Vincenzo

The acting of the villain is *Chef's Kiss*

Now that I have watched the show completely, I really think I should go back and thoroughly revise my review accordingly. This is probably going to be a very controversial one, so prepare yourselves to hate me all you want.

First off, let's start with the good thing (yes as in singular word "thing"! the only good thing!) about the show. I think we can all agree that this show wins the prize of the BEST VILLAIN OF THE CENTURY! In fact, I believe if someone's going to watch this show they're gonna wanna watch it for the sake of the villain's splendid acting skills. The actor does an amazing job of displaying controlled and uncontrolled rage and you will believe him to be a true devil. So when watching his scenes, get ready to have your mind blown away! Pay attention to his mimic and expressions and how smoothly yet drastically they change and you'll know what I'm talking about. Among all the characters in the show, he is the truest to the character and the most believable one as well. Now that I lay the only positive point about the show out there, off to the review:

Story:
The most buggy storyline I could have ever imagined for a show with such a strong concept! I mean, there are exaggerations flying all around the ML. The show tries too hard to depict him as a capable invincible vicious man and pushes it way too far to the point that logic falls apart and at the end of the show, everything seems stupid and out of pure luck instead of due to ML's capabilities. I mean, the scene with the birds helping him out, even if taken from a comedic point of view, has too much of an impact on the outcome to be brushed off and is too absurd to be acceptable. Also, how come every single person who joins forces with ML suddenly becomes the most capable person you could find in the whole country, but anyone on the villain's side seems not to have any brains? Even the villain's lawyer fails to think straight and prepare for a fight, to the point that the villain goes into a warzone with only 4-5 bullets in a gun he just randomly had to grab from his brother's belongings. The funny part is, people are only capable and smart as long as they are still with the ML. As soon as they betray him, they make the most stupid decisions and fail with anything they are planning to do. And WHAT IS UP with the plaza residents ALL being such an out-of-the-ordinarily usefully skilled bunch of people? I mean, every single one of them? Really? Why? Plus, the characters are way too far far away from being consistent (except for the villain and his lawyer), especially the FL! She is very strictly against violence even when she's seeking revenge on his father's death and yet she falls in love and keeps helping this vicious brutal really violent man who is never satisfied with just killing, but prefers to torture people mentally and physically before he kills them off. The FL is a 30-something-year-old lawyer. You would suppose she has more grounded personality traits. But that is so not the case.

Acting:
Well, I already talked about the villain. As for the rest of the main cast, I'm not sure if the actress is to blame or the character description was way too off, but she has the most unreal character among the main cast. I did not enjoy it at all. The ML on the other hand did pretty well, as Song Joong-ki usually does. However, compared to the loud character of the villain, the calm and relaxed character of the ML does not make much of an impression, even if the ML does throw his stunts and overcomes one challenge after another. I've never found myself rooting for the villain in a drama and I personally believe it's important to keep the drama focused on a strongly displayed lead role. It takes so much for a show to make me ignore the lead role and yet, this drama somehow managed to do that.

Music:
I'm probably being harsh on this one since I have a very particular taste in music, but none of the OSTs stood out for me.

Rewatch Value:
Nope! Not a chance I would go through 20 episodes of stupidity again! I wouldn't even recommend watching the show for the first time unless you already know you are up for a huge waste of time with draggy slow motions and scenes of the ML staring at walls and drinking wine while listening to music and you are willing to do so only to witness outstanding acting from the villain. Honestly, this is the only reason I did not drop the show, and do not regret watching it.

