‘Vincenzo’ Episode 16: Review, Recap & Reactions

Previously on Vincenzo, Team Babel-Wusang has become pretty furious as the Jipuragi Law Firm keeps outsmarting them at every turn. Their latest attempt to take down the consigliere is by framing him for the murder of Oh Jeong-bae.

Will this be the plan that finally works? Or will they have to rely on the new information that they learned about Vincenzo’s mother to destroy him? Find out the answers to these questions with our review, recap, and real-time reactions! And as always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Remember: if you missed our recap and review of previous Vincenzo episodes, you can always go back to them HERE.

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Vincenzo Episode 16 Review & Recap

Can we say best episode ever? There was no shortage of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments in Vincenzo episode 16. It didn’t miss a beat at all!

The only boring part throughout the entire 70 minutes actually came in the opening sequence. As I said in the previous recap, I’ve learned not to sweat the cliffhangers that end every episode anymore because they get resolved pretty quickly and don’t amount to much in the long run.

This pattern of useless cliffhangers continued when Vincenzo instantly tracked down the people who actually killed Daechang Daily chairman, Oh Jeong-bae, and turn them in.

The only nice thing that came from it was how Mr. Tak and Park Seok-do (aka Babel Balloon Guy) helped him out! Vincenzo relying on them for this mission was just one way he has shown how much he has become attached to the Geumga Plaza tenants.

We’ve come so far! As Mr. Tak said, he really is a Korean because he cares a lot about other people deep down.

We totally glossed over this fact previously, but there are some good news to celebrate: the pawn shop owners of Geumga Plaza are expecting a baby! Everyone was expecting Vincenzo to decline their invite to a celebratory dinner, but he shocked them all when he said he wanted to go. We love wholesome moments!

READ: ‘Vincenzo’ Episode 15: Review, Recap & Reactions

Unfortunately, this dinner would be cut short when Jang Han-seok planned a gas leak to destroy the entire building. He knew that the gold bars and Guillotine File were in there, and if he didn’t have them, then no one can.

A woman pretending to be a safety officer was hired by Han-seo to cut the gas pipe. But the plan quickly turned south when fire trucks had come to the rescue even before anything exploded! Now the question is: who in the blue hell tipped off the fire department?

We learned later on in Vincenzo episode 16 that it was Jang Han-seo all along!

The not-so-dumb-anymore brother was starting to grow a spine of his own. Not only did he do it to gain the trust of Vincenzo and eventually overthrow Han-seok, but he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the abuse that he was receiving. I mean, he was ordered by Han-seok to stand there and get hit by a trophy in the head as punishment for not having the building blown up.

It looked like saving Geumga Plaza from the explosion worked because Vincenzo agreed to do him a favor in return.

I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely loving where this Han-seo character is headed. Who doesn’t love an underdog?! He seems genuine about his intentions to keep Babel murder and controversy-free. And honestly, I’m at that point where I hate Han-seok (in a good way) every time he picks on Han-seo. I wanted to hug him so bad after getting hit by the trophy!

But he’s not the only one getting heat in Team Babel-Wusang.

The tension between Ms. Choi and Seung-hyeuk reached a new peak as the former revealed that she has been keeping a watchful eye on Han-seo and Seung-hyeuk because they’ve been straying off the pack.

The growing distrust led to a confrontation among the entire Babel-Wusang alliance… until a bloodied man interrupted the fight.

Now who is this bloodied man? Well to answer that, we’d have to backtrack a bit in Vincenzo episode 16.

With all of Babel’s failed attempts lately, Ms. Choi finally got the Holy Grail that (they think) would help them destroy Vincenzo: the identity of his long-lost mother. He has been getting closer and closer to Oh Gyeong-ja despite not telling her that he’s her real son. Thanks to Hong Cha-young, the two of them were able to have a family portrait taken together, and a bonding moment in the park.

I was so emotional watching these scenes! That family portrait scene where Vincenzo and Gyeong-ja didn’t even need to say anything to each other, but they were a bit teared up? And when Gyeong-ja said she was sorry that she wasn’t able to keep her promise to her son to come back for him? Instant tears.

Cha-young, you are a godsend! She was finally able to convince Vincenzo to visit her and call him her mother.

Little did they know that Jang Han-seok was already making his move. He visited Gyeong-ja in the guise of being a “friendly stranger”, and got some more information about her and Vincenzo. She was holding their family portrait as she innocently raved about her son to his biggest enemy. Turns out, she knew that Vincenzo was her son!

After that cursed visit, Ms. Choi’s hired henchman went to Oh Gyeong-ja’s hospital room and straight up K-I-L-L-E-D her. Vincenzo was too late!

I will admit, I didn’t expect her death to happen that fast and that brutally! But to the delight of Ms. Choi and Han-seok (who else ships them togehter?), Vincenzo was heartbroken especially when he saw a photo of their family portrait beside his dead mother.

But mafia got no time for tears! He immediately tracked down the henchman, tortured him by cutting off his limbs, and made him lead the way to where Jang Han-seok lived. And in the middle of Team Babel-Wusang’s argument with each other, the henchman appeared looking like a zombie straight from the grave.

Cue the horror in all of their faces. Not only was there a bloody man in their place, but he would eventually get shot by a highly-emotional and provoked Vincenzo! And you knew he meant bizness because his hair was gelled-back. That my folks… is where we ended Vincenzo episode 16.

Where do I even begin? I’m just on a high after watching this because it was so good. I was genuinely so surprised with how time just flew watching it.

Every scene in this episode lined up perfectly to give us that delicious climax, and eventually, that head-turner of an ending. Even the quick and seemingly-useless resolution of Oh Jeong-bae’s murder helped set up the central element in this episode: Babel’s desperation to get a W against Vincenzo.

