Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 5
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with our main character, clever young Hu Fei, finally grown up (~18 years old) having lived a tough life by himself, training constantly and preparing to get his revenge. So he arrives in the story and .... immediately turns into a naive country-bumpkin idiot who quickly loses all his stuff and his horse and is reduced to begging in the streets? I guess this was done for plot humor purposes but it was not done particularly well.
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and I gotta say it's still annoying at how slow and sluggish the writers made Vincenzo for this scene. I guess they could explain it as, "His love for Cha Young made him incapable of acting like the quick decisive mafioso that he was before" .... but that's lame. It's clear they applied some plot-induced stupidity to make him slow and stupid so that Han Seuk would get away from this particular scene. Oh well. Things get better after that. I particularly love that Cha Young doesn't do the usual FL thing of, "Don't risk yourself. Stay here safe!" She totally understands both the situation and her man and tells him to finish the job. She knows that Han Seuk needs to be killed or he will inevitably hurt and kill others. And that Vincenzo has to be the one to take care of this. It's a refreshingly honest understanding by a FL character. Oh and THANK GOD MR> LEE SURVIVED! Jeezus I was upset when it looked like he was done for! Also loved the message from Jeok Ha (the senior monk) to Vincenzo that attaining the perfection of Buddha was not the only worthy role in life. That being a soldier for the righteous was something that the Buddha would smile upon. Loved how this show layered in elements of the original Godfather films as well as Buddhism into the philosophical 'messages' of the story. Would have like to have had a closing scene of Cha Hung arriving in Malta though.
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I just don't understand why the good guys wouldn't have had somebody constantly monitoring Jiang Han Seuk's status in prison. It's interesting to note that the psycho has returned to the same hairstyle (bangs down to his eyebrows) as he wore as intern 'Jun Woo' - it always made him look creepy then and continues to now. Gotta give Ok Taec Yeon credit - this actor really knows how to play as a psycho. One thing I don't understand about how people deal with such a psycho. When it comes to the characters trying to trigger him by insulting him (hoping he will make an impulsive mistake), instead of just calling him names, why aren't they simply poking at his gigantic ego by pointing out the obvious cowardice of his actions? And like others, I don't understand why Vincenzo didn't immediately go to help Han Seo to subdue the psycho. Wasting time trying to untie her hands? If you want to get her out first, just get her out and worry about the ropes later! But really it seems way out of character for Vincenzo to not first take care of business with the psycho. Next, she was shot in the upper right shoulder - probably going to have a broken AC joint, which will require surgery and about a year of recuperation. But it's not likely to be fatal unless it hit a major artery and she bled out.. Lots of slow-motion pausing and staring and being non-reactive. Again, way out of character for Vincenzo. Basically, while this wasn't a 'bad' episode, it had a lot of weak points. Hopefully the finale is a little tighter.
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Okay - so this episode explains why Han Seo 'betrayed' Vincenzo at the end of the prior episode and makes that scene make more sense. The timing of the sudden need by his Italian Cassano Family for him to return to Italy was extremely suspicious. You just could tell that the moment he got on a plane that bad things were going to happen. It can't be coincidence. So I was confident that VC was not gong to be tricked into leaving his Korea 'Cassano Family' undefended so easily. Interesting close-up when VC and Cha Young say goodbye at the airport, shaking hands. Despite VC's almost pretty-boy handsome face, his hands look rough and worn. Probably from beating on so many people. Poor guy will suffer from bad arthritis in his hands when older.
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This episode starts with anger, moves to grief and then it's all about revenge. And this gets real fun, watching the "Cassano Family" in action. It's also interesting that of all the cast of 'Babel' characters, it is only little brother Jiang Han Seo who is not underestimating Vincenzo. All the rest consistently keep underestimating him and digging deeper and deeper holes. Han Seo is the only one smart enough to realize that VC is actually too smart and too capable. And that's why he puts his chips on Vincenzo as his one chance to finally be free of his psychopathic brother. But then, stupidly, he still goes along with Han Seung Hyeuk's move to have Interpol arrest Vincenzo. That's stupid on his part because VC hasn't yet taken out his brother completely. Oh, and no, I don't believe for a second that VC is dead because Han Seo is far too lousy of a shot to have actually hit him.
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And just got more intense with their conversation in the park. Having a mother-to-son conversation without really revealing that they are mother & son. SJK (Vincenzo) with the silent sobbing behind her .... that was powerful, physical acting. And then when she hugged him in the hospital! At that point it is clear she knows who he is. Now, all this is foreshadowing for the horrific loss that we can see coming. The show has been warning us all along. But even though it isn't a surprise, it's still absolutely horrifying when the psychopath shows and starts talking to her. This episode (the loss of Mrs. Oh) is, of course, evocative of the loss of Don Vito Corleone in the Godfather. We even get a scene of Vincenzo basically in the role of 'godfather', blessing the coming of the child of Mr. Lee and Hee Soo. The question now is whether the loss of his mother will push Vincenzo to become the same isolated, ruthless, bitter and lonely person that Michael Corleone became? Or will Cha Young and the rest of his 'family' be able to save him from that fate? Hard to say. Cha Young herself is so angry. Things are about to get dark as VC goes into John Wick mode.. And it really begs the question of just WTF the bad guys think is going to happen after doing this? Did they really think this would make Vincenzo LESS of a threat to them? I guess psychopaths don't always think about consequences. Overall, this was a perfect episode. Tragic, but perfect.
