‘Vincenzo’ Episode 8: Review, Recap & Reactions

In the last episode, Vincenzo’s plan to delay the demolition turned into an unexpected direction when the Geumga Plaza tenants ended up in a huge altercation with Babel E&C. Will they get in major trouble, or will Vincenzo rise to the occasion again?

Vincenzo episode 8 sees our favorite mafia lawyer seduce a man in an effort to stop an investment agreement with Babel. We also learn more about what really happened with the sexual harassment case that implicated Vincenzo’s mother. Plus, we’re finally getting some more explicit romantic scenes between Vincenzo and Cha-young!

Find out all the details and more in this week’s review, recap, and real-time reactions. Feel free to leave your thoughts about this episode in the comments below!

And 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 8 Review & Recap

This episode was a great return to form for Vincenzo as it was able to address my main concern in the recent episodes. After getting their asses hand to them again and again, Wusang Law Firm was finally able to bounce back successfully proving that they are “worthy” opponents.

As I expected, the cliffhanger from the previous episode didn’t really amount to much as the Geumga Plaza tenants were released from the police station in the first ten minutes thanks to Vincenzo. All he had to do was show the footage that the student had taken for him which proved that the Babel guys started the whole thing.

This was obviously another huge L for Babel that made them look bad in front of the entire nation. Joon-woo was furious because how could’ve there been so many fuck-ups in so little time? And on top of that, they were only able to secure the agreement with the Chief Prosecutor thanks to Vincenzo. Ms. Choi screamed back at him, and went on an impassioned speech about her frustrations when it came to losing… twice. I honestly thought that Joon-woo would physically attack her at the time to shut her up, but instead, he just applauded her “devil spirit”.

It was one of the highlights of Vincenzo episode 8 because it showed that Ms. Choi isn’t just some puppet that Joon-woo can control. She is definitely a wildcard in that regard. While Joon-woo is a fan of her now, she could easily be disposed of later when she starts taking off her leash.

Babel is having a difficult time securing some funding with all the controversies they are in, but Ms. Choi gets it in the bag pretty quickly. What’s that expression again? The devil works hard, but Ms. Choi works harder.

She met up with the young president of Shinkwang Bank, Hwang Min-seong, whom she was extremely familiar with because she had represented his family in a case way back when. And this isn’t just some DUI or jaywalking case — it’s a whole can of worms that also involves Vincenzo’s mother… but more on that later.

The blackmail worked on Min-seong, and the deal was on! However, the Jipuragi Law Firm was not going to sit back and watch that happen. They had found out that Min-seong was gay and came up with their cheapest plan to date: have a charming and charismatic man seduce Min-seong into not pushing through with the investment. Their bait? A very reluctant Vincenzo.

Much of the episode revolved around the Vincenzo and Min-seong interactions: they had some Brokeback Mountain going on, a drink at the bar, and an amusement park date where Min-seong showed his true colors as an effeminate guy.

The whole thing did bring some laughs out of me, but I do have one thing against it. While I get that Vincenzo was acting all disgusted because this is a comedy, I wish he had been more “cool” with the plan to seduce a guy. Not only because we have to normalize homosexuality in 2021, but because it makes more sense for his character to do it without hesitation. He is supposed to be coldhearted — a “villain” as he would call himself — so flirting with somebody for information, no matter their gender, should be easy for him.

The plan almost worked out as Min-seong did not sign the contract after Vincenzo (as his gay alter-ego Tae-ho) had broken up with him for siding with the evil Babel. As Cha-young put it, we witnessed the power of love in action. But leave it to Ms. Choi to kill their love because she had actually spoken to Min-seong’s mother, the chairwoman of Shinkwang Bank, before the contract signing. Ms. Choi had blackmailed her into making sure that the investment deal happens in case Min-seong fell into a trap… which he did.

As we learned earlier, the mother and son duo who run Shinkwang Bank are hiding a big secret. Vincenzo got more than what he signed up for when Min-seong revealed to him that his father, Hwang Deok-bae, was accidentally killed by their housekeeper as she fought him off in a sexual assault attempt. The twist in this story was that Min-seong’s mother actually saw the whole thing happen and didn’t call an ambulance to rescue her husband. Why? Because she wanted to own Shinkwang Bank bank herself.

