Dabosil

Gotta remember the guy has funds, a load of expensive watches, Booralro Suits, and so on.... (I don't think they expected you to actually calculate that money either. Anyways, that's dedication)

Always look forward to your comments! Hope to see you around on other shows' threads, too!

I kind of thought the ballon ticket scene was to throw off the audience from the expected ending such as how they threw of the audience with Jang Jun-Woo's character. So that scene is basically useless, but I treated it like it's just a Geumga humor moment. I liked the ending though. it would be weird to end it comedically after all the gloominess in the last few episodes.

Little Points:
- I agree, romance isn't a burdening factor or an inferior factor. I suppose this is due to the overload of romance in K-Dramas. I would say it does if it affects the plot and the basic chemistry between two actors isn't established. However, their work chemistry was good and romance was not the main theme or even the plot. However, we can agree or disagree on whether we liked the romance or not (rather than the friendship)
-I would say the ending is perfect and doesn't need a season 2. They've run out of plot already haha, we've seen the filler scenes in the last couple episodes. Loose ends were all wrapped up.
- Vincenzo and Villains and their fate isn't about who's an angel and who's evil, because they're all evil. Cha-Young is evil, too. It just happens Jipuragi & Co. are human. In this show, evil is more so a general word anyways, and justice cannot escape from evil either.
-Deaths are due to early set-ups and characterization, though some are executed poorly for sure.

Anyways, hope you all had fun watching.

Interesting perspective. I might check out his other works since I quite like his writing style, and many praise The Fiery Priest. I agree about appealing to mainstream though-I think that the Mafia persona is also one such aspect.

Agree with you that JJO is most threatening when he's in the shadows because there's always an element of surprise. When you don't know he's there, he's scary. When he's calm and collected and confident. he's scary. But when he gets mad and throws things, he becomes a little like a caricature. Plus his plan wasn't well thought out in the end, really not well thought out. Most loopholes revolve around his and Vincenzo's logic.
And I also can understand but not like the idea of slowly torturing. I did think it was worth pondering when Choi Myung-Hee mentioned he was going to kill them anyway.

Agreed! I forgot to mention this point! It made me feel so happy to see this, not so that the evil women could just get a free-pass- it never sits well and really is a way of making the gender gap bigger.

Love the line you mentioned in the end-many lines are noteworthy and ponder-worthy, and yeah, it follows what they say.

Ah, I see what you mean. Could you elaborate more on how they died was unappealing? I agree that if I hadn't seen Han-Seo's death coming I would have had regrets. In a shoot-out scene, there are always flaws. This is the case in everything I've watched with such stand-offs. I don't like the idea, but I know there will be one. Not to excuse the plotholes in the scene, but I have a greater acceptance for it. Though it's true that under logical thinking Jun-Woo could have been disarmed. I also know that Vincenzo ignoring Han-Seo isn't intentional because they were both there with their confrontations with Han-Seok (though the set-up is definitely a funny decision), so I didn't feel much about it. As for the romance, I actually thought it progressed well because they had so much more understanding and empathy for each other as they worked together more and more throughout the episodes. You're right that it could just be a working relationship, however. if they had not dropped hints starting from episode 10 then I would have stuck to work partners, but either way the romance didn't really bother the plot, and I found their interactions a better break from dark scenes than the Geumga cast humor. You're right that it was too convenient later. This is, I think due to the strange break in Episode 17. I understand it because it's just not the right time to be too close when Vincenzo has intense grieving underway, but it was an odd break, mixed with more dismal tones of the following episodes, seemed choppy. However, it didn't bring me out of the story. I would say I do enjoy seeing the hints more though (the openness of it would be acceptable to both sides who can dream about their future romance but also just as a tight understanding bond for those who want them to stick as friends).

Prediction: Over time, 'Vincenzo' ratings will settle down to about 8.3-ish.
Not to say it's nice to see it at 9.0 currently, good to see most enjoying the ride.
Seeing that mixed commentary appeared especially in episode q9 and 20, and everyone knows the feeling people get from endings are really important in determining the final personal rating.
What a fun journey!