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Each episode seems to feature one or two of the many side characters stepping up to help the good-guys' mission. In this one, of all the characters ... Inzaghi steps rises to the occasion to save his pet human, Vincenzo! Unfortunately, the good guys are totally betrayed by prosecutor Jung In-kuk - a surprise they did not see coming. However Vincenzo soon after makes a Mafia-style friendly visit to Jung's family in order to make things right. Later, how Vincenzo keeps a straight face when revealed as the new Shaman to the newspaper owner is a miracle. I have to believe that scene took more than one take to record because it was absurdly funny. How VC kept from having a ridiculous smirk or giggle is beyond me! And once again Jeon Yeo Been just slays me as Cha Young! So perfect as the shaman's disciple, drawing ominous figures with ink & paper, and then dancing silly and cute in the office later! She clearly loved dressing up in the traditional white hanbok!
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This episode was a bit aggravating to watch as both Vincenzo and Cho seem to become barely competent and keep doing things either incredibly slowly, with no sense of urgency or else with frantic carelessness. Given how methodical and competent their characters have been up to now, this kind of put me off. Didn't completely spoil the episode, but it kinda made things flat. Hopefully this is a one-off deviation. I understand that this was done in part to shift the focus from the gold over to the Guillotine file. But it wasn't done with the same level of quality that the show has previously established.
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and even former gangster (now travel agent) Park knows about it. I wonder if an actual balloon ride will come into play in the story at some point? At one point in this episode, Cha Young asks, "To kill that many people, they need to keep hiring and getting rid of hitmen. How do they keep finding criminal after criminal?" This is such a great 4th-wall question because it's something a lot of us viewers of various dramas always wonder! Later, Han Seo is so completely terrified of his brother, he has him point-blank at his mercy and just locks up in fear, hesitating until it's too late. So he fails to finish the job.
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My goodness that whole sequence leading up to and the start of the Mafia Game was hilarious!. And then later Mr. An chanting, "Director Tae!" along with the window cleaning lady!!!!!!! And then when he shows up to pull service rank and get Vincenzo out!! THE HUG!!!!!!!!!!! Then the Welcome Back Corn Salad party!!! I'm dying! One of the funniest episodes so far. The later scene of Jiang Jiang Han Seo and Han Seung Hyouk practicing shooting kept triggering me because they both kept casually pointing the gun barrel towards the other, including when handing it to the other person! Folks. NEVER POINT THE BARREL AT SOMEONE. Always handle it pointed away from people. As for the last scene - gotta agree it's way stupid and out of character for Vincenzo to risk getting that close to his mark. Hopefully that will make more sense next episode.
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Just when it looked pretty grim for the tenants, facing a brutal squad from the Seven Swords gang, Mr. Tak shows up to demonstrate his skills with scissors! The rules are suspended now as we have moved from scheming and courtroom shenanigans to outright gunfights. Terrific tempo in this episode climbing to a very tense ending.
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Not all of it pretty. We get apartment break-ins by goons that the good guys fight off. And then we get a pretty sick and bloody murder by Jun Woo, just to further establish his already-strong 'psychopath' credentials. Later, the bad guys seem to be winning everything and brutally getting rid of obstacles with impunity. Aside from violence and gore, Cha Young (Jeon Yeo Been) continues to crack me up with her goofy physical comedy. She is so awesome in this series.
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Is unfortunately not stronger than the power of a domineering Mom and her Corgwn. Loved that we got some more zombie moments! Loved also how, despite losing the 'battle of the signing ceremony', Vincenzo and Cha Hung still managed to land some solid shots before walking off in bold fashion!
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The episode picks up where the last several minutes to eh prior episode left off with more long, drawn-out maudlin minutes wasted on Jiang He & Lou Zishang's family reunion. Just skip to the 5:30 mark. It's not worth watching. The rest of the episode is pretty good. Nothing crazy - it's a typical 'wrap up' final episode that gives an overview of the events that happen in the next several years as a result of the main story.
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I liked that the final sequence of steps by Gu Jiu Si and Jiang He to stop Lou Zishang were clever and precise, but not over-the top flashy. It seemed more realistic. Overall a very good episode that got to a very bad extreme before turning around. The only 'negative' of the episode was the overly-drawn out end scene between Jiang He and Lou Zi Shang. After a minute of that I was rooting for the gunpowder to go off.
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