Vincenzo — Episode 11 and 12 Recap
Geumga Plaza loves Corn Salad.
By the numbers
Rounds of Russian roulette: 4
Attempted murders: 3
Body count to date: 29 (In chronological-ish order, 3 Italian mafia guys, 1 crooked jail warden, 11 innocent researchers, 1 whistleblower, 1 civil rights attorney, 1 crooked prosecutor, 1 quack doctor, 2 bodyguards, 4 plaintiffs, 3 Jun-woo lackeys, 1 union leader, and a partridge in a pear tree)
Previous: Vincenzo — Episode 10 Recap
Next: Vincenzo — Episode 13 Recap
Shorter-than-usual recap, episode 11
Jun-woo, aka Jang Han-seok, narrowly avoids falling into the trap Vincenzo has set for him in the overpass. His three henchpeople, on the other hand, are fish food in the bottom of a lake. With help from her own father’s murderers, Cha-young ruthlessly tortured them into confessing their crimes, including setting up the Babel plaintiffs’ suicides. She has qualms about working with them, but Vincenzo will dispose of them, too, when they’ve outlived their usefulness.
Vincenzo and Cha-young grow closer as they drink makgeolli into the early morning, but when she re-enacts her hug at the overpass, he doesn’t reciprocate. The next morning, he visits Gyeong-ja and encourages her to use her strength to get better — her son is probably doing just fine.
Jun-woo’s escape from the overpass has him feeling pretty cocky, but Choi wants to get the mafioso deported. Vincenzo is arrested by the Namdongbu prosecutor’s office while, ironically, deep in a team-building round of mafia with the Geumga Gang. Elsewhere, Han-seo requests sole control of Babel Pharmaceutical. This makes Jun-woo so irate, he slits his own neck with a knife still in Han-seo’s hand.
At Namdongbu, Cha-young argues that the photo evidence doesn’t directly link Vincenzo to the alleged crimes. The prosecutors insist on keeping him in holding, but Agent Ahn surprises the duo and takes Vincenzo into intelligence custody instead. He’s honored to help the consigliere in exchange for full membership in Team Jipuragi… and a hug.
No one to this point has seen Jang Han-seok’s face, but Vincenzo realizes that his informant might have while delivering the photos from Italy. It takes his friend Luca four hours to locate footage of the man’s face, and Ahn another five to find his identity.
In the meantime, the Geumga Gang welcome their “Corn Salad” back with a marching band and Vincenzo learns, to his chagrin, that everyone already knows about the gold hidden in the building. Attorney Han teaches Han-seo how to use his new gun and offers to team up to get rid of Jun-woo. Vincenzo scolds Cho for his false complaints against Nanyak temple, while Miri eavesdrops in the stairwell.
Agent Ahn’s intel identifies the informant as a Kim Sang-yun, a former arms company VP-turned-European weapon lobbyist and informant. Not easily swayed by physical torture, it only takes Vincenzo four rounds of Russian roulette to break him psychologically: Jun-woo is The Jang Han-seok.
Vincenzo relays the news to Cha-young as Jun-woo is warning her about Babel and Wusang’s next moves. Cha-young continues to act normally and an unsuspecting Jun-woo returns home, Vincenzo armed and waiting for him.
Shorter-than-usual recap, episode 12
Jun-woo behaves erratically as Vincenzo points a gun to his head, but Prosecutor Jung arrives just in time to arrest Vincenzo for attempted murder. At the station, Cha-young is so angry she slaps Jun-woo twice, but he audaciously continues his dopey intern charade.
Being arrested was part of the plan all along. Vincenzo wants to partner with Prosecutor Jung to force Babo out of hiding, then dismantle Babel with him at the helm. Chayenzo offer to put the heat on Jun-woo, and Prosecutor Jung eventually releases Vincenzo after learning that his gun and ammo were fake. Wusang and Han-seo send Jun-woo into hiding, fearing Jung’s forthcoming charges.
Vincenzo pays off Gilbert and tries to quash the rumors of the gold but the tenants decide to keep searching as Bye Bye Balloon overhear. Miri tries to keep Vincenzo away from the Buddhist temple with a story about a trapped ghost.
Jun-woo gives little brother permission to “auction off” floors in Babel Tower and departs for his safe house, where Vincenzo has sent Cheol-wook to keep watch. In exchange for a cushy job at “Lomborgheni,” Wusang’s Attorney Seo informs Chayenzo of the growing rift between Attorneys Han and Choi and Choi’s plans to off the union leader.
