Vincenzo

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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VINCENZO or Un diavolo scaccia l'altro

"Un diavolo scaccia l'altro"

This is the best way to describe this amazing dark anti hero drama with writer Park Jae Bum emblematic dark humor that makes it so deliciously good and witty....
Start by saying that this became my favorite drama of Song Joong Ki and that he really gave life and soul to Vincenzo, that i can see no other than him play him...
Now into the story,it doesn't shy from the ugly and evil side of humans and shows us what greed does to one...Also doesn't shy from great villians in this case Prosecutor turned Lawyer Choi Myung Hee (Kim Yeo Jin) who we could very much say was the true evil of this story and Jang Jun Woo (Taec) who is a more typical villain that still has it's layers...Like mentioned,i truly consider Choi Myung Hee as the true villain of our story as every action were of her own free will and i like that the writer didn't try to excuse her behaviour with the usual tragic past ,she was evil because she choosed it.

This show gave us a anti hero who was smart,elegant,creative,who had his own principales and beliefs and abided by them while he also was a lonely soul who was tormented by his own demons and actions. You will still root for Vincenzo from start to end and even love him as you could laugh a minute and be scared the next.But be aware,Vincenzo already has a lot of fans and a fanclub "Oh My Consigliere" so do join in, the President aka Ahn Ki Seok more than sure will welcome you!

This is why I like Vincenzo. It is funny but dark, it is full of satire & sarcasm, it is full of reality and poetic justice. It is heavy at times, light on the other. The writing is very clever. The cast has been superb.
The BGM's and Italian/opera-inspired music mixed well in each scene meant to elevate it.

This is a story from the get go about morally grey people were some are worse than others yet still sprinkled with kindness even among it showing the effect of one fighting in what he believes and for those he cares.
Must say that the Director really knows how to keep one on the edge and wanting more with it's clifhangers

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Excellent

Vincenzo is one of the best kdrama I´ve ever seen! An excellent cast for both good and bad guys, interesting characters and the whole story with balanced mixture of brutal action, emotions and smart comedy, not oversweetened romance, mostly logical script, sometimes a bit exaggerated but fun, nondistruptive flashbacks, greatly concieved direction and camera, top visuall aspect and overall setting, fitting OST. I appreciate the connection with Italy as I studied italian language for some time. My first rating was 9 but after rewatching I need to increase it to 10 and add it to my all time favorites.
The only thing I would see as a drawback is frequent advertising, but it is reasonable as the production must have been pretty expensive. Also - a tiny spoiler - no Italian, plus such a picky eater, would enjoy an instant coffee XD

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It's extremely overHATED.

its extremely overhated 💀💀
i really needa stop listening to these reviews cuz that made me go in ready to dislike the show and it ended being one of my favourites.
yall saying its trying to be too many things at once💀They stated that in the genre section, its so hard to please u ppl why dont u go write , produce and direct a movie then.👹
anyways the main villans did a good job cuz i hated them smmm and i was praying on their downfall ✋
im not good at giving detailed feedback but 10/10 i would definitely reccommend tho i suffered emotional trauma due to a specific death in the show 🙂.

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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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When In Rome ( or Seoul), Take A Leaf Out Of Vincenzo’s Book...

Park Jae Bum’s ( The Fiery Priest, Chief Kim)screenwriting as well as director Kim Hee Won ( The Crowned Clown, Love You) did leave a distinct mark of their combined style by mixing heavy-hitting tension with lighthearted moments throughout the storyline .

Yet whilst the comedy is evidently prominent in the plot to relieve more vigorous themes, it is probably fair to say that typical of Jae Bum’s screenwriting, the comedy often felt slightly juvenile in parts and an unnecessary weight at times. ( In certain episodes, you’d go from having an incredibly intriguing and fierce revelation exposing the mafia’s dark roots, only to have a tiresome gag in the next such as a word play upon Vincenzo’s name in early episodes.)

