Vincenzo — Episode 4 Recap
Holy… What?
By the numbers
Meta Song Joong-ki references: 4
Lighters used to date: 2
Notes and flowers left on Jipuragi’s door: Hundreds
Times my jaw fell to the floor: Lost count
Previous: Vincenzo — Episode 3 Recap
Next: Vincenzo — Episode 5 Recap
Recap
By the time Cha-young arrives at the restaurant, a crowd has formed in the aftermath of the Truck of Doom(tm). She drops her umbrella as she realizes what has happened, but is too shocked for tears. Vincenzo is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Cha-young lays her father to rest as the media portrays him as a disgraced civil rights attorney who coerced a witness to commit perjury (remember Cha-young’s cake stunt in episode one?).
Lawyer Choi celebrates the news with moar Zumba. Flowers and condolence notes pile up outside Jipuragi, while Jun-woo comforts Cha-young at her father’s gravesite. Vincenzo remains in a coma, and Babel’s new narcotic drug is approved. Cha-young sobs as she cleans up her father’s home, particularly after she reads a note on the back of one of his photos:
Min-chul’s body washes ashore. Are those the waves moving his body, or is he still alive? The discovery of the body is reported on the news as Cha-young tells Mr. Nam, who is mournfully watering Yu-chan’s plants, she wants to close Jipuragi. Cue meta SJK references:
The Geumga Plaza tenants are left in a lurch. Who’s going to take care of them now? Vincenzo has been in a coma for 9 days and, even if he wakes up, they still don’t believe he’ll follow through. Agent Ahn comes to his defense, noting that he saw Vincenzo help the Buddhist temple with the electric heating pads and discipline some kids sneaking cigarettes.
Cha-young returns to Vincenzo’s bedside and begs him to wake up so she can hear his story. She laments the expense of his hospital room out loud and he abruptly sits up, ready to go to the bank. Turns out he woke up from his coma the previous night, but she’s more concerned that he’s been listening the whole time and heard her cry, lol.
At the cemetery, Vincenzo recalls Yu-chan’s request to tell Cha-young she can be an incredible lawyer, in case he is unable. Cha-young tells him she senses something is amiss and wants to investigate the accident again, but he chides her for not reconciling with her father sooner and leaves on a bitter note. On the drive home she learns that it was Min-chul’s body that washed ashore in Busan. His death has been ruled a suicide, and his will reportedly sent to Babel. A lightbulb goes off and she calls a Detective Gu to look into it.
The tenants beg Mr. Nam not to close Jipuragi, but Mr. Nam tells them their license is almost expired anyway. Everyone is happy to see Vincenzo when he finally returns but won’t give the man — who just woke up from a coma! — a break. He’s frustrated as they pester him about the building and tells them that their distrust makes him not want to help. The Ant Company crew walks in, delighted at this turn of events. Vincenzo and the Ant head threaten each other and Vincenzo gives him the tiniest little slap, which amuses the tenants before they all scatter.
Suspecting Wusang’s involvement in her father and Min-chul’s deaths, Cha-young finally resigns from her position at the firm. Lawyer Choi is eager to get rid of her, accusing her of planning to double-cross them, while Lawyer Han continues to be a useless presence. Interestingly, Choi says tells Cha-young she was going easy on her because “we were a family,” then grabs her by the neck again, which fires Cha-young up. Jun-woo tries to physically stop her from quitting by blocking her doorway with his arms but she easily limbos under them:
Despite his protests, mostly to himself, he helps her move out of her Wusang-owned studio and into her father’s old home anyway. Dawwww, can I just shrink you and stick you in my pocket?
Vincenzo drinks as he listens to news of Babel’s drug approval and throws his wine glass at the radio when the reports slander Yu-chan. After revisiting the scene of the accident, he calls in another favor to Mr. Cho, who is apparently indebted to Vincenzo for getting him out of a sticky situation back in Italy. Later that evening, Chairman Jang is startled to find a pillow covered in bloody syringes tucked into his bed. He contacts Wusang, where Jun-woo is eavesdropping while doing “tech support,” and Lawyer Choi decides to pin it on Cha-young to placate him. Chairman Jang orders her arrest.
