Betrayal
Episode 12 of Vincenzo begins with that electrifying cliffhanger from yesterday. Vincenzo readies himself to squeeze the trigger as a teary-eyed Joon-Woo kneels before him. However, Vincenzo is interrupted by police rushing to the scene. They implore him to stop as a gunshot pierces the air. It’s a blank; a warning shot to stop the Italian consigliere. It does the trick too and unfortunately he’s taken away in handcuffs. The crime scene at the Underpass was not wiped clean enough and since then, police have had tabs on Vincenzo. It seems like our consigliere has been outwitted by the Korean police. Cha-Young still happens to have some fight in her and slaps Joon-Woo several times when she passes him. She calls Joon-Woo less than human and promises to get revenge. For now though, she heads back to the station to fight for Vincenzo’s freedom. Cha-Young answers the questions confidently, especially when it’s revealed that the gun Vincenzo had was actually a fake. Thanks to some quick thinking and a lack of evidence, the pair are released from custody with minimal charges surrounding an imitation firearm. In the morning, Vincenzo sits with Gilbert, the homeless man, and questions him about the gold. In fact, he even shows the picture of the gold bars to him. With a pained smile, Vincenzo asks Gilbert to leave the neighbourhood and manages to pay him off with a lucrative sum of money. After, Vincenzo gathers all the residents together and tells them that everything was made up and there is no gold. They don’t believe him though, and when Vincenzo leaves, they decide among themselves to search for it. This eventually brings Park Seok-Do into the conversation, who admits he knows about the gold and will help them find it. When Vincenzo walks away, Mi-Ri approaches the man, repeating the word “cement” as she claims a spirit is trapped in the basement and has been for the last 10 years. Shrugging aside this unnerving confrontation, Vincenzo heads into the law office where Cheol-Wook decides to volunteer himself as an intern to work with them. This brings Cheol-Wook before the two turncoats, Hwang-Gyu and Hyeok-Pil, where he volunteers his services and begins spying with them. The Wusang Law Firm all gather together and contemplate their next move. While they do, Myung-Hee challenges Seung-Hyeok and warns him, explaining that he needs to pick the right ladder. If he doesn’t, he could fall to his death. Watching from afar though happens to be Vincenzo’s spy, who watches this unfold and feeds it back to Mr Corn Salad Cassano and Cha-Young. Myung-Hee does her best to pay off a prosecutor but when he refuses, walking away, he’s hit by the truck of doom. This seems to have been staged by Myung-Hee herself. Elsewhere, Joon-Woo gulps down some water in his apartment and heads for a bath. Only, in doing so he suddenly begins to feel woozy. He eventually recovers and rings Vincenzo, who admits that he’s actually spiked the water supply. He used Cheol-Sook to plant the water during a recent shipment. Vincenzo promises that this is only the beginning and hangs up, wanting to listen to his classical music crescendo while Joon-Woo stews. The next day, while Babel and Wusang continue to bicker, the residents arrive at the law firm and let Vincenzo know about Gwang-Jin, the gold expert. Cha-Young obviously doesn’t know about the gold so awkwardness inevitably ensues. With 1.5 trillion won (£700 million/ $965 million) stashed away, Vincenzo finds himself in a tough position when Joo-Sung and Cha-Young both hug him and excitedly discuss how much money they’re going to get each. The revelations continue too when Manager An arrives and the secret about him being part of the Intelligence Agency breaks. Specifically, he talks about the Guillotine file which has been leaked, presumably through a hack. Given this is linked to Wang Shaolin as well, Vincenzo realizes that this file is actually hidden with the gold bars. Seung-Hyeok propositions Han-Seo and encourages him to kill Joon-Woo. While they’re out hunting together, Han-Seo seems to have the opportune time to strike. Unfortunately the shot isn’t fatal and Joon-Woo turns around to face his brother, a murderous look in his eyes. Whispering, he tells him he should have aimed properly and collapses on the ground. Just before hitting a follow-up killer shot, a random walker arrives to help and phones an ambulance. News of Joon-Woo’s injury reaches Vincenzo who believes a war has broken out at Babel. Well, surgery goes well and Joon-Woo is inevitably going to survive. This immediately sends Han-Seo spiraling as he realizes Joon-Woo is going to want revenge. Meanwhile, Myung-Hee speaks to Joon-Woo who names her his consigliere. She warns that these attacks could happen again and the only way to survive is to make his weakness a strength. That includes coming clean as the actual chairman of Babel. Just like that, Joon-Woo arrives mid-meeting with Babel Group. He immediately makes a statement, pushing his brother out and promises to get revenge for what he’s done. Soon the time comes to empty the vault under the temple. This includes taking all the residents out for a night at the hot springs. With all the residents in agreement, they pile onto a bus and leave. As the bus departs, Vincenzo shows up at the temple with Mr Cho. Together, they manage to lift the vault door and head down to the treasure below. There are gold bars all over the place, and as the duo look at their booty, Mr Cho suddenly betrays Vincenzo and holds him up at gunpoint. Oh no…
The Episode Review
Vincenzo returns with another good episode, although not quite as dramatic as yesterday’s chapter. However, there’s a lot of interesting developments here and that cliffhanger serves as the icing on the cake. With Mr Cho betraying Vincenzo and wanting the gold to himself, this sets things up nicely for next week’s double bill – especially if Vincenzo once again finds himself without funds. If I’m being critical, Vincenzo perhaps should have been more wise to this happening, especially after the taxi stint at the start of the season. However, this episode also sees internal struggles break out with the Babel group, including Han-Seo hitting back at his brother. Predictably, Han-Seo isn’t able to hit the finishing blow and this has consequently has caused Joon-Woo to grow in power and step out of the shadows. Beyond that though, the episode doesn’t have an awful lot else going on, essentially setting up this gold hunt play out in Geumga Plaza. There are some nice moments with Cha-Young though, especially the forehead flick segment. I think it’s safe to say we’re going to get more moments of hilarity between the two characters. Beyond that though, Vincenzo continues to deliver enjoyable drama, leaving the door open for next week’s follow-up.
