Vincenzo (TV Series)

''Vincenzo'' () is a 2021 South Korean television series starring Song Joong-ki as the title character, alongside Jeon Yeo-been, Ok Taec-yeon, Kim Yeo-jin and Kwak Dong-yeon. It aired on tvN every Saturday and Sunday at 21:00 ( KST) from February 20, 2021 to May 2, 2021. It is also available for streaming on Netflix.

The first episode reached a 7.7% rating (AGB nationwide), making it the fourth highest-rated tvN drama premiere. The final episode received a 14.6% rating, making it the eighteenth highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history. It also made the series the sixth highest-rated drama in tvN's history.

The series was also popular among international viewers through Netflix, maintaining its position in the top 10 TV shows on Netflix in the world since its start and reached the fourth rank on April 26. It ranked fourth on Forbes list of most-viewed Korean series on Netflix in 2021.

Synopsis

At the age of eight, Park Joo-hyung is adopted by an Italian family, but the family later dies tragically in an accident. Joo-hyung joins the mafia and is adopted by Don Fabio, the head of the Cassano Family who treats him like a son. Renamed as "Vincenzo Cassano", he becomes a lawyer, a consigliere for the mafia, and Don Fabio's right-hand man. After Fabio passed away, Paolo, Fabio's biological son and the new leader of the Cassano Family, attempts to kill his adoptive brother out of jealousy as Fabio favoured Vincenzo over himself.

Vincenzo flees to Seoul and sets out to recover a gold bullion worth ₩150 billion ($110 million) that he helped his business partner (a recently dead Chinese tycoon) secretly stash within a hidden basement under Geumga Plaza, a commercial building in South Korea. During an inspection of the building, he discovers that he needs to demolish the place to retrieve the buried gold. However, a subsidiary of a large pharmaceutical corporation Babel Group has illegally taken ownership of the building with the intention of demolishing it to build a business building. Unwilling to let the gold to fall into the hands of Babel Group, Vincenzo must use his skills to reclaim the building and recover his fortune.

Among the quirky tenants at Geumga Plaza is the Jipuragi Law Firm run by Hong Yoo-chan, in which Vincenzo finds he has aligned interests. At first he comes into conflict with Hong Yoo-chan's daughter, Hong Cha-young, an attorney for a rival firm, Wusang, that defends Babel Group. Under the orders of Babel's top legal advisor, Hong Yoo-chan is murdered in the middle of the street. Enraged, Cha-young angrily resigns from her firm and takes over Jipuragi and teams up with Vincenzo to take down Babel. It is revealed that Hong Yoo-chan is killed because he managed to discover that Babel Group is a shell company for a drug cartel and left some clues for his daughter and Vincenzo to find.

When Vincenzo finds himself getting entangled in a bigger issue with Babel internally, he realizes that conventional legal method cannot do anything against a powerful corporation like Babel, and uses skills he learned in the mafia to fight the corporation, including kidnapping and torturing Babel employees for intel, as well as recruiting the tenants from Geumga Plaza to help him. He also starts persuading mistreated employees of Babel to be their allies to destroy the Corporation from within. Eventually, Vincenzo manages to find a way into the gold vault underneath the building without having to demolish it. Aside from the gold, he stumbles upon a USB left behind by his deceased business partner called the Guillotine file containing incriminating pieces of evidence against Korean politicians, civil servants, and the Babel Group. As both the corrupt politicians and Babel Group find out about the Guillotine file, they seek to obtain and destroy it while Vincenzo dodges their attacks by staying several steps ahead of them.

