Vincenzo – K-Drama Episode 11 Recap & Review

Russian Roulette

Episode 11 of Vincenzo begins with Vincenzo ringing the chairman at the underpass. He’s been led to believe that it’s Han-Seo and waits patiently for him to pick up the phone. However, it’s obviously Joon-Woo’s phone that rings but he manages to evade suspicion for now. Clutching his chest, he stops the phone from vibrating.

Eventually Vincenzo and Cha-Young tell him to leave while they clean up the crime scene. Part of this includes Vincenzo taking the three gang members to an abandoned warehouse and interrogating them. He uses the exhaust fumes from the car to begin poisoning the air inside the car.

Through this torturous method, the pair learn that these men are responsible for killing all the victims we’ve seen over the weeks, including the family last episode. On top of that, they also confirm that Han-Seo gave them orders but used a voice changer to do so.

Fed up, Cha-Young eventually leaves them to their fate, poisoning then with the fumes and leaving their new lackeys to drop them in the lake.

The pair head back to Vincenzo’s apartment and drink, reflecting on their evening. As they discuss the night’s events, Cha-Young realizes she needs to test whether she really has feelings for Vincenzo or not. Drunk, Cha-Young stumbles over and hugs Vincenzo awkwardly for 10 seconds. It’s a no-go, and Cha-Young decides she doesn’t have feelings for him.

At the Plaza, the residents debate Vincenzo’s fighting power. While they do, Vincenzo himself visits his Mother in hospital. There, he admits the truth to her about exactly who he is. She’s shocked, with tears running down her face, as Vincenzo tells her to get better and not feel bad about the past.

Trouble brews at thee Plaza though when a whistle-blower has apparently claimed the temple isn’t holding services and is breaching its rights. At the same time, Vincenzo and Cha-Young are approached by Ms Seo who encourages them to come and play games with them. This week’s game happens to be Mafia. This obviously makes Vincenzo pretty uncomfortable but he agrees to play nonetheless.

It’s pretty funny, especially given Vincenzo actually is selected as the mafia in the game. He keeps his cool and tells them he’s not, fighting for his position inside the game. Eventually this lads to them all drumming their hands against the table.

However, the International Crimes Department show up with an arrest warrant for Vincenzo. They know he’s part of the consigliere and take him away. When they do, Cha-Young follows as his lawyer and Manager An hurries back to base to feed back the latest developments.

While they leave, the truth surrounding Vincenzo’s upbringing causes all residents to begin worrying about what they’ve told him and how he’s reacted.

Meanwhile, Joon-Woo starts to lose his temper. Han-Seo telling him he’s been thinking about their position is a step to far. In fact, Joon-Woo approaches him with a knife and threatens his brother. It’s a pretty tense moment, and one that eventually sees Joon-Woo walk away, giving his brother some respite.

An manages to convince Director Tae to bring Vincenzo in and deal directly with him rather than the police. Director Tae eventually agrees, prompting An and the cleaner outside to celebrate.

At the police station, Cha-Young plays her role as a lawyer well, brushing aside the photos and claiming there’s no evidence that these can be linked to Vincenzo. However, the police instead look at the idea of deportation, deciding they should take him back to Italy.

Just before Vincenzo is prosecuted, Manager An shows up with his men. Sporting a warrant and a confident swagger, he escorts Vincenzo into his custody.

When the Wusang Law Firm catch wind of Vincenzo being taken away, they wonder whether he’s a spy for the Intelligence agency or not.

Meanwhile, Manager An decides to team up with Vincenzo, especially given the way he’s standing up to fight against evil. Vincenzo is not so sure this is a good idea but eventually agrees. One of An’s conditions happens to be hugging, which sees him launch himself at Vincenzo and embrace the man warmly.

While they do, Vincenzo realizes that the photos were obtained by an informant. This brings Vincenzo into teaming up with An to find who this man is. If he can do that then it should lead them to the chairman and his real identity.

With An ready to work with him, Vincenzo heads back to Geumga Plaza where the residents welcome him as Corn Salad Vincenzo. Awkwardly, Vincenzo corrects them and confirms that it’s consigliere.

After this hilarious gag, things turn more sombre when the monks bring Vincenzo in to help. Thanks to defamation, they may actually be closed down. This, as we finally find out, is actually Mr Cho’s doing. Mi-Ri happens to be listening from the stairs while they discuss this, as Vincenzo tells him this isn’t a good idea.

More bad news awaits Vincenzo, especially when the residents all pull him aside and let him in on the secret. They know about the gold bars and nonchalantly shrug off who the owner of it could be, claiming finders keepers.

Thankfully Manager An has more news for them. They’ve got the report on Kim Sang-Yun, and realizes this 41 year old is now actually working as a weapon lobbyist.

However, they’re interrupted by Joon-Woo ringing Cha-Young and asking to meet. He confirms that Babel aren’t compensating the victims. While she leaves to meet him, Vincenzo scoops up Sang-Yun and asks him who the chairman of Babel actually is. He refuses the proposal, claiming he’d only be dead in a week if he actually told him.

Instead, Vincenzo decides to play a game of Russian Roulette, praying on that primal instinct of fear. Eventually this man gives up the name of Joon-Woo. Vincenzo eventually rings Cha-Young and lets her know, while she’s sat on the opposite side of the table to him.

Cha-Young does well to keep her nerve though, as Joon-Woo eventually heads back to his apartment. There, Vincenzo happens to be waiting for him and holds a gun up to the man’s head. With everything caught on a tense knife-edge, he eventually tells Vincenzo to fire. As the screen fades to black, a gunshot ricochets out.


The Episode Review

Vincenzo returns this week with a brilliant episode, one that serves as a ticking countdown for Joon-Woo and Babel as the secrets are finally revealed and the globes are removed.

