Vincenzo (2021)

I placed any potential spoilers at the end of this review.

The acting was great and it had wonderful cinematography. However, the story concept was ok. The script started off strong, but it lost steam by the end. I personally think that episode 8 could have been handled differently. The series is also too long. It has 20 episodes and each episode can be over 90 minutes long. This is also why it took me so long to finally commit to watching it. Because of the number of episodes, the series felt repetitive at times. The series could have been 14- or 15-episode series max.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******
I did not like the ending, I wished the character Jang Han-seo lived.

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Throw away the logic, let the pigeons in.

It was refreshing to see how they truly did not give a damn about realism and logic to such a ridiculous extent, but because of that, this drama had no business having 20 episodes, each 1 hour and 20 minutes long.

Realistically speaking, the whole plot would perfectly fit into a 2 hour movie. Instead, we’ve got around 28 hours of Vincenzo being cool finding a way to fight Babel, said “way” getting killed, Vincezno finding another way to fight Babel, that then gets killed… you get the idea. Strangely, even with this painful repetitiveness, I was not exactly bored for most of the watch time. True, I did watch the whole drama at 1.25x speed, but I enjoyed the experience quite a lot.

Surprisingly brutal, a few times reminding me more of a Saw movie, and not a k-drama comedy about a mafia. Not sure how, but this vicious take mixed well with the dumb jokes and plot points. The only time I felt like the show failed at mixing different moods was the way they handled Cha Young’s motivation to join the fight - that bit made me feel slightly uncomfortable and was not the best start to the series.

Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo Cassano was the selling point of the show, and for me, the performance was so strong, I did not even need more from the drama to keep watching. He is just really fine, and when he goes into full boss mode, I could not care less about the plot. Sometimes, this is all I need to keep me entertained.

Then we have Hong Cha Young played by Jeon Yeo Been. Love the actress, struggled with the character, especially in the first half. Her comedic vibe has been just too strong for me to like. Slowly she became less cartoonish, and more like a relatable human being - that’s when I started to appreciate her more.

I am truly not the biggest fan of Ok Taec Yeon as an actor. Has been a fan of his since his debut in 2PM, he is born to be an entertainer, but I was not even once convinced by his acting. Yet, I loved him as Jang Jun Woo. Don’t know if it’s just one lucky role for him, or he is starting to feel more comfortable in his acting, but I bought him as Jun Woo completely.

Some side characters and performances that caught my attention were: Kwak Dong Yeon as Jang Han Seo, Choi Deok Moon as Tak Hong Shik, Kim Yoon Hye as Seo Mi Ri and Im Chul Soo as Ahn Ki Seok. Not to forget Kim Sung Cheol for whom I have quite a soft spot.

I could feel all the money spent on the production leaking through my screen. Top notch might be an understatement. When you know the production team did not shy from spending money? When the soundtrack has 67 tracks - all of extremely high quality.

Still, the writing was just… empty? It serves amazing entertainment, and that’s it. There was no depth, no emotional attachment, no well developed plot. I’m still trying to figure out how the decision to make it into such a long drama was made. I can imagine the writer, director and the production team sitting in the bar, after quite a few bottles, brainstorming with ideas of a similar quality to “but imagine this: lizard people were behind it all along”. Some plot points were so outside of the box I was truly impressed with the creativity.

Overall, perfect brainless drama for some fun, light watch. Watching this as my neurons were being fried by Covid was a perfect choice and I don’t think any other drama could accompany me through that hell as well as Vincenzo did.

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It is always fun when any form of media completely surprises you and sweeps you of your feet, and just exceeds all your expectations. With Vincenzo I was expecting something very melodramatic, boring and quite typical legal drama that I would stop watching for a few episodes because I was dying of boredom but what I got was the exact opposite of that. It was so off-kilter.