At home, Cha-young toasts her father. She can’t be a wonderful lawyer like him, so she’ll be a tenacious one instead. In the morning she informs the Geumga Plaza tenants that she will be keeping Jipuragi open and taking over her father’s caseload, after all. The snack bar owner, who never did like Vincenzo, welcomes her assistance, but the dry cleaner is skeptical. As she tries to deliver reassurances with her signature Cha-young flair, the police arrive and arrest her for trespassing and blackmail. She has an alibi the police insist they can’t prove, and she’s all, “What am I, Black Widow?”
Mr. Nam wants Vincenzo to bail out Cha-young, but Vincenzo reassures him that she is competent enough to get herself out by evening and forces his door shut. Of course he already knows what the charges are, but he’s very busy drinking — probably bad for his head injury, eh? — and watching Rigoletto (“Am I evil? If I am indeed evil, it is because of you”). In the morning he’s frustrated to hear Cha-young is still in custody. The police have found evidence her alibi checks out, but it seems they have been paid off by Wusang to keep her in holding.
Jun-woo eventually arrives and boldly tells the police he is there on behalf of Wusang, which confuses them. As he’s making a scene, Vincenzo delivers a USB containing CCTV footage from a nearby convenience store that confirms her alibi, and they have no choice but to release her. Outside, Cha-young suspects Vincenzo is the real culprit, and a jealous Jun-woo introduces himself before outing her for the background check she asked him to run. Cha-young gives him a swift kick in the back of his knee and runs after Vincenzo.
Over coffee, Vincenzo won’t outright admit being the culprit but does say he does such things when he is furious. He finally tells Cha-young he knew Min-chul and her father were connected and asks her to shut down Jipuragi. After all, she should know better than anyone that Babel and Wusang are invincible, right? If she gives up a hopeless war, a new opportunity will arise.
Determined, she spends the night calling through her network for allies, but her old clients are afraid of her and her colleagues see associating with her as a career-limiting move. The next morning, out of desperation, Cha-young makes Vincenzo a proposition he can’t refuse. She presents a folio of real estate cases she won on the side without Wusang’s knowledge and offers to get him Geumga Plaza back, no questions asked. In exchange, she wants in on whatever revenge he’s scheming against Babel. He reluctantly agrees, but tells her she has to quit if she becomes a hindrance.
Together, they pay a visit to the truck driver in prison. He sticks to his story about faulty brake lines causing the accident, but Vincenzo knows he was asked to do it in exchange for a reduced sentence on a child porn trafficking charge. He coerces him into giving up information then loudly thanks the driver for his testimony, tipping off the prison guard to his betrayal. Cha-young is digging their teamwork and the “noir vibes,” but Vincenzo says he’s just getting started. When she jokingly asks if he’s going to shoot someone, he coyly replies that you can’t own a gun in Korea. Give it a couple hours, Cha-young.
The news of the truck driver’s cooperation with the duo reaches Lawyer Choi. That evening, Vincenzo and Cha-young learn that the driver is stabbed and killed in a prison scuffle as a result of Vincenzo’s stunt, but both feel unsatisfied. He tells her she can quit now if she wants, but she agrees to continue working together as long as no more lives are lost. Vincenzo doesn’t respond, instead telling her that his people have located one of the Babel lackeys. A drunk Mr. Nam overhears and springs up from the floor. He wants in, and he has a special skill he can lend to the cause.
The trio find the truck driver’s boss, Mr. Pyo, in a gambling hall. Vincenzo corners him in the bathroom, disarms him of his taser, and renders him unconscious with a coat hanger. They use him to lure the other lackey, and both are tied up in an abandoned building. Cha-young adorably threatens to wollop them with a shovel, but when neither man talks, Vincenzo fires a gun at the ground, alarming Cha-young. She is clearly in over her head as she begs them to say something, anything. Vincenzo gives her a cold, dead look before turning and shooting Mr. Pyo in the chest. Didn’t they just agree not to kill anyone? A gun is a murder weapon, he says. What if the other guy tells on them? Well, then he’ll just have to shoot the other one, too.
Lawyer Choi is at the laundromat again when a mysterious person leaves a basket of bloody clothes behind her. She receives photos of two bloodied men from an unknown number and she’s locked inside the laundromat with the lights off. Two dark forces collide as Vincenzo calls Choi. At first she acts tough, but he won’t be intimidated. Outside, a Truck of Doom(tm) flashes its high beams while Vincenzo watches from a neighboring building. It begins hurtling toward the laundromat, stopping just short of the door, and Choi finally caves — what does he want?
