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Vincenzo: Episode 16

by quirkycase

Babel ramps up its attack on Jipuragi, but the chairman is now more focused on revenge than defending his little kingdom. In our lead’s free time between fending off the chairman’s dangerous, evil plots, he spends some quality time with his estranged mother. Our heroine pushes him to address his relationship with his mother head on, and he might just be ready to start taking that advice.

 
EPISODE 16

With CEO Oh’s body behind him, Vincenzo is arrested for abduction and murder. One of the officers tells him they received a text from CEO Oh claiming Vincenzo had kidnapped him. Knowing it’s a trap, Vincenzo fights off the cops (without hurting them too badly) and takes off.

The killer watches from above and heads down the stairs. He bumps into CEO Park who finds him suspicious and won’t let him leave. While they duke it out, Vincenzo hops into a surprised Hong-shik’s van and yells at him to drive.

Vincenzo calls Cha-young who’s at the scene. To prove his innocence, he first needs to locate the man he chased onto the roof. CEO Park comes up and boasts to Cha-young that he caught a suspicious man he’ll gladly hand over for a fee. They go through the bound man’s phone and determine he had an accomplice.

While Myung-hee breaks the news to Joon-woo that Vincenzo escaped, Hong-shik remarks that things are getting increasingly complicated now that Vincenzo is sticking his nose in everyone’s business. Hong-shik reveals he used to be in a gang until he realized he was a useless person. Rather than forgetting his past and trying to be a new man, Vincenzo should use his skills for good.

CEO Park, Soo-nam, and Cha-young bring the captured man to Vincenzo since they can’t get him to talk. Everyone waits outside while Vincenzo tortures the man in the car until he gives up his accomplice. Vincenzo wants to go find the man alone, but everyone insists on accompanying him, so it’s a group trip.

When they arrive, Vincenzo doesn’t even have to lift a finger – CEO Park, Soo-nam, and Hong-shik eagerly take on the two accomplices themselves. Vincenzo and Cha-young then drop the three men off at the police station and explain what happened.

The men posed as cleaners in CEO Oh’s office and hit him over the head. They snuck him out and took him to Geumga Plaza where they sent the text to frame Vincenzo. After one man lured Vincenzo to the roof, the other two dropped CEO Oh’s body.

Vincenzo and Cha-young even brought the men’s van complete with murder supplies, bloodstains, and dashcam footage for the police. As a precaution, Cha-young announces they’re keeping a copy of the footage.

The next day, the police arrest one of Wusang’s lawyers for aiding and abetting CEO Oh’s murder. Myung-hee and Attorney Han stay silent as he’s led away in handcuffs.

Vincenzo stops by Byebye Balloon to reluctantly thank CEO Park for helping clear his name. As repayment, CEO Park asks Vincenzo to model for their company’s flyers. Vincenzo steadily refuses while nonchalantly posing for CEO Park who snaps shots on his phone.

At Babel, Joon-woo yells at Myung-hee and Attorney Han for all their failed traps for Vincenzo. Han-seo goes on about Vincenzo being invincible and has to duck to avoid the statue Joon-woo tosses at his head.

Myung-hee assures Joon-woo it’ll be fine now that she’s gotten the case transferred to their branch of the prosecution. Joon-woo ignores her and orders Han-seo to go somewhere with him. Ha, Han-seo is all, “Did you see me dodge?!” before he leaves.

Alone, Myung-hee and Attorney Han start arguing about their methods. Attorney Han wants her to talk sense into Joon-woo and stop using Wusang to contract murders. Myung-hee reminds him that he brought her in to clean up after Babel, as if that naturally entails assassination.

After some coffee PPL in the office, Vincenzo and Cha-young head to the hospital for Kyung-ja’s big day out. They let her choose the day’s itinerary and first up is getting her funeral portrait taken.

Before they leave the studio, Cha-young drags Vincenzo over so they can take a group photo. Then, Cha-young shoves Vincenzo next to his mom and insists the two of them take a photo together. Vincenzo and Kyung-ja both blink back tears as he sits with his arm around her. As the photographer snaps a photo, Kyung-ja gives a wide smile.

Outside, Cha-young excuses herself for a “work call,” giving the mother and son some time alone. As Vincenzo pushes her wheelchair, Kyung-ja says it’s the happiest moment of her life. Vincenzo offers to take her for a walk whenever she wants and encourages her to be strong until her retrial.

Kyung-ja admits she lost all hope after sending away her son who was “my everything.” Vincenzo asks why she never looked for him, but she says she looked for years – she was just too late. Kyung-ja hasn’t searched for him recently because she feels she’d be a burden.

Vincenzo assures her that her son wouldn’t feel that way and has surely been waiting for her his whole life. Kyung-ja’s eyes fill with tears as he continues that her son must’ve tried to grow into a strong person so he wouldn’t be ashamed upon meeting her again.

Now Vincenzo is crying as she says that, as a mother, it doesn’t matter. The most precious thing to her is seeing her son smile. If she meets him again, she wants to tell him, “I’m sorry I broke my promise that I’d come for you soon. I haven’t forgotten you for a single day.” Mother and son silently sob.

Elsewhere, Joon-woo stands on a roof across from Guemga Plaza with Han-seo. We flash back to his conversation with Myung-hee where they’d deduced that Vincenzo must be using the Guillotine file. He’d decided to go the usual villain route of “If I can’t have it, no one can.” Now, he snaps a photo of the plaza and tells Han-seo he’s preserving a piece of history.

At Geumga Plaza, a woman arrives to do a gas inspection. Hee-soo notes she’s not the usual inspector, but the woman says she’s taking over for her pregnant colleague. Uh-oh.

Vincenzo and Cha-young get Kyung-ja situated back at the hospital. Before they leave, she first hugs Cha-young and thanks her. Then, she walks over and embraces Vincenzo. After a few moments, he hugs her back.

A man stands guard outside Kyung-ja’s room – Vincenzo hired him in case Shinkwang tries to harass her about the retrial. In the hall, Cha-young says he and his mom looked good together. She advises him to try calling her “mom” once he’s ready.

At Hee-soo’s, Yeon-jin and Cheol-wook proudly show off their baby’s first sonagram. All the tenants, including Vincenzo, join in the celebratory party at Arno’s that night.

Outside, the “inspector” hits a button on a remote. Gas begins to leak in Hee-soo’s restaurant as a timer counts down from five minutes. The gas seeps through the building, but luckily, firetrucks arrive. The tenants hear the sirens and are struck by the smell of gas in the hall.

The firefighters tell the tenants they got a report about a gas leak and instruct everyone to evacuate. Vincenzo follows the firefighters to Hee-soo’s and hears the gas pipe was cut. His eyes go wide when he sees the watch counting down. It’s at 15 seconds.

Vincenzo runs and grabs it out of the firefighter’s hands. He bolts down the hallway and, with five seconds to spare, tosses it out the window of the building. He watches it erupt in flames on the ground when the counter reaches zero.

Thanks to Vincenzo, no one got hurt. They’re all sure this was Babel – it’s similar to what they did to the villa with their researchers. The real question is who reported the leak.

At Babel, Joon-woo instructs Han-seo not to duck and chucks a statue at his head. With blood trickling down his forehead, Han-seo apologizes (looking not at all sorry) and says he never expected firefighters to show up. Uh-huh.

