Vincenzo (2021)

Captivating and most definitely worth the watch !

I just finished ep20 and I wanted to see the ending before writing a review because not only is the plot important to me but the ending is as well. It can really make or break a kdrama/series/movie imo. Vincenzo was chill and amazing. I loved the cast. I loved the fast retribution and the overall pace of the show. If you haven't, i highly suggest you give it a shot. I fell in love with han seo. I'm so happy he wasn't a bad guy. I wish he didn't have to die but i guess it worked for the best. Vincenzo was ofc and exceptional actor in this (when is he never tho?) The scene where he and his mom are at the park talking about each other while not talking about each other make me bawllllllll. His mom saying what she would say to her son not knowing that she was saying it to him all along. And i also appreciate the fact that it wasn't overly romantic. And that romance wasn't the focus but instead friends and family.

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This is masterpiece. The excitement and and the emptiness of finishing this drama is still here.

ACTING/CAST:
Song Joong ki - He is PERFECT for the role. He execute the whole Vincenzo vibes. I still remember the scene where he is punching this one guy, his eyes in that scenes is just so scary. And then how he jump into being our Corn Salad is just so cute.
Jeon Yeo bin - She is not a rising star anymore, she is now shining up there. Brighter than everyone else. Her character and how she portray it, is just so LIT. She really did a good job, better than good job, I have no words. Big thumbs up to her very appealing portrayal and diction as Hong Cha young. (I just love her, I falling to her, though I'm straight).
Taecyeon - To all his dramas that I've watched, Vincenzo is different league. But he freaking spice this drama so well, that you will never think that he is an idol. Han seok, his character, is so freaaaking irritating and I'm really furious at him, meaning Taecyeon did really well for his character.
The lawyers (Choi Myung hee & Han Seuk hyung) - Big thumbs up for the two, especially Kim Hye jon, oooh goodness self, just how many times I've beaten up myself to wish you bad. Good job
Jang Han seo & Geumga Tenants - Everyone portray uniquely and shines individually and as a group. Big spoce in the drama.
And our Inzaghi - you virtual birdie, thank you for saving our Corn Salad.

STORY & PRODUCTION & VISUAL FX:
Story is just ghad dam amazing. Cute, flirting scenes, fighting, guns scenes, death. Just everything is so good in the production. ++ love how colors of every scenes, it just gives totally the vibe of the scenes. Inzaghi and green screens - MAMA MIA

OST:
Every song is soo damn good. Periodt.

REWATCH VALUE:
i WILL absolutely watch this again. Let me finished "Be Melodramatic" (Jeon Yeo bin's drama) She is just a girl crush.

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This is my second watch and I was much more disturbed by the violence and grisly deaths than I was my first time around. It was fun the first time rooting for the underdogs in a satisfying revenge fantasy. I know he was supposed to be a monster but Vincenzo looked suave and cool as he matter-of-factly disposed of thugs left and right. Unfortunately, the rest of the building gang were over the top, bordering on slapstick. I loved the Hong Cha Young character.

But this time I also noticed all of the bodyguards--evidently the world’s most incompetent--that Vincenzo maimed or killed. (Plus that one character whose innocent wife and young daughter Vincenzo met.) The writer attempted to justify the tortures and deaths of certain villains (1) because of the murders they committed or had arranged and (2) because they were psychopaths and so, the drama seems to say, should be treated as less than human. Making us cheer for their torture and murder makes monsters of us, too. I assume that that was what the drama was trying to say.

And don’t hate me but I kept thinking that Jung Kyung Ho would have played a more nuanced and dangerous Vincenzo with lots more sexy smolder.

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Plot did not follow through.

I am upset with this drama because to start out I really liked it. great acting an exciting plot, however the writers did not follow through. The beginning shows Vencenzo learning to form real relashinships for the first time, this makes him begin to feel guilty for the thing he has done in the past, because of this he makes I promise to our FL not to kill anyone, later he brakes that promise and she is perfectly ok with it? the writers had us expecting all this character growth and big explosions and we got none of it not to mention the messy plot point with the money.

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Not bad but not good. ?

I actually didn't find anything special about this drama. many recommended me to watch this as it is like a very interesting drama. it is indeed quite funny but there are a lot of stupid scenes. I saw someone's review about some of those scenes and I totally agree with that. but as a person with an imaginative and fictional mind, I would probably say I won't mind those scenes. one thing in my opinion was there was no need of jang han-seo's death. probably it was fine if Hong cha young and jang han seo was just getting hurt. I hate sad endings but it did give the drama a plot twist. there were a lot of funny scenes like where vincenzo had to pretend to be in love with hwang min sung. I laughed a lot at those scenes but I think if a little more effort was put, I would have given a least of 8.5.

