Vincenzo — Episode 7 Recap
Liberty leads the people, surprise witnesses take the cake, and our villains opt not to bite the hands that feed them. For now.
By the numbers
Covid tests: 9
Affairs: 2
Surprise witnesses: 2
Previous: Vincenzo — Episode 6 Recap
Next: Vincenzo — Episode 8 Recap
Recap
The episode opens with a replay of Vincenzo’s surprise strut down the courtroom aisle, because, why not?
From here, the action alternates between the courtroom and flashbacks of the last few days.
After Jipuragi lose all their key witnesses in episode 6, Vincenzo suggests they use another witness: him. A witness must have direct ties to the case, but if she can get him on the stand, he can do the rest. Cha-young knows Wusang will reject their request to call him as a witness, so Vincenzo must be in a position they can’t refuse. To that end, he follows a team of Babel Chemicals’ middle managers to a local restaurant and purposely assaults them. Tada! Now he’s directly involved in the case.
In court, Choi objects to his testimony as an advisor to the plaintiff and an assailant. Without being sworn in, Vincenzo turns to address the courtroom audience. The manufacturing facility is not equipped with proper disposal for BLSD, and the resulting leak is causing illness in the researchers. Then he offers the judge a key piece of evidence: a cell phone belonging to the head of the research team, turned in by an employee.
Vincenzo obtains the cell phone after giving the research team leaders a proper spanking and a sprinkling of soy sauce and humiliation. While under arrest, he hides it under his foot and kicks it back to “employee” Mr. Nam, who is seated nearby in a Babel Chemicals uniform.
The defense tries to stop the evidence from being accepted, but before they can sort it out, Vincenzo abruptly stands and threatens to beat Dr. Gil to a pulp. After all, he deserves it for covering up the link between the BLSD and leukemia. Attorney Choi objects on the grounds that he is not a medical expert, and it’s sustained. Cha-young brings in her second surprise witness: it’s Dr. Gil’s wife, Dr. Kim, a leukemia expert who has evidence her husband committed perjury. An enraged Dr. Gil is escorted out of the courtroom.
Cha-young and Vincenzo know an enemy of an enemy is a friend, so Vincenzo suggests going after his most intimate enemy. He follows Dr. Gil’s wife to an art museum and flirts with her in front of a painting:
At the museum cafe, he reveals evidence of Dr. Gil’s affair, which she already knew about, and a secret account where he is hiding money… which she did not. She agrees to testify in exchange for Jipuragi’s assistance in taking all of Dr. Gil’s assets in the divorce. And also, an opera date with Vincenzo.
Wifey takes the cake as she states that a Dr. Ramos from UCLA emailed her husband about the connection between BLSD and leukemia. Choi accuses her of violating privacy laws to get this information, but here’s the kicker: Dr. Ramos’s information came from Dr. Kim in the first place. She just didn’t want to hurt her poor widdle husband’s pride by telling him.
Dr. Gil is allowed back into the courtroom to dispute his wife’s testimony, but it looks like she brought icing for that cake, too: a baggie of meth she found in his desk drawer. Cha-young and Vincenzo are certain that the meth found in Lee U-yeong’s system — which caused him to be dismissed as a witness — will have the same chemical makeup as that of Dr. Gil’s. Dr. Gil blows his top, and Dr. Kim gives him a very public and well-deserved beating.
After the trial, Jun-woo tells Han-seo to admit to everything and get rid of BLSD. Punish everyone involved, and compensate the victims. And Babel Tower? Just demolish Geumga Plaza already, or Jun-woo will take care of it himself. It’s for the police, prosecutors, and government officials who will benefit from its construction — and, in turn, benefit Babel.
Vincenzo congratulates Cha-young on tying up a case in two weeks that would have taken over 5 years. She offers Vincenzo anything he wants, because she couldn’t have done it without him.
Babel will lose $760M because of this case and Jun-woo is absolutely livid. He takes his anger out on his gas pedal, going over 200km/hr as the Wusang attorneys cower in the backseat.
Vincenzo is claiming his prize from Cha-young at a suit shop; she begrudgingly agrees to buy him ten suits. The tailor takes his measurements, surely standing in a puddle of his own drool, and applauds every suit Vincenzo tries on. Cha-young, on the other hand, finds this about as exciting as watching paint dry:
He wears the last sample suit he tried on out of the store and thanks her for the gift. Cha-young bashfully hands him another to celebrate their partnership: a fountain pen engraved with his first name. He says he loves the pen but teases that he hates the font. He sure loves pushing her buttons.
In a remote field, Jun-woo angrily bashes the windshield in with a golf club, two very frightened attorneys still in the backseat. In frustrated English, he says he does not like to lose, and he’s certainly never lost twice. They tell him they’ll try harder to be creative, but he says they are too old-fashioned. Creativity is something you’re born with: like Vincenzo.