Han-seo promises to think of another “reckless” plan like Joon-woo’s for next time. Someone’s getting gutsy. Joon-woo sends Han-seo out when Myung-hee arrives bearing photos of Kyung-ja in the hospital, brightening Joon-woo’s mood.

At Jipuragi, the team discusses who could’ve reported the gas leak. Han-seo bursts in, and oh my gosh, what an outfit. He “disguised” himself in baggy jeans and a technicolored jacket that makes him look like he jumped out of an ’80s music video.

Han-seo shows off the “battle scar” he got for saving their lives and smiles like a kid all proud of himself when he asks them to guess who reported the leak. He gets a reluctant “thank you” from Cha-young and Joo-sung, but Vincenzo grins without saying a word.

Han-seo follows Vincenzo around the office, petitioning to be allowed in the club now that he’s saved them. Vincenzo finally agrees to accept him, although he doesn’t pinky swear like Han-seo wants him to.

Later, Cha-young suggests they install more security measures at Geumga Plaza in case Babel strikes again, but Vincenzo argues Babel doesn’t have much time left. He tells her he plans to use a small fish to catch the big fish.

While Myung-hee picks up one of her lackeys from prison, Kyung-ja enjoys some fresh air on the hospital grounds. She pulls the picture of her and Vincenzo together out of her pocket and accidently drops it.

Joon-woo picks it up and oh so kindly returns it to her. When he compliments her son’s handsomeness, she’s all smiles. Nearby, the guard watches the exchange.

At Jipuragi, Cha-young catches Vincenzo staring at the pictures they took with his mom. When he gets up to leave, Cha-young stops Joo-sung from going after him.

Back outside the hospital, Joon-woo plays the attentive listener while Kyung-ja tells him about her story with her son. Joon-woo says he’s jealous since he never got to take photos with his parents; his father didn’t love him like Kyung-ja loves her son. When he asks if her son is precious to her, she responds he’s more precious than her life.

At home, Joon-woo tells Myung-hee she’d better have good news for him tonight. Han-seo finds him in a good mood, but Joon-woo won’t tell him what he’s up to. He does take the vitamins Han-seo brings him, though. Han-seo claims his coloring isn’t so hot and his ears are looking huge. Pfft.

Vincenzo buys some bungeoppang before going to visit Kyung-ja. While Kyung-ja sleeps holding the photo of her and Vincenzo, a man comes by saying he has orders to move her to another room. Kyung-ja wakes and finds a man standing over her bed – the guard lies dead on the ground.

The man begins strangling her, and she flatlines. Nooo. On his way up to the room, Vincenzo passes the killer on the stairs. By the time Vincenzo arrives, police are already there and a crowd has gathered outside the room.

Vincenzo sees the bloodstained floor and makes his way into the room. They’ve already pulled a sheet over Kyung-ja’s body. Vincenzo walks forward in shock and drops to the ground. He kneels by her bed and holds her hand.

Cha-young rushes into the security room as Vincenzo watches the CCTV footage from outside of Kyung-ja’s room. Vincenzo recognizes the killer from the stairs and marches out. He asks Cha-young to stay with his mother while he goes after the man who did it. Meanwhile, Joon-woo and Myung-hee celebrate their victory by dancing around his apartment.

After receiving the killer’s identity and address from Team Leader Ahn, Vincenzo loads his gun. (You know he means business when his hair is slicked back.) He rings the doorbell and pushes his way into the house when the man opens the door.

Vincenzo gets ahold of him and repeatedly punches the man in the face until he loses consciousness. When he wakes, the man insists he acted alone – no one ordered the hit. Vincenzo uses his lighter to break the man’s fingers one by one.

Han-seo and Attorney Han are less than pleased upon hearing that Joon-woo had Vincenzo’s mother killed. When Han-seo argues that provoking Vincenzo is a bad idea, Myung-hee scathingly assumes Attorney Han agrees since they’re on the same team. Myung-hee and Joon-woo have been surveilling them and know about their secret meetings.

Outside, Vincenzo makes his hostage lead him to where Joon-woo is. With brutal efficiency, Vincenzo takes out all the guards along the way. Inside, Joon-woo watches satisfied as Myung-hee confronts Han-seo and Attorney Han about their treachery.

The killer bursts in amidst the fighting and begs for them to save him. He’s standing right in front of Myung-hee when two gunshots sound. Vincenzo puts one bullet through the man’s chest and one through his head.

Splattered with man’s blood, Myung-hee shakes in terror. Vincenzo stares coldly, his gun raised in his blood-soaked hand.

 
COMMENTS

We’ve gotten hints of this dark Vincenzo before, but now he’s not holding back. I’m not sure why Joon-woo thought killing Kyung-ja like that was a good plan. Maybe if he’d taken some precautions to make sure Vincenzo couldn’t come after him like this, he could’ve justified the risk. But he seemed to make no preparations for how to handle a very angry Vincenzo. You’d think after underestimating him over and over, Joon-woo would finally learn. Joon-woo clearly believes he’s invincible, though, and must’ve assumed his guards were enough to protect him if Vincenzo managed to locate him. At the very least, I would’ve expected more of Myung-hee. She’s the brains of this (and every) operation, but I think the power is going to her head and giving her the same god complex as Joon-woo.

I expected Kyung-ja to die, but they had to make it extra tragic by having it happen before Vincenzo got the chance to call her “mom.” I’m glad they did get to talk a little, even if it was in code, and do some mother-son things. She was truly happy in her final days thanks to Vincenzo being in her life again and taking care of her, and Vincenzo can hopefully be more at peace after knowing his mother always loved him and tried to find him. Of course, he’s not going to rest until he gets revenge on everyone involved. We’ve still got four episodes left, so I’d be surprised if he offed Myung-hee and Joon-woo both so quickly. I’m guessing something will go awry, as it usually does. Whatever happens, this war has escalated in a way I’m not sure Joon-woo and Myung-hee are prepared for.

Han-seo is probably super glad he went the extra mile in proving himself to Vincenzo by saving everyone at Geumga Plaza. He might just be spared from Vincenzo’s rampage now. If Vincenzo doesn’t manage to kill Joon-woo this time, Han-seo could be useful as a double agent. He’s gotten a little braver, so I think he might be able to manage it now without giving himself away too easily. Joon-woo already knows he’s not on his side, but I don’t know that he’d expect his “stupid” little brother to team up with Vincenzo directly. Even if Han-seo doesn’t prove overly useful to our team, he’d make a great mascot. He might not have the brains, but he brings the enthusiasm.

I knew Vincenzo would get out of that murder charge Wusang tried to frame him for, but I thought it would take a little longer than 10 minutes of screen time. What even was the point? We already know he’s badass and can Mafia his way out of most every situation. Seeing him scheme and fight his way out of tight spots is fun and all, but it does get repetitive, particularly when it feels superfluous. Since we’re nearing the home stretch, I imagine the last two weeks will be more focused. We’ve still got the gold situation, the Guillotine file, Babel’s destruction, and Vincenzo’s life plan to cover before this is all over. I’m hoping for some epic showdowns and shenanigans in the final episodes because they’ve been teasing Babel’s demise since the start of this series, and I need them to deliver.

