Vincenzo: Episode 4

by quirkycase

The recent “accident” has a profound effect on everyone involved and makes the fight even more personal. Our lead takes things into his own hands in the style he’s accustomed to, but he’s not the only one. Our quirky lawyer is determined to make the people responsible pay, and she decides her best chance is to work with her sketchy new lawyer acquaintance whether he likes it or not.

 
EPISODE 4

Cha-young arrives on the scene and wades through the crowd. She spots her father lying on the ground and walks toward him in a daze as police arrive. While an unconscious Vincenzo is rushed to the hospital, Cha-young sobs next to Yoo-chan’s body at the morgue. Nooo.

Babel must have gotten to the media because in the news coverage of Yoo-chan’s death, they start accusing him of bribing people in the Babel case and inciting the whistleblower to perjury. They also claim he violated the attorneys-at-law act.

Myung-hee does her exercises like nothing happened while the tenants of Geumga Plaza and Yoo-chan’s past clients mourn their friend and champion. They leave flowers and cover the outside of the Jipuragi office in notes of support and gratitude. Cha-young spends some time at her father’s grave and then visits a still unconscious Vincenzo in his hospital suite.

Meanwhile, Babel celebrates their drug getting approved. Attorney Han isn’t thrilled when Chairman Jang ignores his outstretched hand to instead shake Myung-hee’s. While Cha-young cries going through old photos, Min-cheol washes up on a beach in Busan.

Cha-young cleans out her dad’s desk in preparation to close down Jipuragi. The tenants worry about what to do next since they still don’t fully trust Vincnezo (who’s been unconscious for over a week). Ironically, Team Leader Ahn is the one to speak up for him. He goes on about how he’s been helping the monks and delinquents and isn’t as selfish as they think.

Later, Cha-young sits by Vincenzo’s bedside and cries as she begs him to wake up and help her figure out how to solve her father’s murder. She angrily asks if he knows how much this room and his treatment are costing her.

“Then let’s go to the bank first,” Vincenzo says. He sits up casually, stretches like he’s waking from a little nap, and hops out of bed. He’s been awake for a while and insists he’s fine when Cha-young starts feeling for a temperature and asking about cognitive damage.

As he stands in front of Yoo-chan’s grave, Vincenzo recalls Yoo-chan musing that his brazen, strong daughter would make a great lawyer and do so much good if she would get it together. He’d hoped Vincenzo would tell her that if he couldn’t.

Cha-young intends to keep looking into the “accident,” but Vincenzo criticizes her newfound determination to help her father. Her eyes well with tears when he says she should’ve been on her father’s side sooner. Vincenzo bluntly states there’s nothing she can do and advises her to let it go.

Still fuming from her conversation with Vincenzo, Cha-young hears a news report in her car announcing that the washed-up body belongs to a researcher. Min-cheo’s death is deemed a suicide since he supposedly emailed a will and had been “stealing ingredients” from Babel. Cha-young immediately calls a detective.

The tenants all rush Vincenzo when he arrives, happy to see him awake. He looks exhausted as JANG YEON-JIN (Seo Ye-hwa) stops him to ask about his plan to relocate them to his building. They panic when he asks to talk about it later and start yelling about how he can’t do this to them.

Vincenzo loses his cool and accuses them of rewarding his free help with criticism and suspicion. They think it’s all about the money and threaten that they can’t trust him like this. Vincenzo is fine with that – get another lawyer then.

CEO Park arrives in time to see this rift. Before he starts badgering the tenants about compensation again, he threatens to bury Vincenzo under concrete. Vincenzo says he can join him and lightly slaps his face, drawing gasps from the crowd. Vincenzo walks out and leaves the tenants to handle CEO Park on their own.

After confirming the body was Min-cheol’s, Cha-young marches into Attorney Han’s office and hands in her resignation. He denies her accusation that Wusang worked with Babel to off Min-cheol and her father. Attorney Han wants her to stay, but Myung-hee is all in favor of cutting her loose.

Cha-young turns in her car key and says she’ll move out of the apartment, both courtesy of Wusang. Myung-hee warns her to “know your place,” grabbing her neck and threatening that she can have Cha-young killed. Cha-young thanks her for the motivation.