Cast

Main

* Song Joong-ki as Vincenzo Cassano / Park Joo-hyung
:An Italian lawyer and Mafia consigliere of Korean descent, Vincenzo is the adopted son of the late boss of Cassano Family and the true owner of Geumga Plaza. He becomes an advisor and foreign legal counsel at Jipuragi Law Firm, working with Hong Cha-young to destroy the Babel Group and reclaim the gold hidden in Geumga Plaza.
* Jeon Yeo-been as Hong Cha-young
:A lawyer who is an associate for the Wusang Law Firm and Hong Yoo-chan's daughter. Cha-young is energetic and tends to overreact. She later replaces her father as CEO of Jipuragi Law Firm and joins Vincenzo in his revenge against Babel Group.
* Ok Taec-yeon as Jang Jun-woo / Jang Han-seok
** Moon Seong-hyun as young Jang Han-seok
:An intern in Wusang Law Firm working under Hong Cha-young as her paralegal/assistant, and the real Chairman of Babel Group. He puts on a front as a happy-go-lucky, dumb, and naive man. However, he is revealed as the true power behind Babel Group.
* Kim Yeo-jin as Choi Myung-hee
:A former prosecutor who quits the prosecutor's office to join Wusang Law Firm as its new Senior Partner, and in the process becomes the corporate fixer and attorney of Babel Group. She appears to good-natured and enjoys Zumba dancing. but in reality is that she is extremely corrupt and is Jang Jun-woo's accomplice in his schemes. She is responsible for ordering the death of Cha-young's father.
* Kwak Dong-yeon as Jang Han-seo
:Jang Jun-woo's half-brother and the previous chairman's illegitimate son who publicly acts as the owner of Babel Group in his brother's place. He appears to be rude, cocky and pretentious, but he is actually more morally equipped than his brother.

Supporting

;Wusang Law Firm
* Jo Han-chul as Han Seung-hyuk
:The CEO of Wusang Law Firm who recruits Choi Myung-hee into the group. He eventually becomes the Chief of the Seoul Southeast District Prosecutors' Office.

;Geumga Plaza
* Yoon Byung-hee as Nam Joo-sung
:A paralegal working at Jipuragi Law Firm under lawyer Hong Yoo-chan and later Hong Cha-young. He is a former special effect make-up artist. After Hong Yoo-chan's death, he joins Vincenzo and Hong Cha-young in destroying the Babel Group.
* Choi Young-joon as Cho Young-woon
:The manager of Geumga Plaza. His name is used in Geumga Plaza's deed. Vincenzo once saved his life back in Milan, and is thus indebted to Vincenzo. It is later revealed that he is an undercover agent of the International Security Intelligence Service, but he remains as an ally to Vincenzo.
* Choi Deok-moon as Tak Hong-shik
:A laundromat owner. He purposely ruins Vincenzo's limited edition bespoke suit because he thought that Vincenzo wants to evict him and the other tenants. He was a former gang member and uses scissors as his weapon.
* Kim Hyung-mook as Toto
:An Italian restaurant owner in Geumga Plaza and former wrestler. He pretends to have studied in Italy to be a chef and feels threatened by Vincenzo who easily learns his secret.
* Lee Hang-na as Kwak Hee-soo
:A snack bar owner in Geumga Plaza and former boxer. She regularly beats her teenage son who secretly smokes.
* Kim Seol-jin as Larry Kang
:A dance studio owner in Geumga Plaza and former street fighter. He is a clean-freak and hates it when people makes his studio dirty.
* Kim Yoon-hye as Seo Mi-ri
:A piano school owner in Geumga Plaza who has a crush on Vincenzo. She is a hacker who designed the security of the gold vault. She narrowly escaped the assassination and moved to Geumga Plaza to keep an eye on the gold.
* Yang Kyung-won as Lee Chul-wook
:A self-proclaimed expert martial artist and pawnshop owner in Geumga Plaza. He often talks big about beating up opponents but he chickens out.
* Seo Ye-hwa as Jang Yeon-jin
:Lee Chul-wook's wife and former gold medal weight lifter. She berates her husband when he shows false bravado.
* Kang Chae-min as Kim Young-ho
:Kwak Hee-soo's son. He often smokes with his friends against his mother's wishes.
* Ri Woo-jin as Jeokha
:The abbot of Nanyak Pagoda in Geumga Plaza. He felt a strong presence of Buddha under the place he usually sits because of a golden statue of Buddha stashed under there. He gives Vincenzo advice on how to deal with his problems and insecurities.
* Kwon Seung-woo as Chaeshin
:A monk assisting Jeokha. He is close to the other tenants and acts as an advisor.

