in the vacated spot with his newly-acquired company shares.

Of course, Joon-tae won’t go down that easily. Joo-hee’s still determined to reveal the truth of her father’s death, and Joon-tae leverages on that, informing her that CEO Na’s bloodstains were discovered on “Tae-yong’s” jacket. After a decade of fruitlessly chasing dead ends, Joo-hee latches onto this new piece of information like a lifeline.

Meanwhile, Tae-yong’s facing yet another problem. Charges have been filed against the undercover reporter team for disrupting the Amicus party and obstruction of business, saddling Tae-yong with a hefty fine. In exchange for having the charges dropped, Tae-yong has no choice but to humiliate himself in front of the Amicus members, and it’s an awfully difficult scene to watch. The nasty interviewer sneers that he’s letting him off easy, since he just scored a lucrative business deal with Doshin Group — “Seung-cheon” ought to be grateful that he’s friends with “Tae-yong.”

Afterwards, a drunk Tae-yong calls Seung-cheon out for a heart-to-heart, saying that he tried to follow Seung-cheon’s advice today. He avoided starting a fight, instead obeying everything that was demanded of him, since he’s poor and can’t pay the price of defiance. Yet despite his efforts, he was let off not because of his actions, but simply because of “Tae-yong” and his wealth.

Tae-yong’s poverty has clearly been weighing on his shoulders all these years, even though Mom and Dad now have a steady income from their homemade side dishes store. Not only does Tae-yong feel guilty for being unable to support his family, but he’s also broken up with Joo-hee since he can’t forgive himself for losing her money. They’ve spent the past decade as best friends who share a comfortable rapport, though Tae-yong clearly still has lingering feelings.

A flickering light in Joo-hee’s apartment creates an opportunity for Tae-yong, and he confesses that he still likes her, yet he can barely do anything for her. Tae-yong asks her to only give him her reply later on; once he succeeds in getting hired, he’ll confess again.

Seung-cheon invites Tae-yong to dinner at Alex’s restaurant, offering him a position at a reputable company, but Tae-yong rejects it. Ten years ago, Tae-yong also rejected Alex’s offer to work under him for ten years, even though Alex promised a handsome salary that would cover Joo-hee’s lost money.

Seung-cheon also invited the whole Lee family, but CEO Hwang finds out and shows up at the door too. Cue an awkward dinner table, where CEO Hwang disparages the Lee family’s hard work and suffering. It’s clear that he despises the idea of Tae-yong and Seung-cheon so much as interacting, much less being friends.

Still, Dad respectfully but courageously stands up for his son, pointing out that poverty isn’t contagious. You go, Dad! Can Tae-yong please stay as his son forever and ever?

In order to snoop for evidence about her father’s death, Joo-hee requests for an interview series with Seung-cheon, and Seung-cheon agrees because he misses her too much. During an interview at Seung-cheon’s house, Joo-hee slips away, sneaking off to his room and opening his safe.

Inside, she finds his drawings of Joon-tae’s shirt — turns out the school shooting flashback from last week was a memory that resurfaced in Seung-cheon’s mind. Joo-hee has no idea what to make of the sketches, but she does find something that she recognizes all too well.

It’s the book of answers she gave to Seung-cheon as a gift ten years ago. Seung-cheon walks in just then, catching her in the act of rifling through his things, and she angrily demands to know why “Tae-yong” has Seung-cheon’s book.

Meanwhile, Yeo-jin has found out about the interviews, and she isn’t the least bit happy. In fact, she’s jealous that Seung-cheon keeps spending time with Joo-hee behind her back; the person he loves clearly isn’t Yeo-jin. Having finally had enough, she calls Tae-yong out for a meal, handing him Seung-cheon’s golden spoon to eat with.

See, there’s one last rule of the golden spoon that Seung-cheon doesn’t know about. Even after ten years have passed, if someone else eats with the golden spoon, they will gain the memory of its owner. In other words, the jig will be up.

Will Tae-yong eat with the golden spoon? Will he not? We’ll get the answer next week, though my bets are that he will. Earlier, while clearing out his room, Tae-yong discovered Seung-cheon’s diary — in which he wrote down all the details about the golden spoon. Not the most intelligent idea on Seung-cheon’s part, but I’m actually in favor of it, because I’m hoping this means Tae-yong can finally gain some agency.

Still, I wonder if Tae-yong will truly be able to follow through with the golden spoon magic. As much as he wants to become rich so he and his family can afford to live with dignity, it’s clear that he loves his parents deeply. They’re so supportive of him — Mom and Dad even gave him art supplies and encouraged him to pursue his artist dreams — and I can’t see him giving them up as easily as Seung-cheon did.

Honestly, with every episode I grow to like Seung-cheon less and less. Yook Sung-jae is still delivering a compelling performance, but I can’t root for Seung-cheon wholeheartedly. While Seung-cheon may not be selfish, he’s self-centered — as demonstrated when he sold off his company without so much as a word of warning to the employees who helped him in his quest. I don’t doubt that his actions stem from practical intentions, not maliciousness, and he does display moments of compassion (such as when he stood up for Yeo-jin against Stepmom’s disparaging comments). Still, he’s not exactly likable.

I wish we spent more time in the heads of our other protagonists, because they’re equally (if not more) interesting and sympathetic. Yeo-jin is the most intriguing and competent character by far, with her ruthlessly cutthroat measures and endless ambition. Her moment of vulnerability this episode was quite telling; she strikes me as someone who’s lashing out first to protect herself from getting hurt again, though she often goes overboard. It’s why I felt for her in the moment when Seung-cheon kissed her just to prove a point, and why I rooted for her when she pulled him into a second kiss that she actually had agency over.

However, I’m still not entirely pleased by the drama’s makjang tendencies — okay, I get that Yeo-jin is furious over being belittled and passed over for Joo-hee, but is she seriously ruining ten years’ worth of meticulous planning just like that? She’s already on the line to marrying into Doshin Group, even if Seung-cheon’s heart isn’t in it. Yeo-jin is constantly manipulating others and behaving vindictively, and it’s a little too much. Plus, we find out this week that Joon-tae is actually Stepmom’s son, though he doesn’t know it (yet). Of course, CEO Hwang knows, and he’s holding it over Stepmom’s head. Sigh.

I’m also unsure about the necessity of the ten-year timeskip, but I do find the new setting quite interesting. There’s a lot more potential to be mined, and I’m looking forward to watching Tae-yong fight for what’s his — whether that’s money, or a loving family. Actually, can he have both? I know that’s wishful thinking, but pretty please?

 
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