Joon-woo panics when he sees Cha-young packing up her office and begs her to reconsider. He’ll do anything, even be her spy in the office. He then resorts to threats of never seeing her again, which she promptly ignores and walks out. Cue Joon-woo looking grumpy in the back of her moving truck.

While Cha-young moves back into her father’s house, Vincenzo drinks and listens to a news report about Babel’s amazing new drug. When they start talking about Yoo-chan’s supposed misdeeds, Vincenzo throws his glass against the wall.

He returns to the scene and goes over the details of what he remembers happening that night. “How dare you?” he says in Italian and sees the truck driver in his mind’s eye. Vincenzo stares at the bloodstain on the floor and calls Young-woon. Vincenzo feels bad for constantly asking favors, but Young-woon is happy to help him after how he saved him in the past.

Elsewhere, Chairman Jang returns home to find something in his bed. He pulls back the covers to reveal a pillow drenched in red with dozens of needles sticking out of it.

While fixing Attorney Han’s computer, Joon-woo eavesdrops on Attorney Han and Myung-hee puzzling over who could have done such a thing. Myung-hee thinks Cha-young the most likely suspect, and although Attorney Han chides her for suggesting it, he ends up reporting Cha-young as a suspect to Chairman Jang. Enraged, Chairman Jang orders them to put her in prison.

Cha-young stares at a magazine photo of Chairman Jang’s smiling face and threatens that he’ll soon be shedding tears of blood. She promises her father that she’ll be a tenacious lawyer, even if she can’t be as good as him.

The next day, she hands out her business card to the tenants and announces the official reopening of Jipuragi. She’ll be taking over the Geumga Plaza case. Hee-soo is all in for her, but some of the other tenants like Mi-ri and Hong-shik don’t trust her since she was opposed to her father before.

Cha-young starts giving an impassioned speech about fighting for justice and is interrupted by two officers who charge her with blackmail and trespassing. Cha-young testifies that she was home all night, but they don’t let her go that easily.

Joo-sung seeks out Vincenzo about Cha-young’s arrest. Tellingly, Vincenzo guesses the exact charges, but he’s not interested in helping. He claims Cha-young is competent on her own and slams the door in Joo-sung’s face.

Vincenzo is distracted all night and tries to convince himself that Cha-young will be fine. The next morning, after Joo-sung calls to say she’s still in custody, Vincenzo lies on his floor and wonders why she hasn’t been released.

At the station, the officers verify Cha-young’s alibi – her neighbor saw her at home – which is a problem for them since they took money from Wusang. Joon-woo shows up and confuses the officers when he says he’s a Wusang lawyer and starts shouting quite unprofessionally for Cha-young’s release.

Vincenzo waltzes in with CCTV camera footage that confirms Cha-young’s alibi. He demands she be let go if they have no evidence of an accomplice, and the officers are sufficiently cowed. Vincenzo coolly walks out while Cha-young insists on being fed before she leaves.

Outside, Cha-young approaches Vincenzo and guesses that he was the one who committed the crime, and he only helped her out of guilt. Joon-woo recognizes him from the background check and says so to Vincenzo, earning him a kick from Cha-young.

Cha-young ditches Joon-woo to follow Vincenzo to a café. Like a true coffee snob, Vincenzo sips his espresso and grimaces at her choice of an Iced Americano. He admits he thought she’d get released easily and apologizes for the inconvenience. She scoffs when he says he did it because he was angry and prefers the eye-for-an-eye method. He promises to be more careful next time.

In attempt to get her to stop fighting Wusang and Babel, Vincenzo shares that Min-cheol was the last person to call Yoo-chan. She’s furious he’s just telling her this, but he’s adamant that it makes no difference. She knows best that Babel and Wusang are untouchable.

That night, Cha-young calls up people for help, but everyone either won’t pick up or hangs up on her. One woman talks long enough to tell her that Myung-hee blacklisted her.

