Vincenzo — Episode 3 Recap
The evil get evil-er, Vincenzo has conflicting priorities, and a familiar friend delivers an encore performance no one wants.
By the Numbers
Body count: 16
Proverbs: 4
Zumba scenes: 3
Covid references: 2
Previous: Vincenzo — Episode 2 Recap
Next: Vincenzo — Episode 4 Recap
Recap
It’s a Sicilian-style party, and the Italian ambassador to South Korea is invited! As a result, the cops — who were not supposed to be on duty — are on security detail, and Ant Company is unable to demolish the building. Heck, they can’t even enter the party without a temperature check, lolol.
Cha-young seems impressed with this tactic but still thinks Vincenzo has an ulterior motive. After all, he seems to be a very wealthy man with a ton of Booralro suits! Impressed by her sartorial knowledge, Vincenzo tells her he just fell in love with the building for no reason before whispering in her ear to relax, which catches her off guard.
At Wusang, Cha-young is admonished by Lawyers Choi and Han for not telling them about the missing researcher. She hadn’t felt the need to alarm them, as her instincts have never led her astray in her eight years as a lawyer. Lawyer Choi and Cha-young spar over who has more experience (Cha-young: “You’ve been a prosecutor for 20 years, but it’s your first year as a lawyer”) while Lawyer Han looks on, unable to get a word in. She and Jun-woo stay up all night compiling a list of people who might have information on Min-chul. Side note: I love when a man is rendered useless by two strong women.
The next day, the Geumga Plaza tenants start looking favorably on Vincenzo and his demolition-deferring tactics. Cha-young and Jun-woo walk into Wusang to find Lawyer Choi doing Zumba in her office, and she wonders aloud if those moves are what got her to the top. Jun-woo tries unsuccessfully to flirt with Cha-young before handing her his background check on Vincenzo, which came up clean.
People can’t tell poop from gold.
Rejuvenated by the positive feedback he received at the party from the Italian ambassador himself, Chef confidently offers Vincenzo a margherita pizza, but Vincenzo serves up a delicious, Covid-inspired critique in return. In the hallway, he bumps into Agent Ahn, who calls him by name and claims they met at the Sicilian party, rousing his suspicion. Vincenzo heads to Jipuragi and Ahn sweet-talks his way into an unpaid job at the Italian restaurant, scoring a prime vantage point from which to spy on him.
Vincenzo has gone through Babel’s pharmaceutical case docs and discovered that the main ingredient in Babel’s new drug is a known narcotic. While Yu-chan expresses outrage at the idea of a mass-produced, addictive drug, Vincenzo receives a call and abruptly leaves. Ahn follows him to the Buddhist temple, where the electric heating pads he ordered have just arrived. He watches, confused but amazed, as Vincenzo offers to install them himself, then beats on the snack bar owner’s kid and his delinquent friends on the way back to his apartment. The men in this show really are crushing on Vincenzo even harder than the women, and I am here for it.
Armed with her best crocodile tears, Cha-young brings Jun-woo along on a mission to find the missing Babel researcher, but the pharmacist they meet threatens to call the cops when she tries to bribe him. Jun-woo still thinks the researcher will go to her dad to blow the whistle, but she doesn’t think he’ll give up any info. Hmm, why so nosy, intern? Jun-woo tells his sunbae he’s worried about her position at Wusang impacting her personal life and suggests she work at a different law firm instead. She says no firm can match Wusang’s salary, then is dismayed to receive an invite to a happy hour at which her attendance is absolutely required.
At Jipuragi, Yu-chan seems a bit deflated as he talks to a client, then heads to the rooftop. In a flashback we see his conversation with the whistleblower. It turns out that he already knew the drug was a narcotic and, on top of that, the purpose of the clinical trial was to test patients’ max tolerance to the drug. Unfortunately, because Yu-chan can’t guarantee the witness’s safety, he refuses to testify. In the present, Vincenzo meets him on the rooftop and tries to discourage him from fighting against Babel. Yu-chan receives a call and he takes Vincenzo along on a field trip.
Yu-chan’s client, Gyeong-ja, has been admitted to the hospital due to her illness. She doesn’t seem to recognize Vincenzo, but he appears overwhelmed with emotion. He excuses himself for a “phone call” and, on his way out, overhears that Yu-chan has filed for another retrial, though she won’t consent to it. He receives a call from Mr. Na and, after lingering in the hallway for a bit, decides to ghost.
