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Swansong
Episode 19 of Vincenzo marks the beginning of the end as our Italian-Korean consigliere prepares for his final march against Babel group.
We return to Geumga Plaza, where Vincenzo faces each of these goons head on. They all attack at once, leading to a really well-shot fight sequence. Unfortunately Vincenzo is smacked upside the head with a wood block.
With all hope lost, the other residents all show up and turn the tide of battle. Each of them get their own cheeky title card too, complete with some well placed shots and hilarious inside jokes. Notably, Mr An is labelled as President of Vincenzo’s fan-club “Oh my consigliere.”
The group successfully turn the tide of battle, dispatching all of Kim’s goons. Cha-Young gets the final blow in though, knocking Mr Kim out with a wood block.
Now we see flashes of the past to see how Vincenzo moved the gold from the vault. It turns out the monks have known about the trapdoor to the vault for quite some time. They were experiencing electric shocks while praying.
As Vincenzo squirms in his seat, he eventually breaks the news that they’re sitting on the gold. In order to break in, he enlists Mi-Ri’s help alongside all those who already know about the vault. Once in, all the residents work together to move the gold bit by bit without arousing suspicion. The Guillotine File meanwhile, is moved somewhere else entirely.
On the back of all this, Vincenzo speaks to Cha-Young and admits he solved everything back in Italy by drawing up a contract and paying 80 million euros. Cha-Young is impressed and thanks him, eventually going on to flirt a little. Yes guys, Cha-chenzo is well and truly on!
Back in the office though, the group decide to teach Park Seung-Jun a lesson. Almost immediately, scandalous news about him leaks online. His support starts to waver. By comparison, Joon-Woo finds his support growing. With an army of loyal followers by his side, he beats down and bites another inmate who opposes him.
With the Guillotine file used as leverage, Prosecutor Jung and Myung-Hee’s ideas to postpone the trial until after the elections fall on deaf ears. Just to make this deal legit, Vincenzo poses as a driver and takes Judge Heo out, demanding that he play ball.
We then begin the first day of the trial. Judge Heo arrives, as Vincenzo Cassano steps up as the first witness. Vincenzo decides to bring forth his video evidence, Myung-Hee’s attempts to discredit this as omissible is rejected. Instead, Vincenzo shows all the footage but with some of the faces blurred. Myung-Hee believes this is code for them dying very soon.
Thanks to the corruption and issues with Babel Group, the Geumga Plaza residents win their case. On the back of this, Han-Seo immediately flexes his muscles as a chairman and cancels all production of the illicit Babel chemicals.
Seung-Hyeok is there too and he chuckles nervously, believing his time is up and wanting to form a coalition to prevent that. Han-Seo shrugs this off though and tells him he’s with Vincenzo now.
After the court case, Vincenzo shows up to see Han-Seok in prison. He shows the crook a picture of his model Babel Tower completely wrecked. This symbolic gesture hints that Babel group are no more.
Vincenzo smiles wryly as Han-Seok promises to be completely unhinged when he leaves prison. He glances at the Italian’s watch and decides it will make a great addition to his collection.
When Vincenzo leaves, he speaks to Han-Seok and tells him to go abroad. After all, he’s going to be Han-Seo’s first target. Han-Seok refuses though and decides to stay and fight.
Myugn-Hee too is desperate to fight, and she rallies the team along with Mr Kim to find a way to break him out. Well, Myung-Hee eventually decides to sacrifice herself and take the fall for the Babel group incident. This way, Han-Seok will be let free.
Vincenzo strikes Prosecutor Jung when he least suspects it, trapping him up on the rooftop and calling him out. He won’t acknowledge his sins so now he’s going to pay the price. And that comes in the form of being dropped off the roof to his death. That’s one down but for Vincenzo it’s just the start. He intends to take the rest of Babel group out one by one.
Han-Seo knows what they’re planning and decides to slip out unannounced without any fanfare. Myung-Hee decides to do the exact opposite, singing her heart out while trapped in a cell. Han-Seok meanwhile, leaves prison with no fanfare.
Vincenzo tries to eat with Cha-Young but she plays hard to get. When she leaves, Han-Seo happens to be high above, watching her. Eventually he seizes his opportunity and bundles her into his car.
Han-Seok then shows back up at his old office and confronts his brother. He calls him a traitor and confirms that he’s paid off all his bodyguards. There’s no one left. Brandishing a gun, Han-Seo accepts his fate… and receives a nasty blow to the face from the butt of the gun instead. He isn’t being killed off just yet.