As a last resort, Cha-young meets with Vincenzo again. She knows he needs Geumga Plaza and offers to help him get it – she’s won similar cases before. In exchange, she wants in on his revenge scheme. He’s hesitant to involve her in something less than legal but agrees on the condition she quits if she gets in the way.

Vincenzo and Cha-young visit the truck driver Lee Choong-il in prison. He flippantly asserts the brakes malfunctioned, but Vincenzo poses a different theory: Wusang offered to get his sentence for child pornography reduced if he killed Yoo-chan.

When Choong-il denies it, Vincenzo looks him in the eye and threatens that if he doesn’t tell the truth, he’ll die tonight. He can tell Vincenzo means business, so he finally spills. A man he only knows as Manager Pyo approached him at the police station and said Wusang would reduce his sentence if he did as instructed.

Choong-il sincerely apologizes to Cha-young who is barely holding it together. They take down Manager Pyo’s number, and Vincenzo gets up to leave. But Cha-young says she can’t leave things like this, letting the man who directly killed her father get away with it.

Vincenzo goes over to the glass divider and very loudly thanks Choong-il for his cooperation that will help them reinvestigate the case. Choong-il’s eyes fill with panic as looks at the guard – clearly bought off by either Wusang or Babel – and tries to deny it.

Cha-young likes Vincenzo’s “noir” style and thinks they make a great team. Vincenzo argues he did all the work, but Cha-young thinks her emotionality set the mood. She checks to make sure Vincenzo won’t shoot anyone or anything, which he assures her he won’t since guns aren’t legal in Korea.

Shortly after Myung-hee gets word that Choong-il has flipped on them, Choong-il gets attacked in prison in full view of two guards. He’s shanked in the neck and left to bleed out.

Cha-young feels conflicted when the news of Choong-il’s death reaches her and Vincenzo. She doesn’t feel great about their role in it, but she’s still committed to their plan. She does ask Vincenzo to promise that, going forward, they won’t kill or get anyone killed. Vincenzo smiles but says nothing.

When Vincenzo gets a text with Manager Pyo’s full name and location, Cha-young insists on tagging along. Suddenly, Joo-sung pops up from where he was sleeping on the floor and scares the mess out of them. He wants to join the revenge team. Joo-sung grabs a duffel bag out of the cabinet and claims he has some secret skills.

Next thing we know, Vincenzo corners Manager Pyo in the bathroom of an underground gambling den. When he accuses him of abetting murder, Manager Pyo whips out a taser. Ever resourceful, Vincenzo subdues him with a single coat hanger.

Joo-sung and Cha-young come in cautiously with their little makeshift weapons and find Manager Pyo unconscious on the floor. They tie him to his car’s steering wheel and make him call over his colleague. Joo-sung tases him when he arrives, and they take both men to a warehouse as you do.

Vincenzo menacingly holds the man’s gun and demands to know who ordered the hit. Cha-young stands on the side holding a shovel and shouting threats. The bullet Vincenzo shoots near the man’s feet is much more effective.

The man is terrified but still refuses to talk, even when Vincenzo pushes the gun against his leg. Cha-young looks nervous when she sees the look in Vincenzo eyes as he aims the gun at the man’s head. As she begs the men to talk, Vincenzo turns and shoots Manager Pyo in the chest.

Cha-young crouches down in shock and reminds Vincenzo about the promise not to kill anyone. What if this man talks, and they get in trouble? Without hesitation, Vincenzo says they’ll have to kill him too, then. He puts the gun to the man’s head. We hear a bang.

Myung-hee is doing her aerobics at the laundromat again. When she turns around, she sees a covered laundry basket on the table. Inside are bloody clothes. She gets a text with photos of the bodies of Manager Pyo and his colleague wearing those same clothes.

The power goes out, and Myung-hee finds herself locked inside the laundromat. Her phone rings. Vincenzo opens the conversation by wondering which of the many ways to die would suit her best. Myung-hee sees a truck, similar to the one that killed Yoo-chan, across the street.

Vincenzo watches from a nearby building and shares that the men gave up her name as the one who ordered the hit. Her denials go unheeded, and the truck begins to barrel toward the laundromat.

