‘Vincenzo’ Episode 1: Reactions, Review & Discussion

Vincenzo is one of the most highly-anticipated K-dramas of 2021, and it’s finally here! Wrapped in comedy and legal entanglements, Vincenzo Episode 1 introduces us to the mafia world and all their dealings in Korea. In this chapter, we follow the titular character, Vincenzo Cassano, as he flees to his homeland to… recover some gold underneath an old building?

Head on down below for our real-time reactions, recap and review of Vincenzo episode 1!

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Vincenzo Episode 1 Reactions

1. This intro is bringing me back to the good ol’ Start-Up days. I miss it already!

Vincenzo causes a huge explosion

2. A building explosion this early? I. Am. Hooked.

3. Consigliere: There’s my word of the day.

4. Studio Dragon and their big budget always give the most delicious visual treats, don’t they?

5. God damn, can Song Joong-ki speak Italian well! Well I’m not Italian but it sounds pretty legit.

6. A rich white man speaking a racial slur (“yellow”) less than five minutes into the conversation? Realistic!

7. It’s not even ten minutes into this and I’m pretty sure they already used up half their CGI budget. But I see they’ve been making the most out of their drone!

8. Netflix put a Comedy tag under this show and I’m wondering how exactly the comedy will fit into the show.

9. Bathrobes and violence are always a good combination. Always.

10. Time check: 16 minutes. Explosion count: 3.

Vincenzo flees to Korea and Hong Cha-Young is introduced

11. Alright, now it feels like a K-drama.

12. Is this gonna be one of those shows where the bubbly romantic interest makes the serious no-nonsense guy lighten up and enjoy life? If yes, then I am gonna enjoy this.

13. I knew it, that taxi driver was sketchy as hell the first time I saw him. I don’t trust people who namedrop BTS.

14. LMAO, put those acting chops to work, girl!

Vincenzo Cassano hates Korea and meets the building tenants

15. Wait, he gets knocked out with a kick to the face? Damn, Vincenzo. I thought you were tough.

16. Aww, is this gonna be a tale of how Vincenzo learns to love Korea?

17. I would bet all my money that laundromats in real life actually do have secret basement rooms where mafia gold is stored.

18. Guy in beanie who sees Vincenzo says he’s a villain and that “handsome movie villains are scarier”. Well, they’re also more lovable too!

19. Laughing at the shady monk telling this guy to clean his outfit before he cleans his mind.

20. These building tenants are giving me the same feels as the patients in It’s Okay to Not be Okay.

21. Alright, scratch my doubts about this show being labeled a comedy. This shower scene juxtaposed with string music is gold. Mental note: use a shirtless photo of Song Joong-Ki for the readers of this blog.

22. I need those glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars in my room ASAP.

A sexual harassment case

23. I don’t know what this scene means, but it looks like Vincenzo has some sins to atone for that doesn’t include shooting people and committing arson.

24. More of this lady dancing in the laundromat please!

Vincenzo gains the trust of the tenants

25. I’m shocked that the restaurant of this Italian chef isn’t a Papa John’s or a Pizza Alvalo.

26. So apparently, the stereotype of Italians being a tough food critic also extends to Korean-Italians.

27. The relationship between Vincenzo and the building tenants is what I’m most excited for.

28. I know this lawyer is going to either end up really likable or so virtuous that he’s going to be annoying.

29. Surprise attack!

30. I know it’s just the first episode, but I swear I will never get tired of Vincenzo cursing in Italian. Never.

A shocking death, and the building drama escalates

31. I did not see that truck coming. The mafia is ruthless. Bye Mr. Cho, it was nice knowing you from the time when you… uhh, helped Vincenzo settle in?

32. Vincenzo is pretty cool, isn’t he? Except when he’s getting knocked out by a single kick from taxi driver con artists, and throwing a tantrum afterwards.

33. Well that’s one way to use a tape measure.

34. And he’s even cooler when he speaks Italian!

35. Again, I love this chef so much! É mio!

Vincenzo Episode 1 Review

Vincenzo‘s first episode meets the high expectations it set for itself by naturally weaving just the right amount of comedy into the action. While the show didn’t necessarily stand out from this offering alone, we were enthralled by the spectacular performance and complexity of its main character.