I don't think there were pointless deaths (though I think the injury of the tailor was very pointless), but it didn't give me so strong of an effect because it all happened in this one episode, and could have been spread out, with JHS losing his confidants one by one.
For the romance, since they ended up on the romance route, I liked that they didn't keep switching it up afterwards. Of course, the 'working relationship' part of their relationship is the most charismatic and what has to work first. I was very pleased that when they ended with romance, they didn't do all sorts of I love you and say a bunch of sappy stuff. Yeah, they could be best friends too, but I found that progression into romance didn't bother me. Both works. What's important is a basis chemistry.
I understand your opinion, though.

Yeah. That's also why I was fine with her not being there because it agreed with her characterization. Works both ways.
She accepts Vincenzo and his deeds, even though it's an arduous process for her, but it doesn't mean she wants to see it or do it (as we've seen in Episode 4 and 17).
I definitely would argue the story could be shortened so much more, but the ending episode was very satisfactory for me, especially because I really had so many worries about what they were going to do.

Me too! When Cha-Young came out of the car and you know she's just been in the hospital, it reminded me of the South Korea-North Korea border scene. And about a foreign island in Malta and him only being able to come on these days...totally reminiscent. I like this ending more than CLOY's though.
I do like the ending a lot. Agreed, I like how the villains stayed villains. The whole 'becoming-good' idea in reality would be just driven by fear and self-perseverance with just a tiny morsel of guilt.

I agree with you, Vincenzo's reaction was natural, but it's such a bad idea to put the two injured people in one room-that's calling for a definite romance vs. bromance. Sigh. I think Cha-Young, in retrospect, did not have to take the shot, the actions scene there could be better thought out to be less full of loopholes, and so on. Admittedly, she didn't have much to do, so I understand her being shot and being put in a hospital, but I guess she also could just not have that much screen time and be there when Choi Myung-hee is killed. I did find many loopholes but I like to ignore the stand-off scene loopholes because every time a drama or movie does it it's bound to have other ways of getting to another ending.
As for Jang Han-Seo, I did see his death coming, so it didn't shock me. I also think it made sense for his character because of his burdens and guilt, and because he died in peace, in understanding and forgiveness with himself.
Still, this type of scene is bound to have at most only 80% good execution.

Spoiler Tag, please!

Hahaha, same! I just love sweets, so it didn't bother me much. The two big ones I remember are Kopiko and Swarovski.

Ooh...
I see mixed comments already~
Anyways, we're going to hit 11,000 comments in no time!
OOH~ The Hot air balloon ride was a fluke, a fluke. I did like that surprise, towards the end I was thinking that it wouldn't be suitable to end it comedically.