RELATED POSTS

Tags: Jeon Yeo-bin, Kwak Dong-yeon, Song Joong-ki, Taecyeon, Vincenzo

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"hell hath no fury like Vincenzo scorned"

We finally see dark Vincenzo in full light with zero reservations which I love love love to see!

I really love it when a show goes darks and I'm here for all of its glory. That was one bloody ending *pun intended* and the fear in our resident villains was a sight to see. I really appreciate that Vincenzo isn't some half-assed character who claims to reside in darkness and villainous territory but fully goes in when his loved ones are involved.

I know it's been mentioned before, but this episode really proved that Jang Han Seok is truly a cartoonish villain with no real smarts and requires a lackey aka Choi Myung Hee to pull the strings and deliver the death sentence, in that sense I find her a more compelling villain because she started off as an ambitious lawyer to aiding and abetting criminal activities with a psycho. At least its cute Han Seok has met someone who shares the same blood thirsty ambition as him.

Now that Han Seo has witnessed first hand how dangerous Vincenzo can be, I hope he is all hands on deck on Team Vincenzo, before he gets caught in the cross-fire of his brother's dirty tricks.

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I’m still scratching my head as to why they didn’t kidnap his mum and threaten him. I feel like that would have at least sounded like a good plan even if it didn’t work...

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true. that would make him drop his guard and at least suffer as Han Seok wanted, whereas killing his mum didn't really achieve anything except his wrath

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Which is fun to watch, I guess...

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I felt like this about them killing Cha-young's father. How precisely did they expect her to react to something like that? Killing Vincenzo's mother is mostly just dumb, although I guess the idea is that these are people with money to buy unlimited hammers so all they see is nails. Still, if you want the bloodthirsty Consigliere to not come after you maybe don't murder his mother??

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As to killing the dad, I think they saw Cha-young as easily dispensable from the firm. Also, they had no real idea back then that Vincenzo could be her strength to be more than an annoying flea they could later simply get disbarred or whatever.

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Kidnapping her in exchange for the Guillotine file would make sense but the overconfident Myung Hee probably wants to up the stakes by killing her.

Unpopular opinion, I think it's more exciting than the back and forth blackmailing at this point.
I know it's still head scratching but we get to see Vin bring hell to their doorstep Kang Maru style and more.
Hopefully it'll make more sense in the next episode.

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I agree it’s more exciting, it just doesn’t make logical sense. Then again, neither does the pigeon hahaha
Moral: just enjoy it

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for what it's worth, given where we are in the episode run, I don't think 17 will be the one where Vincenzo blows it all up, Kang Maru-style (though Maru really is a kitty cat compared to Vincenzo who's more of a full-on tiger).

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 Right, this would be more like a final warning. Thanks to Myung Hee for raising the stakes.  

Playing a mafia definitely upped his acting  but I've seen that intensity and range of emotions in his eyes, face and voice before in young Sejong. He kicked it up a notch with doctor Maru and Vincenzo took it to another level. 
I'm not expecting anything less when he is given this kind of mixed genre material to sink his teeth into even though it feels like a collection of his past roles. 

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@kiara - oh yes, it was absolutely there - in varying degrees - in his previous roles, but like you said, Vincenzo is the first time he's been called on to show all that range in a single role (and often within a single scene).

It's not that the other projects he did didn't have their moments of genre-crossing, but this is the first time I've seen it rolled into the premise of a drama this way and present in the overall tone of the story. Even The Fiery Priest wasn't quite so dark!

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And the comedy! I never realised he was so funny... :D

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@pogo1

I love seeing him grow and it has been a while since I've finished a drama that he is in. Not because he wasn't good in them, it's just that he set the bar high for himself early on and I don't watch his dramas just because he is in it.
I really love what he is doing with this Vincenzo character so I'm definitely watching till the end.

You know, I've been wanting to see him in a dark role for a long time. Kind of like Ha Jung-woo in THE CHASER. Jung-woo was always good but under-rated and this role finally acknowledged him as an A list film actor among the best of Chungmuro.
I'd love to see a dark Joong-ki version of that.

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@kiara - he has an affinity for antihero roles and even flirted with villainy in one of them (Arthdal Chronicles - messy but interesting, though I'll never forgive Netflix for giving us half a drama and letting us believe it was a full one ), but we won't see a full dark version unless he's in Chungmuro imo. Dramaland isn't likely to take the risk! But I do enjoy it when actors commit to playing dark, Ha Jung-woo was amazing in that role even if I had to turn the lights on in the middle of the movie because it was so violent.

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Kidnapping someone who needs the medical attention she does would have been a likely only delayed death sentence due to lack of said care during, or a hassle to keep hidden and alive. They seem to have grasped by now he has untold reach into the underbelly world in SK, so he would have found her soon enough. I think they went with quick death because it was easier and they simply underestimated the potential (and swift!) reaction.

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I think Joon Woo saw killing Kyung Ja as a brilliant game move. He’s used to people crumbling when tragedy strikes and not expecting the cold fury of Vincenzo.
The scene where Han Seo and Attorney Han are shocked and horrified by the news of the killing, shows that they have some idea the impact it’s going to have.

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yeah even the "not so smart" Hanseo and sly Attorney Han know that Hanseok and Myunghee already crossed the line that shouldn't be crossed. that horror in their eyes really is satisfying tbh because at least 2 people know what's going to happen

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He even said that by now he would be suffering with the death of his mother,so more than sure in his megalomatic mind he believed Vincenzo would crush and swallow and break before him with him having the last say so i can only give to his own delusional that he is the star of the universe that he believed that...I find it a bit funny that both of them didn't think they will be in serious doom as they knew very welll what kind of man Vincenzo is...So i even found it funny and unbelivable that Myung Hee was soo horrified like she couldn't expect that outcome in the end like,you had to expect that!
On the other hand hands down to Vincenzo how he entered his residence without alerting and desposing of everyone in his way...
I know he won't kill them as we still have 4 eps and Hanseok needs to rot forever in jail as the lowest of the low to fully get for killing more than 30 people along Myunghee..,

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I think for Myung Hee, she's been threatened so many times before where those that threatened didn't deliver that she truly believed she wouldn't face fatal consequences for her actions. I sometimes wonder too, if all of them assumed at least a part of his rep was just stories that were built up as some villains do actually do to magnify their menace and put further fear in their enemies' hearts. He was the Consigliere (still is to some in the family), but how deep did any of them dig to find out what he did with his own hand other than help the family deal with things involved with law, and of those discovered...how much did they assume was fabrication or him taking credit for what underlings were sent to do?

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I think they are drunk on their own bubble and forget to feel afraid thinking they are some kind of invincible people even when they should know better than a naive person per ex. what kind of a man working for the Mafia would be like...

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That's exactly it - he's used to what he sees as 'defeat' from those who care for the people he murders (Cha-young resigning from Wusang and keeping the lights on at Jipuragi instead being just one example - even though we know that's not how she herself sees it), that or he murders them for continued resistance (the families of the RDU-90 victims).

He's just not ready to be playing on the same field as someone who'll murder right back+ actually has, in the past+ can't be bought off with Babel money....and at the very least, wants to give him and the real power behind this particular throne (Myung-hee) a good scare.