The Good: Vincenzo Cassano and the Tenants

We follow a Korean-Italian consigliere (legal advisor to an Italian mafia) named Vincenzo Cassano, played by Song Joong-Ki from Descandants of the Sun fame. He goes back to Korea to retrieve(?) some gold hidden in an old building. Unfortunately, he encounters some problems that makes the task more difficult than it should be, and now, the building is out of his hands.

But let’s talk about Song Joong-ki’s performance as Vincenzo Cassano for a second because that man he made sure that all eyes were on him in every scene that he was in. Forgive me for never having seen him act before, but it’s never too late to say: that man oozes charisma.

The Vincenzo character had a lot of things going for it thanks to the strong characterization by the writers. However, it’s one thing to write a character, and another to perform it. And in our opinion, Song Joong-ki was able to perform the living hell out of it.

Right now, there’s so little that we know about who Vincenzo Cassano really is, but his mysterious and slyness intrigues us. The first twenty minutes of the episode focus on how cold-hearted and cool he can be. But later on, there are moments when we are reminded that Vincenzo actually isn’t that cool, like when he gets robbed easily or when he gets furious when his shower doesn’t work. That side is something that I am excited for the show to explore.

When the building is about to be turned over to Vincenzo, he meets some quirky tenants who brought a lot of comedy into this show. While a few of them were not too keen of Vincenzo at first, they were all enthralled by his Italian-ness. They eventually place their trust in him even if there’s still some doubt about his true intentions with the building.

Something unexpected happens, but more on that later.

The presence of the tenants injects some much-needed character into the show. While we don’t expect them to play a huge role in the main plot, they counter the main character’s serious demeanor which would get old pretty quickly. My personal favorite is the sassy monk who tells Vincenzo to clean his clothes.

We also get to learn about the chef who owns an Italian restaurant and is pretending that he went to Italy to practice his craft. Obviously, Vincenzo cuts right through his charade pretty quickly.

The Meh: The Family Registry and Other Drama

I realize that I’ve been talking about the titular character a lot without getting too much into the plot. Well that’s because Vincenzo episode 1 merely gave us the starting pieces of the storylines that they’re going to delve into the following episodes. There’s not much to go off from what they we were given. I guess it’s okay since every episode is over an hour and there’s a lot of time to get into that.

So far, we got a glimpse of a sexual harassment case involving the now-in-jail Oh Gyeong-ja which Vincenzo witnessed firsthand in court. The presence of our Italian mafia lawyer in Korea seems to have caught the attention of a policeman who is brushed off by his superior.

Then there’s the hilarious father-daughter drama which is admittedly pretty unique. Hong Yu-Chan (played by Yoo Jae-Myung) is an ethical lawyer who’s at odds with his daughter, Hong Cha-Young (played by Jeon Yeo-Bin) who represents sketchy clients like a large pharmaceutical firm. The relationship between the Hongs provided some laughs when Yu-Chan files for Cha-Young to be taken off the family registry.

We’re also guessing that Hong Cha-Young is going to end up being Vincenzo’s romantic partner, and the fact that both of them have questionable morals is interesting. In most K-dramas, at least one of the two leads is pretty virtuous, but both of them are operating within the same gray area. That is going to make their journey to redemption much more difficult.

We also got some building drama when it is sold to Babel Tower after a hostage incident. Note that the pharmaceutical company Cha-Young was defending is also owned by Babel! When the Babel Tower team tells the tenants about the transfer of ownership, Vincenzo Cassano shows up to save the day.

This leads to a pretty cool scene that ends with Vincenzo threatening to kill the chairman of the Babel Tower Development Committee using a tape measure. Which leads us to…

Favorite Moments of Vincenzo Episode 1

1. Vincenzo blows up the estate (and the CGI budget)

2. Vincenzo calls out Chef Toto for being a fake

3. Vincenzo uses a tape measure creatively

 Vincenzo Episode 1 Rating: 7/10 

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What did you think of the first episode of Vincenzo? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

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