Since I am enjoying the new tvN drama so much, I had to write a review to share my thoughts on it for the 3rd and 4th episode.
“Vincenzo” is going strong in ratings but I hope it exceeds 10% soon, it is so much fun to watch and I am having a blast, so much so that it’s making my lazy ass write a review for its 3rd and 4th episode.
Note: this will be a spoiler review of the said episodes in the title. This is a subjective review.
“Vincenzo” episode 3
I’ll split it into episode 3 and 4 for the sake of clarity.
“Vincenzo” episode 3 shocked me a lot, I didn’t expect actor Yoo Jae Myung to die so early on in the series, I knew sacrifices have to be made, but since they had such a huge respected actor on board, it genuinely didn’t cross my mind that he would die in the 3rd episode.
But if you think about it you begin to understand, Vincenzo is having second thoughts about what exactly he’s doing in SK and wants to get out as soon as he can. I see hesitation in the way Vincenzo carries himself, its like he’s tormented between establishing connections or escaping with the cash asap.
In this episode, some of the jokes don’t land well at all and feel extremely forced, this circles back into what a lot of fans have been talking about. I understand that it becomes a turn-off to some people.
Some people are calling “Vincenzo” a dark comedy but its not, that’s not how dark comedies are made. See a couple of ones so you can detect the patterns used.
I still don’t quite understand the screenwriter’s purpose with inserting comedy aside from eliciting laughter at inappropriate times and very abruptly. it doesn’t add to the drama but takes away from it.
In “Vincenzo” episode 3 we get to see just how evil the corporation really is, and honestly, that’s not far from the truth for a lot of these pharmaceutical corporations, but hey, you didn’t hear it from me!
Vincenzo does a lot of things that appear to be also new to him, like him caring about the safety and well-being of others around him, and like him establishing a good relationship with Hong Yu Chan. You can tell he cares for him and despite knowing well he’s fucked, he can’t help but gravitate towards him, which makes his death all that more shocking and just difficult to comprehend for Vincenzo. Thus, giving him the motivation to stay here and crush the living soul out of Babel Corporation.
This week’s episodes were longer, about 1 hour 30 minutes each, it did feel long for the 3rd episode, but the 4th episode was a lot better.
“Vincenzo” episode 4
I talked about actress Jeon Yeo Bin’s performance last week and said I found her facial expressions odd, they’re lacking at certain places and exaggerated at others. I can now tell that for the most part, I don’t like her acting. Of course, this is a personal opinion, so don’t be triggered.
Let me explain why I said that, I feel that she’s not fully embodying her character with the seriousness this role demands. The crying scenes were so-so. At times, I felt for her, but other times, I couldn’t take her seriously. For the most part, I feel that she can’t deeply embody serious emotions without bursting into questionable facial expressions. That’s my issue with her acting. She is not terrible, not at all, but not as good as her counterpart Song Joong Ki. Next to him, her acting doesn’t hold up.
A lot of people were talking about Taecyeon’s role and many have already guessed it. In “Vincenzo” episode 4, he was revealed to be the actual villain of the story. My question is, why on earth is he cosplaying as the intern lawyer at a firm which his company hires to do their dirty work? I am sure the screenwriter has a good explanation for this, I hope it’s not just to catch us off guard and be like ‘huh, bet you didn’t see that comin.’
Taecyeon’s acting is also personally not my favorite. They say a drama is only as strong as its villain and we’re about to find out. It might not cross people’s mind, but it’s not easy to play a convincing villain that viewers become terrified of. Taecyeon never came off to me as the type of actor who’d successfully pull off such characters, of course, this is only a speculation on my part considering his acting in previous projects. I hope he proves me wrong.
It hurts me to say this because honestly, Taecyeon is one of my fav idols. I hope he crushes my theory and proves me wrong.
Back to the script.
It was so nice to see Vincenzo crushing those people and I honestly can’t stand that prosecutor, damn it, I just want to slap her so bad. She looks so non-threatening but she’s ruthless. When she dances, it makes me wanna scream.
This episode is my favorite in the drama thus far, you guys don’t know how much I’ve laughed or screamed at certain scenes. It was so nice to see someone be this ruthless to these gangsters. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded he kill those people as well, I think it would’ve benefited the drama, but it is what it is.
I would like to see our main characters in shock by how ruthless and cold-hearted Vincenzo can be, I want them to see the ugly side of him, the side that wouldn’t hesitate to actually kill someone on the spot. I wonder how far he’ll go and I am deeply invested in the drama.
I want to discuss a couple of things below that now I am done with the reviews:
Kwak Dong Yeon’s role here is… not what I expected. I really thought he was going to be the main villain. He can be a terrific villain and would’ve been my top choice, but his role here feels so small and menial, almost demeaning. I expected more for him. Of course, we’re only 4 episodes in, but thus far, his character doesn’t have an ounce of impact on the story or me, a huge fan of him. I just hope he’ll get his moment to shine properly. I was shocked by the characteristics of his character above all, such type of characters are just difficult to take seriously and thus, they don’t hold an impact on the story, they’re basically a front.
tvN really toyed with us in those previews, didn’t they? I don’t know if I should be mad or salute the marketing team for their effort.
Also, reading through Wikipedia, it says that “Vincenzo” is 20 episodes long…. I am surprised by this…. and also, why?
The episodes are already long, sometimes it’s warranted, other times, not so much. Is 20 episodes the way to go? I am genuinely curious to see if it needs to be 20 episodes, not unless they plan on killing more of the main characters.
But the issue here is this, Vincenzo almost finished half of the drama runtime in episode 4 alone. You can clearly see he isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty and the screenwriter has already shown us how ruthless he can be, and to top that off, he’s hella smart. With a couple of well-written episodes, this drama can end on a high note. Knowing these things about our leading man, it begs these questions: how long will this fight drag on? and, does it need to be dragged on for this long?
This means that the screenwriter might end up dumbing-down the character or delaying certain reveals or crucial actions due to that, this will become frustrating as the drama progresses, you can take my word on that.
I don’t know, I am an impatient person and I don’t like good projects dragging on. I think it’ll be a challenge because such a script doesn’t need 20 episodes not unless the screenwriter is willing to take the same over-the-top route as “Penthouse.”
So these are my thoughts on Vincenzo, so what about you guys? did you like the episodes? let me know what you thought in the comment section below.