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I am now a converted KDY fan.. that goofy expression plus outrageous outfit !!!. I know he is a villain and he is bad too but KDY made Han Seo lovable at least. Hope he survives , then gets to run a new business after some jail time.

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If you like him here, you should watch him in Moonlight (I’m assuming you haven’t already, because then you would have already been a fan).

Hmm. Maybe I should rewatch Moonlight now.

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He is very compelling in Moonlight.

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This is the first time I encountered KDY so thanks for the tip.. will check out Moonlight

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Ack! I totally forgot he was in that. 😔

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My first introduction to Kwak Dong-yeon was "Inspiring Generation" aka the drama with many prayer circles lol.( I miss you HeadsNo2).
He did well but I really love him in "Middle School Student A." It's a 1hr drama but you'll get a lot of Kwak Dong-yeon as the lead character.
It's available on YouTube. It's one of KBS (2014) drama specials.

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Fun fact: Kim Yeo-jin and Kwak Dong-yeon were together in MY STRANGE HERO / BOK SOO IS BACK, playing villainy mother and son. As always, his performance was spot on: he was a conflicted villain while the mother was just plain bad.

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Oh I haven't seen it but it's now on my watch list.

Kim Yeo-jin was evilicious in YISAN. I still have lingering hatred for her character as a die hard Yisan fangirl. That's how good she was at playing the unyielding vicious queen from behind the curtains.

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I've actually never watched Kim Yeo-jin be evil before, only ever seen her as adorable mothers (eg Sassy Go Go) or doughty detectives (Extracurricular). She looks like she's having fun here!

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@pogo1 Same. I've only ever seen her play likable characters (except in Bok Soo) so it's still hard for me to see her as an evil zumba ahjumma here.

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@wishfultoki - I totally thought she was going to be one of the good guys here! Zumba ajumma was a fun lady and offered amusing headbutting potential with Cha-young until it became obvious she was evil.

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I haven't re-watched that in ages.

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Also don't miss his cameo in It's Okay - a piece of brilliance in just an episode. He was utterly compelling in that.

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He's had so many cameos with so much range between them, it's insane. IONTBO was a great one, but he was also a fun little bonus in Fight My Way as the wastrel bf of Kim Ji-won (and I keep being astonished he's so young and so good and has yet to score a lead...but then I felt that way about Song Joong-ki circa Sungkyunkwan Scandal/Tree with Deep Roots too, so hope springs eternal!

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The character in It’s Ok could have been a joke but he made him sympathetic.

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That's what I should do this week...finish It's Okay. When I saw the fight over the brother coming...I noped out because I had some heavy stuff in RL and didn't want to watch the inevitable fighting over the issue. Now's as good a time as any to solider through that. Besides, I want to see if his brother ever finishes the mural! ☺️

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Tip of the Day: If you are a supporting character in a kdrama and want to still be alive at the end of the series, do NOT have any touching reconciliations with any loved ones, especially not one of the leads. Run don't walk if you see anything like that in the script.

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Yeah, nothing says instant death like "I'll call her Mom next time I see her".

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It's on par with "I'll tell you all about [really important thing] tomorrow"

and the Accio Truck of Doom, aka seeing someone on the other side of the road and stepping into it without checking the lights.

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"I'm one week away from retirement"

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Nothing says you're going to die like getting a will or funeral photo taken in a kdrama.

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Or doing [really emotionally significant thing] "the next time you see them"

More than that, I knew she was going to die because he'd already saved the entire Geumga crew this episode. Two heroic rescues in the nick of time is stretching it, even for Vincenzo.

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Vincenzo, Vincenzo, Vincenzo... you have my heart. It totally broke my heart when he told the bad man to understand him, cause the woman he killed was his mom, I mean, word can't describe how heartbreaking that scene was, you have to watch it. Am I the only one who found SJK's acting for those scenes on top? He was great and at his best.
About Joon-woo and Myunghee, I totally agree with you, I'm not sure why they thought killing Vincenzo's mom was a good plan, but I'm worried that they are prepared for angry Vincenzo. Btw, am I the only one who thought please kill Myunghee right then and right there, as fast as possible so she won't be able to plot another brutal murder? That woman won't redeem, she is a freak and I still believe Joon-woo is powerless without her, he is good at killing people personally, but he is not good when it comes to planning.
Last but not least, is Han-seo and show you are doing great by how you're getting me to like him, I feel like I'm hearing the writer say, I know he is not a good one, but isn't he cute? Nice try.

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I am hoping he shoots Myunghee too! That witch needs to pay 😡

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Thanks for the recap! I haven’t gotten up the courage yet to watch this episode, but at least I’ll be more prepared now. 😭

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Profoundly satisfying to see them all terrified... Just bracing myself for the inevitable anticlimax when the next episode starts and Vincenzo doesn’t kill anyone... What’s going to stop him?

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I especially love myung hee being terrified. I think she will be berating herself for the horror she unleashed. Maybe vincenzo will think of something that is more horrifying than death for them.

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Maybe. Or she might come back even more fiercely if she survives. She was terrified of the Truck of Doom Laundromat incident, but she bounced back more savagely.

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I think so too. Vincenzo has mentioned many times that fear is the greatest punishment, like how he punished the Shinkwang ceo with the zombies...

Death would be too easy and not enough of a punishment

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I personally want Myung-hee and Joon-woo to rot in prison, stripped of any power and wealth. That way they will suffer. Them dancing together after Kyung-ja’s death is just disgusting.

If I’m not mistaken, I think in the Bible God unleashed his wrath after the people that build Babel Tower crossed the line of no return. People are scattered because they no longer understand each other’s language. Maybe the villains will scatter as well and betray each other.

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I also want them both to rot in prison for life and like u said at the lowest of the food chain...That is worse than death for people like Hanseok or Myung Hee...Death is easy and won't suffice all the bad they did...From the start they killed almost 30 people...

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This was a complicated episode, it started laughing out loud and ended with such a tension after some very dramatic incidents.

I agree with this that the whole point of charging Vincenzo of murder and killing his mum was just... well, a clear plot device. As much as I love the drama I have to agree with Sicarius that the “not ridiculous” plots are not treated seriously enough or with enough depth to make the ridiculously absurd parts even better. What was JoonWoo’s point in these two acts? Proving he can do it? That he can “win”? We all know this would only make Vincenzo more eager for revenge and Babel hasn’t been good enough to fight Vincenzo so far.

Anyway, leaving this aside this, I’m utterly in love with this show (and Taec, of course!!!!!!!!!) and I need to share my favourite moments:

- Any scene the ByeByeBalloon crew is. I just adore them.
- Vincenzo posing - not posing as a model.
- Han Seo. Everything about him. When he smiles while being hit by his brother, when he “disguises” himself not ti be discovered. When he saves the tenants. When he says he truly loves Babel. KDY is such a good actor.
- The final scene. Even if I don’t buy Vincenzo beating an army of guards, was pretty well done, and SGK acting was top notch.

Now, I don’t know how I’m going to survive without any Vincenzo this weekend

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The posing-not posing was so funny. Also agreed😉.

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That last scene was everything. The satisfaction I got from VC avenging his mom killer is next level. And SJK just made that scene phenomenal and did great justice with his acting.

