Vincenzo (2021)

Episode 1: Chess Mafia Analogy

After breaking out of jail, SpongeBob seizes the opportunity to eat corndogs instead of Krabby patties. Cinderella also likes wood shoes as snow white likes snot shoes now. Because of this, they want to launch a new store. A nunchuck store with a weenie detector for all those weenies out there. Wreck-it Ralph also launched a new candy store filled with lots of doves. They love to do things publicly: like even looking at each other's bottoms to see that wonderful hole for reproduction. And you might be saying, what is this about the movie [VINCENZO]? Well the movie, I suppose to say series or episodes are good and I highly recommend you to watch it.

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brilliantly captivating

vincenzo is one of my top dramas and if you check my watchlist, youll see ive combed through many of kdramaland's best and worst dramas.

to start, people that give vincenzo low ratings mustve dropped it early on. even from an objective point of view, this drama is nearly perfect by any standard. i admit the FL took some time to get used to and the story needed to catch its footing, but when it did, it hit the ground running. firstly, the writing is spectacular. each episode has the perfect balance of action and recovery, in which we see our characters throw a punch, compose themselves, and get ready for their next course of action. even if an episode has a slower pace than the previous episode, nothing is ever dull or boring. the conversations are organic and each character is well written. everyone in this drama has their place and meaning, no character or action is a filler.

what makes this drama spectacular is how well thought out everything is. youd have to watch each episode multiple times to catch each fleeting glance, each allegory or parallel. each episode has a focus and goal, and we watch the characters grow with each conversation. thats what makes this drama feel so real despite its fantastical and unreachable plot: the world building, the well written dialogue where we witness the weaknesses and strengths of our characters, the highs and lows of our leads, how they deal with their traumas. the writer has developed the characters to the point where we can confidently say what our leads are thinking or how they may be spending their time when theyre not gracefully fighting crime. and the pacing of the plot has been more consistent than a majority of dramas ive seen, there are no massive time jumps, no miscommunications, no unnecessary subplots. in fact any trope that vincenzo uses, it makes fun of itself before we get a chance to do so. thats how well thought out the writing is.

the balance of crime, mystery, action, comedy, and romance is unraveled. you get your fill but the end always leaves you wanting more. the slow burn especially has to be the best ive seen. relationship wise, we watch our characters go from enemies to friends, learning to appreciate and lean on each other. crime wise, we get an interesting and maniacal set of villains that successfully make you shiver in your seat. vincenzo's comedy also lands really well most of the time, making the most of their comical side cast and cameos and references.

as for our ML, song joongki is doing a spectacular job. he eloquently delivers what-on paper- looks like a brutal mafia member as a loyal, enigmatic man with unresolved trauma. he has an air of elegance and intelligence, and unlike his cold appearance he genuinely cares for and wants to do right by those around him. song joongki is also incredible at controlling his facial expressions and micromovements, allowing us to see his internal struggle with his developing feelings.

our FL, played by jeon yeobeen is a little offputting at first. perhaps JYB needed time to really get into her character or this type of character isnt her strong suit. regardless, after 5 or so episodes she really grows into the role of spunky and flamboyant chayoung who has trauma of her own. this drama would not be as splendid as it is if we didnt have such an atypical FL that i am so happy to see on my screen. she is strong willed, intelligent, outspoken, stubborn, and always true to herself. there is so much to her personality and she is a magnificent foil to our ML vincenzo who often has a stern face and cold aura. the chemistry between the two leads is electric, and watching them heal through their friendship is really heartwarming.

overall, this drama is spectacular in every aspect. if you pay close attention you can see the meaning between the lines or catch an allegory hidden in a seemingly casual interaction. the build up of the plot is intense and well worth the wait, and the character development is nearly swoon worthy. what im saying is, watch this drama. prepare to be mindblown. this is the kind of drama youd pay to be able to watch again for the first time.

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A series from the bad guy's point of view?? I eat this sh*t up

First things first: I'm Italian, so watching Vincenzo for me has been... an experience XD

I loved this series. Despite the (expected) stereotypes about Italians and the mafia, I could thoroughfully enjoy it.

What I love the most about this series is that the main character is a villain. He is a bad guy, a criminal, a guy who knows that he doesn't deserve Heaven or redemption, who is aware of his being bad and doesn't act like he wants to redeem himself.

The series doesn't hide or try to soften the fact that Vincenzo is a criminal, and I loved it. Up to the very end, you don't get some cheesy message like "yeah I did bad things, but for the right reasons because I believe in justice". That's just bulls*it, you won't find any "legal" justice here.

Don't get me wrong, Vincenzo is far from being unlikeable. In fact, he's very much likeable and you can't help rooting for him even when he does 'bad' things. But as you watch, in some remote part of your brain a voice says "wow, this guy is ruthless". And yet you can't help but fall in love with him for so many reasons.