;Ant Financial Management
* Kim Young-woong as Park Seok-do
:The CEO of Ant Financial Management. He is a gangster who worked for Babel Group. He was in charge of Geumga Plaza's demolition, but moves into the plaza after nearly being killed by Babel and starts a business called ByeBye Balloon. He eventually helps Jipuragi in their fight against the Babel Group.
* Lee Dal as Jeon Soo-nam
:An employee of Ant Financial Management. He is a gangster and Park Seok-do's second-in-command. He joins his boss in helping Jipuragi fight the Babel Group.
* Jung Ji-yoon as Yang Joo-eun
:An accountant of Ant Financial Management (and later for ByeBye Balloon) who has a crush on Vincenzo. She helps Jipuragi fight Babel Group.

;International Security Intelligence Service
* Im Chul-soo as Ahn Gi-seok
:The team leader of the Italian Organized Crime Division of the International Security Intelligence Service. He goes undercover to spy on Vincenzo by becoming a protégé under Chef Toto.
* Kwon Tae-won as Tae Jong-gu
:The director of the International Organized Crime Bureau under the International Security Intelligence Service. He initially disapproves of Ahn Gi-seok's plan to launch an operation to spy on Vincenzo, but eventually helps Gi-seok and Jipuragi.

;Seoul Southeast District Prosecutors' Office
* Seo Jin-won as Hwang Jin-tae
:The chief of the Seoul Southeast District Prosecutors' Office and Choi Myung-hee's former boss. He is on Babel Group's payroll after being blackmailed.
* Hwang Tae-kwang as Seo Woong-ho
:The deputy chief of Seoul Southeast District Prosecutors' Office. He was murdered by Jang Han-seok.
* Go Sang-ho as Jung In-kook
:A prosecutor from Seoul Southeast District Prosecutors' Office. He works with Cho Young-woon to obtain the Guillotine File and helps Vincenzo fight against Babel Group.

;Cassano family
* Salvatore Alfano as Paolo Cassano
:Vincenzo's adoptive brother and the new leader of Cassano Family. He tries to have Vincenzo killed out of resentment, but fails, causing Vincenzo to flee to South Korea. He later helps both Choi Myung-hee and Han Seung-hyuk in killing and framing Vincenzo, but also fails.
* Luca Vaquer as Luca
:Vincenzo's personal driver and assistant. He works for the Cassano Family and is more loyal to Vincenzo, and updates him about the current affairs in Italy.

;Others
* Yoon Bok-in as Oh Gyeong-ja
:A former maid accused of murdering the late CEO of Shinkwang Bank and Hong Yoo-chan's client. It is later revealed that she is Vincenzo's birth mother.
* Hong Seo-jun as Gil Jong-moon
:The director of the hospital owned by Babel Group. He was later murdered by a killer sent by Jang Han-seok.
* Jung Wook-jin as Lee Seon-ho
:One of the test subjects for the drug RDU-90. He is a whistleblower for Babel Pharmaceuticals.
* Lee Do-guk as Hwang Gyu
:Choi Myung-hee's former enforcer (and later Vincenzo's enforcer) who arranged Hong Yoo-chan's murder. He used to work for the Korean Military's Intelligence Division. He was later killed by Vincenzo after exceeding his usefulness.
* Kim Tae-hoon as Pyo Hyuk-pil
:Choi Myung-hee's former enforcer (and later Vincenzo's enforcer) who works under Hwang Gyu. He also used to work for the Korean Military's Intelligence Division.

