Vincenzo (2021)

Finished watching in 5 days instead of my regular 2 days

Likable
1. Ok Taec-yeon as Villain
2. Death Scenes of Hong Yoo-chan, Jang Han-seok & Choi Myung-hee
3. Park Joo-hyung as Vincenzo
4. Modern day relationship dynamics influenced by past instances & regret after losing loved one's (Hong Cha-Young relationship with her father & Vincenzo's resentment towards his mother)
5. Jang Han-seo character development. The only character that actually developed or improved with time according to me.

Dislikable
1. Entire Save Geumga Plaza Fiasco-Didn't like "over-the-top" sacrifices for Vincenzo. All tenants except monks & hacker were useless.
2. Over-Exaggeration of Consigliere & his Powers on other side Babel & power it holds.
3. Too many side-characters, divergence from main-plot, cassano family & filler comedy scenes.
4. Vincenzo's veiled past, Cha-Young's role from manipulative-smart lawyer being reduced to Vincezo's devotee. Reason behind Cha-Young's mother committing suicide & more shades of her character could be explored.
5. Jang Han-seok despite of being the mastermind relying too much on Choi Myung-hee for executing his plans & protecting himself.

Above Average-Neither too Good nor too Bad-Watchable after skipping filler scenes.

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LOVE OF MY LIFE

I watched this drama while it was airing and loved every moment of it. I even remember the date it ended istg I simply LOVE this Kdrama. It has everything you want in a drama. It has thriller, suspense, crime, action, comedy and romance. The perfect formed cast kills it not only with their visuals but also with their perfect acting. The production is top quality and I to this day still listen to its soundtracks. They were just spectacular. After this drama I only gained favorite actors whom I continued to cheer on their new projects.
Song Joong Ki and Jeon Yeo Been were like yin and yang in this drama. They completed each other so well and harmoniously. I loved watching them together. I cried, laughed and screamed with them while watching. The drama is longer than the usual Kdrama, but as you watch you want more and more, so those long episodes goes by fast. Do yourself a favor and go watch Vincenzo. I binge watch it every other 2 months and never get tired of it. Please, don't let negative comments effect you, and let this piece of happiness take over your Kdrama loving soul<3

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not for everyone

I just finished watching 'Vincenzo' and I have to say, it was...fine. It was a solid, middle-of-the-road drama that didn't really blow me away, but didn't disappoint me either. Unfortunately, it did kind of bore me at times.

The cast was good, with Song Joong-ki and Jeon Yeo-been delivering decent performances. Song Joong-ki was charming as always, but I felt like he was playing a similar character to his previous roles. He had great chemistry with Jeon Yeo-been, though, and their romance was sweet. Jeon Yeo-been was a highlight for me, she brought a lot of energy and charm to her character. I also appreciated how the supporting cast added depth to the story.

The story was interesting enough, with some twists and turns that kept me engaged. But, I felt like it was a bit predictable and didn't have any major surprises. The pacing was a bit slow at times, and some episodes felt like they dragged on. I also felt like some plot points were resolved too easily or conveniently.

One thing that did stand out to me was the themes of social justice and corruption. I appreciated how the drama tackled these issues and shed light on the darker side of society. It was refreshing to see a drama take on these topics and not shy away from the harsh realities.

The cinematography was nice, with some pretty shots of Italy and Korea. But, I felt like the editing could have been better, some scenes felt disjointed and didn't flow well. Some of the action scenes were also a bit choppy and hard to follow.

The OST was fine, nothing really stood out to me. I didn't find myself humming any of the songs or feeling particularly moved by the music. It wasn't bad, just forgettable.

Overall, 'Vincenzo' was an okay watch for me, but it did kind of bore me at times. It didn't wow me, and I wouldn't watch it again. If you're looking for a light, easy watch with some nice scenery and a decent story, 'Vincenzo' might be up your alley. but,if your looking for something more complex. Thought-provoking, or emotionally resonant, you might want to look somewhere else

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How to enjoy it? Be blind about the plot writing

Contain indirect minor spoiler.

I was watching this drama when everyone raved about it, so it was prolly more entertaining back then because of the euphoria around this. But still, there were few mistakes in terms of storytelling I can't see past, 1) it tried so hard to convince me that the main villain was THAT bad psychopathic bitch, with all random fun killing + taking trophy from it when he was young, but he was so helpless (most of the times) in front of our protagonists, 2) which led to low stake, it was hard to sympathize with our male protagonist bcs he was doing just fine, except that one time in the hospital, 3) the 5 minutes cliffhanger that would be solved within 10 minutes of the next ep is lazy writing, I hardly cared about the consequences or felt tense after few eps. I finished this for Song Joongki and Song Joongki only, (I lie, I also love Hanseo).

