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This review may contain spoilers
A Unique Watching Experience
I started watching "Vincenzo" when only 6 episodes were out, and I believe the weekly wait for new content helped raise my opinion of this drama. The build-up towards a new episode grew my excitement, and I was fully engaged in the story.
"Vincenzo" started out strong - the vineyard scene and the accompanying classical music (which is still my favourite one from the whole OST) gave a good taste of what the series is going to be like - dramatic, pompous, shocking, humorous and dark. The production was truly high-quality - the camera work, the lighting, the cinematography, the sets - everything combined made "Vincenzo" seem refined and revolutionary.
Of course, the 180 change happened rather quickly, but unlike many other viewers, I loved it. The Geumga Plaza tenants were a charming cast of characters, and our main hero got duality - Vincenzo was very good at winning and intimidating others, but he was also awkward and a fish out of water in Korea. However, the heart of the drama for me was the FL Cha Young. Her manners, the way she talked and walked, how loud she was - we rarely see such women on screen. She was truly powerful and dynamic, and it's a damn shame that the show-runners decided to abandon her development when they started focusing on Han Seo's story. There was a place for both of them.
The story was well-developed, too. I never saw the twists coming, but they were amazing and thought-out, and I loved seeing our "heroes" triumph over the villains time and time again - it made sense because they were both competent and also it was plain entertaining. Like, yes, finally, I get to enjoy some sort of satisfaction every episode. Sadly, after the one-week hiatus, it seemed like a dreadful rewrite happened.
Let's get the worst one out of the way: Cha Young was basically benched for the last 4 episodes, and especially during the finale. This was her time to shine! She spent 16 episodes letting Vincenzo plan and execute everything! Her contribution to the final fight was absolutely zero, Han Seo did more in his condition :).
Episode 20 felt really out of touch with the rest of the story. Compared to the wonderful sequence of events in episodes 9-12 (all of them I rated 10/10) this was a big ~meeeh. Vincenzo left, as expected, for Malta. But the fact that he has no intentions of returning, even though he wanted to get the gold and retire (neither of these plot points was followed through), and instead he chooses to become the new Italian boss of the Cassano family??? I am convinced this was added last minute because angst is a requirement for a "sensible" ending. You had A PIGEON save the hero from the mafia, I think you can have him secretly fly back to Korea on a Bye-Bye Balloon.
Anyway, 9.5 is for the good memories, emotions and everything else I got in 19 episodes of this show. Oh, and for all the deaths of villains in the finale :))) I enjoyed watching them immensely.
"Vincenzo" started out strong - the vineyard scene and the accompanying classical music (which is still my favourite one from the whole OST) gave a good taste of what the series is going to be like - dramatic, pompous, shocking, humorous and dark. The production was truly high-quality - the camera work, the lighting, the cinematography, the sets - everything combined made "Vincenzo" seem refined and revolutionary.
Of course, the 180 change happened rather quickly, but unlike many other viewers, I loved it. The Geumga Plaza tenants were a charming cast of characters, and our main hero got duality - Vincenzo was very good at winning and intimidating others, but he was also awkward and a fish out of water in Korea. However, the heart of the drama for me was the FL Cha Young. Her manners, the way she talked and walked, how loud she was - we rarely see such women on screen. She was truly powerful and dynamic, and it's a damn shame that the show-runners decided to abandon her development when they started focusing on Han Seo's story. There was a place for both of them.
The story was well-developed, too. I never saw the twists coming, but they were amazing and thought-out, and I loved seeing our "heroes" triumph over the villains time and time again - it made sense because they were both competent and also it was plain entertaining. Like, yes, finally, I get to enjoy some sort of satisfaction every episode. Sadly, after the one-week hiatus, it seemed like a dreadful rewrite happened.
Let's get the worst one out of the way: Cha Young was basically benched for the last 4 episodes, and especially during the finale. This was her time to shine! She spent 16 episodes letting Vincenzo plan and execute everything! Her contribution to the final fight was absolutely zero, Han Seo did more in his condition :).
Episode 20 felt really out of touch with the rest of the story. Compared to the wonderful sequence of events in episodes 9-12 (all of them I rated 10/10) this was a big ~meeeh. Vincenzo left, as expected, for Malta. But the fact that he has no intentions of returning, even though he wanted to get the gold and retire (neither of these plot points was followed through), and instead he chooses to become the new Italian boss of the Cassano family??? I am convinced this was added last minute because angst is a requirement for a "sensible" ending. You had A PIGEON save the hero from the mafia, I think you can have him secretly fly back to Korea on a Bye-Bye Balloon.
Anyway, 9.5 is for the good memories, emotions and everything else I got in 19 episodes of this show. Oh, and for all the deaths of villains in the finale :))) I enjoyed watching them immensely.
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