Final thoughts:
*****SPOILERS ALERT*****
I can not get over Ok Taecyeon's splendid acting. He is legit crazy and a perfect devil. I honestly didn't know he existed before Vincenzo aired since I'm not really into KPop and somehow I have managed to tiptoe around all his dramas over the past 15 years of me sweeping KDramas. At the same time, I really loved Song Joong-ki ever since Nice Guy aired, and even more so when Descendants of the Sun was released. But MAN! For me, Taecyeon's acting makes Song Joong-ki's role disappear in the background. He really killed it here.
I have to admit now after watching his previous dramas (notice that I loved his acting so much that I looked up his previous projects and watched them, even the ones from 2011) that he has made great progress with his acting skills. I can't wait to see more of him.
*****SPOILERS ALERT*****

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Sorry I watched it

This is tagged as " Comedy, Law, Romance, Crime, Drama" and it was, initially. There was a rather uneasy blend of crime and comedy, but the humor was quirky and the soundtrack provided a lot of good laughs. I initially hadn't planned to watch it because I hate most Mafia dramas (I went to school with children of real Mafia bosses, so it's not a world I find amusing) and because I'm not very impressed with Song Joong Ki's acting (bring on the haters!). Song was better than I expected but still not great - he simply doesn't have the gravitas I expect from a consiglieri. And I never felt any romantic vibes between him and Jeon Yeo Bin; they were pretty cold fish until the hastily tacked on end scenes.
But he real issue is that it went from a nice hidden treasure drama to a vicious revenge drama with over-graphic hate and sadism. There was nothing likeable about Vincenzo, who showed himself to be a purely evil as the psychopath he was trying to bring down. And what happened to all the gold? Was anything worthwhile done with it, or were the tenants just sucked into Vincenzo's world of revenge and greed? In the end, he corrupted them all.
The star performance was, of course, was Ok Taec Yeon, who went from a bumbling office assistant to an evil psychopath seamlessly and believably. It was a great performance. In the end, I felt sorry for him, a clearly troubled defective human being, while I disliked Vincenzo immensely. If you enjoy cruelty and revenge, you might like this. But don't be deceived by the lighthearted moments in the beginning - this drama is nasty.

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Not what I expected... let down

Maybe I am too hard or too demanding but I expected more from this drama.
I am a fan of #mafia storylines book-addict for that matter... and after all the books and research about this topic that i have done I feel let down. I mean it was well performed for a korean because as an itilian mobster it was not accurate enough. They sugarcoated too much, the characters development was a huge mess on some of them like Hong Cha-young or Vincenzo himself. If a character was one way in the beginning why did you make it seem like they were abducted by aliens that perdormed a lobotomy on them, e.g. Mrs. Hong how someone so materialistic and cheap could suddenly undergo a complete personality transformation... her character was too annoying and too nosy which devaluated the storyline from my personal pov.
The best job was done by Taechyun, his interpretation was superb, like i really was scared in some of his scenes, a lot more than with Vincenzo (the "mobster").
The storyline was underdeveloped and too long for only a few interesting episodes, they dragged the end for too long and then the most interesting part was too rushed and sloppily closed.
Another thing that was a overdid was the neighbours from the Geumga Plaza, sometimes they focused too much on them for my liking and there wasn't anything interesting to see...
The romance was truly the worst part 📢📢
NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE ML AND FL!!!
Song Joon Ki had more chemistry with the other male leads and supporting cast than with Mrs. Jeon. Not trying to be anti or anything, I am just saying the truth from my personal perspective. There were a few awkward moments between them that they could have saved us from...
Summarising it, too much expectations that were not reached and too much melo for a "thriller/crime" drama.
Hope this review is helpful for you. 💕😝😊
P.S: Don't hate or impose over those with different opinions like myself in this case... let's all be respectful and mature.
P.S. II: Thanks for all the comments (goog ones, let's not leave bad comments, please).

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Don't mess with the pidgeons!

This show was very enjoyable to watch. Super binge-able and it wonderfully straddled the line between serious and silly. The important moments hit hard but there were also some very funny (and some absolutely hilarious) moments of comedic relief to lighten the mood.

The acting was fantastic all across the board, from the leads, to the villains, to the all of the tenants. Same with the directing. There were so many beautifully framed, visually interesting, dynamic scenes. And the writing, with the dark/fun duality, the surprising twists and reveals, the slow character-arc builds, and pretty much all the episodes ending in mild and not so mild cliffhangers, kept me hooked throughout.