Admittedly, there are several moments in the drama ( even by the main cast ) which may raise an eyebrow by questionable line deliverances. However, as far as acting is concerned, the main cast were absolutely brilliant as our main leads.Song Joong Ki and Ok Tae’s Yeon headline the drama by their high-profile acting careers, however, even fellow costars Jeon Yeo Bin and Kwan Dong Yeon will quickly win the hearts and affections of the viewers also.

The characterisation in the drama was honestly a mixed bag. Song Joong Ki’s character Vincenzo was undeniably an intriguing protagonist. Whilst initially falling into the trap of the romanticised ‘ good gangster’, it was intriguing to see screenwriter Jae Bum breaking this mould in order to develop Vincenzo with sentience and realistically questionable morality rather than merely being a " hero who saves the day". However, there was a lot which felt vacuous with Vincenzo’s character, not least never going into his actual reasons for joining the mafia as a consigliere ( which was always half-baked) , his bond or relationship with his adopted Italian parents and ultimately exploring the actual reasons why his birth mother gave him up in the first place.

Next, is our main female lead Hong Cha Young ( Jeon Yeo Bin). Cha Young did initially seem to go down the route or being a little irksome in the beginning of the drama, but, her unreserved assertions and loyalty towards Vincenzo soon become defining qualities about the character. For instance, Cha Young has long-held enmity throughout the show towards Kim Yeo Jin’s character Prosecutor Choi Myung Hee. (Or ‘ Zumba Snake’) which certainly was maintained . On the other hand, similar to Vincenzo , Cha-Young is not a flawless character. Sometimes, she struggled to be lifted from being anything more than one- dimensional such as her textbook-style, (rather than emotional) responses initially to the events around her father Hong Yoo Chan ( Yoo Jae Myung) in earlier episodes. ( Which after their initial use in the main storyline, were disregarded completely without Cha-Young even contemplating this significant factor again.)

As far as the relationship between Cha Young and Vincenzo is concerned, it was a fairly predictable formula. There was nothing inherently wrong with it per say and did present some essential bonding moments between the characters, however, it often felt a little enforced for the sake of plot when it was necessary , rather than developing this with the respected characters’ thoughts and feelings in mind.

Antagonists are an intriguing conversation to talk about in the drama. From the cliche cronies, law firm enthusiasts Choi Myung Hee ( arguably one of the most annoying villains in the show) , CEO of the rival law firm Woosang Han Seung Hyuk ( Jo Han Chul) and the " dumb, but not so bad" masqueraded CEO of ‘ Babel Group’( Kwan Dong Yeon), the show has an odd array of trope advisories .

However, finishing up assessing ' Vincenzo’ wouldn’t be completed without talking about the drama’s main villain Jang Jun Woo. This is because, Jun Woo is designed to be the " ultimate twist villain" and " big bad" early on in the series, but, he was often underplayed as a dead weight and minor threat until later events. This wouldn’t have been such a bad screenwriting decision, if the show had used some time to go into Jun Woo’s backstory ( apart from a couple of brief flashbacks) or sketched him out more than just a " villain you’re supposed to hate". Jun Woo is far from romanticised or glossed over and whilst later episodes enjoy going into a " Sherlock Holmes And Moriarty" rivalry between Vincenzo and Jun Woo, there was little sense of actual build or intrigue behind similarities (and even differences) between them. Of course, Jun Woo served his main purpose; a disturbing evildoer, but he could have certainly been so much more than a one-dimensional moustache twirling villain.

The ending did hold the drama in good-stead with a bittersweet cliffhanger which reflected the overall themes and genres of the show. Admittedly, there were a couple of things which could have been tied more concisely in the ending ( despite its long duration), but, it did bring an appropriate finale. With an odd balance between genres and screenwriting decisions, Vincenzo is attractive for viewers’ attention by its main premise and cast. Certainly enjoyable in parts and not unwatchable, but, a little overrated for what its worth.

