Vincenzo is about a lawyer (Song Joong Ki) who is a Mafia advisor in Italy that moves to Korea and teams up with another lawyer (Jeon Yeo Bin) to take down an evil conglomerate.
Song Joong Ki plays Vincenzo Cassano who works as a lawyer for a powerful Mafia family in Italy. Circumstances lead him tor return home to South Korea where he hopes to get a secret stash of gold from a commercial building.
Jeon Yeo Bin is Hong Cha Young who is a strong-willed lawyer who will do anything to win. She eventually finds herself going up against a big conglomerate with the help of Vincenzo.
Next, we have Taecyeon as Jang Jun Woo who works at the same law firm as Cha Young.
Finally, there is Kwak Dong Yeon as Jang Han Seo who is the CEO of the conglomerate Babel.
Vincenzo was a hit drama when it came out in 2021 with a big budget and high ratings. I’ve been super curious to check it out, and I’m glad I finally did! It was a fun, thrilling, and a emotional ride for sure. Vincenzo felt fresh in many ways and feels like a grand story of a charismatic anti-hero stepping up to take on the worst of the worst in a grand fashion with no holds barred.
We watch as Vincenzo takes his years of knowledge from working with the Mafia and sets his sights on the evil Babel group. One thing unique about this drama was the lengths that Vincenzo was willing to go to in order to get justice. This guy is tough and will dish it out to the same level it is given. He has a moral code, but he will do questionable things if that’s what is needed.
If you’re used to watching kdramas, you’ve probably seen many good guys that won’t “sink” to the level of those who wronged them and others. They won’t torture or kill if they have a choice. But not so with Vincenzo. He will torture. He will kill. A man like Vincenzo is presented as an extreme anti-hero because when you’re going against true evil, a man who will do bad things is the only way to defeat it.
Of course, Song Joong Ki was stellar in this role. He is full of charisma as the handsome lawyer who swoops in to save the day, though not everyone knows his true motives. Then he delivers the intensity as he faces off with Babel and all of its villains.
Jeon Yeo Bin is also great here. Her drive and strong will make her perfect to team up with Vincenzo when she sets out for a little revenge.
And we get a fantastic duo in Vincenzo and Cha Young as they work together to execute their plans to take down Babel. Though this duo’s relationship isn’t centered on romance (though there is a dash of it!), they have a strong chemistry and played off each other so well. I loved seeing them plotting their next big move and the fun they had putting the plans into action.
We also have a nice ensemble cast with the tenants of the commercial building. This is a quirky bunch that each have their own unique story. I enjoyed them all. It was great seeing them come together to save their building from Babel with the help of Vincenzo.
There are also plenty of villains to go around. We’ve got our Babel CEO Han Seo who seems out of his league and is only a puppet. Kwak Dong Yeon gave a fantastic performance.
Then there’s Babel’s lawyer team of Han Seung Hyuk (Jo Han Chul) who is a suck up just trying to survive and Choi Myung Hee (Kim Yeo Jin) who will go to any lengths to get what she wants. It’s an entertaining bunch.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW
Then there’s our big bad Han Seok. After a surprise reveal that he’s the real Babel CEO, we learn just how evil and deranged he is. Everything is a game to this guy, and he will do anything to win. He treats everyone horribly, including his brother. He pretty much has no redeeming qualities. And if you like your bad guys to get punished in the end, Vincenzo finishes Han Seok off in the most torturous of ways. Taecyeon was fantastic and went all in to play this disturbing character.
END OF SPOILERS
It was a lot of fun seeing all of the different ways our heroes came up with stop the baddies. Some of their plans are quite elaborate. The plans carry a lot of risk but offer a big payoff when they pull through and win.
Vincenzo is like a rollercoaster with its ups and downs though. There’s a constant back and forth between the bad guys and the good guys with both sides taking casualties. Emotions run high for everyone.
This drama had very long episodes which doesn’t always work for me as I find that the pacing usually suffers, but that wasn’t my experience with Vincenzo. I thought the pacing was great all the way through. It also built a rich world that was inhabited by many interesting characters to make every scene engaging. These are must have elements in a longer show, and Vincenzo did them beautifully. I found the ending to be very satisfying all around.
So in the end, Vincenzo was a great ride. It delivered plenty of thrills along with humor and heart. It tends to swing sharply between its humor and more serious elements, but it does it well. A strong cast give wonderful performances all around and bring to life memorable characters in a rich world. A world where a group of heroes join together with a special man who is willing to do hard and questionable things in order to bring justice and defeat true evil. And that man is Vincenzo.
My Rating: 8.5/10
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