And shout-out for having a hot, young villain! That should definitely become more of a trend 😂.

P. S. I'm still very new to Korean, but I'm so confused why the show is called 빈센조 (bin-sen-jo) and not 빈첸소 (bin-chen-so) which is actually much closer to the Italian pronunciation of the name. If the Korean alphabet has the necessary phonemes to very closely pronounce the name as it is in its native language, then why "koreanize" it to sound different?

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Leverage

If you enjoyed the American show Leverage then this will more than satisfy yopur viewing needs. After reading all the bad reviews I decided top give it a shot anyway and was pleasantly surprised. The acting was good and the plot has more than enough twists to keep you interested until the very end. The second lead was evil personified I love Taceyeon anyway but seeing him as a villian like this was the first time for me. I highly recommend that you ignore the bad reviews and judge for yourself. The female lead can be a bit annoying but she does provide great comedic relief in tense situations JUst watch it okay and you will not be disappointed.

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A Writing Masterpiece that is fun to watch

From the moment this drama started I was hooked. Rarely do you find a series that will keep you glued to the screen for 20 episodes, but this one did just that. A drama, suspense, comedy and a touch of romance with superb acting. There were happy moments and extremely sad moments, but there was never a dull moment.

At times it was brutal so don’t watch it you’re squeamish over the sight of blood. A group of misfits come together as a family and stand against every evil you can think of. Don’t pick over the reality of it, don’t question the methods, just sit back and watch a writing masterpiece. It was entertaining and it was captivating so please enjoy what you are about to watch.

The acting was amazing. Song Yoong Ki did a fantastic job with his portrayal of Vincenzo Cassano a member of the Italian mafia. By the time the drama ends you will believe he is the true godfather. Jeon Yeo Bin was great as Hong Cha Young the wild and beautiful lawyer in the group. If you’ve never noticed her before you will after this drama. She was strong, beautiful and right beside Vincenzo with her constant support. On the evil side it will be hard to ever top the pair in this drama. Ok Taec Yeon just ruled as the master villain, the evil Chairman Jang Jun Woo. He changed moods, facial expressions and you never knew what he would do next. Kim Yeo Jin was brilliant in her portrayal of Choi Myung Hee the prosecutor/lawyer for the evil Chairman. I’ve seen her in so many shows but this one was a tribute to her years of acting. When I watched this drama I wasn’t sure which of the two were the most evil. All the support acting was good so there was never any empty time. The drama moves fast considering each episode is over an hour long.

Sometimes when I read other reviews I ask myself, did they watch the same drama? This drama is a masterful comedy mixed into the brutally of competing factions. It takes an amazing writer to pull this off. Watch it and let me know what you think.