The drama actually sounds as crazy as it sounds on paper and yet I don’t think the description does it justice. Usually, I do not like such makjang type dramas or over the top soap opera style shows, but here it is done with so much humor and skill so instead of getting on my nerves I got this weird mix of soap opera, thriller, and comedy and then a group of weird, flawed and morally gray characters. It is a weird mix, but it works surprisingly well together. There is a good balance between all these different factors, and it makes quite a cohesive story.

Despite all the laughs and the absurdity that the drama throws at us, it never seems as if it is mocking the story or this soap opera world that is had crafted around it. It’s more playing with it and really take advantage of it. The show takes itself quite seriously with it tone, and yet it does not because it’s main goal seems to be making the most entertaining story, and achieving that is not easy. It’s shows a certain strength within the story and the vision the people behind it had. And that shines quite clearly within the story and makes Vincenzo quite stylish.

The story goes in circles a bit. Sometimes things just seem to happen just because the story needs them to happen just for it to move forward. Some things feel too convenient but the show seems to be very aware of it that you kinda don’t question it too much. It feels wonderfully self-aware of it’s genre, which also helps you suspend your disbelief and keeps you thoroughly entertained while even the most convenient plot points are happening. The story sort of manages to be logical within this small world it has created.

It plays with the soap opera formula and the clichés that comes with those stories and tales of the mafia, to take the story and comedy to another level, making things more exciting, crazier, without making fun of it. It has all done to entertain us or to provoke sort of reaction out of the audience.

But I think it is the characters that really make this show what it is. They are just so fun or interesting! Every single character, whether they are supporting characters or not, have their own quirks and darker sides, although to varying degrees. They are all quite ridiculous and complex in their own way.

Our hero Vincenzo is more of an anti-hero and even the antagonist gets some nuances and quirks that even if you sort of hated them you also enjoyed watching them. I have personally not enjoyed a villain in a kdrama this much for quite some time. They brought so much tension, drama, and comedy into the show that I was almost more excited to see what they would do more than our protagonist.

The same goes with the supporting cast. I enjoyed every scene, every little side-plot that they had going on, which does not always happen. Sometimes they feel like fillers to extend the story for no good reason, but here the supporting characters get to control both the humor of the episodes but also the heart of the show. They all felt important, flawed, and interesting in their own way. They are not just comic-relief,

The romance in Vincenzo is slow and never takes over much of the story itself, although it is very often lingering in the background and the drama is always alluding to it. However, it is never the center of the drama. It is not the main story or focus, and I have to say for my part I am usually fonder of a slow-burning romance and that really worked well here with everything else going on. I love some good pining and longing because the character does not want to admit that they are in love or have not realized it. And there was more than enough of that in Vincenzo. Both are learning to trust others and become good people. Although no one is really a good person in this show.

Do I feel like the drama could gave allowed Chae Young to save herself a little more instead of always having Vincenzo come and save the day and the drama itself had a tendency to rely a little too much on the charm and the visuals of Song Joongki for my taste. It became a bit too repetitive after a while.

Vincenzo is a style of kdrama that I rarely see. And although it contains many basics of soap opera storytelling and other types of kdramas out there, I feel it does stand out because I have never quite seen this mixture before. No matter what the drama did it was always exciting to see what happened next and it always kept me surprised even though I thought the story went in some circles and brushed over certain things along the way. I never felt like they truly ran out of ideas to entertain me and entertain me it certainly did. It never really dealt all its cards.

Vincenzo is not flawless, but it is a hell of a good time. There is always this tension within it, you kept on wondering what would happen next, what these characters would do. You have no know what is going to happen. There is always a lot going on and so much high drama, such high stakes, yet still always so filled with humor. It was a real roller coaster ride from start to finish.

Vincenzo grabbed me completely and did not want to let me go until the very end. I have not enjoyed a kdrama and the discussions that took place around this much it for some time now. And that is what I will take from it; it was just pure fun. It was pure entertainment for me.