Myung-hee huddles against the wall and asks what Vincenzo wants. The truck stops inches from the glass. He instructs her to come clean about everything she did to Yoo-chan and the researchers and restore their reputations. She’d rather die and defiantly asks why she should listen to him. He acknowledges that’s her prerogative and hangs up.

The truck backs up and again comes barreling toward the laundromat. Myung-hee screams, but the truck swerves at the last second.

At the Babel Pharmaceuticals Warehouse where RDU-90 is stored, the workers clear out when a team arrives to disinfect the premises. After they finish spraying everything down, they hop into the waiting vehicles outside. Cha-young whips off her mask and sits between Vincenzo and Joo-sung. Vincenzo flings his iconic lighter and sets the warehouse ablaze. They drive off as the building explodes in spectacular fashion in their wake.

We flash back to the other warehouse. Vincenzo, Cha-young, and Joo-sung calmly looked down at Manager Pyo before hauling him back up, shocking his colleague who thought him dead. Apparently, Joo-sung’s secret skill is that he’s a former special effects makeup artist. They’d tipped Manager Pyo’s chair over with wire and faked the blood.

After their little stunt, Manager Pyo had supplied the info on the pharmaceuticals warehouse. They’d gotten help “disinfecting” from the victims of the Babel case. Cha-young and Vincenzo smile in satisfaction as they drive away.

A panicked Chairman Jang arrives on the scene where the fire is still running rampant – Vincenzo’s team disabled the sprinklers. An explosion sends Chairman Jang reeling, and he looks up to find “hyung-nim” has arrived. And oh my gosh, it’s Joon-woo.

Joon-woo angrily stares at his destroyed warehouse as Chairman Jang promises to make whoever did this kneel before him. In the car, Vincenzo flashes back to Yoo-chan’s remarks that he wanted to burn all the drugs and smiles at making his wish come true.

 
COMMENTS

Hapless Joon-woo is an evil mastermind? I did not see that twist coming, but I kind of like it. If he’s going as far as to infiltrate Wusang as a fake intern, he either doesn’t trust them or he’s trying to ferret out some information. You’d think he could achieve that without going the super dramatic route of leading a double life like he’s in some spy movie. I’m curious to learn why he needs Chairman Jang as the public face of the company and stays behind the scenes. The whole situation is odd, and now there’s another reason to worry about Cha-young. Joon-woo sticks to her like glue, but who knows if that’s because he truly likes her or he plans to use her for something. Both explanations are concerning.

Wusang and Babel make an unfortunately great pair with their scheming and willingness to do anything for a profit. I can see why they scouted Myung-hee because she is unflinchingly cruel. In a way, I find Attorney Han almost worse since he plays the nice guy but allows all the unethical and awful things happen. He was offended at the suggestion that Cha-young was the culprit for two seconds before he sold her out. I’m not sure how much he knew about Myung-hee ordering the hit, but I don’t think he would’ve done much to stop her even if he did know. He’s the type who would rather feign ignorance and let others do the dirty work. Of course, now Myung-hee is gaining the recognition for taking action, so that strategy might backfire on him.

Yoo-chan’s death has proven quite the unifying force. I knew it would motivate Cha-young and Vincenzo, but it looks like they have a mini army at their backs. Everyone in the community loved him and is willing to go the extra mile to avenge his death and carry on his legacy. As I expected, I like Jeon Yeo-bin so much better when she’s being more serious and toned down. Cha-young has still got her wacky side, but she feels less cartoonish now. I like the little team that’s formed – Vincenzo with his sidekicks who are green but game for some subterfuge. They’re surprisingly effective having already managed to learn who is behind Yoo-chan’s death and destroyed Babel’s RDU-90 facility. I’m guessing Babel is not going to take this well.

It looks like Vincenzo is going mafia lite here and choosing to play a little nicer than he could. He obviously doesn’t have any qualms harming or getting rid of people given that he calculatedly got Choong-il killed by outing his cooperation, so I’m guessing he’s going easy on the killing and maiming because of his new teammates. I could also see how he might choose to respect Yoo-chan’s moral compass a bit since this is partially revenge for him. And anyway, Vincenzo got to set things on fire, which seems to be his favorite pastime.

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