The second I saw the trailer I knew, that I would love this series. And I do, I honestly and truly love Vincenzo. It's been a while since I have had this much fun with a drama. But I am not going to sit here and pretend like this isn't an incredibly dumb show.

Vincenzo is an experience that is kind of hard to put into words. At first, I had problems connecting with this drama. I wasn't sure what to make of it. The first few scenes promised a high-stake thriller with a sinister feel. Then it suddenly turned into an off-beat comedy just like two scenes later. But Vincenzo is both of these things and neither. It's too gory to be a comedy and way too silly to be a genuine action thriller. The tone of this show is all over the place. But weirdly enough it sort of works.
As I fell in love with the quirky cast of this drama, I caught myself forgiving all of Vinceno's shortcomings. Those shortcomings include: A completely nonsensical plot with countless plotholes, cheesy dialogue, an overpowered lead, rushed plotlines, and confusing character arcs. This might all sound harsh but all my critique doesn't change the fact that I was incredibly entertained throughout the entire series. At times I laughed at the show, at times I laughed with it, but in the end, I always laughed, so who am I to complain.

Yes, this show has some fundamental problems. I have said before that it is riddled with plot holes but a big one is Vincenzo himself. The show is so scared of letting Vincezos fail at anything, that the incredibly high-stake premise starts to feel a bit pointless at some points because you always know that Vincenzo has the upper hand anyway. All attempts by our villains to bring him down get destroyed, oftentimes in the very same episode or even just ten minutes later. That makes Vincenzo feel less and less like an actual character and more like a Mafia version of Superman, a hyper-competent, invincible, supernatural being, everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone in the show, is in love with (the homo-eroticism in this drama is undeniable). I also wish we could have seen more bad-ass Hong Cha-young moments. She's supposed to be this super successful smart lawyer but 80% of the time, Vincenzo does all the work . I know that it's just one of the tropes that come with a Korean romance drama but watching her having to get saved by him time and time again did get a bit old.
While I love this huge and entertaining cast, it did feel like this show bit off a bit more than it could chew, which honestly is kind of amazing because it is so long and it still didn't really get the chance to develop each character. Some plot-lines here did feel a bit rushed as a result of that. This sadly also was the case with the romance between the two leads, which is a shame because I think they definitely had chemistry. I felt like their dynamic could have been explored more but unfortunately, the drama had more than enough on its plate already.

Still, while this show does get pretty dumb, there is a lot I sincerely like about it. I think the villain in this, while he is comically evil, is super fun and you can't say that the actor didn't give it his all. His over-acting is part of the charm here, to be honest. I thought Choi Myung-he was also a really fascinating, three-dimensional character and I enjoyed every scene with her. I also love a good redemption arc and a lovable himbo and this show offered both in one. The cast in general was really fun and different and there were many lovable characters to root for. The last few episodes were especially satisfying to watch and the finale didn't let me down either. While I have argued that Vincenzo's character was ridiculously overpowered, it would be a lie if I claimed I didn't love just watching him toy with the bad guys. And last but not least, I have never really gotten Korean humor, but in this show most of the time it worked for me. Others referring to Vincenzo as "corn salad" instead of consigliere will always crack me up.
While remarkable cinematography or editing isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about this show, it still looks pretty cool and most shots get the point across while looking stylish, without feeling too showoff-y. The editing often adds to the humor and quirkiness of the show and the action scenes are also very well-cut.
The actors were great, of course. Vincenzo's actor really did try his best with his Italian lines so I gotta give credit where credit's due. I have already mentioned the villain's performance but his acting especially stood out to me and I just loved watching everything he did, no matter how insane it was.
I should probably say something about the OST as well but I honestly can't remember a single song from this show so I assume it was neither particularly great nor bad.

After I finished this drama I just sat down and asked myself: "Would I recommend this show?". And the answer is kind of. But you need to know what you're getting into. Don't come to Vincenzo and expect any realism. Don't expect anything believable or particularly meaningful from this show, otherwise, you will be disappointed. Just embrace it for its wackiness. Vincenzo promises an absolutely insane premise. And it delivers. The setup is insane. The characters are insane. The villain especially is insane. Everything about it is so over-the-top and off-beat, I don't think it's possible to not have at least a tiny bit of fun with this. But you gotta meet the show where it's at. Don't question anything. I am serious. Turn your brain off for those 20 episodes or your head will hurt.

I enjoyed Vincenzo the most when it leaned into its insanity. I couldn't really bring myself to care about all the times it tried to be depressing or deep. I had the most fun when it was just trying to entertain.
I feel like oftentimes films and TV shows are so dead-set on being edgy and clever, that they forget to be fun. Sometimes, after a long sad day, I don't want to see something witty and award-winning. I don't want to be out-smarted. I want to watch a Korean man try really hard to convince me that he knows Italian. I don't like that we measure art by how contrived it is. There's a time and space for dark, realistic, gritty stuff, obviously, but there should also be a time and place for a silly action show like this.