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Trainwreck

After watching episode 18, I'm on the verge of dropping this shitshow. The last few episodes were just pure torment.

What started as a fairly light-hearted and occasionally funny parody of noir/action movies, turned into full-blown soap opera. But it just can't be enjoyed, not even ironically.

5 minutes of FL running into mc's embrace in slow motion, camera shooting from every possible angle. Then nothing happens.
5 minutes of FL waving goodbye to mc on airport, slow motion, camera from every angle possible. He comes back 5 minutes later.

Mc is in trouble at the end of episode, no matter how bad it is, don't worry. He will get out of it at the beginning of next episode in 11 minutes(like in the death of Noh newspaper guy) or 4 minutes(like when he was surrounded by interpol). I was counting time.

How did he survive being surrounded by interpol and aimed at from all sides with rifles? He just took out pistol and threatened them. They conceded and let him go.
How did he survive being framed by the police for crime he didn't commit? He just defeated a bunch of guys with firearms with martial arts. Then mercifully let the policemen go.
How did he survive being captured by Italian mafia, on his knees, with a gun pointed to his head? Suddenly a swarm of pigeons arrived and attacked the bad guys, then vincenzo got up and kicked their asses with martial arts.

In one episode he just went straight to the mansion of the bad guys, beat up like 20 security guys with his bare fists, killed a guy, and then threatened the bad guys not to tell the police about it else...! And they just listened. While making more and more ridiculous plans to take down Vincenzo, all of which failed of course. Mostly due to his plot armor.

In another episode, he set a bomb to public meeting, exploded a guy, and told all the VIPs which included a mayor and high ranking police officer to eat the deals they signed with Babel Industries, then let them out, threatening to kill them all if they tell the police about what happened in basically broad daylight. And they just listened.


Now then, based on all this you may think that Vincenzo is some kind of over the top fun time parody. But it isn't. All these scenes were supposed to be serious and emotional. But how can they be if the main characters have titanium plot armor, basically playing on cheats? You start feeling bad for the villains.

All the villains were well acted and well written. Which can't be said about gary stu Vincenzo with his botox-filled plastic face that can't show any emotions other than gentle smirk, and his worthless yes-(wo)man sidekick FL who might have as well been removed from the story 4 episodes in and nothing would have changed.

This show supposedly had 18million$ budget? Waste of money. Waste of good actors. Waste of good ost. And all because they couldn't look over the script and realize how utterly ridiculous and not in a good way all of this is. And maybe they should have hired some Italian teacher too, because the Italian in the show is just awful.

Also, the glorification of vigilante "justice" is sickening, he even kills his own subordinates if they did something wrong in the past, then cheers and has fun with his friends like it's nothing. But he won't kill himself, possibly because his plot armor bullet deflection field would prevent that.

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Oil and water don't mix

When I started watching this drama, I was so convinced I'd love it. Episode 1 confirmed this intuition : it was impressive, badass, and characters seemed very interesting. Cinematography was sublime, too.

But then, I continued, and I have to say : the mix between comedy and serious crime is not very effective. It's like oil and water, which left me with the feeling that it was either a comedy that took itself too seriously or a thriller that was very badly written.

The plot doesn't make sense , plot armor is way too obvious (pigeons, lol) and I keep wondering why the female lawyer wasn't killed way before. Vincenzo is a mafia consigliere but he cannot protect her 24/7, it's a godly power. Even him could have been killed many times but nevermind.

Also, I have a major issue with the FL. She's absolutely charming and I love her personality, but regarding the plot, she's very useless. She's supposed to be a very skilled lawyer, yet she never did anything valuable for the mission. Everything (including law business, her specialty) was handled by Vincenzo.

Finally, the pacing is a real problem. The plot's too draggy and there are many repetitive storylines, especially ones with huge scenes of Vincenzo walking in slowmotion with impressive music in the background.