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There's not one sane character in this drama

In the most endearing way, all characters in this drama were on crack. I remember saying this to myself after every episode especially in the early parts of this series. This drama has such a variety of weird, ridiculous, funny, and charming characters that makes you fall in love with them. They were all insane, it was so funny to watch their antics. The good characters were insane for the above reasons while the bad characters were literally insane.

The drama has very serious moments dealing with revenge and murder and plotting and death but there's so much comedy tossed in as well that had me laughing and kept the overall tone of the drama light.

All the cast did a terrific job in their roles. Specifically Song Joong Ki, he really fit his character so well and I enjoyed watching him be this mafioso consigliere, although everytime he spoke in Italian I couldn't help but cringe. Taecyeon was also really fantastic in this.

I didn't necessarily like the ending of the drama but I appreciated that the writer did not hold back on the revenge to the bad guys. I was so sure they'd end up with some half assed comeuppance but Vincenzo really delivered at the end so I was satisfied.

My rating is somewhere between 7.5 and 8 stars. I enjoyed the drama a lot but there was so much that pulled me out of the plot that I'll detail below:

1. Although the Geumga Plaza tenants were a really funny bunch, I found them too nosy for my liking. I know that it's part of the gag that they keep being included in everything, and they really do end up being helpful to Vincenzo sometimes, but it was just too much for me. They were so involved.

2. The writing did a diservice to the bad guys. Jang Han Seok is this really ruthless, blood thirsty but also intelligent Chairman and by a certain point in the series, he (and the also very intelligent, ruthless lawyer of his) has had MULTIPLE run ins with Vincenzo and his gang of helpers (Geumga tenants). But even despite that, the bad guys haven't upped their security detail to let them know to watch our for, not just Vincenzo, but the tenants as well? There were many moments where Vincenzo's people would infiltrate the bad guy's location when realisticly, the bad guys should've already memorized their faces and known to watch out for them. So the writing sometimes was just really poor. You can tell the purpose wasn't to make it believable but to just move the plot along however the writer likes. So I didn't appreciate that. There are other situations where the writing didn’t deliver. It felt lazy to me at times.

3. Cha young's character was...annoying. The amount of times I either cringed or just stared with disbelief (?) at her very unique mannerisms was more than I can count, mainly in the earlier episodes. Again, I get that this was part of the gag but it just came off so unnatural and out of place for me at times. She would be in the courtroom acting very ridiculous and I couldn't help but think it was just unprofessional. Idk, the drama is a comedy but also has serious moments so I'm just never sure how to feel about the ridiculous aspects cos, on the one hand, it has me laughing out loud, but then it also pulls me out of the story due to how unserious the characters are being.

4. Lastly, the crazy lengths the bad guys took in this drama was a bit ridiculous to me. I know it's a drama but come on...at some point, all the murdering people left and right becomes too far fetched. Especially when it's lawyers that are making all the orders. And I know that's the whole point of the drama, that the people who should be establishing justice are corrupt and selfish, but it was just over the damn top. This probably ties back into the writing.

So yeah, those were my main issues with the drama.

Overall, it's a good drama. The romance is really low here, but you can definitely see that the main leads care for one another. If you like dramas with found families, good action, revenge plot, anti hero main characters, and wacky comedy, definitely give this drama a shot.

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Hit or Miss (slapped hard for me though)

Vincenzo is honestly either going to slap hard for you, or it won't and it's as simple as that. For me personally, I enjoyed this k-drama deeply, however there are a few things that might irritate other watchers into dropping the series all together. (FL + SIDE CHARACTERS)

Story-wise the DEALBREAKER for many people are the side characters (residents of plaza complex) and the FL's personality. Personally, at the beginning of the k-drama I found the FL slightly over-the-top and entitled, which made me contemplate to stop watching, however I decided to push through (which i don't regret) and once I reached episode 4 on wards it was smooth sailing, as well as the pacing of the drama which improves episode 4-5 on wards. Furthermore with the side characters, I don't really understand the hate? I've seen a lot of reviews and comments online claiming that the Plaza residents are extremely unbearable and annoying. However, I couldn't understand that since I found them slightly humorous. They are meant to be a close-knit community, as well as making sense to the plot as to why they are slightly nosy. Nevertheless, the overall plot was exciting and I was never once bored throughout which makes this drama VERY bingeable. I also enjoyed the fact that romance was not heavily involved as it's meant to be crime/action based and I was satisfied with the ending. The only annoyance plot wise was the sudden end of a particular character.

Acting was superb and I think everyone nailed their characters and really brought them to life with their own unique individual personalities.

Music-wise it was pretty good, I liked that they had some classical themed music which really gave the drama some flare. I wouldn't say the OST is out of this world compared to some other k-dramas, however it did it's job and it did it well.

Re-watch value, I think is pretty mid if not on the low end. I personally haven't re-watched the drama and I don't think I will. For me it was a one time thing, as once you've watched it the "suspense" and "mystery" wears off as you already know what's going to happen and who the big bad guy is. I would only re-watch if I was to watch the drama with my friends or based on a whim after having not watched for a very-long period of time.

