Vincenzo — Episode 15 Recap
This one’s for the birds.
By the numbers
Guns pointed at Vincenzo this episode: 6
Cho attackers: 4
Blatant product placement: >3
Birds harmed in the filming of this episode: 0
Previous: Vincenzo — Episode 14 Recap
Next: Vincenzo — Episode 16 Recap
Recap
Having just sent Cha-young away to buy drinks, Vincenzo sweeps the rooftop and encounters three men sent by Paolo. Unfortunately for them, Inzaghi is in the middle of rehearsing for a remake of a certain Alfred Hitchcock movie. A flock of friends assist Vincenzo in killing the three. He learns from his shadows that Attorney Choi was behind the attack, again.
Han-seo is begrudgingly resigned to taking the fall for Jun-woo, but all the evidence already points directly to the latter. When Choi learns the mafia men failed to eliminate Vincenzo, Han-seo taunts her for failing yet again. Shortly after, Jun-woo is arrested by Prosecutor Jung before he can secure a flight out of the country. Double whammy.
Inzaghi receives a tasty reward, and Cha-young texts Vincenzo about Jun-woo’s arrest. She finally reads the note that came with the scarf Gyeong-ja gifted her. A tear rolls down her face.
The Geumga Gang eagerly await Prosecutor Jung’s press conference at Jipuragi, elated to have contributed to Jun-woo’s arrest. However, in an unbelievable turn of events, he abruptly discredits himself on live TV and drops the charges. Cha-young understandably storms out in a fury, but Vincenzo urges her to stay calm and be careful.
At Namdongbu, Chief Prosecutor Hwang offers Prosecutor Jung a promotion for a job well done. In turn, Jung asks for added security for him and his family because, you know, he’s just angered a mafia consigliere. Behind the scenes, he’s seen cutting a side deal with Jun-woo to drop all charges in exchange for becoming Prosecutor General. He even offers the location of the guillotine file.
When Jung arrives home, he’s bewildered to find his security already restrained… and his family enamored with his handsome Italian friend. Vincenzo is friendly at the dinner table but, in private, threatens to end Jung once he has everything he wants.
Jun-woo proposes making a quick buck by using the press to manipulate Babel Chemicals’s stock price. Han-seo objects to the idea, but Jun-woo doesn’t care for ethics and instructs him to deal with the gallery director instead. Back at Geumga Plaza, a quartet of tenants commiserate over yet another Babel victory, but are uplifted by news that Cheol-wook and Yeon-jin have decided to have a baby.
Chayenzo shop for a gift for Gyeong-ja together and Cha-young admits she knows Vincenzo is her son. She encourages him to tell his mother who he is and reminds him of his early catchphrase:
At the hospital, Gyeong-ja tells the duo she’s finally worked up the courage to file for a retrial. Cha-young defers to Vincenzo as her guardian — though neither mother nor son openly acknowledge it — and he consents.
CEO Oh warns Jun-woo that publishing an editorial to manipulate the stock price is a risky move, but Jun-woo is adamant. Gothcountant gets an insider trading tip about the forthcoming article. The director of Ragusang Gallery remains unhandled by Han-seo and is instead sitting in the Bye Bye Balloon office booking a “trip.”
Mr. Nam and Cha-young start to get frustrated at Babel’s invincibility, but, surprise! Vincenzo is in possession of their kryptonite:
He’d quietly taken it in the mad dash to cover up the secret basement back in episode 13. Elsewhere, Han-Han’s spidey senses are tingling, but can’t fathom that Vincenzo might have the file.
The Jipuragi trio open the guillotine file, filled to the brim with kryptonite tea ready to spill. The next plan? Pit Daechang Daily and Babel against each other. Han-seo interrupts with another attempt at uniting with Vincenzo, but is promptly kicked out after failing a business pop quiz. Meanwhile, Jun-woo and Attorney Choi have learned via Prosecutor Jung that the guillotine file is hidden with 15 tons of gold under Geumga Plaza. It must go down ASAP.
Jun-woo finally realizes that Vincenzo isn’t after his life, but the thing he cherishes most: Babel. He asks Attorney Choi what Vincenzo would cherish most, and she offers to dig into his family.
Mr. Nam, now addicted to reading the guillotine file, learns that CEO Oh killed his older brother to gain control of Daechang Daily and has a trusted shaman he follows unquestioningly. The shaman has his own dark secrets, and Jipuragi use them to coerce him into directing CEO Oh to Geumga Plaza’s democratically-selected, espresso-drinking master shaman: Yeorim.
CEO Oh becomes an instant believer when “Yeorim” pretends to be the spirit of his dead brother. He’s told he has five days to live, but can rid himself of bad luck by trampling Babel in the press. The following day, Daechang’s news reports tank Babel’s stock. Oh declares to an angry Jun-woo that they are a reputable news source now. (Side note: How do we make this happen in real life?)