If the name Hwang Deok-bae didn’t ring the bell, then let me refresh your memory. He was the same man who was accused by Oh Gyeong-ja, his housekeeper, of sexually assaulting her. And who is Oh Gyeong-ja? Vincenzo’s mother!

This revelation only heightened Vincenzo’s determination to crush Min-seong and the entire Hwang family. He had just visited his mother (who still doesn’t know that Vincenzo is his son) earlier in the hospital and he almost broke down right there and then seeing her struggle. Even if he is still feeling some resentment towards Gyeong-ja abandoning him, Vincenzo offered to pay for her bills.

As you’ll read in my real-time reactions, I found this scene remarkable because this was the saddest we ever saw Vincenzo. Watching him get angry at Gyeong-ja for refusing his help while he was trying his hardest not to tell her the truth was heartbreaking. It is going to be even more crushing when Joon-woo inevitably discovers the connection between the two of them and exploit that for his own means.

Ms. Choi may have won the battle to secure Babel’s investment, but Vincenzo had his eyes on the bigger prize. The secret that Min-seong had confided in him led to a three-pronged revenge plan. The first part was to break Min-seong heart which he did by revealing that he wasn’t actually gay.

If that wasn’t enough, Vincenzo also learned about his fear of zombies in their date. He asked the help of the Geumga Plaza tenants to lock him up in the bathroom and scare the bejeezus out of him with people dressed up as zombies. As he came out running for his life, he was then escorted by the police who was tipped-off by Vincenzo for assault and blackmail. This all happened in front of many cameras which made it even more embarrassing. I’m honestly confused where the assault and blackmail thing came up because as far as I can recall, Min-seong hadn’t admitted that he did any of those things.

But anyway, this victory for Team Vincenzo led to some fun gloating from Cha-young… which Ms. Choi ruined instantly by bringing up Yu-chan. She threatened Cha-young by saying that she will end up just like her dead father. Our fiery female lead was not having any of this and called the attention of all the cameraman around her to declare war against Babel.

Happy, Vincenzo and Cha-young walked away from everyone else. And this is where we ended things in Vincenzo episode 8!

Seeing Team Vincenzo walk out together was an extremely satisfactory ending after all the development that they have together in the past episodes. The slow burn that had been building up since the first episode is finally starting to turn into a bigger flame. I don’t know what they did in this episode, but I can honestly say for the first time, that I can smell the romantic chemistry between Vincenzo and Cha-young.

The romance between them is at a perfect level of subtle where it’s not really a big deal yet. The most explicit thing we got in this episode was Vincenzo almost hugging Cha-young to get her away from a horse… in slow motion. You know how k-dramas love them slow motions. But it wasn’t that scene that really made me look at them differently: it was actually an unremarkable scene where they were walking together as soft music played.

Then it was them saying “looks like you need a good beating” in synchrony. And finally, it was the last shot of them walking out of the building together with Vincenzo’s arm around Cha-young. Those subtle moments were the ones that got to me — moments that I bet most viewers didn’t really remember. As these small sparks between them pile up, the more convinced everyone would be that they’d make a perfect couple.

Overall, I found Vincenzo episode 8 a good watch. It could’ve been a standalone episode sans Vincenzo’s mother who has been inconsistently featured in the show. I noticed how her storyline only appears every now and them which hurt my interest, but the revelations about her sexual harassment case has made it feel important.

We also got some comedic moments in this episode thanks to the gay seduction storyline, and a good back-and-forth between Babel-Wusang and Jipuragi. I’m just glad that the villains of our story were able to outsmart Vincenzo this time around even if it was just a small victory in the grand scheme of things. I would say that we’re in a good spot as we head into the halfway point of Vincenzo. The Geumga Plaza and gold storyline continues to be the weakest part of the k-drama as we saw with how the Tenants vs. Babel brawl that closed the previous episode went nowhere. But maybe it’ll start to pick up like how the romance between Vincenzo and Cha-young did!

