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Vincenzo korean drama review
Completed
Vincenzo
0 people found this review helpful
by fio_el
Oct 26, 2021
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Unexpected

I truly appreciate the humor in this otherwise dark drama. I have to say that I was a bit worried seeing the total number of episodes and how each episodes average around 80 mins, that it would drag in the middle. Happy to say that I didn't find myself being bored with this drama. Overall, it was a fun watch, and I'd happily recommend this to people who would enjoy such humor and wasn't looking for anything too serious (it's almost cartoon-ish, which I don't mind every now and then).

There are a few things that bug me while watching this drama. Story wise, they're ok, some plot holes, but I can brush it off. I think I'm more annoyed with the little details. One of them being the believability that Vincenzo was basically an Italian local by the time he came back to Korea in the drama. Coming from someone who speaks English as a second language and have spent more than half of my life in an English speaking country, but still speak my native tongue every now and then with friends and family, I speak more English than I do my native tongue, I even think and have my inner monologue in English. When I go home for holidays, it would take me about a week or two to be fully acclimatised to my native language and local dialects, as well as catching up with the new slangs, etc, and I even speak a hybrid of English with my own language. So to find Vincenzo was fluent in Korean like a local right off the bat was not that believable, considering that he spent time in Italy since he was a young kid, and assuming that he retained his ability to speak Korean somehow, he would have needed time to get used to it again. However, I just want to say, kudos for Song Joong-ki, as it's very hard to perform with a foreign language. Then also with the instant coffee.... I get that it was product placements, but for a character who has such a refined taste and was basically raised in Italy, a country with long history of coffee and strong coffee culture, I very much doubt he'd touch instant coffee even if it means risking migraines from the lack of caffeine intake (I live in a city with a very strong coffee culture, and I know so many people who would not touch instant coffee). I also didn't know what the point was to have Luca came to Korea, it didn't make sense since what he did while he was in the country could have been done via a phone or video call. Then there is the "indestructible" Vincenzo.... I'm not sure I like how almost god-like the drama made him seem, because it's always that everything has been planned, like nothing could go wrong, and no matter what situation he ended up in and how dire it is, he gets out of it somehow (seriously, a flock of pigeons?).... and speaking of pigeons, what ever happen to Inzhagi? I love that bird and would have loved to see more of it at the end. Also worth mentioning, how many zippos does Vincenzo actually have? Seems like he's throwing them away like they're nothing, but considering how much he fiddles with it throughout the drama, I find it doesn't make sense for him to have a collection of them and throw one away every time he wants to turn up the heat.

I LOVE the Geumga Plaza crew, they're so colorful and quirky, and they're always exciting. I also appreciate that the romance isn't at the fore front of this drama, but instead, bubbling in the background and occasionally comes forward. I did, however, find that Vincenzo had stronger chemistry with other male characters than he did with Cha-young. Then there is the duo that is Han-seok & Myung-hee... WHAT A PAIR!! They're ruthless, and I just love the contrast between these two and Han-seo & Seung-hyuk. However, I have to say that the villains were shallow and one dimensional, perhaps it's to do with Han-seok's mental state, but still, it would have been great to see more layers to Myung-hee. In saying that, I absolutely loved Han-seo, he was a character that captured my attention somewhere near the middle of the story and I ended up rooting for him as much as I did for the Geumga crew.

The drama itself is actually quite dark, and the comedic elements of this seems to mask the degradation of the Geumga Cassano Family's moral compass, from being the one being walked over to the people delivering these "punishments". Granted, ultimately it was still Vincenzo himself delivering these punishments with help from the crew, but the fact that Cha-young was okay with going through with their plan knowing the ultimate outcome, as well as everyone else who seems to be fully aware what Vincenzo's intentions and still went ahead, kinda didn't put them in a better place than the "bad guys".

So anyway, yes, it was an enjoyable watch, just don't take it too seriously :)

PS: MDL didn't let me not have any ratings for the rewatch rating so I put it at 1- just fyi, I almost never rewatch anything.
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