Jun-woo demands Wusang destroy Cha-young by any means possible. Jun-woo will take care of Vincenzo and buying the prosecutor’s office himself. Choi objects to the latter, wanting to prove she is worthy of a second chance, so Jun-woo gives her three days. At Wusang, Choi gathers the staff and demands they dig up any dirt on Cha-young. She represented Babel there for eight years, so there has to be something, right? She makes a phone call.
Jipuragi visit U-yeong with the Geumga Gang to let him know Babel Chemicals is all but done for. Vincenzo announces a meeting for tomorrow regarding the plaza, but the tenants suddenly seem off. Just then, Mr. Na calls. He can no longer delay the demolition of Geumga Plaza; it must be demolished in a week, or the chairman will take over himself. Oh, and btw:
A call from Mr. Cho interrupts their meeting. He’s found a Korean-Japanese engineer who may be able to excavate the gold bars without damaging the building. He’s flying out tonight for a consultation. Meanwhile, Attorneys Choi and Han take her old prosecutor colleagues to dinner with an offer to help their political careers, but it’s met with flying tableware. Chief Prosecutor Hwang threatens to throw them in jail if they proposition him again.
Vincenzo stops in the Geumga Plaza hallway to investigate mysterious noises coming from an abandoned storefront. Yeong-ho, our favorite delinquent, has kicked his smoking habit and is now a streamer of bizarre horror comedy. Vincenzo is, well, horrified. Well done.
Alone in his apartment, he sees news that the coach of BC Milano is recruiting youth soccer players in Seoul. He stares longingly at Cha-young’s gift.
Mr. Cho calls again and Vincenzo asks him to bring the engineer by Geumga Plaza ASAP. While Vincenzo and the engineer inspect the temple, Mr. Cho distracts the monks outside with some burning questions:
Mr. Cho: What should people who want to be vegetarian be careful with? And… if you forget the words of the scriptures while reciting them, do you improvise? Girls like guys that go to church, but how come they don’t fall for monks?
Unfortunately, the building is so shoddy, the engineer doesn’t think you could drill more than a foot without collapsing the entire building.
At Jun-woo’s home, the Jang brothers pay their respects to their late father and Jun-woo chows down on a handful of gummy bears from the shrine. They share a few drinks and Jun-woo says would like Han-seo infinitely more if he was smarter. Han-seo wonders aloud if Jun-woo will get rid of him like he did their father if he continues to disappoint him.
Flash back to years earlier. Young Jun-woo is eating those same gummy bears at his father’s death bed. “Live a life that cannot be written about in a biography,” he recalls his father telling him. Dr. Gil enters the room and injects a substance into the elder Jang’s IV; Jun-woo tells him he’s going to hell as he flatlines. Han-seo is waiting in the hallway and looks disturbed when Jun-woo tells him their father is gone.
Present Jun-woo supposes Han-seo is pretty smart after all. He’s proud but doesn’t like how he’s looking like their father nowadays. He shoves a gummy bear into his little brother’s mouth — an unsubtle reminder not to bite the hands that feeds him. Except that Han-seo looks sick of being fed.
Vincenzo and Mr. Cho are running out of options for retrieving the gold, so they try to think of other stalling tactics. He can’t throw any more parties, and they can’t randomly demolish the building without support from police or local officials. But Vincenzo has one more option.
It’s the morning of the tenants’ meeting with Vincenzo, but everyone seems really distracted. Four days ago, the homeless man who came into Chef Baek’s restaurant looking for food told them all about the gold bars hidden in the plaza. He’d seen all the men involved in the operation get killed and picked up a cell phone belonging to one of them. He shows the tenants a selfie the worker took with gold bars in the background as evidence. They had all laughed it off, but it’s clearly still on their minds.
At Jipuragi, the team watch Chairman Jang’s press conference on the Babel Chemicals settlement. In a social media group, Cha-young hears of Choi’s failure with Prosecutor Hwang. Everyone knows he has already been in another conglomerate’s back pocket for years anyway. -2 points for Babel.
At the Geumga Plaza meeting, Vincenzo personally tells the tenants he’s buying another mall for them in Sanchi-dong, but the reception is lukewarm. Ant Company barges in with paperwork for them to sign before they move out but, to everyone’s surprise, Cheol-wook declares they aren’t moving. Miri adds they’ve been too weak, and they all vow to unite and fight. Ant Company and Jipuragi both leave confused, but CEO Park gets some good news in the hallway; they have permission to raid the building.
Jipuragi return to the office and Vincenzo is oh-so-handsomely frustrated when the police come to arrest Cha-young. They have five USB drives’ worth of evidence on a variety of charges against her, including forgery and violation of the attorneys-at-law act. These charges are much more serious than the first time around, but Cha-young orders Vincenzo to get her out:
Cha-young: Then do something… Mr. Mafia Lawyer. Handle this matter like a member of the mafia. Do it.
Vincenzo: I’m not in the mafia.
Cha-young: Enough with your act. It’s getting difficult playing dumb.
Vincenzo: I mean, what I meant was… How did you know?
Vincenzo tails Choi and follows her to a gambling hall. He takes a seat next to her at a table and tells her she’s not good at games of chance. She responds that people good at them are con artists. Guess who wins the hand?
