Vincenzo (2021)

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?

Leia Mais

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.

Leia Mais

Funny, dark and bitter sweet.

Well! Where to start?
This drama honestly has it all. It wasn't quite what I was expecting either.
There's edge of your seat threat, violence, manipulation, deceit, blackmail, bullying and murder. That's balanced by laugh out loud humour, trust, loyalty, friendships and a bitter sweet plot.
Copious amounts of retribution are divinely dished out too.
Some truly awful characters and many I loved.
I wasn't keen on the lead female character (played by Jeon Yeo Bin) at first, but she quickly grew on me, with her quirky antics. SJK was sublime as Vincenzo and I loved Kwak Dong-yeon in this; he really made Han Seo come to life. A very different role for Ok Taecyeon too, so well portrayed.
The entire cast, who seem made to work so well together, were perfectly matched to their roles.
Clever story with twists, turns and some shocking moments. I also shed a few tears.
A superb watch.

Leia Mais

Ok Taecyeon and Kim Yeojin steal the show

This drama, to be fair to it, is entertaining, funny, a bit over the top, but overall a good watch. Will definitely recommened to someone who wants a breezy chill watch after a particularly dark and exhausting drama.
BUT OMG I HAVE TO SAY OK TAECYEON IS BRILLIANT.!! KIM YEOJIN IS JUST A WHOLE REVELATION. I've never seen either of their works before so this was my first seeing them onscreen and I was not disappointed! The menace these 2 exude, and that too with CLASS.
I have to say, these 2 outshone everyone else in the show, in my opinion. After I finished the show I went and watched the Behind the scene videos, the whiplash is REAL. Ok Taecyeon is basically a puppy irl, but such a villain in the drama??? I will genuinely re-watch it just for him.
When their characters died, I felt immense satisfaction because I hated those characters so much!! That's a huge testament to any villain role actor
Great job, Kim Yeojin and Ok Taecyeon

Leia Mais

Refreshing

Vincenzo is really a refreshing drama. The base story is actually quite used in dramas. A corapted company uses everyone and everything to be on top and a team tries to bring them down. But the way they use it and the whole plot is really new. Everyone more or less is a villain, this isn't a battle between the wrong and right. It is a battle between the wrong and the wronger (I don't even know if this words exists...). And it isn't dark, it is actually a comedy. I won't speak about the ethics or the morallity or the message this drama leaves behind, I saw a lot of people speaking about that in others reviews/comments. Even if I don't agree with the way things work on the drama, I don't think this is important. It isn't the type of series in which the viewer look to the meaning of life and the morals, at least for me there is series I watch for the messege and series I watch because they are refreshing, new and interesting ( like come on, everyone watched Game of Thrones and no one cared about the nonexisting morals or the violence -much worse than Vincenzo and people justified Ramsay-, everyone loved Daenerys and she burned everyone in the end). Moreover, the concept "bad coglomerate/good lawyer with morals and fighting the evil in the right way" is overused in k-dramas, no one would care about it. They had to do something different. And for me, fortunately they did it...

Vincenzo isn't a hero, not even an anti-hero, He is a villain, he knows it, we know it and he doesn't want or care to be nothing more. And I really like that and, even if sometimes a good redemption arc is really nice, Vincenzo doesn't need it. Or better, if he had one of those, he would be totally out of character. The only heroes is the residents of Geumga Plaza. Even Hong Cha Young is an anti-heroine. One more point of the plot, was the great characterization of women, Hong Cha Young, Choi Myung Hee, the women of Geumga plaza. Strong yet sensitive, memorable and interesting. It is really rare to watch a k-drama and love the FML. Overall, the only thing I personally didn't like was the end of Choi Myung Hee and Jang Han Seok, the plot as well the cinematography and the shots of the scenes was a bit too much and they weren't necessary.

Also, I have to speak about the cast. Everyone was really, really great, and I mean literally everyone. But I believe Ok Taecyeon and Kim Yeo Jin was fenomenal. They were psychos and I loved them.

Last but not least, aesthetically pleasing and amazing shots. I am an architect and this means a looot to me (completely symetrical shots with Song Joon Ki in the middle and amazing lights...). And of course, really good music and music themes. They were the perfect choice for every scene (The scene in the first episode with Vincenzo, the fire and this music is what made me think, Oh God, I love this.)

(English isn't my first language, so I am sorry for any mistakes.)

Leia Mais

Can't move on...

There should be a book or something on how to move on after watching Vincenzo. It's been a while since I finished watching this drama but I still can't forget it, every detail & scene left a lasting impact on me. It's this kind of drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I was left in awe at the end of every episode, thinking "wow, this is epic!"