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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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a cliché like mafia show

(no spoilers)
i have seen a lot of people saying that the show wasn't for them and that they couldn't enjoy it.

i am not gonna do a long review of the show, but i am just going to say that you shouldn't judge it by the reviews and it is definitely wort giving a watch.

to be honest the story wasn't special or anything since it's a typical story about a mafia consigliere and the murders he commits and why he is commiting them. so in general nothing extraordinary.

but the main characters plus the side characters were such a comfort for me, since vincenzo has one of the best casts i have seen recently.
the music was very impressive plus memorable and always fitting each scene.

i found myself being suprised many times even though it was predictable what was going to happen next.

so give it a watch and decide for yourself if it is worth your time!

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Must watch

Love this drama so far. The cast we’re a perfect fit. Who doesn’t love a drama with action, suspense, comedy and I sense some romance on the horizon. I read a comment on a platform that said the series was a little dark but who doesn’t like a drama that pops from the start. From when he was in Italy to when he arrived in Korea. I was a little disappointed he didn’t get revenge with the guys, who robed him when he first landed but they did give him an idea to play in another episode. I hope there is a second season. Now i can say I am a fan of Soon Joon-Ki and John Yeo-been. I really like Ann Gi-Seok, he was hilarious but you still took him serious. I just wished he could fight that would be a added plus.

Another huge plus is all the tenants collaborated and brought their own talent to the table and shined. Lastly, everyone loves a mafia story. And in this case a very cunning, creative, handsome and cocky when needed mafia lawyer.

What i wasn’t a fan of how they killed her father, then how he lost is mom. Granted she was on her death bed but that was too much.

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this is my 1. drama this year

yes this contains spoilers so read with your own caution
and this is a long rant hahaha i love this sm

there's so much i can say about this drama but i don't have all that much time to tell EVERYTHING

this was so perfect
the only minus was the amount of slow motion used, they could've made the episodes
a bit shorter... the length is the only thing holding me back from rewatching and rewatching it

- i like how there was a bit of romance but it was not the main part of the series

- the action scenes are everything, they are so well made

- and the humor is spectacular hahaha

- it was so good that i even watched it with my dad (it was his first kdrama and he liked it)

- this drama has a good teaching: "only the evil can beat the evil" as vincenzo in the drama refers himself as a scumbag who cleans other scumbags.

- chayoung is portrayed as literally the perfect image i have of a strong woman.

the jang brothers are literally my fav characters in this:
1. jang hanseok, i love me a hot psychopath (IN DRAMAS NOT IRL PLEASE), yes please.

also i love taecyeon sm. he did SUCH A GOOD JOB acting as a psychopath. i will NEVER shut up about how well he portrayed jang hanseok. because that's how psychopaths are, well mannered and seem normal on the outside but on the inside they can be real monsters.

do i even need to explain, during the first eps i already fell in love with the
cute intern junwoo and his quirky personality and random uses of english, we stan
(tbh i saw a edit of him and it kinda spoiled me but i didn't see much of the scenes of him being crazy but enough to realise he was the bad guy and basically i kinda
started watching it just because of him... yes i'm shameless)

the hockey stick scene,,, the scene where he choked hanseo,,, i literally watched those(and the others,, all the crazy scenes)while my heart was beating fast and i was in shock
and also i automatically whispered "he's so hot"WHEN HE WAS BEATING A PERSON TO
DEATH WITH A HOCKEY STICK
i am broken please help me

2. jang hanseo had such good character developement and he deserved so much better,,,
i literally cried my eyes out when i first watched the last eps
only during the time i was rewatching i realised the small bits about his character that made
me so in love
i could see he really cared for vincenzo and saw him as his real brother
he had gone through a lot of abuse and suffered so much during his life, he was willing to

sacrifice himself to save vincenzo and chayoung
and thus he finally died, in the arms of his abuser
i'm left wondering if his dad had just gotten help for him and reported hanseok for his crimes (uh yeah killing his freaking classmates) could've he lived a happy life?

still he died as a hero and he made it as my favorite character in the whole series. and he stole my heart<3 hanseo best boi

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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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