Overhyped? I suggest misunderstood.

Okay, a lot of people I have seen in the reviews are mostly like "Unpopular opinion, but I think this was trash" "The comedy was too corny" "Wasted potential" "The story made no sense" etc. Well Im here to smooth out and iron some misconceptions that these people have had watching the show and make them appreciate just how well executed the show was.

DISCLAIMER: I usually have a rule where I won't ever re watch a show/series since personally I don't get to enjoy the journey of watching it like I did the first time, especially since I know how X scene and X cliffhanger will resolve, hence I have rewatch at a 1.

SPOILERS AHEAD! PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE SERIES YET, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND YOU GIVE THE SHOW A GO AT LEAST THE FIRST 2-3 EPS AND SEE IF YOU STILL WANNA CONTINUE.

Ok, so in episode 1 we see Vincenzo introduced as this mafia big shot who is trying to tie end a deal with a man in italy and since refusing and ultimately screwing with the cassano family he decides to burn down the whole vine yard. Already we learn early on that vincenzo not only has connections to make grand scale actions upon enemies and people who oppose him and the mafia family, but that vincenzo is a monster who isn't afraid to do the dirty work to get a desired result one way or another. This sets the tone of what to expect from vincenzo throughout the series as a very organized threat to anyone on his wrong side.

A big complaint people had was the story and its transitions and progression, people look at it from face value yet failed to realize how the simplistic approach makes this show brilliant, let me explain.

The motivation for vincenzo is simple, come to korea and live in the plaza to secure the gold and the file to screw all the evil monsters that roam free. Episode 1 to episode 20 this goal remains consistent, however his approach to reach this goal changes overtime as he is forced to meet and be involved more in the lives of the people in the plaza as well as cha young who slowly overtime develops feelings for, showing true character progression as the story evolves. He went from a stone cold mafia consigliere who wanted to go in and get out to get a job done, to developing deep intense feelings for young who he goes through many ups and downs throughout the series as they work together to bring down the ultimate corruptness that is Jang and his company. However its the little things that make the story very intriguing when paying attention and following along with it. For example, seeing character development between vincenzo and the pigeon, in face value seems a little silly, in concept is very powerful. We see vincenzo learn to rather embrace what he has rather than what he deals with, he learns to accept the bird as apart of his life and embraces them as apart of his development becoming closer to those around him. At the same time we see vincenzo truely start feeling connected to the bird is around the same time when we see vincenzo also develop a close connection to those in the plaza and feel like he belongs with the rest of the residence. Yes the whole revenge sequence is a little repetitive and cheesy (good guy screws bad guy, bad guy gets revenge and screws good guy, good guy gets revenge and screws bad guy etc) but in the way it develops from being very simple acts of revenge like little scandals in court vincenzo and cha young execute to buy time in court to intense abductions and murders upon those close to cha young and vincenzo shows a dynamic shift in the desparation in our villian role of Jang to topple over them foiling their plans of ultimate wealth and influence of power. We go from Jang wanting to keep Vincenzo alive for longer since "killing him will feel the most satisfying once hes the last one left" to "omg just kill the bastard at all cost idc how you do it" shows how much more desperate the situation gets for our villian act which ultimately makes us as the audience feel ever so much more satisfied when the climax finally hits an all time high and vincenzo is able to get the job done on Myung Hee and Jang giving them intense ways to die off. Even the subtle yet brilliant touch of vincenzo taking the watch of Jang, to "mock" and "symbolize" Jang's habit to take the watch of those he has killed off, as if to say the predator is finally being prayed on.

There was also a comment made by one person mentioning how it didn't make sense that (quote), "The show depicts the characters to abide by a certain set of principles and suddenly those same characters renege on those same ideals. A small example if you will: Hong Cha-Yong was introduced to be greedy and with somewhat loose morals, yet she drew a hard line on violence. The moment she meets Vincenzo, violence is now suddenly justified in her eyes." [review quote by Goldsofa].

So let me clear this up because it makes it very clear in the show if you pay attention as to why she has this transition on perspective. The moment she meets vincenzo her morals and understandings remain the same. At the time her goal was to prove to her own father in court that the company was not involved in any illegal and "shady activity" and the turning point for her was when her own company went out and killed off her own father as an attempt to cover their own skin. As she ends up taking over the case of her passing father and "change sides" it is then she decides to work with vincenzo as a "legal advice" since vincenzo was closing working with her father prior to his death and hence has information to share with cha young. When she realises just how much of a powerful influence the company has over certain sectors of the law in mix with her slowly learning the true corruptness of the minds behind it all she then decides over time with the skill set of vincenzo who seemed liked someone who is more then a meer italian lawyer, she realizes as she mentions this later on in the series, when dealing with a monster whos above the law, the only way to beat that monster, is with a bigger monster, a "greater evil" if you will, despite this going against her morals and values from the start. If she can reach her goal by punishing those corrupting the law and abusing it to their benefit and breaking it when no ones looking then the method to reach it no longer concerns her. REMEMBER THOUGH: She strictly didn't want vincenzo to kill, that was her big thing. However again its with further development learning about how truly powerful the enemy is and this being more than just meering punishing wrong doings, she then decides to let vincenzo do what he does best, as its not a matter or just locking some people up for x amount of time, but to rather stop the root of evil to its core completely by literally killing the influences of the whole scheme. So to answer the above quote, no, violence wasn't just suddenly justified in her eyes, she had to learn through the hard way of seeing the evilness itself through all their wrong doing and actions that it was the only realistic way to stop what had been in motion for quite some time.

"the whole essence of vincenzo being a mafia is USELESS" Quote review comment by Zhystel

To say "vincenzo is a regular guy from italy with a gun" is just about the most stupid thing you could have ever say, you really wasted 2-3 mins of you life typing about how he isn't a mafia or smart and that the other characters are just stupid is nonsence. We legitimately see from the first few episodes how he comes across and you have to remember in the first half of the show no one knows or is meant to know he is apart of an italian mafia, so he has to act the part of being "one of them" despite his 5 figure suit he wears proudly which would of been more money then the plaza residence might have seen ever in their lifetime. Even then, we see how he differs from the regular person with his persona and attitude toward certain social interaction, whilst trying to give off the impression hes just some random korean from italy who has some deeper pockets. Despite vincenzo being trained as a killer we get reminded throughout the show he too is just human, he feels pain and gets upset/flustered when things don't go his way. But when he is organized and prepped on what to do in certain scenarios he is very clever and witty. We learn throughout the show that vincenzo does not like it when he has to be spontaneous and put on the spot, hence he can sometimes come off as clueless in certain scenes when hes taken off guard, just like any other normal being. Vincenzo as the whole essence of him being a mafia is useless is just such a silly statement, as its the whole driving force of the show from start to finish, otherwise it would of been just a comedy romance drama about some Italian trying to fit into the korean lifestyle.

There's a lot more to discuss here but I'll leave it at that for those were the main ongoing themes of peoples complaints for the most part. I personally thought the show was fantastic, not 10/10 as there were a few downsides in the show admittivity, comedy at times felt a little too try hard to be funny rather than natural or realistic and acting at times from mpst characters came across as a little dry or over emphasized without the intended effect of the scene as a whole.

Great show!

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