Vincenzo wants her to restore Yu-chan’s, and the Babel victims’, honor and confess to Babel and Wusang’s coverups by tomorrow, or else. She’d rather die, and but he declares her life worthless before hanging up. The Truck of Doom(tm) backs up, then comes at her full speed again before it swerves left and drives away, leaving her cowering. But she’s quickly back up again, vowing to end him. Lady, I’d like to see you try!
The staff is winding down at Babel Pharmaceutical for the evening when the cleaning crew arrives to disinfect the facilities, so they all vacate the premises. The building gets a thorough spraying from top to bottom, including the storage area where the raw material for the new Babel drug is stored. A service van is parked out front, where a man is fiddling with a golden ligh — it’s Vincenzo, and this party is about to get lit.
Flash back to the abandoned warehouse, where it turns out Mr. Nam used to be a special FX guy, and Mr. Pyo isn’t really dead. He’s been spared and is Vincenzo’s minion now, and he’s the one that gives up the info on the supply warehouse. The other cleaning people take off their masks and we see it’s the family of the man who died in the Babel clinical trial.
On top of the deep cleaning, the crew have also turned off the water supply in the building, so the fire is spreading like — well, wildfire. Chairman Jang arrives at the warehouse and is knocked back by an explosion. Another car approaches, and it’s the real CEO. But…
IT’S JUN-WOO.
And he is very, very angry.
As they drive away, Vincenzo recalls Yu-chan’s wish to burn Babel to the ground and declares he will win.
Comments
And the award for best supporting actor goes to… the Truck of Doom(tm)! Playing a character people love to hate is the hallmark of a great actor, but this redemption arc was icing on the cake. Bravo! No more encores, please.
Vincenzo’s ruthlessness is really starting to shine in this episode. We know from the first episode that he does not like his family to be f***ed with, and I am eager to see whether his connection to Yu-chan goes deeper than just Yu-chan’s friendship with his birth mom. Even Cha-young points out he seems to be grieving as deeply as she is, and I find it hard to believe that burning down Babel Pharmaceutical is a pure act of justice.
That plot twist at the end practically unhinged my jaw, but I am also a little disappointed? I knew Taecyeon’s character would be more than a clumsy intern, but I had other hopes for his character. In my mind, I had concocted a story of a black sheep son sent to study abroad who has returned to retaliate by taking his own family down through their own legal defenses. Maybe he still is? Jun-woo is so lovable, and his attitude toward Cha-young so pure, that I am holding out hope. Plus — and I’m not sure why — I really, really wanted him to be on the same side as Vincenzo. But now that we know Jun-woo is more than just a mere intern, I’m curious what he actually knows about Vincenzo. Surely he has the resources to dig deeper. And we know Vincenzo isn’t all that innocent.
On the topic of non-people actors in this show, how about the food? The food scenes really enhance the characters in a poignant way, making them very well-seasoned, har har! But seriously, the duality of Choi eating sushi when she ordered the hit on Yu-chan and Min-chul and then Cha-young eating it while putting a curse on Chairman Jang is brilliant. I am a little sad Vincenzo didn’t eat in this episode, but perhaps he’s grieving too much to eat. At this point, the chef has had an extra couple of weeks to polish his cooking, so he better step up his game. I am rooting for you, Chef Baek!
This show has done a really great job of being unpredictable so far, so let me throw out some completely bonkers, far-fetched theories I have just to see if any of them actually materialize:
- Vincenzo builds an army of minions by scaring them into cooperation via Mr. Nam’s death-faking skills.
- Yu-chan isn’t really dead. The corpse was Mr. Nam’s SFX magic.
- I speculated in the recap above that Min-chul wasn’t dead either. Perhaps he was found alive and is now being kept in a safe house.
- The real chairman is played by Taecyeon, but he is _not_ the intern. Good twin vs. evil twin trope, anyone?
- …and then the good twin teams up with our heroic trio because, F4 trope??
- Prosecutor Choi is the reason Yu-chan was in court instead of at the hospital, making her responsible for both of Cha-young’s parents’ deaths. Bonus: Lawyer Choi said she and Cha-young _were_ family, so maybe she is Cha-young’s maternal aunt.
- Yu-chan is Vincenzo’s father. Because, I don’t know, he was being all flirty with Gyeong-ja and stuff. Also, the synopsis of the series says Vincenzo falls in love with Cha-young but it is unclear whether they actually get together. Maybe there will be a Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker thing, where the potential for romance is implied but obviously cannot happen?
I told you these would be far-fetched.