The tenants call a truce with Bye Bye Balloon to get more help with finding the gold, but Miri is notably absent — she has some hacking skills, and already knows where the gold is.
Vincenzo makes another attempt on Jun-woo’s life, but intentionally lets him live. Jun-woo is upset about the security breach but cheers up when he learns Choi has had the union leader killed in a drunk driving “accident.” Han-seo suggests they go hunting to destress.
Hong-sik and Hee-soo visit Jipuragi to let Vincenzo know they won’t bother him about the gold anymore, and Cha-young realizes he was telling her the truth when they first had drinks. Except, it isn’t $150M; it’s $1.05B. He and Cho were planning to split it 70/30.
At Wusang, Attorneys Han and Choi are shocked to learn that a “guillotine” file that was supposedly in the intelligence service’s possession was actually stolen by hackers years ago. The file contains incriminating data on high-profile businessmen and politicians. When Agent Ahn seeks Vincenzo’s perspective in locating it, Vincenzo realizes it is hidden under the plaza with Wang Shaolin’s gold stash.
Encouraged by Attorney Han, Han-seo works up his courage and shoots Jun-woo in the side during their hunt, but he hesitates and fails to finish the job. Cha-young has just delivered a finger flick punishment to Vincenzo — over the very important difference between bungeoppang and ingeoppang — when they learn about the “accident.” They realize all is not well in Babel-land.
When Jun-woo wakes up, he shares his fears about dying namelessly with Attorney Choi, and she encourages him to reveal himself. Likewise impatient, Cho pleads with Vincenzo to access the gold room, claiming he has $30M of debt to resolve ASAP. To clear out the building, Jipuragi send the tenants away on a free weekend at the hot springs, along with a $20K reward for anyone who takes the best photo.
Still in a hospital gown with an IV, Jun-woo crashes Han-seo’s Babel Tower “auction” and reveals his identity to a roomful of influential figures. Apparently the tower’s highest floors are being offered in exchange for favors, and the auction is well-attended.
As soon as the tenants depart for the hot springs, VincenCho make a run for the temple and quickly pull up the floorboards. Once in the room, they marvel at its contents — but Cho has a gun aimed at the back of Vincenzo’s head.
Comments
If finding a true friend is like finding treasure, Vincenzo has found it in spades at Geumga Plaza. Not only does his new chosen family accept his past; they think it makes him extra awesome. They even want to participate in his mafia antics and hunt for the gold together! For a consigliere who has spent most of his life feeling feared and loathed, even by his own adoptive brother, this has to be strangely comforting. And with Hong-sik, Cheol-wook, and Agent Ahn’s hidden talents now known, Vincenzo has a bevy of loyal and skilled co-conspirators at his disposal.
But his best co-conspirator, his equal, is still Cha-young. He seemed startled to see how ruthlessly she behaved while smoking the henchpeople in the car, but a part of him was probably also relieved. She might know that he lied when he said he hadn’t killed anyone, but she also now knows that, in the right circumstances, she’s capable of the same. Conversely, he has decided to make Jun-woo suffer instead of killing him outright. Does this mean he wants to keep his promise to her that he won’t kill again?
Jun-woo’s weaknesses stand in stark contrast to Vincenzo’s strengths. While Vincenzo is a people-oriented strategist, Jun-woo is a tactical lone wolf that brute-forces his way into accomplishing his goals with his money and power. His myopic view of people — that they are dispensable, and loyalty, meaningless — causes him to underestimate his competition consistently. Both Vincenzo and Han-seo have a support system of people helping them, which has quickly and easily forced him into the vulnerable position he’s now in.
Well, okay, so far, Han-seo has a person. And it remains to be seen whether this person will continue to support him despite his botched murder attempt.
The gold is finally moving to the forefront of the story and it is already changing some long-established dynamics. VincenCho’s relationship, which previously seemed purely transactional, now appears to be some mix of camaraderie and acrimony. Are they frenemies with benefits? And while Vincenzo finds the tenants’ finders-keepers mentality distasteful, he’s also more than happy to let Cha-young and Mr. Nam in on the secret of the gold. With the Bye Bye Balloon guys now in the mix, this could make for some good intra-Geumga conflict.
People in this show are like constantly shifting tectonic plates. What part of their world will they shake up next?