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That really was epic! I enjoyed how there was no hesitation as you would usually see in similar circumstances. He was calmly breaking fingers with his lighter (multiple uses for a simple lighter!). At first, it looked like the killer managed to escape a little, only for the camera to show that Vincenzo was calmly walking behind him. He was forcing the killer to march barefoot to his bosses! The killer probably thought he could survive if he gave Joon-woo and Myung-hee up. He asks Myung-hee to save him only to get shot up by Vincenzo. And that blood spraying on Myung-hee. It was an intense and beautiful sequence.

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I know, right?? Vincenzo was that furious but didn't even break a sweat getting into their lair behind the killer, despite leaving at least 6 bodies behind. Which honestly makes him even more terrifying.

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The entire scene of following the rat to the lair felt like it wasn't his first time doing such...

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Damn, and there's no episode this week! I really want to see if he at least kills Myung-Hee. There's 4 episodes left so there's no way Joon-Woo's offed so early. But I really hope he AT LEAST kills her, after making her beg for her life, that would be so satisfying!

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Oh my gawd, Song Joong Ki can ACT! I always knew he was famous for his looks, but I had no idea he has legitimate acting chops as well.

Episode 16 alone should win him the Baeksang. The final 20 minutes of the episode had my mouth agape. Stunning.

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Exactly!! I only really knew him from variety shows and didn’t him one of the better actors but WOW-this episode. That devastating scene where he stands behind his mother’s wheelchair and cries silently, that was so heart wrenching. He could win just for that scene alone. But then to show the 180 degree change to the cold ruthless killer with dead eyes at the end. Props to SJK, I cannot wait to see how the last two weeks (noooo it’s ending too fast) pans out, but like quirkycase put it, I really hope they deliver.

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he's always been good, but his looks definitely help lol. if you like his acting here, Nice Guy is also a drama that really shows his range. it was the first kdrama i reallyyy liked- both SJK and MCW were phenomenal.

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His looks are kind of a double-edged sword - post DOTS, I feel like a lot of people simply don't realise he is actually that good an actor and just assume he's yet another of the pretty-boy contingent and not truly exceptional, because they've only seen him in that one drama - he's never, ever given a bad performance but that one required little of him other than looking cool (which he did really well). I see this with Jeon Ji-hyun too - a fantastic comedic and dramatic actress whose actual abilities people often forget about because we're too busy "YESSSS QUEEN STEP ON ME"-ing gifs of Chun Song-yi flipping her hair.

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I feel the same way. I don't remember him ever giving a bad performance and I've followed his work since he debut.

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Nice Guy is the last of the kdrama classic melos imo, I remember going through the entire airing run worrying if Kang Maru would live or (as was more common with Lee Kyung-hee heroes) die. Haven't had that feeling with any melo since!

It's really fuelled by the performances of SJK, MCW and Park Shi-yeon in a big way, I rewatched it a couple of years ago and despite plenty of noble idiocy and plot/logic holes, it's just so compelling because of them and I'm still boggled that THAT was his first ever drama lead role.

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I’m currently watching Nice Guy and after a wobbly start it’s going well. I’m at episode 10-11 and it’s developed a slow burn.

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Yeah it takes a few episodes to set up the central premise of the story but episode 8 was where it really clicked for me.

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He's always been that good, but in Vincenzo he really takes it to the next level, I don't think any of his other dramas have had him go from one end of the spectrum to the other in a single scene the way Vincenzo has.

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I vaguely remember him from ff watching "A Frozen Flower," his debut film. That one controversial film that I wasn't allowed to watch but I only break the rules with sageuks😂.
Funny how Kim Sung-cheol's excellent cameo indirectly jogged my memory of Joong-ki's character as one of king Gongmin's guards of good looking young men. The only thing that was historically accurate in that film.

I was charmed by him in "Triple. "Watching him skate was a bonus knowing that he was a short track speed skater irl. (I'm still waiting for a "Triple" reference from this show and since the Jang brothers have a thing for hockey then my wish might come true).

His performance in "Will It Snow For Christmas" was short but promising. Then "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" came along with young master Yeorim and made a fan out of me. Comedy came naturally. (Thumbs up to the flower and fan props in the fake shammy scene. Totally Yeorim).

It wasn't until he played the young King Sejong in "Tree With Deep Root" that I truly loved him as an actor. I don't know how to describe it except that he blew my mind with his excellent and very moving performance.
My favorite was a confrontation/standoff scene (eps 2) with the film veteran actor Baek Yoon Shik who played his ruthless father. It was bloody fantastic! Intense and riveting. (Shout out to the ever faithful, ever loyal Musa Moo-hyul).

I could go on and on but I'll stop here at least for now 😂.

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THIIIIISSSSS!!!! THIS is what I've been wanting on the show for a while, Sadly I only got hints until now !!!! Dark Vincenzo is what I needed and I got It... Damn he was menacing and hot, from his angry face while he was slapping the shit of the hitman who murdered his mom, the look of pure rage and hurt in his eyes, what I saw was a man ready for blood and that's what I signed up for. While light, fun and cute Vincenzo is a fun watch I much rather this side of him.

They didn't make him an angel who had a change of heart, after all we knew he was a coldblooded killer, we knew he is far from the hero they portrayed him to be...He is an antihero and I liked every bit of the last 20 mn of episode 16. Give SJK a daesang because this man's acting range is crazy!!!!

Joon Won and Myung Hee thinking it was a good idea to kill Vincenzo's mother when they know darn well what type of man he is will never make sense to me. Bihh what were you expecting a slap on the wrist or Vincenzo to cry his eyes out and leave Korea ??? These two are dumb and Myung Hee is always enabling JW's crazy behavior!!!

Also, I've really come to slightly, I said slightly find Han Seo adorable. I feel like he had no choice but to become his psychopath brother's pawn and he is trying his best to break free. Anyway, he is cute.

Looking forward for the next episodes!!!!!

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SJK is made for those antihero roles (Nice Guy, Arthdal, now here), he just happens to have the face of Prince Charming so he gets more hero parts offered to him. But seriously - what an actor!

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Oh Myung-Hee, when will you learn? I was kind of hoping he'd just shoot her in the leg or somewhere to make her suffer slightly while the others watch but I'm willing to bet that he's there to make good on his threats on taking Babel down. With 4 episodes left, they could use each episode to show each member's downfall until Joon-woo remains.

Interesting comparison: Joon-woo made a point to call Myung-hee his "consigliere" because she's willing to play the part of the dragon. I recall in Episode 14 when Vincenzo said he doesn't involve himself in family disputes because then it may come back knocking back at his own door step. In that same episode, Myung-hee dug into *his* mafia family background by reaching out to his former "brother" Paolo for revenge (to her failure). Then she tried again by hiring some random thug to go after his mother. Myung-hee and Joon-woo are under the deluded belief that in order to think like a mafioso is to just murder everyone close to that person as way of "keeping them in line." After all it was an effective method against the head prosecutor and when they offed Cha Young's father.

Joon-woo made a point to say that he wouldn't know what "family" is since he never shared a bond with his own parents. Myung-hee told Cha Young that people like her know "family is everything" so she assumed that Vincenzo would garner the same impact (not knowing that Vincenzo had only just reconciled with her). If they had really wanted to make an impact, they'd have gone after Cha Young who has a stronger emotional connection to him but Joon-woo probably wouldn't approve of that.