They were getting more and more frustrated with their failures, and it was eating away at their team, causing a great divide among them.

To me, this has now become the most intriguing part of the show because it has been built up for so long and will probably be the key to Vincenzo’s victory.

To Seung-hyeuk and Han-seo’s point, it does seem like Team Babel-Wusang has been too trigger-happy lately. Wouldn’t it have been wiser to use Oh Gyeong-ja as a bargaining chip of sorts? I agree with Han-seo when he said that it would only provoke Vincenzo whom they know to have an affinity for violence.

If there was one thing I would change, it would be having the cute mother-and-son scenes spread out in the previous episodes. It would’ve made her death that much more painful for me because I honestly didn’t feel like Vincenzo had a deep relationship with Gyeong-ja until the park scene happened. Either way, I’m sad that they never acknowledged their mother-son relationship to one another explicitly. But such is life.

I just hope they didn’t kill her off too soon with four episodes still in the back pocket.

Nonetheless, her death has now served her purpose because we finally got Badass Vincenzo back! After he has been involving himself in too many comedic missions that bordered on wacky and insane, this incident woke the lion up again. He’s obviously not gonna kill Jang Han-seok yet, but seeing him gun down his mother’s murderer was like watching the first episode where he was blowing up mansions and killing Italians left and right.

All I can say is: I missed him. He’s probably going to go back to doing the comedic missions as soon as the next episode, anyway.

What I find interesting is Cha-young is still oblivious to Vincenzo’s murderous past. There was some foreshadowing in Vincenzo episode 16 that she was growing increasingly alarmed with his behavior. She asked him if he knew Han-seok would kill Oh Jeong-bae, and she had this concerned look on her face.

It would be refreshing to have some tension within the Jipuragi Law Firm because we’ve seen Team Babel-Wusang have internal issues of their own. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to see where the newly-formed alliance between Han-seo and Vincenzo leads!

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 Vincenzo Episode 16 Rating: 9.0/10 

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Favorite Moments in Vincenzo Episode 16

1. Ms. Choi’s look of horror

2. Vincenzo and Gyeong-ja have their family portrait taken

3. Han-seo gets hit by a trophy

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Vincenzo Episode 16 Reactions

1. Uuuuhhh Vincenzo, is it smart to assault a police officer?

2. Wow, Park Seok-do (Ex-Babel Balloon Guy) is coming to save the day.

3. That was funny, but using Inzaghi to save Vincenzo feels like a copout.

4. Do you remember when Vincenzo hated Korea in the first episode? And now, Mr. Tak is telling him that he’s really a Korean. Throwback!

5. So Vincenzo doesn’t get arrested for assaulting a police officer? Cool.

6. This scene is hilarious, but it’s sooo like Vincenzo to pretend not to be interested in modeling.

7. Seung-hyeuk is right: when did Wusang become a contract killing firm? I am enjoying this fracture between him and Ms. Choi.

Vincenzo and Gyeong-ja enjoy a day together

8. This family portrait scene… I’m not crying, you are!

9. Oh my God, just tell him the truth, Vincenzo.

10. Oh Gyeong-ja be like: “why is this man crying?!”

11. It’s gonna be sooo sad when she dies.

Geumga Plaza has a gas leak

12. Uh oh, Geumga Plaza is going to be no more. But does it really make sense to blow up a whole building for the Guillotine File, and they don’t know if it’s actually there?

13. The way they all want Vincenzo to come to the party and he said yes. OMG, so wholesome!

14. So the lady from earlier is working for Babel? Damn, you really can’t trust anyone.

15. Is this the end of Geumga Plaza?

16. Who called the fire department?!

17. So there’s a double agent in Geumga? No one knows!

18. Fuck, getting hit like that by Han-seok is really infuriating. He’s obviously had enough of this.

19. Of course Han-seo was the one who reported it. I want him to work together with Vincenzo ASAP.

Gyeong-ja dies

20. It’s hilarious whenever Cha-young does those Italian hands.

21. Gyeong-ja being alone outside without Vincenzo. I don’t like the looks of this! And there he is: Han-seok.

22. Vincenzo reminiscing about his day with his mom. The reality check he’s gonna get is going to be brutal!

23. Gyeong-ja better not be saying things like she’s willing to give up her life for her son.

24. Oh no no no no no, so Vincenzo decides now is the best time to tell Gyeong-ja that she’s his mom… at the same time when Babel is going after her. What perfect timing!

25. Did they just… kill her off? Just like that?! DEVASTATED.

26. The guard didn’t even do anything useful.

27. We knew it was coming… but it’s painful that he didn’t even get to have that moment with her.

28. Vincenzo is surprisingly calm about this whole sitch.

29. I have a feeling Vincenzo is gonna kill that mofo.

30. I honestly don’t know how killing Gyeong-ja would benefit Babel, but good for Ms. Choi.

Vincenzo is out for revenge

31. It’s been a while since we saw Vincenzo with his hair gelled back. Y’all know this is gonna be some serious business.

32. Vincenzo’s eyes are craaazy. Yeah, cut his limbs.

33. It’s time for Seung-hyeuk and Han-seo to get out of this team!

34. Vincenzo going through these hordes of security guards like some zombie game.

35. The tension within Team Babel-Wusang has finally reached an all-time high.

36. He done killed him! Message sent.

37. Song Joong-ki’s acting was really good here.

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What were your thoughts watching the sixteenth episode of Vincenzo? Leave them in the comments below! And if you missed it, you can view our reactions and review for other episodes here.

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