“Vincenzo” Episode 19 has aired a couple of hours ago and oh boy, was is intense or what?

I know I am a bit late to the recap, but here we ago. Below is a highlighted recap of “Vincenzo” Episode 19 important scenes followed by my own personal thoughts on the 19^th episode.

“Vincenzo” Episode 19 recap

Vincenzo goes back to save the plaza people. He is a bit overpowered and get hit hard but the plaza people all team up and beat up the bad guys. Through overlay text, we get to find out that some of them had professional training and were either boxing champions or more.

The right-hand man sees he’s been defeated so he offers to ‘talk it out,’ he gets knocked out by Lawyer Hong. Then the plaza people celebrate his return. They also talk about how they managed to extract the gold.

Vincenzo had met the monks who told him there has always been a current underneath and they’ve figured out something was down there, they eventually team up with the hacker to slowly take out the gold without anyone batting an eye. Vincenzo also tells Mr. Cho that the file will be given to him at a later date.

Vincenzo then explains to Hong how he was able to come back, he offered to pay the people who wanted to kill his family 80 million euros and it worked, he’s sent a contract and they’re saved.

The four bad guys all meet up to talk it out, including prosecutor Jung who suggests he knows a way to deal with the trial but the presidential candidate right-hand man must set up something. He’s also promoted so he can wield more power to get this plan done.

The lawfirm team is then served a document that delays the trial under the guise of ‘smearing campaign fears against a presidential candidate.’ The team is furious and begin looking into the presidential candidate corruption on the file.

Hong and Vincenzo have a chat later as they’re drinking coffee, they talk about corruption and how similar SK is to the mafia, he also promises her he’ll back when she asks him whether he’ll leave after all of this is over.

At night outside a restaurant. The chief prosecutor and the judge residing over their case meet and agree to help out each other. However, Vincenzo decides to face the judge himself, he drives him off with his car and then with a gun threatens him. He asks him to make sure CEO Jang gets out as soon as possible and without delays.

The trial for the babel group and plaza tenants is held. Han Seo also shows up and sits besides Vincenzo he makes it pretty clear he’s switched sides. Vincenzo is summoned to the witness stand and presents video evidence that shows why they’ve been trying to get their hands on the plaza. They blur out the faces of Han Seo, the chief prosecutor and Lawyer Choi.

Vincenzo then finds Prosecutor Jang in the bathroom, he strangles him and warns him one last time that he’ll show mercy if he didn’t interfere anymore.

At night, the chief prosecutor and Lawyer Choi get together for drinks, Lawyer Choi says its their farewell and he should now fend for himself, she knows what he’s been doing. He’s angry.

At the plaza

the verdict is read regarding the geumga plaza, the court nullified Babel group contract over the building due to the various findings of the court.

The chief prosecutor pays a visit to Han Seo who is stopping the manufacturing of drugs and looks like he’s doing his best to manage the business. the chief prosecutor tries to convince him to look out for him too, he refuses and said he’s sided with Vincenzo.

At the prison

Vincenzo pays a visit to Joon Woo and threatens him one last time, they have a confrontation and Joon Woon warns, what he’ll be up against when he gets out will be his old self, the crazy psycho who has no inhibitions.

At a restaurant

Vincenzo meets with Han Seo, Han Seo asks if he’ll leave suddenly and he says yes, he begs him not to and then asks him to surely say goodbye before he leaves.

Vincenzo tells Han Seo he should leave overseas until all of this blows over, Han Seo refuses and says he was prepared to die once he agreed to this. He also says he has Vincenzo hyung to protect him and beat up the bad guys for him.

The next morning

Vincenzo and Hong have coffee, he tells her one last time that she can back off if she wants since its about to get bloody. She refuses to back down and says she’s supported him despite how difficult its been on her because its the right thing to do.

Lawyer Choi meets up with the presidential candidate right-hand man and tells him to allow her to take care of Vincenzo, she asks him to release Joon Woo asap and says she’s fabricated evidence and will take the fall for it.

At night

Prosecutor Jang celebrates his victory, he’s managed to score again and got out everyone they’ve shown in the video evidence at the court hearing for the plaza. Vincenzo shows up and eventually kills him, he pushes his body off of a building.

Lawyer Choi meets Joon Woo to tell him about her plan, he offers her the vice chairwoman position in the company once its all settled. She also tells him his brother has completely switched sides.

She’s arrested at the company while she’s doing zumba.

At the plaza

Joon Woo gets out of prison and he asks that no one has to know about it. He heads to the plaza. Hong is preparing to meet her colleagues and heads out, as she arrives at the parking lot of the gathering, she’s kidnapped.

At night

Joon Woo pays a visit to Han Seo bringing his gun, he beats him with it knocking him unconscious.

Vincenzo is calling Hong but she’s not replying back. He senses a threat and sees an envelope has been left at his doorstep, its Hong’s earrings covered in blood. He rushes to save her.