There’s no honor among thieves.
The soju/beer shots are flowing freely at happy hour, and Lawyer Choi asks people to show their talents. One guy impresses with his impressions of famous comedians, but there are no other takers. Choi picks on Cha-young so she does an impression, too… of Choi doing Zumba. Yaasss. Get it, #girlcrush. Lawyer Choi laughs like a good sport but, outside the bar, she summons Cha-young to her car and grabs her by the neck as their colleagues look on. Cha-young subtly points out that if her long nails leave marks, she could sue for assault. She receives a text from Yu-chan summoning her home.
Vincenzo meets with Mr. Na and he’s got some seeeerious dirt. Not only has Mr. Na been taking bribes from real estate agents and coercing tenants out of leases, but he’s also having an affair with a colleague. Armed with this information, Vincenzo asks him to to stall demolition for two months and let his men handle it when the demolition does happen, or else he’ll spill the tea. Or coffee? No funny business, he says, because Na will be dead if anything happens to Vincenzo. A panicked Mr. Na calls Ant Company to halt the demolition, and Yu-chan invites Vincenzo over for soju.
Cha-young visits her father, and Yu-chan wants her to stop defending Babel. She blames Vincenzo for his renewed conviction to fight and accuses him of buying into conspiracy theories. When she and Vincenzo cross paths outside, she tells him to stop feeding her father nonsense and he questions her honor as a lawyer, accusing her of being blind to the truth. She continues to be suspicious of him, and thinks she’ll have the last laugh when his true self is revealed. Meanwhile, the Babel CEO takes a call, presumably from our hockey gear-donning mystery man, who reprimands him before asking to use his villa for some unknown purpose. Isn’t this the villa where Cha-young quarantined the researchers?
Back inside Yu-chan’s, Vincenzo probes for more information on Gyeong-ja, but Yu-chan tells him to ask his mom himself. Duh, dummy, that’s why he dragged you to the hospital. Yu-chan recalls sitting across the aisle from an enraged Vincenzo at the trial five years ago, and his hunch about their relationship was confirmed when he saw Vincenzo outside the correctional facility.
Overnight, an explosion goes off in a villa in Yangyang, killing all 14 Babel researchers in the quarantine. The news gets Yu-chan riled up. Meanwhile, a very concerned Jun-woo asks Cha-young to stop representing Babel as the bodies add up, but she tells him he’s crossing the line. Poor guy is so stressed out, he can’t even speak Korean. Lawyer Choi tells Lawyer Han she thinks the arson is a warning to Wusang to “clean up” better. Chairman Jang calls for a meeting with them and she readies her “secret crystal ball.”
The arson investigation is wrapped up quickly but Yu-chan is determined to make sure the authorities follow protocol. Vincenzo notices some men taking photos of them and tries to shuffle Yu-chan away from the scene, but Yu-chan won’t go so easily. Vincenzo asks why he won’t back off the case, but Yu-chan says it’s his fate and he’ll give his life for it. Smart people may rule the world, but stubborn and reckless people protect it.
The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.
Choi finally meets the CEO but senses something is up. He says he’ll give her anything she wants but is confused when she asks him to buy her the prosecutor’s office. Lawyer Han seems equally clueless. He thanks the CEO for scolding them with the villa incident (referring to the explosion) and is startled when the CEO says he was just blowing off steam (referring to the scolding just now). After dinner, Choi gets a text from her Crystal Ball. The whistleblower has been found, but he’s already talked to Yu-chan. After seeing news of the explosion, Min-chul contacts Yu-chan and agrees to testify before anyone else is hurt.
Vincenzo scares off the delinquent kids a second time and realizes he has been distracted by personal matters for too long. He gathers the tenants and offers to buy them another mall in an adjacent neighborhood, no strings attached. They are skeptical, but Agent Ahn — who is supposed to be there investigating his mafia ties — hilariously comes to his defense. The monk tells everyone they should put their faith and trust in him.
Lawyer Choi tells Cha-young she’s off all Babel-related cases but she won’t blindly follow a request without a justification. Choi accuses her of going too easy on her dad but when she says he’s just her opposing counsel, Choi insists family comes before work. Cha-young barges into Jipuragi and goes on an impassioned rant about him ruining her career and her life and letting her mother die while he took care of everyone else. To Mr. Nam, this seems par for the course for father and daughter, but Vincenzo looks pained, and not just because of the leg he banged up while trying to sneak out.