At the end of the day, if you enjoy watching action filled dramas with a sprinkle of romance mixed in then I would 100% recommend you give the show a go, if you don't enjoy the first 1-4 episodes then probably don't continue watching.

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Mashup of Genres

This series is an original that pulls very different genres together in a bold experiment that works on net. There are cases when it fails miserably but these tend to be offset often enough by what works to make it an enjoyable experience.

One one hand it contains a lot of slapstick comedy with the loose plotting that goes with such comedies, but there is also frequent violent action with broken limbs and dead bodies (often done in by Vincenzo) littering the screen. Sometimes the transition from one to the other is jarring. Usually, an action comedy will downplay or hide the violence - think cartoons. And usually a gory action thriller will go light on comedy staying with witty one liners here and there. Vincenzo boldly throws these together and on net it works more often than not.

After a few episodes we get used to outlandish contrivances to get out of deadly situations.

On the serious side Vincenzo is an unapologetic mafia member straight out of southern Italy who by the last episode indulges in some seriously torturous contrived endings for the main villains of the story. The producers did not shy away from showing the blood and gore. In Vincenzo series we've put aside any pretensions to an absolute good vs bad and entered a world where relativistic laws prevail. Someone can be construed as 'good' if they only do bad to someone who is worse, in other words someone who deserves a painful ending delivered outside the law.

The show and character Dexter come to mind. Dexter is also an ostensibly evil character (he kidnaps and tortures people to death with a knife) who is the hero. Dexter in the show was toned down from the character in the book series. In the written version Dexter, in an uneasy alliance with a demon cohabiting in his mind, killed his victims by a long hours long torture - vivisection to be exact. The demon was delighted with the torture and in exchange endowed Dexter with some supernatural perception. Dexter followed a code which limited his hobby to people who really deserved it. For the show in early episodes this torture was alluded to but not shown, and then later it was suppressed entirely with Dexter dispatching each victim with a clean stab to the heart. Was Dexter, the hero of his story, evil? The writer ensures sympathy by making sure the reader is well aware of the sins of Dexter's victims (all serial killers). Dexter becomes a vigilante helping society cleanse itself of the hidden evil its justice system is unable to find and deal with. The TV show producers were not comfortable with the vigilante angle and eventually destroyed the character by portraying him as insane (no demon so no bargain),

In Vincenzo the producers are well aware of the issue of good vs evil and how problematic Vincenzo and his actions are. By the last few episodes there are a few occasions where Vincenzo candidly looks into the mirror and acknowledges that he's often doing what the average person would condemn. He offers a fatalistic justification, but the key is that he, the character, is well aware of the issue. And we the audience more or less are rooting for him.

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Aparentemente um mafioso, que é assaltado assim que chega!

Vincenzo é uma série um pouco peculiar em vários aspetos.

Primeiro, nem sempre eu via o Vincenzo como um mafioso, assim que chega na coreia é assaltado e perde os seus bens. E a partir daí começa a sua aventura pela coreia, onde existem ratos mortos de fome. Eu adorei a prestação doa atores, até mesmo os vilões. Mesmo tentando colocar mistério sobre "quem seria" o boss, eu soube de primeira, por vezes aquele que parece um anjo, retira a sua mascara e mostra as suas garras. Eu não achei muito surpreendente.

Os momentos que eu gargalhei foram aliviantes, eu sempre me divertia com todos que viviam no prédio. E mesmo sabendo que Vincenzo é um mafiosos, ninguém tinha medo dele. Alias até mesmo aquelas pessoas tinham um segredo oculto, eu aí me surpreendi e não foi pouco. Eu amei esse momento.

O irmão do vilão, foi sempre a minha amada personagem favorita, ele cresceu com o tempo, mesmo tendo um fim trágico, ele comportou-se lindamente, uma pena que ele sempre teve que viver com medo do irmão, mas no fim eu senti que ele já tinha superado um pouco esse medo.

Uma coisa que me incomodou muitíssimo foi a tentativa de colocar romance, eu gritava porquê, enquanto pulava essas partes. O romance ou tentativa só estragava a série. E nem percebi essas investidas, já que os dois não ficam juntos no fim. E falando no final, ele também não foi lá grande coisa.

Uma nota, que queria deixar. A produção não sabe muito bem onde fica Itália, porque numa das cenas, quando o Vincenzo sobrevoa Itália, aparece Lisboa, mais precisamente onde se encontra o padrão dos descobrimentos. E Lisboa fica em Portugal.

As músicas são boas. E sempre acompanhavam as cenas devidamente. Recomendo para aqueles que gostam de máfia ação e também aqueles que não esperem um grande romance, já que existem tentativas falhas nos capítulos finais.

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