The things I particularly liked about this drama:
1- No one tried to change Vincenzo. He never got judged once by Cha-young or anyone at Geumga Plaza for being a mafia. They respected, accepted & loved him for who he is.
2- The relationship between Vincenzo & Cha-young was very mature, which is something very rare in dramas in my opinion. They supported each other throughout the whole series without a drop of doubt or toxic feelings towards the other person. Their relationship was made of moments of respect & understanding.
3- The music, the music, the music! I absolutely loved every OST in this drama. It was classic, unique & just MAGNIFICENT.

Things I disliked:
1- The killing of too many innocent people for no reason. Cha-young's father, the four guys who helped in burning the factory and so many more. But the most heartbreaking of all, which in my opinion was a VERY UNNECESSARY death: Vincenzo's mother. She had absolutely nothing to do with anything. They literally just killed her because they couldn't accept the fact that Vincenzo was superior to them and couldn't figure out any other way to defeat him. How could the writer do this to her and to Vincenzo just as they finally found each other after all those years?
2- The unrealistic scene of Inzaghi saving Vincenzo. The idea was beautiful, but done in a very unrealistic way. Maybe they could've made him save Vincenzo in a better, a little more believable way, but calling all those other pigeons? It was so unlike the drama and I was honestly disappointed, because fantasy wasn't something I signed up for in this drama.

Overall, Vincenzo wasn't a perfect drama, but it was a very, very enjoyable ride! It made me smile, laugh, cry and have butterflies in my stomach.

Leia Mais

Crime Comedy That Had Me Hooked, but may not be for you

For me, I loved this drama. The overall story was good and I think the cast was well put together, however, there were some instances that I was not fond of that were not a big deal for me, but might be for you since once you get past those parts, it's a good drama overall (IMO). I enjoyed the comedy and thought that it was a nice balance from the heavy stuff and I'm glad to see that it was the same screenwriter for Good Manager.

Good (vagueness to avoid spoiling too much):
1) Spoiler-ish: Tae Ho. If you've watched it you will know what I'm talking about. This had me laughing my head off.
2) Vincenzo's fanclub/his Cassano Geumga family. Everyone's admiration and respect, especially from the male side characters, for Vincenzo were hilarious and cute.
3) Some side character's developments, such as Jang Han Seo's, but to juxtapose him, Choi Myung Hee who did not change for the better and stuck to her choices.
4) The line between evil and good (the grey between black vs white) that Vincenzo was, or at least, he was the lesser evil and did not try to sort everything without violence (i.e., he used violence).
5) Plenty more little things that usually relate to the comedic parts ("Casanova" and "Corn Salad"), but not that I can think of off the top of my head right now.
Bonus: Song Joong Ki's face.

Not-so-good:
1) Vincenzo came to S. Korea to escape the mafia life and such by using the gold stored in the vault, but the whole Babel thing got his way and became the main focus of the drama, which turned out fine, but to be fair, I came for the gold.
2) The tenants began searching for the gold after the homeless person told them, thus hindering Vincenzo's main task. This was honestly unnecessary and just seemed like a filler and that could've made the 20-episode drama into 16 episodes or made it 1-hour episodes instead of 1 hr and 20+ minutes.
3) Romance towards the end was somewhat unnecessary in my opinion and I realized that Hong Cha Young's presence really diminished in the last few episodes except in the finale of course, especially compared to the side characters that seemed to play a much bigger role in the whole ordeal.
4) Ahn Ki Seok (the person from the Intelligence Service Agency) made me question the credentials of working in a government intelligence agency. He was too naive and a goofball to seem like he would work in one and to be in a high position there at that.
5) There may be other parts that I was not fond of, but again I cannot think off the top of my head.

There may be scenes in the "Good" category that you disliked and scenes from the "Not-so-good" category that you do like but I found that this drama was not a waste of time, in fact, I regret not watching this sooner. So to each their own.

Leia Mais

one of the best things i've seen

it is a beautiful show. everything is amazing. i got an account just to write this. may not be everyone's cup of tea but you have to try it at least once.

the revenge in this show is immaculate. no kidding folks, it's out there and brutal.
the slow burn is quite possibly one of the best out there, not to mention the chemistry between the leads.
there is no redemption arc for our anti-hero. no 'he needs to be saved' bullshit.
the female lead is a Queen. i lover her to death.
the music. oh God, the music. where do i even begin.
production is top-notch. netflix and tvn came out with the big guns.
lastly, the acting. holy hell, give Song Joong-ki all the awards. man scared the absolute life out of me. more than once. him and Ok Taecyeon gave me chills. Joen Yeo-bin was campy, fierce and so strong that i fell in love.

fair warning though: this show will give anxiety. but you'll keep coming back for more. it's that good.

Leia Mais