So my advice to all of you who wanna watch this, don't look too much into the storytelling side, especially if you expect intricate character development or mystery. This is, as it said, a dark comedy action. They have great casts, good comedy and action, and wonderful cinematography, simply enjoy the action scene and laugh with the characters.

Bcs, if you love the kind of slapstick comedy, the characters are overall great, even the minor role of Geumga Plaza. They pulled surprises throughout the series which drove few moments into an unpredictable fun one. The connection grew, you would not care for lots of them at first, and our Vincenzo didn't care either, but as time goes, they became a good team who shared foods and jokes. Our villain team was great too, God, I was so SO in love when Myunghee and Hanseok were having a dance after their killing, *chef's kiss*. Also Jang Hanseo, adorable and lovely, he has the biggest growth!!

Love inzaghi too lol, my fav character besides Hanseo. And the ending, was nice seeing Vincenzo didn't change that much.

p.s. I'm still bitter about what they did to Hanseo, so that's one more pet peeve.

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watched july 17th to 20th

honestly some of the most fun ive had when binge watching a kdrama! immediately fell in love with the characters, especially geumga plaza squad 😭❤️ i love how different they all were but always had each others backs and kept wanting to protect the plaza and vincenzo. hong cha young became one of my fav female leads from how badass she is. I LOVE HER SM. same with vincenzo i loved his backstory with his mom and it made me cry so much when she died, he deserved to know she knew he was her son 💔 and the scene where he kept calling her “mom” just made me BAWL my eyes. the cinamotagraphy is no joke and same with the ost, so many good songs even the intro and outro! tho, i will admit i was very confused throughout the show about certain plots and characters, but nevertheless i still had an idea about the direction of the show and kept going. song joong-ki gave one heck of a performance all throughout the show, playing an anti hero definitely suits him and would love to see him in more projects soon. the same goes for taecyeon, he did not JOKE!
finally, i liked the scene and how it showed that in the end, he is still the “villian” he always was and never changed that.

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So much hype but all wasted

When i saw the adv and rating for this drama i was shocked then i went to watch this , when reached in the middle of the drama it does not impressed me personally there is no new improvements in story plot and director is only focus on evil character as well as hero and funny scenes etc. We don't know what is happening at last episodes like something is going on parallelly we know it, at first they said it is thriller and comedy , action! We can only see these two rather thriller. Only suspense part is that villan is the colleague of heroine at office so that is all nothing else is there! Why name it as thriller then, and only few scenes stands for me remaining either pulling off the episodes etc.

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Quantity over quality!

People say: Less is more. Now, Vincenzo is THE prime example of that! First, the ONLY thing that saved this show from being boring hot garbage is the acting and Inzaghi. He was the best character on the show.🤣 Jokes aside, I love mafia stories and Vincenzo had a huge potential to be a fantastic show, but it isn't! Why? Well, 20 episodes are too much, especially if every episode was just as long as a whole movie. If every episode had been 40 minute long, now that would make the show much better. Also, I really liked the action, and most of the drama parts of the story. The chemistry between the characters, not just the two main lead, were great. Some comedic scenes were funny, but most of them were over the top and totally unnecessary. Sometimes it felt like the show is more of a mafia genre parody. Where this show really shines is the action and the couple of dramatic scenes, like the stories with the parents. Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo is absolutely perfect, he was really charismatic, badass, funny, and he was great in the dramatic scenes too. Jeon Yeo Been as Cha Young was almost as good as Joong Ki, their chemistry was great, but because of the lazy writing her character felt too much sometimes. I liked the side characters too in the house, but like I said, they were the comedic side of the story and sadly, it was too much most of the time.

What irritates me the most is that they had more than 25 hours to wrap up the story, but they still managed to include like 3 or more different stories in one episode. I don't mind if they want to include the love story, I liked them together, but if you want them to be together, why do it in the last 5 minute? Makes zero sense. I could mention like 10+ plot holes, but it would take a day to write everything down. Honestly, sometimes I felt, they just wanted a show with cool action scenes, but they forgot to do something with the characters. Disappointing, really. This show is what I call OVERRATED!

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I got an account just for this!