Oh returns to the faux temple hoping to be rid of his bad luck, but Mr. Nam has found more dirt on Jun-woo in the guillotine file: Turns out he’s a diagnosed psychopath who has killed several of his schoolmates! “Yeorim”’s guaranteed remedy for Oh’s misfortune? Publicly disclose the murders, and appease the souls of the victims. Jun-woo’s gruesome past is all over the news the next day.
Oh is photographed visiting the temple a third time. Inside, he’s so overjoyed that his bad luck has been purged and his life spared, he falls at “Yeorim”’s feet in tears. Attorney Choi and Jun-woo receive the photos and are dismayed that Vincenzo is, once again, behind their misfortune. But there’s good news: Choi has located Vincenzo’s mother.
It’s been a while since they locked themselves out of the secret basement, so Cho plans to meet Vincenzo in the Geumga Plaza parking lot. On the way, he becomes the victim of an attempted hit, but Vincenzo arrives just in the nick of time. Outside, Cho suspects they were sent by Prosecutor Jung. They had also been partners in seeking the guillotine file, but he’s been wary of Jung’s ambitions lately.
Cha-young sits with Gyeong-ja at the hospital while Vincenzo, on his way back from meeting Cho, is lured to the rooftop by a masked man. Vincenzo loses track of the man, and after a few moments, hears a thud behind him.
It’s the body of CEO Oh. And the cops are already there, guns pointed, ready to make an arrest.
Comments
Here were some theories I had about how Vincenzo would get out of that pickle with the mafia hitmen:
- Cheol-wook or Hong-sik really goes to the rooftop to leave a pile of boxes and rescue Vincenzo. This would have made Vincenzo’s reason for sending Cha-young away true, and kind of ironic.
- Cha-young secretly follows Vincenzo upstairs and use her gun. Does she even know how to fire that thing? Dangerous, but feasible.
- Vincenzo defeats them on his own. He’s won in a 3-vs-1 battle before. Feasible, but boring.
- They’re pretending to be loyal to Paolo but they are really there to ask Vincenzo to return to Italy.
Here was my husband’s theory, presented ten seconds before I hit play:
“I don’t know how, but Inzaghi is going to save him to pay him back for the food.”
…
We should have bought lottery tickets after we finished the episode. Anyway. Inzaghi FTW!
Vincenzo’s scariest trait is that he can be simultaneously vicious and calculating and kind. We already know he won’t harm women and children — so Prosecutor Jung’s family is safe — yet there’s still a feeling of unease watching him interact with them. And when he meets with Cho again, he protects him without hesitation, but you can see the gears moving in his head. “Now that he’s on Jang Han-seok’s side, he must know that the file and gold are here,” he says very deliberately, as if waiting for some sign to either tear this guy to shreds or bring him back into the fold.
But his scariest trait is also his most effective. Threatening Prosecutor Jung in such a “kind” way buys him time to see what his motivations really are. Has he really switched sides? Or is he angling for a high-ranking position that will help him guarantee the charges against Babel stick? Are Cho and Jung working for, or against, each other?
I’d also ask that latter question of Attorney Choi and Jun-woo, who are like two stubborn, wet rocks that can’t seem to start a fire. Is there even a puppetmaster here anymore? They are so hellbent on winning and blinded by greed, they can’t see the forest for the trees. With Han-seo more of a loose cannon every day and Vincenzo constantly slipping from their grasp, they are in an increasingly precarious position. And, I mean, open your eyes, guys. You pissed Vincenzo off by killing four innocent people he barely knew. What do you think he’ll do to you if you murder his mother?
Because, here’s the thing. If Jun-woo loses Babel, he’ll only be miserable — and penniless. No pennies, no power. But If Vincenzo loses his mother, he’ll only become more dangerous. A man with literal bones to pick and nothing else to lose.**
On a lighter note, Team Jipuragi and the Geumga Gang have finally coalesced into a single entity. Now they resemble something like a mafia-esque version of a condo association; Jipuragi are the board that set the agenda, while the tenants vote on important matters like who gets to play flower boy shaman. But more importantly, the tenants themselves are becoming a tight-knit family. They might have been friendly before, but fighting for their livelihoods together has only made their camaraderie stronger. They are having meals together, learning about each other’s pasts, and — with Yeon-jin and Cheol-wook’s plans to have a baby — celebrating each other’s futures. The real gold at Geumga Plaza is the friendship.
Although, a couple million dollars each couldn’t hurt.
** Except Cha-young, but it’s long been established that Jun-woo will never go after her as long as he wants her for himself.