Song Joongki in this drama is simply Oscar-worthy. And I loved how they managed to use the whole cast well despite having so many characters. I really grew fond of every single character.

Chapeau at the whole team behind this drama because they made 20 episodes of 90 minutes each (each episode is like a movie basically) and yet I never felt bored for one minute while watching it. It's pure entertainment! I wouldn't rewatch just because it's really really long, but who knows! I might rewatch my fave episodes in a month's time. There are many great epic moments in this!

Last thing I want to say is: Moonlovers should have had this kind of ending. It was that easy to give it a happy ending. Thank you Vincenzo for giving me my happy pill!

Ps: despite this drama not really romanticizing Italian mafia, I also think they painted a way too 'cheerful' picture of it. And unfortunately there are no charming guys like Song Joongki, so remember: MAFIA IS BAD!

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Almost perfect, if it wasn’t for one episode

I went into this show with high expectations - I had heard that this was the best show of 2021 - and for the most part I wasn’t disappointed. The acting, plot and music all go together perfectly and the show doesn’t get boring.

However, I was hugely disappointed by episode 8. I felt like they wanted to have lgbt representation but it came off slightly h*mophobic. The whole thing of manipulating the gay ceo and then using his phobia against him seemed too cruel just for a plot point that doesn’t get mentioned after that much. If it wasn’t for that episode i would have no complaints

Overall, it was an enjoyable series :)

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ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

There is not one thing about this I did not like. Story of a Korean boy adopted by an Italian mafia family. The ML is perfect for the role. When he speaks Italian (which I read is his voice) it will make you swoon. The FL is gorgeous, funny and quirky. The tenants in the building Vincenzo is trying to save are very interesting and also very funny. The ML bad guy is pure evil and he and Vincenzo make for evenly matched adversaries. Even my husband enjoyed watching it and is the only K drama he watched to the end. The ending makes a Season 2 look possible. Please have a Season 2!!!!!!!!

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Definitely unique

I just finished Vincenzo and going in, I definitely didn't know what I was getting myself into. This drama, for one, is a dark comedy and I didn't even realize that until I started watching. It's a mixture of seriousness with over the top comedy to balance it out. I really liked the cinematography and of course, the visuals of Song Joong Ki and Ok Taec Yeon. Initially, I didn't like Hong Cha Young but she grew on me, she was a fierce independent woman with so much sass and attitude, I loved it! The only about this drama is that it ran long and it had so much to set up so it actually took me a while to get through these episodes. Even though it was entertaining, it didn't hold my attention so much that I would have to binge every episode. I found myself pausing a lot and just doing other stuff. Overall, it's a good, entertaining watch and Song Joong Ki was absolutely gorgeous in it but definitely not one of my top favorite dramas.

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so satisfying!

from the beginning to the end, I enjoyed every minute. there is nothing more to say.
everything was right, everything was fair. I really loved it! I read some people had trouble diving in, I definitely didn't. if the first episode don't catch you, this is not for you.

the story is very hard and violent. but the characters just make jokes about this. this was an adaptation mechanism to survive the violence that happened to them. so the tone might feel odd. some people called this a comedy, because of that. but that's not a comedy. that's a difficult story.

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Not so much Dark Action Series

When you going to watch the drak action crime based series then you already prepared for longer series with good episode length and accepting the fact that story will reveal slowly as it goes. Vincenzo has great story with great cast but there is something which lacks and it is the way story reveals.

I love this drama it has great actors, music, has some comedy, great action and great music. But it has flaws which we can see not do many but have.

I can re-watch this drama it is good and best for binge watching. You cannot relax until you completed.

Also I love the ending

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Missed potential in beautiful package

I think that no drama this year gave me so mixed feelings than Vincenzo. I’ve changed my mind about it multiple times while watching it and I’m still not entirely sure what exactly to think about it. For me this drama was just so uneven that it’s hard to give it just one score. But I’ll go point by point with this and hopefully at the end I’ll have my mind set.

The goodies:

Production
A while ago I’ve said that It’s Okay to Not Be Okay was the most aesthetically pleasing drama that I’ve watched this year. But after a bit of thought, I think that it should be ex aequo with Vincenzo on the first spot. While in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay more care was put towards scenography and costumes, in Vincenzo production itself was top notch. Photography and the way some scenes were shot was just so good that I think it could easily compete with western hight budget series in this category. And let’s talk about scenes that took place in Italy. Because you know what? They weren’t actually shot in Italy or anywhere near Europe. All of them were actually shot on green screen and even some actors weren’t in the same place, but were put together in post production. Which makes those scenes even more impressive.
For those interested, here’s material published by Netflix on their YouTube channel, mind blown, am I right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQz7orIi8Q