Han Seo and Hong are captured and Vincenzo shows up, he’s searched thoroughly before he enters. He asks Joon Woo to let them go because even if he kills them all, he will still die. Joon Woo says he doesn’t care as long as he watches them die.

Joon Woo gives a racket to Han Seo and asks him to beat Vincenzo to death, if he does so he’ll spare his life and gives him Babel. Han Seo is shaken in fear and gets up, he decides instead to attack his brother with it, he’s injured and shot but continues to fight him off. Han Seo is knocked out and Joon Woo appears to have shot at him again.

Meanwhile, Vincenzo frees Hong as they’re about to escape but Joon Woo shoots at him but Hong blocks it and is shot instead.

Vincenzo episode 19 review

so I’ve just seen Vincenzo episode 20 preview and my excitement kinda went down. It appears that Hong will survive the bullet as well as Han Seo, its a bit unclear on Han Seo but Hong definitely survives it. You can check out the trailer below

So it appears that they’re choosing the easier way out which is kinda disappointing. I was expecting more craziness because in previous episodes the threat was bigger and there were more climatic moments than this one.

I think if I hadn’t watched episode 20 preview I wouldn’t have said this but I did and now I just feel…. Okay… Like, I wanted to feel more passion similar to what I did early on in the series but its kinda difficult to take “Vincenzo” seriously because of the way the screenwriter has been writing.

There are lots of false-positives, what I’d call characters coming into close contact with death or severe punishment and then the next episode shows them going unscathed. This has been a problem that plagued the series because its so darn long and its kinda sad to see.

Vincenzo is doing well in ratings, 11% is great but I would’ve loved it to do better, I sincerely think if the drama had been 16 episodes, it would’ve been so much better and filled with more surprises.

At this rate, I think the screenwriter will play it safe with Vincenzo escaping punishment even if he does narrowly. I would love for him to lose someone again so dear that he realizes killing those people needs to end.

Because by the end of the day, Vincenzo is a murderer, he is not a ‘hero’ or a person anyone should be trying to defend. I know its a drama but it worries me that so many wish him a happy ending when he’s been such a terrible human throughout the series. This is arguably the most corrupt and scary ‘protagonist’ I’ve ever seen in kdrama land, I’ve never seen a screenwriter take it this far with the leading man.

This isn’t to say I am against this, I like change but I also like it to make sense and for the screenwriter to make it clear its not the answer. Hong says she’s been tormented but I’ve hardly seen it. I would’ve loved a closer look at how she was tormented on the inside since she’s basically teaming up with a murderer and has even fallen for him.

In regards to Lawyer Choi, I would’ve loved to see more of her, we had 20 episodes but her arc is never explored and despite everyone just stabbing everyone else in the back, she remains faithful to Joon Woo even when its a losing battle.

This strikes me as odd because she’s very smart and has dug herself out of trouble many times, I wanted to know more about why she’s so keen on helping Joon Woo even when everyone with a mind deserted him. This is an easy conclusion and over-simplification for the sake of the plot.

We had 20 episodes, and more than proper time to flesh out more characters but the screenwriter opts out to replace substance with more ‘shocking’ revelations about how corrupt Babel is, and how every single time they escape ‘punishment’ and this deflates its purpose. We’ve seen it so many times, its not as effective as it once was.

This was supposed to be the reckoning of Babel and their punishment but until even episode 19, they still haven’t answered to anything besides the plaza issue and the arrest of Joon Woo is not even ‘permanent’ and to a degree fabricated so it doesn’t feel exhilarating as it should.

Don’t get me wrong, Vincenzo is fun but I can’t take it as seriously as the drama creators want me to. Its more fun and less ‘shock’ in my opinion, I care about the main characters especially Han Seo because I can see he’s been a victim of circumstances.

I don’t feel sorry for Vincenzo or Hong, especially Vincenzo. I think he’s hella charismatic and its fun seeing him face against these people so ruthlessly because he’s so heartless in so many aspects that some can’t even fathom how he’d shoot them just so easily. Usually its done in secrecy but he’s just full on beast mode. But at the end, he’s a murderer like them, it doesn’t negate the fact that he’s killed so many people and tormented so many more, even if its for the ‘right’ reasons.

I don’t know if Hong dies or not, but I think it would be the kind of twist that would swear Vincenzo off of guns forever, the man has killed at least a dozen Korean characters throughout the series. He should face punishment but its highly unlikely he will. He killed a prosecutor and will kill the chief prosecutor, I know the drama is trying to show how ineffective Korean law can be, but its a joke at this point. People don’t easily kill police officers or prosecutors because its a big deal regardless of the country. How will he answer to shoving prosecutor Jang off of a rooftop?

Vincenzo ends tomorrow and I hope to God it surprises me one last time.