Vincenzo – K-Drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

I Love You Tae-Ho

Episode 8 of Vincenzo begins with Seok-Do and his men behind bars as all the residents arrive at the police station and rile up the situation, pointing out An’s injuries.

Cha-Young and Vincenzo arrive though, along with Yeong-Ho too, who shows the officers the video footage they’ve recorded showing that Seok-Do and his men were the ones who began the assault.

This allows all the Geumga Plaza residents to go free, as they head out for food after to celebrate their big victory. This eventually leads to them cheering Vincenzo’s name and applauding him.

Their video also ends up with 1.2 million views online, prompting reporters and the camera crew to jump onboard and start filming. It’s a pretty hilarious skit too, with all the usual quips you’d expect from Korean TV.

Meanwhile, Joon-Woo figures out that Vincenzo is the one who helped Myung-Hee. He’s not happy but Myung-Hee holds her own, telling him that she too has never lost twice. This immediately spurs Joon-Woo into action, applauding her passion.

This passion spills over to a meeting between the two as they discuss compensation for the victims of the Babel Chemicals case. Vincenzo turns his back though as she agrees to check it over. While they antagonize the Babel lawyer, Myung-Hee writes out expletives on her laptop.

Retribution comes swiftly for those who have wronged Babel’s higher-ups, as the puppet Chairman Jang Han-Seo smacks three Directors with ice hockey pucks and fires them.

At the same time, Seok-Do and his men are kept in freezing cold conditions. It’s here they also find out about Vincenzo’s Mother has taken a turn for the worst in hospital. Vincenzo arrives though and manages to grant a stay of execution.

With this in the bag, Vincenzo works with Cho Yeong-Un to try and get iris recognition software, which will help break into the safe without destabilizing the entire structure of the building.

Meanwhile, news breaks that Shinkwang Bank are going to invest in Babel Group. Given Shinkwang Bank are usually known for good investments, this seems suspect. Vincenzo is definitely sure of this too, especially after Hwang’s visit to the hospital where he threatened Ms Oh.

On the back of this, the pair shift their attention over to the Bank instead, deciding to figure out what’s really going on.

Well, they decide to use Vincenzo as bait to lure this young bank president, Hwang Min-Seong, into a false sense of security. They want Vincenzo to seduce and grow closer to him, and despite initially refusing to do so, Vincenzo does eventually head up and meet the man. The entire sequence at the stables is absolutely hilarious, as Vincenzo successfully manages to win him over.

They eventually head out for drinks together, with Cha-Young and Joo-Sung both donning disguises. While they watch from the wings, Vincenzo is encouraged through flamboyant gestures to seal the deal.

He calls himself Tae Ho and claims to have a law firm called “Only you.” The two continue to grow closer, with Hwang literally moving Vincenzo’s chair next to his and leaning in close.

Only, things immediately take a dark turn when Hwang mentions what happened to Ms Oh and what leverage he has over her.

It turns out she murdered his Father while Hwang happened to be watching from a gap in the door. It’s a pretty shocking revelation, and one that’s immediately followed up by Vincenzo getting into character and encouraging him to meet that weekend.

They eventually arrive at the fairground together where Vincenzo and Hwang continue to grow closer together. Cha-Young gives words of encouragement, while Vincenzo smiles weakly.

Hwang suddenly clings to Vincenzo though, admitting that he’s scared of zombies. The conversation then turns to work, as Vincenzo makes a big, passionate cry that he’s broken their agreement and is going to break things off.

As he leaves, Vincenzo curses Cha-Young for making her do this. It doesn’t end there though, in fact Hwang even shows up outside the office and waits for him for 5 hours.

Eventually Vincenzo does agree to talk to him. Hwang is willing to hear Vincenzo out and encourages him to think twice about the Babel group investment. This brings us along nicely to the Investment Agreement Signing Ceremony that evening.

There, Cha-Young happens to be in attendance, watching as the Babel group ready themselves to sign the contract. With Hwang and our puppet chairman about to sign, Vincenzo’s impassioned cry of love leads them to break things off and void the contract.

Only, Hwang’s parents show up and cause a big scene, telling Hwang that she’ll sign this herself. As we soon find out, Myung-Hee suspected something like this would happen and reached out to her. Vincenzo can only smile, leaving a message saying “Nice one.”

Afterwards, Vincenzo decides to exact his revenge using Hwang’s biggest fear – zombies. This brings the earlier scenes regarding the zombie extras at Geumga Plaza into context, as they’re used here to scare Hwang.

All the zombies come out of the lockers and stagger toward him, as An puts a note on the door reading “Rehearsal In Progress.”

Well, this scares Hwang so much that he comes bumbling out and straight to Tae Ho’s legs. Police officers then show up and arrest Hwang for assault and blackmail.

Realizing he’s been duped, the officers put him in handcuffs and take the boy away as reporters snap photos.

On the back of this, Myung-Hee and Cha-Young come to blows. The latter decides to challenge Myung-Hee, claiming that she’s going to do her best to expose the corrupt deeds Babel Group have conducted.

As Vincenzo and Cha-Young walk away from the reporters, they exchange a knowing glance and a wry smile.

The Episode Review

Vincenzo comes roaring out the gates after yesterday’s episode with an impressive showcase of comedy and drama.

Away from the early season action and explosive set pieces, Vincenzo now sets up this intriguing cat and mouse battle between Babel Group and Vincenzo’s crew. It’s an interesting dynamic in truth, with colourful characters on both sides of the fence.

The entire dynamic is just now starting to develop in a more meaningful way, and the inclusion of the Geumga Plaza residents play into this really helps give the show some depth.

They are, in many ways, the comedic relief although the whole Manager An situation remains a bit of a dud plot point that hasn’t had a lot of development.

Instead, the show blends in episodic content with a more serialized plot regarding this Babel Group conflict.

This week’s seduction with Vincenzo and the ingenious zombie-acting joke work beautifully to give this show some long-form jokes and back up some of the better writing that’s graced Vincenzo.

I just can’t help but feel that the show should have started with a more lighthearted scene. Beginning with that Godfather-esque fire really gives the impression of the show being a much darker and more serious proposition than the one we’ve got.

On the other side of the coin though are the scenes involving Vincenzo and his whirlwind romance with Hwang. These moments are easily the strongest of the entire episode

Every scene here works to perfection, and it helps that these laughs are doubled up by great chemistry between the cast.

If you’ve made it this far, you’ll undoubtedly be invested in the story and there’s enough in this one to stick with for the long term.