‘Vincenzo’ Episode 12: Review, Recap & Reactions

In one of the most intense cliffhangers of the series so far, Vincenzo finally found out who the real chairman behind Babel was disguising himself as. We ended the previous episode with an intense image: Joon-woo on his knees begging to be killed while Vincenzo places a gun to his forehead.

Vincenzo episode 12 mellows down the pace from the two previous episodes as Joon-woo goes incognito after that unexpected visit into his apartment. The gold hunt is also placed at center stage when we learn that there’s more to the gold bars than they seem.

And most importantly, the civil war within Team Babel-Wusang leads to the real boss revealing himself to the entire world! Find out all the glorious deets in this week’s review, recap, and real-time reactions. And as always, feel free to leave your thoughts about this episode 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 12 Review & Recap

After all the craziness that the show gave us in the past two weeks, I think I was ready for something more relaxing. And thankfully, the torture count for Vincenzo episode 12 was at a mere zero so you knew things didn’t get too crazy this time around.

The continuation of the previous episode was probably the only time we got intense. Instead of killing Joon-woo right there and then, Vincenzo shot a blank which prompted Prosecutor Jung to intervene. This was all just a giant scheme from Vincenzo because he had decided that it was better for Joon-woo to be kept alive if he wanted to take down Babel.

The prosecutor had arrested Vincenzo whose gun was revealed to be fake all along. That meant that he could only get charged for intimidation. But the meet-up between the two also made it clear to Prosecutor Jung that the people from the Jipuragi Law Firm were on his side. With that, he was going to come after Babel with multiple cases.

READ: ‘Vincenzo’ Episode 11: Review, Recap & Reactions

I don’t think anyone really expected Joon-woo — and yes, we’re calling him that until the next episode review for reasons you’ll learn later on — to die right there and then. And while I enjoyed the way Vincenzo got under his skin, the prosecutor getting involved to stop the mess kind of came out of left field. I even forgot who Prosecutor Jung was for a second there!

With that, Joon-woo goes on a personal retreat to… clear his head? Or was it to keep a low profile from the prosecution? He did not like losing to Vincenzo. And I’m sure getting his entire being slapped out of him by Cha-young left a bad taste in his mouth, too.

And that retreat of his was definitely eventful. There was a weird scene where he temporarily lost consciousness from the bottled water in his room which Vincenzo had asked his men to drug. He did it as a reverse psychology trick to get Joon-woo to out himself as Jang Han-seok, the real Babel boss.

See, the mafia lawyer’s Italian-style revenge involved two things: (1) Han-seok revealing who he really was to the world, and (2) taking down what he loved most in the world: his company.

The bottled water bit may not have worked as planned, but something else pushed Joon-woo to do that in Vincenzo episode 12. Do you remember Team Phoenix — Jang Han-seo and Han Seung-hyeok — plotting Joon-woo’s demise when they were shooting guns together? Well the idiots finally did it!

In a big “no, he did not” moment, Han-seo actually shot his older brother with a gun when they went hunting together! Joon-woo stood up and went for Han-seo after being shot like a classic horror movie villain. Eventually though, he would fall down… and he would’ve died right there and then if a man hadn’t come up to the scene. Han-seo acted his butt off claiming it was a shooting accident.

As Joon-woo laid in the hospital bed, Ms. Choi gave him a reality check: keeping his identity secret was increasingly becoming his weakness. Joon-woo also revealed his fear of having a nameless grave, so it only made sense that in the middle of a board meeting that Han-seo was heading, he finally went public as the real chairman behind Babel.

I was shocked with how quickly Team Phoenix went after Joon-woo, whom we are now officially referring to as Jang Han-seok unless the characters continue to address him otherwise. Honestly, I didn’t even think those two had it in them. Especially Han-seo whom I didn’t expect to shoot his psychotic brother in the back! But all I can say is, he better watch his own after this. He might not even make it to the series finale!

I’m looking forward to how Han-seok and Ms. Choi treat Team Phoenix from now on. I bet they’ll pretend to forgive them and be nice, only to stab them in the back later. What I can’t believe is how easily Vincenzo’s plan is falling into place: it’s barely been a minute, and Jang Han-seok has already revealed him to the world. It’s honestly making me question how smart of a villain he really is.

Do you know who has Vincenzo in a doozy, though? Mr. freakin’ Cho!

Who’d have thought that the guy who almost died in the first episode and had barely any lines since then would be the one to outsmart Vincenzo? Let’s back up a few steps and talk about the Geumga Plaza gold hunt which took center stage in Vincenzo episode 12.

So everyone and their mother found out about the hidden gold bars, including the Babel E&C personnel who now run a balloon store, Cha-young who did not believe Vincenzo before, and Mr. Nam.

But it has become bigger than the gold because we learned that the Guillotine File was hidden in there as well. It’s a file that contains all the dirt on important people in Korea… including Babel! Even they are in shambles looking for it now because they learned that the Intelligence Service got hacked and lost it. If only they knew it was in the freaking basement of the monks’ temple along with the gold bars all this time.

The Jipuragi Law Firm agreed to split Vincenzo’s share of the gold bars and lured all the tenants away with a paid trip to the hot springs. It bothers me that they fell for the trick so easily. Wouldn’t everyone be at least a little suspicious if someone had paid for you to go on a trip out of nowhere? Especially since they knew about the treasures inside the building?

Anyway, this finally bought Vincenzo and Mr. Cho the opportunity to get the gold. And lo and behold, they opened the safe under the temple floor to reveal a basement with all the gold bars that they’d been dreaming of for years.