That said, there things I liked very much : the characters, the humour (it was actually very funny) and the emotion. I cried several times : when cha young's dad dies, when vincenzo's mother dies, and when the main antagonist's little brother dies too. This death made me cry so much I felt so sorry for him.

My final world is : it's enjoyable if you don't take it too seriously. I won't rewatch but I liked my first trip.

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Quelle déception !

Un consigliere de la mafia italienne qui revient en Corée récupérer un gros magot d’or après voir été abandonné par sa mère accusée de meurtre, ça fait envie hein ?
Cette série est allée de mal en pis.
Ça commençait bien pourtant ! Une histoire intéressante, des personnages... Alors les personnages : l’avocat dans l’immeuble duquel se trouve l’or est adorable. Mais il meurt bien trop vite. Les habitants de l’immeuble, des gentils loufoques, sont assez insupportables. Trop « goofy » à mon goût.
La fille de l’avocat est tout simplement insupportable et a le charisme d’une huitre.
En plus, la série alterne scènes dramatiques avec de trop nombreuses scènes « drôles » ce qui fait qu’on n’y croit pas une seconde.
Et la grande déception : le personnage principal, Vincenzo. Joué par Song Joong-Ki, qui n’est plutôt pas mauvais dans les drama qu’il fait. Son personnage est incisif, touchant - les scènes avec sa mère sont magnifiques ... Mais la drôlerie forcée du personnage ne colle pas du tout avec le fait que c’est avant tout un tueur et un tortionnaire.
On essaie de nous faire nous attacher à un mec qui est un sale type. Les scènes finales où il torture les méchants sont tout simplement immondes.
Vincenzo n’est rien d’autre qu’un tortionnaire qui ne mérite pas d’avoir sa série.

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This is on my top list of best dramas

1. I came expecting nothing, a mafia concierge born in Korea and coming back to korea
2. No romance but a couple fighting crime
3. Didn't know any of Jeon Yeo Bin dramas, and wasnt a fan of Song Joon Ki because I couldn't bear watching DOS
4. comedy, thriller, drama, mafia genres
5. like 2% of romance

Let me tell you
1. The plot is not all that, is more far and beyond
2. Never been a fance of thriller, crimes etc. but romance but I enjoyed every single interaction of the main leads like I was watching a romance drama.
3. After Vincenzo one year later, I still can't let go of my love for this drama and the main leads I became instantly a fan of both Jeonki together or in separate projects (but deep inside i want them to reunite in another project)
4. I never knew they could blend all these genres and make a beautiful drama that will be in my memory forever, they blended all this elements that one minute I was laughing my a..off then i was scared then I was mad Ohh my Gosh all the feelings, I would wake up every Saturday and Monday to watch 1.20 hrs of episode which took me like 3 hours because of the rewatch value, never happened before ever.
5. Yes romance is like very soft, slow born and minimal but every single scene is about them being together sparkling enormous chemistry.

So yes, even me been biased because I love everything about this drama, please don't get fooled by episode 1, I did get hooked since episode one but Ive hear many of my fellow Vincenzo fans took until episode to really kick off on them so yeah give it a try will not dissapoint.

OST-wise they don't have many songs but the few they have are in my mind 24/7 my ringtone is Ill always be by your side and I change it eventually to Adrenaline.

Rewatchable value 100%

BTW, I never give reviews but I thought I needed to for future viewers not that the drama doesn't have a high rating but because is well deserved direction and writing is phenomenal plus the acting of every support cast. Give it a try you won't get dissapointed.