Choi wonders why Vincenzo would come to her to help him spring Cha-young out of jail, because she doesn’t think he has anything she wants. But… what about the prosecutor’s office? He even brought a contract! She’s not impressed, so he reminds her of the laundromat incident. Okay, so he did try to kill her, but sometimes trusting your enemy will bring you luck. He takes a fork from her hand, spears a piece of fruit, and offers it back to her.
She must’ve signed, because Vincenzo goes to Prosecutor Hwang’s son’s soccer game and introduces himself as her associate. If he works with Choi, Vincenzo can give him the thing he wants most: to send his son to the European league. Just then, the coach of BC Milano walks in. Vincenzo’s called in a favor, and the coach has agreed to recruit Prosecutor Hwang’s son. The prosecutor throws his arms around Vincenzo and calls Attorney Choi to another meeting. Vincenzo: 4. Choi: 0.
A disheveled Cha-young is released and gleefully runs toward the iced Americano in Vincenzo’s hand. She marvels at his effective mafia tactics. Outside, he confesses that he made a deal with Choi to get her out. He’s really apologetic about it, but she’s only feigning being upset — this is the kind of devilish mafia stuff she wants! Like father, like daughter?
That afternoon, the Geumga Gang are getting ready to protest, but it’s snack bar owner Hee-soo’s birthday, and she’s wearing a white dress she’s splurged on for the occasion. She invites all the tenants to play hooky and drink. Elsewhere, Ant Company is preparing for their raid on Geumga Plaza. Mr. Cho loads a bus full of protestors in red jackets.
Vincenzo rushes back to the plaza from the police station and catches Cha-young up on the plan: he’s luring Ant Company over to assault the tenants and plans to upload video of it to gain public sympathy. To prevent the tenants from getting hurt, Mr. Cho has assembled a group to stage a protest outside Geumga Plaza. Vincenzo offered Young-ho $50 to film and post it.
On the way to Geumga Plaza, one of the hired protestors receives a call from contact tracing.
Ant arrives at the plaza just as Agent Ahn is taking out the trash… wearing a red coat, unfortunately. They descend on him and Yeong-ho quickly runs inside for reinforcements. The drunk and rowdy Geumga Gang come rushing out, armed with their favorite assault weapons: a flag, temple drums, and flour.
Vincenzo and Cha-young come upon the scene but can’t see clearly through the smoke. On the phone, Mr. Cho is surprised to hear it’s going smoothly, because the hired hands never made it; they are all getting Covid tests, because safety. When the smoke clears, the duo see that the Geumga Gang have defeated Ant Company on their own: Liberty Leading the People.
Comments
It’s about time the tenants finally stepped up and defended themselves instead of waiting for someone to save them. We should be proud of them, but it’s also disappointing to think that they are only so motivated because of the dubious prospect of life-changing money. On top of that, this episode had a recurring theme around biting the hand that feeds you. Will betraying Vincenzo, who has been helping them this whole time, be worth all those gold bars?
A lot of people are pushing for the Chayenzo ship to sail, but I could live without it, tbh. There are subtle ways in which they are slowly becoming attached, but I would be perfectly content if they ended the show as fond friends who are protective of each other. I cringe every time they set up a romantic scenario, then laugh in relief when they turn the cliche on its head. The woman-taking-man-on-shopping-spree twist has been done before — see Seri and Jeong-hyeok in Crash Landing On You — but I love, love, love that Cha-young is bored and annoyed by the whole dog and pony show. (That is a pun, by the way, which you will understand after episode 8.)
Personally, I think their individual character developments are far more intriguing. Cha-young’s tenacity truly know no bounds. She told Vincenzo to get her out of jail by any means, and she meant it. If she were at all upset that he cut a deal with Attorney Choi, it was only for a fleeting moment. She’s maintained her over-the-top personality, but she won’t be able to keep those walls up much longer — especially with volatile Jun-woo around.
As for Vincenzo, we are starting to see Vincenzo evolve and adapt to Korean life; he’s now drinking yogurt drink, eating tteokbokki, and putting milk in his coffee. Business-wise, he’s uniquely equipped to earn the trust of anyone on any side of a battle. He fulfills his promises, but he treats them as purely transactional. There’s no impression at all that he and Choi will be buddies now that they’ve done each other a solid.
Speaking of, she is looking pretty weak after back-to-back losses as a seasoned prosecutor-cum-rookie lawyer. Seeing her so terrified of Jun-woo, then caving to Vincenzo as a last resort, looked so desperate. On the other hand, it also makes her just like Vincenzo — willing to use any side of the game to get what she needs. If these two could just put their heads together, I bet they could put an end to all this back and forth while fulfilling each other’s goals.
We finally catch a glimpse of why the Jang brothers have that working dynamic. Yes, Han-seo is the illegitimate son, but that wasn’t enough to warrant the fear of his older brother. Now we know Jun-woo is also responsible for their father’s death, and that he could also turn on Han-seo at any moment. Is Han-seo playing the dumb and obedient brother to save his own life? Or does he have bigger plans?