The tense showdown at the end with Vincenzo and Joon-Woo was absolutely unnerving and quite what will happen tomorrow in the follow-up remains to be seen.

The jokes this week were really well handled and actually channeled nicely into the overarching narrative. Manager An’s eccentric and flamboyant mannerisms for example, were on absolute fire this episode while his big reveal was a suitably clumsy but satisfying segment.

Speaking of jokes, the corn salad gag is easily the best moment of the episode alongside the game of Russian roulette.

Vincenzo is shaping up to be one of the best Korean dramas this year so far. With the secrets finally out and both Vincenzo and Joon-Woo ready to go to war, everything rests on tomorrow’s follow-up. It’s certainly looking like an unmissable chapter!

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10 thoughts on “Vincenzo – K-Drama Episode 11 Recap & Review”

  1. I’ve experienced more lol moments with this drama than with many light hearted romcoms. It takes a very deft touch to be able to combine a crime drama with so many spoofs of Kdrama tropes. Sometimes it works better than others. I get at least one good laugh out of every episode even reading subtitles. I can only imagine what Korean speakers understand that flies right past me. Even the scenes where evil is being unveiled or resisted, there is a certain level of tongue-in-cheek.

    Slapstick is definitely not my favorite form of comedy, however, some of the visual humor is done with great timing and enough subtlety that it works for me. This is not really a revenge/crime show. Is it fair to say this is a comedy with lots of dramatic relief?

  2. @Selma

    Thank you so much for your kind words! Like you, I am absolutely in love with Korean culture and these dramas are (most of the time anyway!) so, so good. The characters are definitely what make this series so interesting and Vincenzo’s persona makes him such a fascinating character!

    Thank you again for reading the recap and commenting, it really means a lot!

    -Greg W

  3. @Mohit: “You missed, Mr. Queen which was a total package.”

    Oh my gosh yes! What a wonderful drama, thoroughly enjoyed that one despite a bit of a subjective ending. Definitely had K-drama blues after that one finished!

    -Greg W

  4. I am absolutely in love with Vincenzo. Both his character and the series. Greg look forward to your ratings and opinions as I agree with them all. It’s hard to know which way a series will go having to wait for each episode in hope that it takes the turn you hoped for. Things have to be longed out of course unlike movies, which can be frustrating, however, I believe it’s been worth the wait now that we finally have more serious action that we all craved having been given only snippets of the callous ‘mafia’ Vincenzo the first episode promised. The build up has only added to his character and carisma when he finally shows what he can really do…. I love the added touch of his childhood/mum story too. I’m still waiting to hear about his father figure that was his boss in Italy which all adds to his intriguing mindset. I think every character is playing excellently. I love Korean films and mafia films so this is right up my street. The build up only adds to your willing the character’s on when action is finally delivered. Bravo Vincenzo. Bravo Greg 👏👌🏻

  5. Yup, Run on got better after each episode and uncany counter was also good.You missed, Mr. Queen which was a total package.
    I have watched Vincenzo writer’s earlier works, Fiery Priest and Good Manager, even though they present us some unrealistic situations and not that good story, but the writer brilliantly merged many every day situations of our life with a pinch of sarcasm in those dramas. So viewers were able to connect so quickly and each and every character, even the antagonistswere memorable and their acting carried the drama forward.
    I don’t know whether it is SJK’s hotness attracting some fans, but I personally felt this drama didn’t reach the levels of his previous works even in case of whole cast charisma except the villain side .I didn’t expect a 100% plot or good story based drama from him,but still its way too predictable if you have been watching a few revenge shows.I felt like I have seen this drama already because of its so familiar situations.

  6. I love this drama and all the characters and I am actually waiting for your review to come up everyweek, so thanks for writing.

    But this episode 11 is a bit of disappointment for me. I had strong feeling since watching the preview during the end of episode 10 that they will not reveal the real Babel boss that easily. Was praying that this would not come true but was disappointed. The whole episode 11 was a drag, although I still enjoy it. But they could have scrap the whole episode 11, make earlier reveal and move the show move in a faster pace and more suspenceful. Hopefully episode 12 would be better.

    Agree with you I have love and hate relationship with this show although I am still a loyal devoter. Some episodes are just brilliant. But some set the scene episodes could have been made shorter. My opinion

  7. Okay that false cliffhanger really annoyed me…knowing this show, this episode’s one won’t feel rewarding either…

  8. Hey Mohit, thanks for commenting! It’s definitely one of those love/hate shows and I’ll admit, I’ve been pretty critical of this over the weeks.

    I like the Geumga Plaza characters and think each of them have actually been given some pretty compelling sub-plots. The comedy is subjective of course but I think the show has hit its stride now and managed to more confidently balance the crime and comedy elements.

    I mean compared to the very best dramas this doesn’t compare but this year hasn’t been incredible for K-dramas so far. Uncanny counter was great, so too was Run On and Hello Me has been pretty good so far. On the other end of the spectrum we’ve had Sisyphus, LUCA, She Would Never Know and that ghastly Love ft. Marriage & Divorce so it’s really been a year of extremes! I do think Vincenzo is one of the better ones but largely thanks to its characters.

    The episodes are quite long to be fair and I can understand that the plot may be a little slow for some.

    Thank you so much for reading the recap and commenting though!

    -Greg W

  9. I felt the story is not moving forward in a good pace. If you are planning to enjoy the drama at each moment, I don’t find this that engaging.Comedies are like a hit and miss.
    Nothing much has happened in these 11 episodes and this is not even a romance drama to get emotionally engaged, so that we don’t care that much about the plot. Cast performance is just good.
    I think you are overrating the show a bit.

  10. Do you really this show as a brilliant one? I am fond of revenge and crime ,but I didn’t find a single unique element from this drama.

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