Acting
I mean, with a cast like that I wouldn’t expect anything less than perfect. And I have to say, all actors deliver. Song Joong Ki had a particular hard job with his character talking a lot of Italian but it worked out better than I thought. I mean, I don’t speak Italian, I’ve watched some analysis of his language skills made by actual Italians and they had rather good opinions of it. And for my ear it actually sounds better than his English from Descendants of the Sun where it sounded like he just got the text written phonetically to memorise. This time it sounds more natural at least on the first glance.
Amongst others I’d have to highlight performances by Ok Taec Yeon (obviously, but I have to say that he’ve done a hell of a job with a character that could otherwise be absolutely ridiculous and exaggerated) and Kim Yeo Jin (the same as with character played by Ok Tae Yeon. I’d say that this drama served a bit too close to comical relief with it’s characters, but was saved by top acting).


Comic relief
About comic relief, but this time the intended one. At some point I was really confused of what this drama is trying to be. Because amongst all those pretty intense mafia scenes we have those little hidden gems of comic relief scenes and characters that actually, after some time, fit perfectly as a bit of pressure valve after some emotional or just simply intensive scenes. I’d say that my favourite comic relief were the tenants of Geumga Plaza, they’re such an amazing blend of personalities that comedic scenes with them were a pure gold for me.

Characters (esp. villain)
There’s a lot of them, which not always is a good thing (about it later) but I have to admit that all characters in this series are very well developed and thought through. There’s basically no weak link here.
And let’s talk about the villain, because that was hands down the best played character here. Ok Taec Yeon done such an amazing job portraying Jang Jun Woo that he basically saved this character that otherwise could be unintended comic relief here. But the way this character progressed being more and more psychopathic was a masterpiece. That ladies and gentlemen is how villains should be written. The way that we know what they could do without them showing it it’s just enough to make us shudder.
About Vincenzo himself. At first I’ve seen him as a bit exaggerated with the notion of him being basically more Italian than pizza itself. But it kind grew on me and the way the character was developed made him more believable with each episode. Finally we have what was promised, a cold blooded mafia guy who’s not afraid to use cruel methods on people who crossed the line, at the same time being composed lawyer choosing peaceful (or semi peaceful) methods first.

Baddies

Pacing
And here we have first problem and the thing that I was most angry about it because it spoiled my fun from watching this series. Pacing. It’s really bad in some episodes. Somewhere in the middle we have situation when in episode we have 90% of nothing happening and one really amazing scene that made me not drop this drama. I’m used to filler episodes, but here they were really bad, especially that there was no point in having them, since we were basically always in the middle of the action. Maybe it was because Vincenzo has 20 episodes, maybe with 16 it would be much better. Luckily, this 10%, this one really amazing scene kind of rewarded us for waiting remaining hour filled with monotonous dialogues.

Plot
Plot was the thing that I’m the most unsure about whether I liked it or not. I think it’s still linked to pacing of the show but at one point I felt that too many things are happening. We had so many side plots that it was hard to tell what’s happening with the main problem. It made the drama look pretty chaotic and watered down. Especially with this amount of characters. Even tough well written the abundance of them made it pretty hard to follow who’s who and what is he/she doing.


So to somehow bring it all together. For me Vincenzo was a bit of wasted potential of being really amazing series. A bit of it was lost because of really slow paced plot but the good things remain underneath it. So maybe it’s not for everyone, maybe you just need patience for it.

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Slow paced drama with okayish acting , average light revenge drama

9 episodes down and I felt Vincenzo is nothing more than an average watch.The storyline is becoming more predictable lacking serious twists and they add all unnecessary details making it so slow paced. Its not easy to get a attachment to characters and doesn't offer a compelling watch.

a)Vincenzo uses a lot of forced comedy scenes which can be really enjoyed by some people but for some it hardly gave any laugh.Coming to episode 5 and 6,the comedy scenes itself became so predictable and then almost the humour tone turns into a substandard one.
b) Some ideas to tackle enemy were brilliant but the show don't show any specific revenge fire,no clever twists.
c) At the same time, some ideas looks really silly like tonsil scenes, a judge who doesn't wipes his after something sticky falls on his face( I think suit was enough to sting )- just for creating comedy.
Tat flower plot scenes was so predictable from the first look.
d) FL acting is average and has got a lot of room for improvement. She started strong but now she turned into an assistant role to hero, total mismatch to her topdog character of a famous law firm- kdrama cliche.

e) Some show off scenes of Song are really good but he is not that good in a dark hero role. Even now, viewers don't know what is in his mind. No emotional attachment.
f) Almost all father daughter scenes were poor and not emotionally or atleast comically involving.
g) FL walking style and dance - really funny
h)I think negative characters are performing good especially the villain and we can easily get that negative vibes from them.
i) Great potential for love angle.
j) leads chemistry also good.

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