But do you know how the promise of riches can turn someone into an absolute monster? Well when Vincenzo was taking in all the gold in the room, Mr. Cho placed a gun on his head. The betrayal!

This is where we left things in Vincenzo episode 12. If you’ve been reading my recaps, then you might have gotten the sense that I’m not a fan of the whole gold hunt storyline. But my interest instantly picked up when it was revealed that the Guillotine File is hidden there. It definitely raises the stake for Team Vincenzo to take ownership of everything in the basement.

As for Mr. Cho, I’m honestly just snickering at him. He wasn’t a threat then, he isn’t a threat now. I honestly don’t think he’s gonna get away with the gold because someone’s going to rescue Vincenzo. I’d bet my money on Cha-young or Seo Mi-ri.

You know that girl is up to something! Especially when she hasn’t told anyone that she knows about the gold being under the temple floor.

Aside from all the development that revolved around the gold, not a lot of things happened. This episode was literally just Vincenzo distracting himself with the gold while waiting for Han-seok to come out of the closet. There was another cute finger-flicking bet between him and Cha-young, but it’s just a cute little somethin’ while we wait for the time they confess their feelings to each other.

Overall, Vincenzo episode 12 was a decent outing. I don’t personally mind the slower pace, but I would imagine that a lot of people were looking for more thrill out of this one, especially with how we have been spoiled with action-packed endings the past few episodes.

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 Vincenzo Episode 12 Rating: 6.5/10 

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Favorite Moments in Vincenzo Episode 12

1. Cha-young slaps the hell out of Jang Han-seok

2. Cha-young and Vincenzo have a moment during finger-flicking

3. Jang Han-seo shoots his brother in the back

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Vincenzo Episode 12 Reactions

1. Daaaamn. You go act your ass off, Joon-woo!

2. Who are these randos arresting Vincenzo?

3. Cha-young slapping Joon-woo is so satisfying! It’s only begun and I already got my #1 favorite moment in this episode.

4. There are Italian rules of revenge? Well now that it’s been explained to me, that’s exactly how I like my revenge done.

5. Oooohhh, it’s Prosecutor Jung from the previous episode who arrested him… my memory is really bad.

Everyone schemes for the gold

6. I have a feeling Gilbert isn’t going to go away that easily.

7. The way Mi-ri isn’t falling for Vincenzo’s BS, lol.

8. Uh oh, the balloon people know about the gold now too.

9. Interesting scare tactic from Mi-ri…

10. So many people wanting to play for Team Vincenzo. I always knew Beanie Guy had it in him!

Joon-woo drowns

11. Vincenzo’s henchmen are so weird. Why are they working for him?!

12. Is Ms. Choi’s “classic method” referring to murder?

13. “Be careful which ladder you choose to climb” – Ms. Choi isn’t playing around in this episode!

14. The fact that Vincenzo is just now catching up on Parasite is actually great characterization.

15. More finger-flicking bets between Vincenzo and Cha-young please!

16. It’s interesting how the Babel Balloon Guys are just giving out this information about the gold to the other tenants.

17. OMG, a hacker!

18. What in the world is happening to Joon-woo???

19. “I’m not mocking you, I’m not a mockingbird” – what is it with Ms. Choi and her one-liners today?

20. Well Union Guy, it was nice knowing you!

21. I don’t know about this. Why is Vincenzo so arrogant?

22. Oh I see. He’s using some reverse psychology on Joon-woo!

23. Exactly, Seung-hyeok. Why don’t you guys just kill Vincenzo?

The Guillotine File is in the gold

24. Does Cha-young feel like a fool now for not believing Vincenzo about the gold?

25. Joon-woo’s having a makeover. How odd.

26. What is the Guillotine file? And why is everyone panicking about it?

27. Is Wang Shaolin someone we met in Vincenzo before? He looks familiar. [Note: It’s the guy who entrusted the gold to Vincenzo in the first episode.]

28. Daaaamn. I was wondering how the gold hunt would connect with the main Babel storyline.

Han-seo shoots his brother

29. Joon-woo with straight hair is just weird to look at.

30. So this hunting trip is a ploy for Han-seo to kill Joon-woo? The plot thickens.

31. He is gonna miss this shot on Joon-woo isn’t he? WAIT… NO… HE DID NOT! He did not just do that!!!

32. Is Han-seo gonna die today?! Well no, apparently Joon-woo is down. He is down, everyone!

33. Han-seo is screeeeewed after this.

Han-seok reveals himself to the public

34. They’re gonna kiss next week, aren’t they?

35. Jang Han-seo done screwed himself. And Ms. Choi doesn’t seem too thrilled about the budding alliance between him and Seung-hyeok either.

36. Joon-woo is falling for Vincenzo’s trap to reveal himself so easily. He is… not that smart, isn’t he?

37. I sense a Mr. Cho betrayal coming. He deserved that spit take from Vincenzo!

38. So when does Han-seo die?

Mr. Cho betrays Vincenzo

39. This bus with all the building tenants is making me nervous! Remember what happened to the Babel victims’ families last week?

40. Are they finally gonna get the gold today?! I can’t believe the tenants fell for the hot spring thing.

41. The gold is real!!! And it’s here.

42. I told y’all! I’ve seen too much WWE to know that Mr. Cho was gonna betray Vincenzo. The question is: why did he need Vincenzo’s help all this time? Wasn’t he the one who unlocked the safe?

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What were your thoughts watching the twelfth 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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