 Vincenzo Episode 8 Rating: 7.5/10 

READ: ‘Vincenzo’ Episode 7: Review, Recap & Reactions

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Favorite Moments in Vincenzo Episode 8

1. Vincenzo and Cha-young walk away from the photographers

2. Vincenzo tells Ms. Choi “not bad”

3. Min-seong meets Vincenzo Tae-ho

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Vincenzo Episode 8 Reactions

1. LMAO, the monk really said “I’m a monk, do I look like I’m going to start a fight?”

2. Chef Toto’s assistant be like “I’m no average Joe”. If only they knew…

3. So no one is going to question why Vincenzo told the student to take a video? No one? Okay.

4. The tenants who focused on how ugly they looked on that video is literally me.

5. Lol’ing at Vincenzo being compared to Che Guevara.

6. Ms. Choi seems reluctant to help out the Chief Prosecutor. I wonder why? Is she turning good?

7. Oh wow, why is this scene between Vincenzo and Cha-young… romantic? They finally have one scene with romantic chemistry! It’s the soft music playing in the background.

Ms. Choi gets angry at Joon-woo

8. Chef Toto is hilarious. Salt Bae better watch out!

9. I love this angry Ms. Choi! We need more of that fire from her.

10. Why is Joon-woo asking these lawyers to secure the funding for Babel? Aren’t they, you know, lawyers?

11. You just know Vincenzo and Cha-young rehearsed saying that together. Cute though.

12. So Jang Han-seo was the guy who was assaulting the Babel guy with a hockey puck earlier on, and now he has a gun with him. You just know that gun’s going to be used before the hour is over.

13. Poor accountant who had to get tortured because she only wanted to file surtaxes. Taxes and death are the only constant things in life.

The truth about Vincenzo’s mother

14. I love how Vincenzo’s mom just randomly pops up every other episode.

15. Almost teared up when Vincenzo screamed at Oh Gyeong-ja to take his help.

16. So the new investor in Babel… this Min-seong guy… is the son of the guy who sexually assaulted Gyeong-ja. It’s all tied together!

The seduction plan

17. The way Cha-young complimented Vincenzo’s looks into conversation so naturally. I see what you did there, girl.

18. Well it’s been a while since I saw homosexual representation in a k-drama. You could totally do it, Vincenzo! Stop your fragile masculinity right now.

19. I love how they’re playing slow sex music between Vincenzo and Min-seong.

20. “Can I ride him?” / “Be as rough as you want.” – is something I thought I’d never hear in a k-drama, let alone exchanged between two men.

21. Y’all, what is with this trope of gay guys smelling the straight guy’s clothes?

22. VIncenzo couldn’t be less cool about this whole seduce a man thing even if he tried.

23. I don’t get why Cha-young is just there right behind Vincenzo and Min-seong when the latter knows her… and hates her.

24. Eww, this guy wants to call Vincenzo hyung. And did they just drop a Call Me By Your Name reference?

25. Min-seong spilled all his family’s dirty laundry just like that… he’s such a ho for Vincenzo.

26. Interesting! So some of the building tenants did believe the Gilbert guy who said there was gold.

Tae-ho and Min-seong’s date

27. Vincenzo dresses way better in casual clothing as Tae-ho.

28. You go and flaunt your lover, Min-seong. That’s what you call gay pride!

29. Vincenzo with the acting gig of his life…

30. I really can’t with Vincenzo thinking that he’s a villain and doesn’t deserve love. He has main antagonist syndrome.

The investment signing goes wrong

31. Here we go! Vincenzo is dropping another bomb on Babel.

32. I’m surprised Joon-woo hasn’t hired somebody to tail Cha-young and Vincenzo. He knows how sneaky they can be!

33. LMAO, Vincenzo really out here using his phone to send a message from the upper box like some start of fan in a concert. The power of love~

34. Wow, I did not see that twist coming. Ms. Choi finally won over Vincenzo. Good for her!

35. I didn’t even notice that they were the tenants. Why are they kidnapping him like some Men in Black rejects?

36. I knew it wasn’t just a coincidence that he was afraid of zombies. But I actually feel bad for him though… it wasn’t his fault his mom overrode him!

37. So Vincenzo scared the living shit out of him, and tipped the police off? I’d say that’s some good revenge for his mother.

38. The way Joon-woo is playing along with Cha-young’s Jaws impersonation is hilarious and a great way to hide that he’s actually the puppet master. He was getting too obvious there for a second.

39. The game is on again for Cha-young and Ms. Choi. I love this!

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What were your thoughts watching the eighth 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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