Back at Vincenzo’s place, he immediately senses something awry and heads outside with his silenced pistol. On the floor is an envelope holding Cha-Young’s bloodied necklace inside. Vincenzo immediately realizes what this means as both Cha-Young and Han-Seo are kept prisoner at Han-Seok’s place.
Well, Vincenzo bursts into the room, leading to a big stand-off. Han-Seok forces his brother to pick up the hockey stick and beat Vincenzo. He refuses to do so though, and instead turns against his brother. He slams the hockey stick down and scuffles for the gun.
Unfortunately Han-Seok is shot in the skirmish as he suddenly turns and fires at Vincenzo… but hits Cha-Young through the chest! As she collapses to the floor, Vincenzo looks on with murderous intent.
The Episode Review
I cannot remember the last time I watched a show that managed to recover so strongly from a tepid first half. Its taken a good 10 or so episodes for this one to strike gold but my goodness is this show firing on all cylinders now.
Cha-Young and Vincenzo have had great development over the season and this self-aware teasing and holding off on a conventional romance has really helped set this one apart.
The law drama side of things is still a bit so/so and if it wasn’t for the colorful characters really wouldn’t be that interesting. However, it serves as a good stop-gap between the far more interesting action and thriller elements.
The opening title cards for the Geumga Plaza residents is such a great touch and it helps to play up the well-timed humour here.
It’s also worth noting that Han-Seok’s character development this season has been fantastic. He’s become a true warrior for Geumga Plaza and a lot of that comes from his affection for Vincenzo. He sees the man as the brother he never had, starved of that sibling love thanks to Han-Seok’s murderous psychopathic tendencies.
His final stand against Han-Seok is such a fitting (possible) end for his character. This really does echo the same sentiments as Seung-Jung from Crash Landing On You.
Speaking of which, the ending scene may irk some people but it seems logical for someone who’s finally realized he’s in love. After all, love makes you do crazy things and instead of helping Han-Seok kill his brother, Vincenzo’s first thought was to free Cha-Young before going back to help. Sure it may be a little contrived but it’s needed to get this bombastic finale.
Overall though, Vincenzo has been a tale of two halves. After a rather tepid opening half, Vincenzo has turned into one of the best k-dramas of the year. Tomorrow’s finale cant come quick enough!
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Episode Rating
(4.5)
So i didnt watch episode 20 yet but the end of the 19 makes me want to throw up.
it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. first of all we have seen him go all in 1v50 without any problem.
but when his girl gets kidnapped he just goes gunless into the house of the CEO while there are only two guards..
Then he find himself against the CEO and when CEO’s brother hits him he has 0 reaction whatsoever he just watches them fight instead of jumping on the opportunity to end it. Then he finnally moves and what does he do ? he goes to untie the girl while the bro is fighting with his life and then walk away ? what kind of garbage is this ?
everything in this serie was really credible but this part was just disgusting. nothing made sense.
in reality the bro hits the ceo and he jumps him and its 2v1 game over.
Would like to have had the story teased out a bit more. Vincenzo could have been a half brother to, the Babel brothers, which would mean he would also have had an interest in the company, causing an enormous amount of chaos. Etc, etc. I really thought the story would go that way. Good watch though.
This K-Drama is not to be missed. Usually with these dramas I have an tendency to skip episodes. Not with Vincenzo! Watched every episode ❤ sometimes twice 🤯The ensemble was well put together. Kudos! I’m hoping for Season 2, please! Oh, well written.
No matter which way you see it, no one especially Vincenzo would assist the woman first than to help the guy defeat the villain. I would rate the series 2 star after this.
I loved this show
I did worry that when they added in an extra week of shooting that they were going to try and shoe horn in a romance, and lo, my fears have come to pass. We now have a purported heroine who makes no effort to assist Vincenzo as he is attacked by multiple goons, but grabs a club and knocks out the last villain standing when he mentions the gold. This is not a good look.
Vincenzo’s relationship with Han Seo, on the other hand, has been a joy to watch; a traumatised boy has begun to recover from decades of abuse from his psychotic brother, and is willing to risk his life to save Vincenzo’s life. Meanwhile the purported heroine clings girlishly to Vincenzo, doing nothing to help, just as she did nothing to help at the plaza.
It’s a pity because the series has been immense fun; Cha Young’s failure to ever consider anything beyond what she wants could have been shown as a reflection of just how much she has failed to change, by contrast with those around her. Instead the writers have tried to change her relationship with Vincenzo into a slow burn; unfortunately it’s so unbelievable that it’s a fast fizzle.
The writers are going to have to make an extraordinary recovery in the finale if they are going to haul their show from the wreckage…