I finished watching the last episode a few minutes ago and honestly, I just need to talk about this drama so .... here we are.
it took me a few episodes to actually get into vincenzo. I even stopped three episodes in and took a one week break ;I just could not see what everyone was raving about... but after picking it up again...well .. here we are. opening accounts and all.

I'll keep it short.
this are a few of the best parts of vincenzo...at least for me;
1.The characters are consistent and their arches feel plausible. plus the acting is solid . especially after the third ish episode
when the story gets going, you can feel them settle into their roles and just pop.
2.the writing is lethal . it pulls no punches. its one of the few dramas that actually delivers on a promise and doesn't just play it safe (up to the point of making me uncomfortable, but in the best way, I promise.)... like i said , it takes a bit for the story to get going but when it does, it DOES NOT STOP. it really does not. from the action to the emotion it just does not stop.
3. i don't know why its classed as a romcom but it so much more than that honestly ,and that appealed to me. it can be silly and funny the switch up and become very dark, very fast and somehow not feel like unmatched puzzle pieces. it just fits . somehow
4. last but not least...that has to be one of the most memorable last episodes i have watched in a while. this is because of the first two reasons i gave, solid consistent characters and ruthless writing. What a ride. If i was in a theater I'd stand and clap, i really would. If for no other reason .... watch it for the finale

all in all... a story with badassery, heart, laughs and tears( or screams, depending on how you vent... i nearly lost my voice this last hour. ( I'm not over it!!!! i mean they just.. they just... I'm trying so hard not to spoil! Do watch to understand my devastation))

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To each their own, I suppose

Vincenzo is the type of drama that just isn’t for everyone. Funny story - I wasn’t actually going to watch this drama for a long while despite hearing amazing things about it on the internet (I’m not very interested in law/crime/mystery dramas), but I used that fancy new “watch something” button on Netflix, and it started playing Vincenzo. So I guess I just continued watching it after that. Despite being better than the other primarily law and crime focused dramas I watched previously, I ran into the same problem with Vincenzo that I had with all the other dramas of its genre. Because so much of the story is action-packed and has to be focused on the plot, the character development fell to the sidelines as usual. I’m the type of person who watches dramas more for the characters rather than the plot itself, which is why I rarely enjoy this genre. My reasoning is that if I don’t care about the characters, then I don’t really care about what happens to them either. Now, that is not to say I didn’t shed a tear while watching this drama - I totally did. I just believe I would have enjoyed Vincenzo a lot more had it been more character than action focused (not the drama’s fault - mine). On top of that, I never really got into the humor of this drama (okay fine, it was pretty funny a few times) nor did I appreciate the drama’s slow pace. I watched the majority of Vincenzo at 2x speed (never doubt my subtitle reading skills lmao) and struggled to remain focused watching the drama at its regular pace. I honestly really expected more from the drama’s action part of the plot, since it was so dominant in this drama. Instead, I got cliche scenes where the characters somehow couldn’t kill each other despite the thousands of chances they had to do so. There were quite a few cliche action sequences and the plot itself felt repetitive and a bit all over the place, especially toward the end. Vincenzo himself also felt unrealistically perfect with his ability to take down a group of 20 guards with nothing but his bare fists. All in all, it’s generally hard to impress me with a good action drama, but Vincenzo did leave me with a pretty good impression despite the shortcomings. I actually grew to like the characters and really appreciated the amazing cinematography and music. I can definitely see why someone would enjoy this type of drama - it just wasn’t entirely for me. Side note - why are we mad at the ending? I literally thought it was just fine.

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Came for Ok Taec Yeon, stayed for Master Hemp Lee!

Had not seen this prior to watching "Secret Royal Inspector & Joy". In fact, I'd avoided this like the plague because it looked like an attempt at Eurocentrism. I'm not wrong.

So, firstly, for any viewer who wants to watch something that makes sense—don't watch this. You've been warned. This series tries to make a plot but has no intention on sticking to it whatsoever. If nothing else, one phrase should tell how ridiculous it is—deus ex machina by pigeon. Yup. One conflict of the series was solved by inexplicable divine intervention of the pigeon variety.

That aside, if you're looking for some comedic relief... maybe I'd recommend this. I didn't expect Master Lee, from Alchemy of Souls, to be here and seriously, he saved it for me. His character was really the one who saves the day, and even Vincenzo, on several occasions and he is funny AF.

I'm not even going to waste time on analysing the plot and characters except to say that, for the backstories of the characters, it is impossible for all of them to need someone to fight for them. And the plot, like I said, is non-existent. All the characters do not behave as per their profile. The situations are BS, at best. And the constant grandstanding, when the protags aren't even in a winning position, is just a cheap and desperate attempt to detract from the fact that there's no plot or development in there at all. At all.

