THE Golden Spoon, a brand-new Disney+ K-drama, began airing on Sept 23. The 16-episode series – which is directed by Song Hyun-wook – stars Yook Sung-jae, Lee Jong-won, Jung Chae-yeon, and Yeon Woo, and is based on a famous Naver webtoon of the same name.
The Golden Spoon follows Lee Seung-cheon (BTOB’s Yook Sung-jae), who is born into a poor household and is bullied by other richer and more powerful students in his class. When Seung-cheon is presented a mysterious item that has the potential to change his life, he embraces it as if it were his last hope. Later that day, his life is ‘exchanged’ with that of Hwang Tae-yong (Lee Jong-won), an affluent child struggling with his abusive father.
This is Sung-jae’s first role as lead, and he looked solid in the first two episodes. I’m used to seeing him in comical roles, and when he mentioned that his acting is more serious here, he wasn’t exaggerating. We all know he’s a brilliant performer, but it’s now time for viewers to acknowledge him for his acting skills.
There was a scene that really blew my mind and gave me chills. It was when Seung-cheon snapped and aimed a gun at his bully, in order to scare him and teach him a lesson. It was super impressive to see Sung-jae as such a bold character.
Because the story has only just begun, there isn’t much to say about the two female characters. However, based on my observations, Jo-hee (Jung Chae-yeon) is a lovely and supportive girl who stands up for Seung-cheon when he is being harassed, whereas Yeo-jin (Yeon Woo) appears suspicious. She seems nice, but there is clearly more to her than meets the eye.
Another reason I’m engaged in this series is that two supporting actors – Kim Kang-min, who plays the bully, and Son Woo-hyun, who plays Tae-yong’s driver – are familiar faces. The two were the leads of Korean BL series To My Star, and already have a significant fan base.
It’s only been a week, but I’m already hooked on The Golden Spoon. I was already ready to enjoy this series because Sung-jae is one of my favourite actors, but the solid storyline just makes everything better.
theSun recently sat down for a Zoom interview with The Golden Spoon cast members Sung-jae, Jong-won and Yeon Woo, and we asked the trio what they found most difficult about bringing this script to life, and they each gave pretty similar answers.
Sung-jae explained: “If you know me, I am a very playful, energetic, and upbeat guy, but if you look at the role that I play, he comes from a darker background, [he has] a lot of financial challenges and conflicts, and there is a sense of deep dark depression; but I wanted to play this character in a really attractive manner, and my entire challenge was to find out how I was going to depict this character in such a way that it’s appealing to the audience.”
Meanwhile, Yeon Woo and Jong-won stated that their biggest challenge is getting into the emotions of their characters because their personalities are totally opposite to the roles they play. They also stated that they drew inspiration from several sources in order to find their own unique way of expressing their parts.
While this was the first time all of them worked together on a drama, they said it was super enjoyable and didn’t feel like it was their first time acting together. Sung-jae especially mentioned his co-star Chae-yeon as the one who kept the mood light, joking that he was saying it because otherwise she would be upset that he didn’t mention her (Chae-yeon was unable to attend the interview owing to a minor injury sustained while filming the series).
Since this is Sung-jae’s return to the small screen since his last role in 2020, we asked him what can his loyal fans look forward to?
He explained: “This year, I just poured everything into this drama, because it’s the first project I’ve worked on following my military duty. If you have watched any of my previous dramas, you will notice that all of my characters are livelier and more energetic; this is the first time I’ve done something more serious and darker. I sincerely hope you appreciate it because I worked incredibly hard on this series.”
The Golden Spoon addresses a number of issues, including the misery of the underprivileged, poverty, the South Korean educational system, familial expectations, offering the potential for an engaging plot to emerge. I can’t wait for more.
New episodes of The Golden Spoon are available to stream on Disney+ every Friday and Saturday.