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Glamorous to a fault

Extremely good looking lawyers, fancy cars, shady people, cheesy dialogue against a hue of dramatic music - no this isn't the American show Suits. This is however, a show that favours style over substance. That perhaps should have been clear to me when I saw it was rated 15, meaning the dialogue and action scenes would sometimes be a little more embellished than necessary. Quite often I was cringing whilst watching some scenes. There's a lack of suspense and tension because our lead protagonist, by being a member of the Italian mafia, is endowed with a level of skill and access to fortune that makes you believe he can overcome problems in any scene by the end of that scene. The show rarely builds up conflicts that aren't resolved within that immediate episode. Every bit of tension is quickly fixed with an unexplained resolution or a random character suddenly displaying a new set of skills that were never hinted at before. As the lead female character remarked during one episode, "is everyone here a hidden genius?" it's a funny line that poked at the show's main problems. For all its glamour and sparkle, there was a crippling shallowness to its writing.

The story premise itself is interesting and there are some character dynamics that deserved far greater focus. Every character has some interest family backgrounds and motivations that, had they been fleshed out, would have made the show more enjoyable to watch. When the show did focus on these angles, the storylines were generally of high quality. In particular, episodes 14 to 16 were brilliant because the show knew what to focus on. Mostly this didn't happen for too much of the show. As it was, the show did keep you going through the leading acting duo's chemistry and skills on screen. I thought that Vincenzo Cassano was an excellent character even if it was difficult to believe he was ever in any real danger.

Overall, this show is good to watch but you won't get much out of it. The interesting, and potentially heart-tugging arcs that it had never received enough attention to make the show very memorable.

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not part of vincenzo nation i’m afraid.

i started this right after i finished watching arthdal chronicles (which make me a song joong ki fan) and also hearing all those good praises for this show i decided to watch it, and it started good to be honest, it made me laugh at the beginning and i have always like the “fighting evil with evil” type of stories which is not that typical in kdramas. however afterwards it become so disappointing and very dragging (almost hour and a half per episode!), big flaws really started to show, the whole concept of the story just kinda fell apart and by the time you reach episode 20 you are already tired of it all. it took me almost a year to finish this. it’s sad to think that what i initially enjoyed become so tiresome to watch. this show really had so many potential and it’s completely wasted.

but well;

about song joong ki’s acting though i like it and i kinda accept him playing a mafia character i feel he does a much better job in arthdal chronicles in which he plays *2* different characters (i believe it’s his best work so far), i’m inclining to think the fault is on the script, which just reinforces the missing opportunity of what this show could have been.

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A fun drama with one flaw I had to overlook to rate it this high

(Spoilers regarding one character in Ep 8 specifically)

I went and watched it! It was as grand and ridiculous as I thought it would be: Amazing cinematography, epic music, great atmosphere, excellent acting, fun villains, a plot that is always moving forward in interesting ways, convenient solutions that know they're convenient, slow-mo shots that go on too long on purpose, constant murders, a badass pigeon, a FL that doesn't exist to be a love interest, and a cool Italian-speaking ML that is always one step ahead. It was an incredibly fun and bloody drama that heavily leaned into Mafia stereotypes that had jokes that made me lose my mind laughing. What's not to love?

Well, there's one thing.

Regarding Representation: Okay. The elephant in the room. The representation (Ep 8). Hwang Min Sung, CEO of Shinkwang Bank, is Gay. He has physically abused his exes in the past but wasn't punished because they were afraid of being outed. His character is very over-the-top but I had no problem with them leaning into that. It's the style of the show and all the characters are oddballs, villains and protagonists alike. That wasn't what I found problematic.

What I Did find problematic was Vincenzo's behavior. He has to pretend to be interested in Min Sung and reacts Very negatively to the prospect. The very idea of pretending to be interested in a man makes him shudder. And he freaks out multiple times while going on dates with him. He is not called out for this nor is it addressed in any way.

They did that for comedic purposes, which really upset me. That, and it doesn't even fit with the way his character normally is. Unless it's something that offends his "Italian sensibilities," he doesn't really care and will pretend and do whatever it takes. This tells us, the audience, that the writers really wanted to include this joke about his disgust/horror at pretending to be Gay.