Vincenzo may be a cold-hearted mafioso but he has a "code of honour" (he made that clear in Ep 1 when he said he doesn't harm women or children).

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(cont) I think Joon-woo sees this whole thing as a game and I'm not sure whether he cares if he lives or dies. He's a narcissist who only announced his background because he had the revelation that if he died no one would know who he was. And he's always used to people taking the fall for him so he takes the cowardly way out. Myung-hee is a piss poor counterpart to Vincenzo and beyond redeemable so all that she's bringing to the table is more downfall for Babel and I'm here for it.

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I think Joon-woo/Han-seok and Myung-hee really think that they've always got the upper hand on Vincenzo just because they're on home ground and have money, while he's comparatively isolated. Big mistake though. Huge. Even if it makes for entertaining viewing watching him go up against them with really nothing but his and Cha-young's smarts and a bit of help from friends from time to time (including Han-seo, who reached his moral limits ages ago and is now trying, in his own clumsy dimwit way, to help).

The irony is that the "idiots" in that room at the end (Attorney Han and Han-seo) are far better at realising just how bad an idea it was to piss off Vincenzo, than the so-called masterminds.

(And seriously why doesn't Wusang just fire/oust Myung-hee??! Surely there are other partners in the firm besides her and Seung-hyuk?? Who is also a coward and unethical but unlike her, has limits and isn't totally drunk on power).

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Since Myung-hee was the one who dug into Vincenzo's family first, I wonder if Vincenzo will find it okay to bite back and use Han-seo.

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That's a possibility but probably not to Han-seo's benefit. Even though Han-seo is under Joon-woo's thumb, I can see him getting jail time to atone for his own sins (I hope).

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I disagree that hitting out on Cha Young would hurt Vincenzo more than hitting out on his mother. It's a bit of comparing apples to oranges. Close, not that quite.

1) For the Italian mafias, family is everything. Tribalism is key. They are traditionally organized and identified their loyalties and interests along the lines of crime "families".

2) His M.O. before killing anyone is to send them a death warning ahead of time - not by using his own name initial "V", but "C" to denote the Cassano family.

3) Yet we also know from the opening scene that sworn allies/covenant partners are important to the Mafia. Fabio (the father figure to Vin) before his own death, made Vin promise to avenge his sworn ally (someone as close as a brother) who was murdered by Emilio for his vineyards. He chose to honor that tie and obligation even after both primary parties are dead (Fabio & the chairman).

4) This was meant to set the tone, loyalty matrix and worldview of Vincenzo. His vicarious loyalty and protection of Cha Young (we set aside the romantic attraction for a moment), is largely premised on this.

I think Vincenzo is essentially honoring her dead father who has shown himself to be a loyal protector (and therefore an ally) by his decades of being a public defender of his mother. Because Cha Young swore to avenge her father, Vincenzo vicariously transfer that loyalty imputed to her father, to back her up.

That is my reading based off the first episode which set up the tone and worldview he came from, before we shifted him to a different culture and locale - Korea.

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Woo-hoo, I don't understand why Joon Woo ordered Vincenzo's mother killed either. Maybe he wanted to see his viciousness. I'm not sure, but his calculated and meticulous approach to finding who killed his momma was something else. Get em, I assume this is where the romance dies. SiGH, e were so close.. We have 4 episodes left, so I don't expect he'll kill any of the 4, but I'm very curious as to what they have planned.

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nooo don't say that T.T before the end i hope we get a bit more romance, even if they don't end up together. honestly as dark as V is CY is also quite morally grey so can they just run away together and be happy?

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I mean, when we first meet Cha-young, she's dispensing bribes! She's not exactly morally pure either, and they're a better suited couple because they get each other on that level too (aside from the insane chemistry 🔥🔥)

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I agree, but there is a difference in criminality and morality between murder and bribery. Liseeennn, I am rooting for them too, but Vincenzo isn't morally gray, he is just bad. I love him, but he isn't a good person. Better than the Babel group, but that is a low bar. Cha Young is gray though. I hope I am wrong, I really do. I will gleefully claim that I am wrong too.🙂

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true, but....Vincenzo isn't exactly murder-happy either, like he clearly has some morals about who he murders (no innocent people, no cops, no one who isn't already a murderer) and Cha-young isn't above causing death either (getting the prison killer to shank her father's murderer via Vincenzo pretending he'd snitched, letting the killers of the RDU-90 victims' families drown underwater)....girl is a very dark grey, or at least willing to be.

Honestly, ship-wise all I can hope for (fingers crossed) is that the drama acknowledges this thing between them at least once more by the end, but it's actually one of my favourite kdrama ships ever, more than the usual (and I love the usual!)

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I agree. Vincenzo is bad, but at least he knows it. He doesn't pretend to be a hero. I guess he doesn't need to kill so many people because he can torture them instead Mafia style, which is pretty scary. He may not kill women and children, but he has used them to terrorise Prosecutor Jung (the spaghetti scene *chills*).

I don't know how Cha-young would react if she saw him with a gun (and he doesn't know, that's why he hid the rooftop scene from her), but she clearly approves of the torture and disposing of people who are no longer useful. "Make them pay" means "give them an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". Rather than Vincenzo becoming grayer, I think Cha-young is becoming darker.

Morally this drama is problematic for me if taken seriously. The scissors-guy advised Vincenzo to not try to forget his past and pretend to be a new person, and that he should use his talents. I agree there. But I have issues with using a talent for psychological and physical torture. While the torture scenes are part of the ridiculousness of the show, we really don't want that in real life.

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@pogo1, fair enough my friend. I hope so too. I agree also with you @wishfultoki.

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@wishfultoki - we definitely don't want it in real life but then the whole show is made up of elements that are stylised tropes to begin with..I mean, would any actual Mafia consigliere be like.... a not-terrible person given what they do for a living? Not to mention, all the murdering. Vincenzo and his torture-lighter are the least unrealistic part of that.

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I, like a lot of folks, am confused why they thought this was a good idea. Outside of a mustache twirling evil person motive, I just don’t see the logic behind it. Vincenzo was already invested after dad lawyer was offed by the truck of doom but killing his mother seems to have just been to hurt him. I’m not sure how getting shot in the face is going to help their evil plan.

Now obviously, there’s going to be some reason why he doesn’t/can’t kill them, cause we have 4 episodes left. That being said I’d love to be wrong, and have him just off one or two of them to show he means business.

It’s nice to see him going dark though, and I wished there was a bit more of that in earlier episodes to contrast the hilarity more starkly.

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Of course they killed the mother now she was happy because she found her son and decided to fight... Now, why Myung-hee and Joon-wo did that ? They tried to kill him (three times?), to make him take the fall for a murder, to arrest him for being in the mafia, etc. I think they wanted to hit hard this time and easier target than him.

I'm still hoping for a happy ending! I mean yeah he killed some guys, but they were bad! So I won't feel any injustice if he can flee to Malta. Maybe we will have the typical one, he's dead but they will show us the back of guy in suit somewhere.

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they assumed he'd be weakened by the loss of his mother, somewhat similar to Cha-young (that is how they see her btw, not how she actually is at all) after the murder and slander of her (also estranged) father. But one spoilt brat psycho and one (admittedly actually far more intelligent) corrupt lawyer aren't any match for him though.

