I was all conditioned to gritty and cold mood for Vincenzo, but it turned out different than what I expected.
Nevertheless, Vincenzo Cassano is a fascinating dark hero. His distant and unfazed attitude piques interest right away. He is benumbed of emotion when he intends to kill, but can be helpless when unexpectedly tricked.
Jumping from 7.6 to 9.5 nationwide viewership rating for its first two episodes, the series has surely caught the attention of the viewers. Song Joong Ki is an obvious standout in his titular role in the opening week. Let’s hope the tenacity remains firm and he’ll surprise us even more.
abbyinhallyuland watches Vincenzo on Netflix
Opening Week Rating: 
Vincenzo Opening Week Story
“My goal is to turn down this building.”
After serving the last mission of his adopted father, Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong Ki) returns to Korea for a mission to turn down a building with a treasure trove of gold owned by a Chinese magnate. The latter died and only him and the paper owner of the building, Mr. Cho, know the gold secret beneath that building.
He also settles in one of the rooms of the building and gets acquainted with the people living there.
However, conglomerate company Babel Group wants to get the same building at any cost and even forced Mr. Cho to sign the ownership of the building. Undaunted with Babel Group’s force, Vincenzo plans his counter-play because he’s resigned to acquire the gold beneath the building.
“There are things that can only be verified through trust.”
Needing an ally, he asks lawyer Hong Yoo-chan (Yoo Jae Myung) for information he needs to take down Babel Group. At first leery of his intention, Lawyer Hong agrees to help. When Vincenzo asked for the documents about Babel Pharmaceutical’s lawsuit, Lawyer Hong’s daughter Cha-young (Jeon Yeo Been) questioned his intention.
She is also a lawyer representing Babel Pharmaceutical. Often earning lecture from her father who advocates goodness while serving people, she is a walking contradiction to what her own father upholds.
Also, the case she has been defending faces a problem when one of the researchers escaped the safe house. It will implicate the trial once he exposes his knowledge about the shady drug in question.
“I have no reason to provoke your dad. I’m preparing for a war.”
Snooping on her father’s preparation in the lawsuit she is also handling, Cha-young gives a warning that his plan is useless if he is powerless. She cites the difference of Italy and Korea so it’s best for him to leave the country.
The next day, Vincenzo together with Lawyer Hong visits Babel Group and demands claiming back the building. Giving an intense warning to Na Deok-jin who caused harm to Mr. Cho, Vincenzo ruthlessly admonished him and vowed to do the same thing he did to his family is he will not cooperate.
Pressed with time and the possibility of Babel Group moving to its usual devious ways of executing demolition of its acquired property.
“How can I stop them? How?”
Lawyer Hong receives a call from the runaway researcher and meets him at a motel he was staying. Cha-young who learns of the demolition schedule is left no choice but tell Vincenzo out of concern for her father.
Brooding on the perfect plan to overturn the situation, Vincenzo ponders deeply. The next day, the tenants were made aware of the demolition plan. Vincenzo briefs Lawyer Hong of what happened as time ticks on the planned thwarting of Babel Group to the building dwellers.
Worried about her father, Cha-young drives to see him and disregards the call from her boss who already knew of the escaped researcher. Reaching the building’s vicinity, she is greeted with a lavish Italian wine party hosted by Vincenzo.
Vincenzo Opening Week Musings
I’d like to blame my being a fan of The Godfather and Infernal Affairs movies to be the reason why I’m not really into the premiere week episodes of Vincenzo. To be honest, it was not neat, and a lot of fillers happened that did not even matter.
Adding to that, parading all the key characters took a toll in the narrative. Hence, it was quite overwhelming because not all that were presented enamored in their quick introductions.
While some humor punches amuse, most are just out of place to the mood of the series. I felt the beginning chapters are struggling to establish its footing. Whether to focus on the plot trajectory or build a convincing bait focused on its main hero.
Song Joong Ki definitely anchored the opening week. Pulling off a now-were-talking chip at the waning minutes of the series really helped in heightening the interest for me to gamble in actively tuning on the series each week.
What To Expect In The Future Episodes?
Evidently more about the hero’s past life and quest to get the gold would fill the succeeding episodes of the series. I also hope to see the shining moments for Taecyeon and Kwak Dong Yeon.
While I see the effort to create a bizarre character from Jeon Yeo Bin, it would help if she will tone down her character a notch.
Initially I thought Vincenzo would take the vibe of Punch, a personal favorite which shared the same vibe based on the story sketch released for Vincenzo. But I think it is leaning more on The Fiery Priest tone. Something given because the two dramas share the same writer.
Despite visible messy runs in the storytelling, the exciting vibe compensates for it. Moreover, setting the goal of the hero to propel conflict of the story is surely an offer we don’t dare refuse.
If you have not tuned in yet to Vincenzo, make sure to stream it on Netflix.
Photos: tvN
Video: The Swoon