It takes a devil to drive out another devil.
Vincenzo finds Cha-young upset and eating alone outside a convenience store just as it starts raining — always a surefire sign of an impending romance in a K-drama, btw. Cavalleria Rusticana is playing as he encourages her to come drink with them to make up for being immature, even if she doesn’t want to apologize. The scene flips to Lawyer Choi, where the music takes on a discordant tone as she orders someone to do something to “both of them.” Both of whom?
At the restaurant, Yu-chan is upset at Babel for making his little girl so upset. Vincenzo tells him once more to back away from the Babel case but Yu-chan is still undeterred. More than running away, leaving people in danger is the coward’s way out. Cha-young finally decides to join them at the restaurant but stubbornly tells herself she’s only going to eat tofu and pancakes. The convenience store clerk hands her an umbrella that Vincenzo bought for her earlier and her face brightens.
Min-chul is getting some evidence together when a “police officer” hunting for a “murder suspect” breaks into his hotel room. He jumps out of his window with a backpack containing the docs and hides in a boat. Vincenzo sees a call on Yu-chan’s phone from “RDU” but doesn’t pick up, while an ominous-looking stranger solicits Yu-chan for a cigarette outside. Min-chul is finally caught trying to contact Yu-chan, and we see his phone clatter to the ground covered in blood.
When Yu-chan returns, Vincenzo asks what he is hiding and he says he truly wishes someone would just pwn these Babel bastards through any means necessary. He asks Vincenzo if he’ll be the devil, citing an Italian proverb. Vincenzo tells him he knows he’s in contact with the whistleblower, and, as Yu-chan calls him back… Truck of Doom(tm) plows through the restaurant entrance, delivering a dramatic encore performance.
When the shards of glass settle, Vincenzo is still conscious, but things are not looking good for Yu-chan.
Comments
Episode three… I was not ready for you!!!
This episode really took me on a ride, and I am excited about how quickly some of these revelations happened. We now have confirmation that Oh Gyeong-ja is Vincenzo’s biological mother, and that Yu-chan knew who Vincenzo was. Perhaps Yu-chan felt he owed it to Gyeong-ja to treat her son well, which is why he warmed up to him so quickly. Either way, mad props to the show for building a relationship between Yu-chan and Vincenzo we could all feel invested in, in only three episodes.
Now that the Truck of Doom has stolen him away — sadly, I do think he’s really dead — I look forward to seeing how Vincenzo will exact his revenge. It’s unfortunate to see such a wonderful character go so soon, but something needed to happen that would unite Vincenzo and Cha-young eventually and advance the trajectory of the series.
Speaking of, I love the way Cha-young stands up to Lawyer Choi. Now that we know they will inevitably be on opposite sides of the war, it makes so much sense that Cha-young was written as such an over-the-top character. How else could she compete with such an eccentric and unabashedly evil former prosecutor? I was so nervous for her when she did that Zumba impression at the happy hour, but I also admired the fearlessness with which she did it, confident her job wouldn’t be in immediate danger.
On the flip side, we were also able to see that she can be vulnerable when it comes to her career, especially because it seems to have something to do with the death of her mother. Three separate people told her to quit her job in this episode, but she was adamant about keeping it. Is she trying to compensate for her father’s shortcomings by being a top-notch attorney with a winning record? And how will she change now that her father is gone — especially since they parted on such poor terms? That wound won’t heal so easily, and I expect she will tap into that grief and become even more tenacious than before.
Everyone seems to be taking a very strong and personal interest in seeing Cha-young off the cases involving Babel, but especially Jun-woo, which makes me wonder whether he knows more about what’s happening behind the scenes than he’s letting on. After all, he does have the same last name as the Babel CEO. My current theory is that he’s a black sheep/illegitimate child that got sent abroad to study (K-drama trope alert) and is now trying to dismantle Babel by dismantling its legal defenses. Surely he won’t be just be a dopey intern for 17 more episodes, right?
No one has come after Vincenzo yet as a result of his party posts on social media and I wonder whether his relationship with the Italian ambassador and/or Mr. Cho has anything to do with that. We know his hands aren’t exactly clean, though Jun-woo’s background check said otherwise, and that past is bound to catch up with him eventually.
For now, though, I hope he eventually gets to eat a decent plate of pasta.
