Goodbye Vincenzo Cassano
Episode 20 of Vincenzo begins with a bang. Literally. Han-Seok fires and shoots straight through Cha-Young, as Vincenzo watches on with murderous intent. Han-Seok looks set to fire a follow-up blast but Han-Seo jumps up and stops his brother. Unfortunately he’s shot through the stomach. With Han-Seo down, our antagonist rushes away, speeding from his house and into a car. Vincenzo is left to watch, eventually phoning an ambulance. As Vincenzo checks on Han-Seo, he coughs up blood. He thanks Vincenzo for everything he’s done and fades away. At the hospital, Vincenzo stays with Cha-Young when she wakes up. Cha-Young tells Vincenzo that what happened is not his fault . She tells him to finish the job, which Vincenzo agrees to do, promising to return in 24 hours. In hospital, Myung-Hee checks the newspaper and learns that Han-Seo has been killed. However, she suspects that it’s Vincenzo’s doing. Our consigliere heads up to see Mr An though and hands over Han-Seo’s phone and the Guillotine File. He promises to do his best with this and rushes away. Seung-Hyeuk looks set to sign his agreement to head into the detention center but is stopped by Vincenzo ringing. He tells the prosecutor exactly how he can survive. First up, Seung-Hyeuk needs to release Myung-Hee in three hours. If he can do that, he’ll be allowed to live. True to his word, Seung-Hyeuk has Myung-Hee released. This recording of him agreeing to a Vincenzo deal is played through to her when she releases, as Vincenzo chimes in and confirms this is her final day. Now knowing Seung-Hyuk has sold her out, she heads up to her office. Mr Cho happens to be following in his car. Anyway, Myung-Hee rings Han-Seok who confirms the location of her laptop. He wants her to wire money to her own account for the cool sum of 5 billion after transferring what he needs. Han-Seok is leaving the country, intent on traveling across to Mexico and high-tailing it across the globe away from Vincenzo. Before he goes, he makes sure Seung-Hyeuk is killed, with an organized stabbing outside the courthouse. While this is going on, Myung-Hee finishes her wire transfer and heads back to her apartment. However, Vincenzo happens to be sat on the sofa waiting for her. The security guards outside are dispatched by Mr Cho, who also enters the apartment to greet her. They both confirm they’ve intercepted the money she’s transferred to Han-Seok and made sure it’s gone straight to his brother. After this, Vincenzo decides to slowly torture Myung-Hee. Instead of killing her, he makes things as uncomfortable as possible. He sprays Myung-Hee with gasoline and ignites her, letting the flames rip through her body. She ironically dances as she does, trying in vain to escape while Vincenzo plays zumba music on the record player. With the targets dropping like flies, Mr An rings Vincenzo and warns him that the police have him in their sights. It’s only taken them 19 episodes but there we go! Anyway, with Han-Seok down by the docks, it’s up to Seok-Do and co. to take out Han-Seok. When Cheol-Wook grabs Han-Seok, he’s stabbed straight through the chest for his troubles. Vincenzo races up to the scene, shooting Han-Seok in the leg several times. The residents tend to Cheol-Wook, doing what they can for him. As police race to the scene, Vincenzo takes off with Han-Seok in the backseat of his car. When Han-Seok awakens, he finds himself tied to a strange chair. This is a present from the Russian mafia. The spear of atonement, in layman’s terms. Vincenzo tells the man he’ll be in a world of pain from here on out and prepares to have him tortured. With a foot pedal and a drill moving ever deeper into Han-Seok’s body, Vincenzo tells this villain that the contraption will pierce 5mm every 5 minutes. It’ll take until tomorrow at noon for him to die, which will be when the drill pierces his lung. He takes Han-Seok’s watch; a symbolic act to say goodbye and to take as a trophy. Vincenzo tells him to say sorry to his brother and walks away. Mr An and Mr Cho set up a Korean passport for him and tell Vincenzo to leave in 30 minutes to catch the flight. However, Cha-Young shows up to see him off. As he leaves, we cut back to see Han-Seok gasping for air after as a crow starts pecking at him. We then cut forward 1 year later. Babelgroup is a complete mess but there’s still pockets of rebellion sparking up. Presidential candidate Kim decides to restart the Geumga Plaza redevelopment. Well, not on our residents’ watch. Cha-Young meanwhile, heads back to court. There, the results