Special appearances

* Jin Seon-kyu as an unnamed robber #1 ( 1)
:Acting as a limousine taxi driver.
* Lee Hee-joon as an unnamed robber #2 (ep. 1)
* Jung Soon-won as an airport police (ep. 1)
* Yoo Jae-myung as Hong Yoo-chan ( 1-3)
:A lawyer who was the CEO of the Jipuragi Law Firm and Chairman of the Development Opposition Committee for Geumga Plaza, Yoo-chan is Cha-young's father. He believes that justice is above all else and would never compromise his principles, and he was a mentor-like figure to Vincenzo. He was later killed under Choi Myung-hee's orders, inspiring his daughter Hong Cha-young to take revenge against the Babel Group.
* Kim Jin-yi as a past client (eps. 4–5)
* Shin Seung-hwan as So Hyun-woo (ep. 5)
:A corrupt attorney on Wusang Law Firm's payroll.
* Jeong Yeong-ju as a lady driving out of the court (ep. 5)
* Cha Soon-bae as Judge Heo (ep. 6)
* Ahn Chang-hwan as Gilbeot
:A homeless man staying outside Geumga Plaza. Misunderstood by everyone as "Gilbert", he tries to correct his name to clarify them. He tells Vincenzo that Gilbeot means "a friend on the road." (eps. 6–7, 12)
* Yoo Yeon as Kim Yeo-won (ep. 7)
:Gil Jong-moon's wife and the head of Sungwon University Hospital's Pediatric Cancer Center.
* Kim Byung-ji as the coach of youth football team (ep. 7)
* Kim Sung-cheol as Hwang Min-sung (eps. 8, 20)
:The CEO of Shinkwang Bank.
* Im Chae-moo as an employee of Moomoo Land (ep. 8)
* Jeon Gook-hyang as Seo Young-sun (eps. 8, 20)
:Hwang Min-sung's mother and the chairwoman of Shinkwang Finances.
* Nichkhun and Hwang Chan-sung (ep. 12)
:The lead stars of UCN drama "The Age of Stray Dogs and Wild Dogs".
* Yoon Kyung-ho as Nam Shin-bae (ep. 13)
:The chairman of the Babel Guardian Committee Union.
* Jeon Jin-oh as Park Chan-gi (ep. 13)
* Lee Hye-jung as Jung Do-hee (eps. 14–15)
:The director of Ragusang Gallery.
* Keum Gwang-san as Keum Gwang-jin (ep. 14)
* Jeon Jin-gi as Oh Jung-bae (ep. 15)
:The CEO of Daechang Daily.
* Lee Geung-young as Park Seung-joon (ep. 17)
:A presidential candidate.
* Yoo Tae-woong as Kim Seok-woo (eps. 17–20)
:Park Seung-joon's secretary and Han Seung-hyuk's senior.

Episodes

Production

In May 2020, director Kim Hee-won and screenwriter Park Jae-bum teamed up for ''Vincenzo''. In July 2020, it was reported that Song Joong-ki and Jeon Yeo-been are considering the offer to star in the series; while Ok Taec-yeon was confirmed for the cast. Song and Jeon confirmed their appearance in the following month. The first script reading took place on January 5, 2021.

The series was planned to be partially shot in Italy but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, related scenes were augmented with CGI.

Episodes 17 and 18 were delayed one week due to the production team wanting to "improve the quality" of the episodes.

Original soundtrack

''Vincenzo (Original Television Soundtrack)''

;Tracklist

Singles

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Reception

Viewership

A 7.7% average viewership rating was recorded nationwide for the series' first episode, at the time making it the third-highest premiere rating of any weekend drama of the network and fourth-highest premiere rating overall, bested by '' Mr. Sunshine'', '' Encounter'' and ''Mr. Queen''.

The drama is currently the eighteenth highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history.

Awards and nominations

Listicle

Notes

References

External links

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{{TvN (South Korean TV channel) television dramas (2020–present)

2021 South Korean television series debuts
2021 South Korean television series endings
2020s black comedy television series
Cultural depictions of the Mafia
Korean-language Netflix exclusive international distribution programming
Multilingual television series
South Korean black comedy television series
South Korean comedy-drama television series
South Korean crime television series
South Korean legal television series
South Korean LGBTQ-related television shows
South Korean television series about prosecutors
Television series about adoption
Television series about organized crime
Television series by Logos Film
Television series by Studio Dragon
TvN (South Korean TV channel) television dramas