And I totally want Vincenzo, Jipuragi and the Geumga crew to get it all too! I don't actually want Vincenzo to go to jail any more than I want Eleven (from Stranger Things) to be locked up for dropping an entire hallway of federal agents who pulled guns on her and her friends. Bad guys are not mourned here....

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The moments with his mom were bitter sweet. I am sad they never got to make amends and he never got to call her “mom” but she knew he was her son and got to say what she has always wanted to say.

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The mother/son scene was just beautiful acting.

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It was a highlight of the show.

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I'm still not fully functioning after this episode. I guess we all knew something bad was going to happen to Vincenzo's mum but they had to tug at our heart strings by not even giving the man a chance to call her mum. DAMN...then that switch in his demeanour. I had shivers. Also props to Cha Young for being so supportive throughout. Her final words to him "Make them pay" was another reversal, given the amount of times he told her that they would "make them pay". Can't wait for the final stretch but also don't want the show to end. Sigh....

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Can't wait for the final stretch but also don't want the show to end.

Sameeeee, I'm not ready to have no more Vincenzo!

And it's totally in-character for Cha-young to say that, given she was all in favour of retaliation against her father's killer and the hired killers who murdered the Babel RDU-90 victims' families and made it look like suicide. I like that about her - she has ethical standards, but her morals can be very grey (and it makes her and Vincenzo an even better match).

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I like how supportive she is about him paying them pay. And the drama is also clearly operating in a world where politicians, the media, and the justice system have been bought by one giant corrupt company. It makes sense to get vigilante about it until Babel's hold can be removed.

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That's a good point - in her world, all the systems that are supposed to work for the public have been hijacked by money and corrupted, so trusting in any of those doesn't make sense to begin with (which she knows firsthand, having been a part of Wusang). She's seen it with her father's murder, now with Vincenzo's mother - they know full well the only way to get justice is to go rogue.

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It’s also nice to see a truly dark Vincenzo. This is why he was the most feared consigliere in Italy. The whole time he was in Korea he has been playing mafia lite. But they have now poked the bear and he is ready to take revenge in a way he is good at.

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The whole time he was in Korea he has been playing mafia lite.

Yeah he's killed people or got them killed, but he was fine keeping his distance and strategising for the most part, only stepping in for rescue when needed. But this time the gun isn't a toy, and Vincenzo isn't playing.

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Babel really screwed the pooch on this one.

The show is setting up for the endgame! Till this episode I don't think Vincenzo had any meaningful, significant personal investment in the fight. At this point Han-seok seems to have pushed away his brother and Attorney Han which make Myung-hee his only support, and by extension his only weakness. The Jipuragi gang can take advantage of this moving forward.

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yeah until now it's more like Babel was just in the way of what Vincenzo wanted, and he didn't like their bullying (also, their killing Cha-young's dad) so he stuck around to be a thorn in their side but he was toying with them a bit and enjoying it, even if he was furious on behalf of Cha-young when he found out who Jang Han-seok was. Now he's actually at 200% fury and the gloves are all the way off...

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thanks for the recap :-) the mom-son walk in the park/photo session made it clear there was no chance of her surviving when JW's team make their attempt on her life (i really thought maybe she would somehow survive even though the previews clearly gave the indication otherwise) anyways there were some real bittersweet moments here. I really thought at the last 5 seconds of this ep16, V would have shot Myung Hee but that was not to be...i think JW craziness would be off the chart without his lawyer by his side.....also can't believe they weren't prepared for him to find them so soon...like what were they thinking, it's V after all!

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This is one of the most random points I've made, but HOW did KDY manage to stay so still and not flinch when things were being launched at his head? Ok, so sure they used something soft in filming and then CGI'd in the lamp, but even so, natural reaction is to flinch a bit. If people prepare not to flinch, their eyes usually give it away - they've mentally gone somewhere else and are concentrating on that in order not to flinch. But just HOW did KDY do it? Hahahahah - this is so random!

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Seriously that set of reactions was pure gold. I was dying @ the natural swerve first time around but the second...KDY is just that good, I'm convinced of it.

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Almost a week later here and I'm still blown away by the sheer range of Song Joong-ki's acting. There's literally nothing he can't do and there's been plenty of demonstration of that in previous episodes too (notably him going from coolly murderous with the mafia hitmen to vulnerable and borderline goofy with Inzaghi for rescuing him in the opening of ep 15) but this week we get an absolute buffet

- Vincenzo wriggling out of yet another trap thanks to good friends and thoroughness with the evidence (very lawyerly of him and Cha-young - I approve!). The nonchalance of it, ending with them delivering the killers like parcels to the corrupt cops...lol.

- Vincenzo posing-not-posing for Bye Bye Balloon (what a hilarious tsundere he makes, but seriously - we've been losing out on SJK comedic roles all this time because he's SO GOOD)

- Vincenzo in action fending off a gas explosion (half thanks to Han-seo the goofy for raising the alarm in the first place which allowed the Geumga crew to escape in the first place - but if it hadn't been for Vincenzo, the firefighters would've died and the building destroyed). SJK may not have a traditional 'action hero' brawny look, but it works in this series because Vincenzo's all about intelligence, manipulation and quick thinking/moving - perfectly on display in him flinging the incendiary watch through the window instead of waiting to open it. And for "scarily intelligent"....there's no one better.

- Vincenzo with Kyung-ja T_T I may or may not have been chopping onions around that photo/walk scene, even if I knew her number was up the minute that hired killer showed up and Vincenzo wasn't going to pull off two nick-of-time rescues in the same episode. That scene is so good, and SJK plays it with convincing reluctance to completely open up - true to Vincenzo as a character, but no less tearjerking for it.

- cold murderous rage Vincenzo Ajusshi-ing his way through the hitman, all the guards at the club, and blood-spattering his way into the villains' lair. Of course he won't kill them, we have 4 episodes left but SJK in angry mode is genuinely terrifying (and different from his angry psycho mode in Arthdal), even if the hair going fully up for the first time in weeks was enough of a read that Mafia Vincenzo was back. I'm just amazed by how he barely needs to move his face to do it all, like....whoa.

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I've always loved watching SJK on screen because of how effortlessly he conveys emotional nuance/shifts. He's the rare actor who has both dynamite screen presence and legit acting chops and it's great to see him in a role that really shows off the full range of what he can do.

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Oh yes, he's always had the range but this is the first time it's all been on display in the same drama.

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SJK in Vincenzo is a revelation to me, since my first encounter with him is DOTS (which was cringey at best) and had always referred to him since then as that DOTS boy and his ex-wife as that DOTS girl. He can act after all. I have also seen the bts and there were scenes that he and his on screen mom were already crying for real.

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Watch him in Nice Guy or Werewolf Boy - DOTS is not even close to 10 percent of what he can do when given good material.