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Horrible Overrated

I constantly see this show being hyped up but honestly I don’t think it’s that good?
The female lead is underdeveloped, she’s supposedly a top lawyer defending a company with plenty of dirt to be dug up (meaning you’d have to be very good at your job to keep them from losing the case), and yet she’s constantly relying on Vincenzo. Everything being done is all Vincenzo Vincenzo Vincenzo. Who made the plan? Vincenzo. Who is the key player for said plan? Vincenzo. Etc. She should’ve been given more opportunities to actually do something because she was a useless character that didn’t live up to her background. Not to mention she’s honestly a questionable character. Like she knew what Babel was doing and yet she didn’t care to do shit until it affected her personally (her dad being killed). Like…?
Moving on from her, the main enemies (Vincenzo and Jun Woo) are not at all an even match. Vincenzo overpowers the villains wayyy too much. He’s constantly planning ahead and is seemingly immortal (literally how is it that hard to kill a single person) while the villains are set up to be so tough and yet they’re really not all that? Honestly they’re stupid. For example, Vincenzo’s mom. They see that Vincenzo, who has yet to be really personally affected by them but is still set on destroying them, is a real threat and that he has a weak old mom who he loves. And what do they do? They killed her, giving him even more motivation to destroy them. The smart move would’ve been to have kidnapped her and controlled him using her. And despite how obviously weaker they are compared to Vincenzo it still took him so long to destroy them. Like??? Realistically it really should’ve taken him a week, max. Especially given he wasnt even going in accordance to the law, he just ended up killing them which he could’ve easily done before.
As for the side characters, I get that they’re for comedic purposes but they’re so useless and unrealistic. Useless because they served no purpose to the plot that couldn’t have easily been given to a different character who already has purpose. And unrealistic because what are the chances that a bunch of secretly amazing fighters just happen to live together?
And as for Han Seo, I have no particular problem with his character, if anything he’s probably the best written one, but his death was so cheap. Like I get you want something with an emotional impact to make the show more memorable, but you could at least make his death useful. His death served no purpose to the plot, could’ve been easily avoided, and created a hole in Vincenzo’s character (as in, he’s supposedly some mastermind and yet instead of grabbing the gun and shooting Jun Woo, which would’ve saved Han Seo, he goes to Cha Young which was useless).
But that’s just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

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EXTREMELY OVERHYPED

i don't even know where to start. this drama is so overrated and people praise it too much that i felt the need to voice out my opinions about it.

BAD
1. the story
i am completely disappointed about how it turned out. when i first watched the trailer, i was like oh it's a mafia concept, this is gonna be interesting and new. i was expecting it to focus on vincenzo being a mafia, how the mafia works, or some storylines related to italy. i was expecting it to be unique and worth the watch because it's a new concept of kdramas. but instead, it turned out to be the usual good vs bad plot. it's SO CLICHÉ it had so much potential to have one of the best kdrama plots of the year yet it provided nothing new. those usual corrupt characters, lawyers against lawyers, gang fights, kidnapping, murdering bc they gonna ruin the plan, revenge etc. my mom and i literally predicted the whole main plot right on the first episodes (what happened to the dad, **** teaming up with vincenzo, **** switching sides etc) and even who's the real villain. the whole story is repetitive, bad does something bad > good tries to defeat the bad > bad loses > bad revenges to good > good loses then revenges and so on. it's just a series of tom and jerry episodes :/ people praised the plot too much saying it's smart, amazing, thrilling when it's not. could've added some emotional elements as well.

2. the whole essence of vincenzo being a mafia is USELESS
please, he's just the common male protagonist except that he has a gun and he's from italy. i don't get why they made him a mafia character when he's not really different from other male protagonists. the kdrama made him look smart and the viewers think he is overly smart, but no he's not. it's just that the other characters are stupid. there's nothing special about his character and it made me frustrated because i really looked forward to how they will portray a mafia character. i expected this already, but being a mafia is so romanticized in the story. well it's a fictional story after all.

3. a lot of useless fillers
i can handle lengthy dramas. i have even watched dramas with around 60 episodes. but i have not watched a lengthy drama that has so many useless fillers as this one. many episodes did not contribute to the story or the ending, many episodes did not have a permanent after effect. they never should've brought those episodes in, it won't even make the story different. when something happens, usually there's an aftermath that would give a shift or upgrade to the story. but in this one, after that particular part happens, they just move on as if nothing happened. there's no cause and effect, it's basically just in there to make the story longer. oh and please they should've added essence or purpose whenever there is a failed attempt by the good guys, like sure it's necessary that the protagonists don't succeed at first try. but atleast give a reason why that had to happen, give that part a purpose (e.g they met a new character, they discovered something etc). atp it's just a whole trial and error story. don't get me even started about how much they emphasized some things at the start but at the end was almost forgotten or wasn't really a big part of the plot.

4. it did not excel in any genre it could fit in
it could've been atleast outstanding on one genre, but it isn't. action? no. law? no. thriller? no, wasn't thrilled at all because it's predictable and nothing remarkable happens (could be because i've watched around 100 kdramas already but idk). black comedy? no. it fairly did well on black comedy, but half of the time cringey and there's no scene that really sticked on my head for a long time. i also had a problem with one specific episode that had the purpose of contributing to the black comedy, i will explain that later. on.