In summary, we got a Gay SML here. But, we were treated to some problematic behavior on the part of our ML in regards to that SML. I'm disappointed. Not to mention, the jokes about any male affection continued from then on.

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Dissenting opinion here

Please bear in mind that this is ONLY my opinion!

The cinematography in this drama was fabulous, as was the music. Episode 1 started so strongly; I had high hopes for this show. Song Joong Ki and Ok Taec Yeon were both excellent. Plus, there was the advantage of a bunch of actors that I have loved in other works.

For me, this drama had a couple of problems. 1) First, so much bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed. Vincenzo is completely missing a moral compass, which made it hard for me to root for him in any capacity. Then, you have the upright citizens whose moral compasses go on the fritz or something and are willing to do whatever it takes for revenge. 2) The character was just all-around irritating. I kept waiting for her to get better, but no such luck. 3) I didn't feel the chemistry between the ML and FL. They would have been better to stick with the bromance.

But worst of all was the comedy. Don't get me wrong, the comedy was, for the most part, funny, and if the serious parts were less dark and violent, it might have worked well. However, it felt too much like the writers were trying to lighten up the heavy storyline and it felt contrived. The serious parts provided a lot of tension, but I kept being pulled out of the story by the comedy. So often, to me, this felt like a mash up of two diametrically opposed genres.

My review is to remind me of what I watched and what I thought, not to change anyone's mind, so please don't come at me with hate.

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so hilarious and a ship of titanic proportions

As I listen to the English ver. of "Adrenaline" I am reminded of the two, no, three main threads of this show. I went in pretty much blind (which I usually do anyway), but, it is a K-drama, so a certain cherished element was proposed, strengthened, and finalized to a dual satisfaction and void. Now - it is done, and just like with My Mister (with its rewatch almost complete) and Twenty-Five Twenty-One, there is quite simply, no more episodes left (crying like Mr. Nam under the table), and my time with this iconic duo of a cold, brutal Mafia corn salad and a hotshot lawyer with an attitude is at an end... The other two threads are the fact that this show for the majority of its run is a comedy/heist/overture in performance theater shenanigans. I'm not sure if both Hamlet and Hector would be proud, or neither, as the two brothers would be - for this show is replete, schlock full of Hectors, a cast that with its communal and gag-driven tenacity reminds me most nearly of the town cast of Gintama. Most, if not all, of the cast besides Vincenzo has a primarily comedic role (in terms of how they were enjoyed on-screen). The third wave is action, and because Vincenzo not only knows how to completely manipulate his opponents, the corrupt bureaucracy of the Korean justice system, but also dominates the hand-to-hand combat scene. As such I'd pit Vincenzo's time in Korea with three genres, two main genres, for only the third really kept me going personally. But I still much enjoyed most of the gimmicks - the Vincenzo fanboy's jumping into the hallway and into Vincenzo's arms, "hwaitak", all of Vincenzo's own acts. The action would only have been better had Hockey Boy, Chief Hector, been good at fighting/doing anything himself. The Chairman Hector is probably my favorite character after Hong Cha-young, who I fell in love with in watching her with Vincenzo. I think what this series does most prominently, in bringing together two genres that really shouldn't go together - the kind of humor you see in Korean C-tier movies, but elevated to the television form, and Mafia political action thriller - is doing just that, bringing an Italian consigliere to the Korean lawyer scene where the first courtroom drama is theater and Italian music perpetuates the first episode and Italian comes out of the perfect mouth of Vincenzo Cassano. Going as far as they did against Babel to the very end was fantastic, and the constant emphasis by Vincenzo himself that he is not a good guy but someone with a Mafia background bringing his own evil against a big law firm and a big corporation. This sort of premise can only be done in Korea - with its own brand of humor, utilizing the influences from Italian Mafia tropes in the West, honor system, and their #1 skill, human relationships. It continues to appear to me that K-drama can't go wrong here, and I look forward to kicking my suit jacket back and heading on to the next one.

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