Hm, well, I was actually pretty happy with Episode 20.
This is a shorter post, since I don't have that much to talk about than what I have covered from the 19th episode.
At the very least, the loose ends are all tied up!
Part of it is also due to personal preference because Jang Han-Seo didn't stick to me as much as it did to others. I agree that the way he died is not the best, but the fact he died was no surprise to me. I know some of the arguments here are that Vincenzo is eviler, but for me, he wouldn't survive because he can't be the owner of Babel. Babel would always collapse. I know Jang Han-Seo could also probably just end up studying for another degree or something but I did find his arc starting from when he started sticking close to Vincenzo a little sudden. Definitely, though, the scriptwriter could have, to put it nicely, killed him off in a better way.
I think having both Han-Seo and Hong Cha-Young at the same place wasn't a great idea, because there will inevitably be bias, though I understand the need to have both people have resolutions with Han-Seok. Also, the writer hinted over the last few episodes for his death, so I never thought it wasn't going to happen.
The one part I found unnecessary was the stabbing of Lee Cheol-Wook. Firstly, every time the Geumga Plaza gang came out it was for helping out with the action, but always in a comedic way that was slightly distant from the dark universe, so nothing bad would happen. It was a surprise, but I have no idea why it was there. The Godfather scene didn't really have any meaning, in my opinion. I still don't understand the meaning behind it. However, props to Yang Kyung-Won's acting; I definitely felt his pain.
Ah, the deaths of the villains were satisfying. I really like Jang Han-Seok's death in particular, because there was just something very cinematic, sullen, and symbolic about these final moments and the quiet air and sunshine.
I loved Hong Cha-Young's bustling self without Vincenzo (though I'd say I thought the Cassano Geumga slogan with the hands out was eh... but the scenes showing her after the entire ordeal was great. I really missed seeing her bubbly because of the darker themes of the last few episodes, and I did understand that she had to be in hospital for plot reasons because the main stage was for Vincenzo, it's his wrap up (yes, I would have loved to see her participate in Choi Myung-Hee's killing but it works with her characterization, and I don't have many grievances about that).
The Geumga cast scenes, in the end, were great, too.
The ending was happy but also reinforced the same message, and did not change Vincenzo's characterization.
Yeah, you know what, this thing could totally be 16-ish episodes because Vincenzo could have killed them earlier. I kind of have to forcefully rationalize that they did want to do it in form of the law, but only in the end realized that 'ah, no chance in corrupt Korea'- that would work fine if there was substantial plot in 17-18, but, hm, no.
As I said, I never saw anything ending in a simple courtroom because Vincenzo is Vincenzo, afterall, and at least his Mafia persona is consistent. So even though I don't like that the villains' IQ dropped by a percentage (e.g. Bro, Han-Seok, you had bodyguards search Vincenzo but somehow you're the only guy there needed to kill Vincenzo, and you even end up running away? Just cover it all up and live in the light as chairman, without needing to escape to Mexico-not thought out), I can understand the whole cat and mouse theme yet again.
The one thing I will say to the scriptwriter is that despite all sorts of plot inconsistencies, character growth and themes are all very consistent. so still, rationalizable.
I'm just very happy that everything is tied up, and I won't really explain more on that. The rating of 8.5 stays the same.
But still, regrets?
- The idea of 'toying' with villains
- Jang Han-Seo's form of death
- Jang Han-Seok's logic
- Fillers in EP 17-18 (If I had to take an episode out it's definitely 18, even though some scenes were great there)
-Plots that signaled danger but then were quickly solved and didn't actually lead anywhere EP 16 onwards
-First three episodes not hooking me in immediately (I personally dislike having people tell me to 'hang-on' to a few episodes before it turns good)

Not big enough to destroy my utter pleasure of watching this show, though. Boom!

Great watch with everyone. Plus the Background Music details are so much better in 20 than 19, so I was happy they utilized 'I'm Always By Your Side' well.

Edit: As everyone has said, I got Crash Landing On You ending vibes as well. Flashbacks kicked in immediately, haha. Like this one more, though.

Yeah, what you said. But I don't condemn her for it as everyone in this drama are different shades of gray. Can't say she's an awesome person just because she's the protagonist but she is human. And yeah, her personality is awesome.

Thanks for the article! Most are on my to-watch list, haha. Just haven't gotten round to it. And Save Me...oh my, the lows of my heart for days after watching it. It was devastating, heartbreaking, and it was definitely horrific. It was phenomenal.

Please put the spoiler tag on. Also, that's also why I think the writing for her in the first few episodes isn't so good because that aspect is not so clear. Her motivations are very clear just prior to the incident and after, though. But you can see from how she didn't want the Geumga plaza to be destroyed (with tenants) inside that she was already starting to be against Wusang (at least on the front of the lawyers). I would like to think this was a slight idea but she was definitely pride-driven with the issues relating her father and the incident also gave her a very good reason to leave. So probably, but no one knows, and it would have taken a lot more time for her to come to that conclusion as she and Vincenzo would not have had so much time to interact if so.