of the retrial for the murder of Hwang Deok-Bae are in. He was found guilty while some justice for Vincenzo’s Mother sees her guilty of manslaughter not murder. Chairwoman Seo is found guilty of negligence and is arrested on the spot. Meanwhile, Director Tae checks up on An Gi-Seok. There’s still no word on where Vincenzo is or what’s befallen him. However, they introduce Cho into the fold, who works with him to try and find the consigliere. Back at the Plaza, Cheol-Wook has healed up from his stab wound and he’s back to fighting health now. The monks have re-branded the temple as a marriage proposal center. Mi-Ri also continues piano lessons for her students…although she’s quick to point out the right piano to use given the other has gold stashed inside! Meanwhile, Cha-Young receives an invitation to a Korean-Italian diplomacy meeting. Although the postcard she’s given shows an island with Malta written on it, the picture is actually that of Taormina in Sicily. Anyway, while she attends the meeting, Vincenzo happens to be there and he greets Cha-Young. He’s only able to visit for a day though but does invite her along to his island. Vincenzo thanks her for keeping the gold safe, which happens to be used as a mattress. That can’t be comfy! Anyway, Vincenzo happens to be the boss now and no longer the consigliere. He tells her the island he has is used as a place of healing. Vincenzo has even reserved a room for her too. And as Cha-Young tries to walk away, Vincenzo follows and kisses her. It’s a bittersweet moment though, especially as the night draws to a close and this diplomacy meeting ends. When Vincenzo leaves, we hear what’s happened to him in Italy. He’s still the boss of the Cassano family and he has also taken over the olive plantations in Malta, clearly expanding his empire. Vincenzo has now decided to become a hero among villains, doing his best to get rid of any garbage and making sure as few innocent lives are killed – only those who deserve it.
The Episode Review
It’s been a wild ride over the weeks and Vincenzo has been one of those shows where the journey has been better than the destination. While the finale does wrap up most of the big plot points, it also leaves some ambiguity over certain plot elements. Vincenzo and Cha-Young get their reunion at the end but there’s definitely a feeling of Crash Landing On you here with both the way Han-Seo dies and the reunion for one day only. The torture scenes and Vincenzo getting his revenge on those from Babel Group is also a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it was great to see these characters killed off in the worst way possible. Each of them had a significant end, with Han-Seok satisfyingly pleading for his life by the end. However, seeing all three of these guys dying within the space of 20/25 minutes felt a little rushed. Especially given there was still 30 minutes of run-time left after Han-Seok’s death. On that same subject, it’s perhaps a little disappointing that Cha-Young took a backseat to all of this going on. I appreciate she was recovering from an injury but for Myung-Hee in particular, it would have been more fitting to see Cha-Young jump in and be the one to throw the lighter. The two have history, going all the way back to Babel group, and seeing Vincenzo rather than her pull the trigger here is a tad disappointing. It doesn’t take away from the moment or the brutal killing (that death was deliciously dark) but it also could have been a tad better. The rest of the residents all get as good ending, although the group deciding to give up the gold just like that is a little subjective. Given they all agreed to share it out originally, it feels like a bit of a betrayal to their character arcs to let them give up so easily. Especially given it’s used to buy Vincenzo’s island for his family to stay in… except for one room which Cha-Young can use of course! Despite that, the end monologue and the dark, chilling sequences were great and counteract some contrived moments at the end. Much like the beginning of this show, Vincenzo ends with a few questionable elements but enough to make it a worthwhile endeavor. Vincenzo has been a decent watch over the weeks and for the most part, this finale wraps everything up in a decent way. Looking for more Vincenzo content? Check out our Ending Explained article for a more in-depth break-down of this show! You can find that HERE! What did you think of the finale? Were you satisfied with everything? Is there anything that annoyed you? Let us know in the comments below!