AVERAGE
1. acting
i am satisfied with the acting. every actor portrayed their role well and the actor that stood out the most was kwak dong yeon. here's an unpopular opinion, i feel like song joong ki wasnt the best choice for the role vincenzo. don't get me wrong, i love sjk and i know he did his best to portray his character and i am satisfied with his performance. but i personally think because the character is a mafia, the actor should've been manlier and more intimidating. and sjk is the total opposite of that, he has feminine (positive way) and soft visuals. he's not intimidating at all tbh, but since he did a great job, i don't want to complain too much about it. imo however, the role would've suited better for other particular actors. it's not the "this role was made for him" as everyone thinks it is.

GOOD
1. the ost
nothing more to explain about this. the osts were great and added impact to scenes that wouldn't have been impactful at all.

2. attracts kdrama newbies
probably because the genre is black comedy? kdrama newbies won't focus much on the quality of the story, if it has comedy and some good vs bad plot with some fairly good scenes, they'll automatically love and enjoy it. another thing is that it's song joong ki, he is a very famous actor internationally.

now about the specific episode i mentioned that had the purpose of black comedy, that episode really disturbed me. it was homophobic and as someone who is part of the lgbtq+ community, i loathed the way the portrayed those scenes. those type of characters rarely get portrayed in a kdrama, but they chose to portray a gay character as a disgusting criminal. (i will use they/them when pertaining to the gay character) and the way vincenzo was disgusted by their actions? it was utterly disturbing. oh and don't even make excuses that he's disgusted because they're a criminal, if that's the case, he would've been disgusted in the first place and not particularly when they do gay actions. besides, vincenzo is a mafia. he surely encountered way worse people and he's used to criminals.

to summarize it all, vincenzo is not a special drama and the story is cliche. it isn't worth to watch, there are a lot of better ones. if you think this is the best (or one of the best) kdrama of all time, then you're seriously missing out a lot. i can name more than 70 kdramas better than this. the fiery priest is a lot better (they're from the same writer and has similar genre), it has amazing action, amazing comedy, amazing characters especially protagonist, and the whole kdrama is really enjoyable. vincenzo and the fiery priest both has those cliche corrupt characters, but the fiery priest has better personal story of the protagonist and the protagonist itself is more charming and unique (i mean where tf can u see a handsome priest that **********). vincenzo is a 4/10, tfp is a 9/10. even tho tfp has one side of the kdrama where it's cliche, the rest is outstanding.

anyways, if you're just a starter, then vincenzo could be a good introduction to kdramas.

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Only a Devil can kill a Monster

A cool Mafia consigliere and a chaotic lawyer team up to take down a huge business cartel run by a vicious and psychotic monster. In the process several secrets are revealed, masks fall off and the true self of many are shown, friends turn into foes and foes into friends.
The cast was great and did justice to their characters be it the leads or the bad folks. You really do end up hating their guts till the end. The chemistry between the leads was too good, they didn't need much romantic scenes to show on how much they suited each other.
The story was catchy and engaging with good humor, though there were instances where it felt dragged and unnecessary stuff added to it overall it didn't bore me.
I really liked the soundtrack of the show especially "Adrenaline" and "Always by your side".

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Best Kdrama I have seen!

This is hands down the best kdrama I have seen!

It has an amazing story, amazing acting, and the chemistry between the two leads is off the charts!

I rarely had a bored moment in all of the episodes, and the last 5 episodes are spectacular.

I do not know how to even describe how good this drama is. Mind you, I am fairly new to Kdramas and have not watched as many as some more experienced viewers but I still believe this one will remain number 1 for me for eternity. I am hoping upon hoping that there is a season 2! I check regularly to see if there are any updates on a chance of season 2 lol.

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