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this episode was such an emotional rollercoaster... at one moment i'm crying with vincenzo happy tears for reconciling and spending time with his mom (all thanks to chayoung tbh), the next i'm crying with him when she dies, and the next in shock at the ending :o

they definitely left us off at a BIG cliffhanger for 2 whole weeks. predictions for the future episodes: V won't kill them yet but give threats/maybe take myunghee was hostage? jipuragi trio will continue to use the guillotine file to their advantage and go all out with renewed vengeance for V's mom. CY is there for V as he has to accept his mom's death and comforts him (maybe they even ACTUALLY talk about their feelings for each other?? i can't be the only one who hopes for this right?). the geumga plaza people band together to continue to help jipuragi. at some point the building might actually be destroyed. hanseo completely sides with V and CY.
we'll see if these things come true since this show has a good way of diverting our predictions lol but i am invested and will watch til the end with anticipation!! thanks yet again for the quick recaps <3

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Isn't him murdering that man right in front of Myunghee and Joonwoo directly made them a witness to murder BY Vincenzo......... Oh my god.......

About the murder scheme, on the contrary, I think it is a crucial tipping point that delivers both Joonwoo and Myunghee to the option of killing Vincenzo's mother. They realized how good Vincenzo is after few last failed attempt that they just had to do something and that is killing his mother. If we think about it, we haven't had any Babel win ever since the suicide/killing of Jipuragi's innocent allies that they were in control of. The prosecutor betray was NOT in their plan.

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They made (as usual) the mistake of underestimating their adversary and thought Vincenzo would retreat in grief if they killed his mother, because to some extent, that's how normal people react.

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Hmm, so how does the law work if someone who filed a retrial suddenly dies? Can Cha-young still continue with the retrial? There is no way to sweep her death under the rug and pose it as an accident this time. So it's also a case of murder (though Vincenzo killing the murderer makes this awkward if taken to court... oh bother... clearly this is legally too complex for me!)

Incidentally, why did Vincenzo have to choose the worst security guard ever to watch his mother? I mean he saw Joon-woo talking to her and didn't report it. If he hadn't been killed I would have thought he was a Babel minion.

Also, I felt rather sorry for the horrid newspaper CEO who died as predicted by the "shamans" after 5 days. I mean, I don't feel sorry that he faced retribution for his wrongdoings, but that he was manipulated by everyone and disposed of anyway. According to the Guillotine File, he pushed his brother off Cliff of Doom (the less popular doppelganger of Cliff of Non-Doom). Now he was unceremoniously killed in his own office and tossed off a building.

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I also think the fact that the mom's guard had no reaction to Jang Hun Seok is as head-scratching as why JHS and MH thought it was a good idea to kill Vincenzo's mom. Considering how thorough and smart Vincenzo is, it's weird that Vincenzo knew to hire a guard for his mom but forgot to educate the guy about his most evil enemy, the Babel gang. Also, I suppose it shouldn't be easy to trace Vincenzo's family record and find his real mom like that. Wasn't Vincenzo abandoned at the church years earlier? I don't believe mom left her identity and contact number after deciding to leave him like that. I guess plot holes are meant to happen to any show, and I should just ignore them to fully enjoy the show as it is :D

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I was puzzled and also not puzzled. Babel haven't gone as far as kill family members to scare folks into standing in line. If you stand in their way, they just kill you, and they do it pretty well. They never have to stoop to their second choice of killing a close family member. Vincenzo operates by a code, but Babel doesn't, which is something Vincenzo should have considered especially if they've gone as far as reach out to his adoptive brother. And Babel dispatched an unknown face to kill Vincenzo's mom. The guard must have thought the killer was suspicious and fought him and then was unfortunately overpowered by him. And this was before the killer approached Kyung-ja's bed.

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To be fair, they did try to kill or get rid of Vincenzo himself multiple times before this - they tried to gave him deported, tried to have his mafia buddies kill him, tried to frame him for murder and even the Geumga plaza gas sabotage counts because he'd have been a casualty if he wasn't so quick-thinking. It's just that nothing stuck! So they decided to go for what they saw as the soft underbelly instead ie Kyung-ja, who was much easier to actually access and kill.

(Though it still makes no sense that the guard was so literal in his interpretation of his job - sure, Han-seok approached her outdoors in plain view and didn't do anything just then, so maybe the guard thought it was only strangers going into her room that he had to block? Still makes no sense not to report it to Vincenzo though).

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I think the guard was only on the lookout for another Min-sung situation where a rep from the company whose chairman tried to sexually assault her would come in and threaten her to drop the retrial. Joon-woo and Kyung-ja appeared to be chatting happily so it looked innocuous enough. Scary thing about Joon-woo is that he didn't have to visit Kyung-ja. He just wanted to take a look at his prey and enjoyed knowing that by the end of the night, she would be dead.

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@asianromance - that makes sense, he noted Joon-woo but didn't register him as a threat because Kyung-ja was happily talking to him, it'd probably have been a different story if she looked afraid of him or like she wanted him to go away.

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Thanks for helping me figure out this scene @asianromance and @pogo1. I still think it was weird that the camera lingered for several seconds on the guard watching Joon-woo and Vincenzo's mother. I guess it's one of those plot holes that we need to ignore.

Joon-woo toying with his victim was so scary. *shudders*

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But I thought that was the point actually.

The camera lingered on the guard to make a point that in spite of our best intentions, and our due diligence, we would still miss something right under our nose because it is so innocuous and innocent an encounter.

JW was smiling at her, the mum was beaming at him. who would have thought? (in the meanwhile all drama viewers are screaming internally)

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Another thought:
actually Vincenzo and Joon-woo share a parallel -- reference the way they play with their prey:
(i) Vincenzo in the chilling visit to Prosecutor Jung's family
(ii) Joon woo's visit to Vincenzo's mum

with one CRUCIAL difference: Vincenzo would never touch the innocent, he was very clear that the person he is threatening is Jung.

JW is clearly psychopathic and sadistic - his visit serves no purpose except for his own private sadistic pleasure to know how much pain he would inflict on V later when she dies.

Spoiler: of course we later realize Vincenzo does that too - but only reserved for the worst of his enemies. (c.f. his nickname of Sated Cat)

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At that point (aside from brotherly abuse and some hockey scenes), I can't recall Joon-woo really taking part so much as passing off his wishes to minions sort of thing. So one one hand, it did seem a bit odd. On the other hand, the hospital is public and I doubt Vincenzo thought he would do anything out in the open. The hardest thing for me thinking about the guard is, if it was known that Joon-woo made his father's doc kill him, how closely was the hospital staff being watched?

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Omg the discussion here is so much better than mydramalist! I love how you guys are able to see the flaws of Vincenzo and criticise it constructively :) really makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

Was writing in mydramalist that I found the schemes and plans of Vincenzo too unrealistic to the point it’s too predict- but I just got told of to “just enjoy it as entertainment” lol

Anyways, loved the review here!

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So where can i watch ep17

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Netflix!

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I'm just glad I was behind in this show, or the gap time would have been worse. 😁

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Yeah a 2 week gap is perfect for rewatching the entire show too xD

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I think Omma knew that Vincenzo was her son before she died, yeah? The Netflix subtitles showed Taecyeon saying 'wow your son looks handsome' and she just agreed. She didn't say 'that's not my son, he's a lawyer who randomly showed up in my life a few months ago and gave me a reason to live again'.
Anyone agree with me?

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Absolutely, that's what makes it so tragic. They both know, and they both know that the other knows (and for a while), but neither has said it out loud to the other. That's why they are always talking in circles while understanding that they are speaking to each other as mother and son. And obviously Cha-young knows (and they also know she knows), and that's how she ends up playing a peripheral role as well. It's tender and heartbreaking.

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