Would I recommend this? ... If you like Master Hemp Lee, sure thing, go for it. It was a pity he wasn't shown in more frames but he did make the show worth it for me. Do not enter if you're looking for anything logical though, nevermind substantial.

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Everything is perfect in this drama

This drama is my TOP 1. You would never find a better actor than Song Joong Ki to play the role of mafioso. His italian pronunciation sounds very naturally. The appeareance of actor also fits the character very well. The show is half comedy and half action genre. The comedy parts are very original, totally something new in Korean series.

Regarding action parts, it is good to see that the main characters uses a brain and not only fists to fight. If you are bored with all these main characters which are obsessed by fighting with a pride without using dirty trick, this show is for you. Vincenzo is the only show I know in which the main character is not trying to play innocent and he doesn't try to change his behaviour. The is aware that sometimes the violence and killing someone is necessary to win.

The soundtracks keep you in suspense and gives you chills.

There is a nice atmosphere between main characters, without any stupid arguments or breaks ups.

The madness of the antagonist and his anger attacks which are quite funny.

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"Vincenzo" and Moral Deception: Violence and Murder are Okay if it’s for a Good Cause

They're not.

While I wholly support those who fight for freedom and defend themselves, murder and such violent acts are different. It is about intention. I also recognize that the argument of this show is that Vincenzo is a lesser evil than the main villain and is fighting against evil. However, (and the show notes this) it is still evil against evil which ultimately ruins all the good it builds up at the beginning.

These crucial elements of morality come into play more seriously at the end of the show. Rather than just being simple “Ocean's Eleven” fun and games, the series still puts the anti hero in the spotlight, his actions fully supported by the other "good" players in the show.

In terms of the comedic and often lighter tone of the show, this is comparable to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.” The difference, however, is satire. The audience in “Parasite” is meant to recognize the evil we face in reality and the wrongness of the situation while still depicting it in humorous ways. By the end of “Vincenzo," on the other hand, it is clear that the show is genuine in its attitude on moral grayness.

As a side note, one of the reasons I enjoyed last year's “The Good Detective” so much is because it emphasizes the importance of the law and morality despite the challenges of each.

What is good? What is evil? Where is the line?

"Vincenzo" only scratches the surface of these broad questions. In my opinion, it is because there is no real line drawn here. Perhaps I speak for myself, but I never felt as though Vincenzo was the villain even as he claims to be one. His very being the protagonist affects the viewer’s perspective on the protagonist’s actions, confusing the morality of the show further. The better question then is, “What wouldn’t Vincenzo do for his perceived justice and revenge?”

By the end, it becomes a show where the “good guys” find pleasure in their enemies’ pain. Their enemies certainly needed to pay, but it feels as though the show glorifies such vengeance, turning it into good when, at the end of the day, it is still evil.

The charm the show begins with does not persevere as the later episodes and ending reveal the seriousness of our “good characters’” actions. What could have been used as a shock ploy to persuade viewers and other characters in the show of such seriousness and evil is only accepted and continued to the end of the show. And I will just tell you, many of our main characters have some shocking acts.

This is an interesting point to note because we see do, in fact, see this moral struggle in Vincenzo's character through his nightmares and in Cha Young through her physical aversion to such violence (as opposed to her verbal consent). Had the show then gone the route of exploring these insecurities and drawing a moral line, a powerful lesson could have been found in the story. And, as with the way Vincenzo works, it would have come with a splendid snap and boom.

CONCLUSION

Despite the supposed morally grey characters (whom I argue are still making evil decisions with regards to murder and such cruelty), there is a great deal of meaning to still be found in the show. It is full of strong and richly created characters with believable weaknesses. Plot twists don’t appear out of nowhere and come seamlessly as the show progresses. Comedy and tragedy work in harmony to build this incredible series.

The last couple episodes are outliers for my final grade on the show because I disliked them so much as all my hopes for a meaningful conclusion were wasted. However, with such an enjoyable beginning and middle of the drama, I decided to rest on a well-deserved 8/10.

I would say that it was worth watching because of its clever fun, but if such moral deceptiveness bothers you in a show, I would not recommend it to you. As always, my rewatch value is based on my entertainment value and my music also includes sound. Rarely is it that I give out 10s for sound—the sound and music here was stupendous. I appreciate all the hard work that went into the making of this show and hope this was helpful to someone! Cheers!

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