Vincenzo

_{An instant classic}

Vincenzo is a show that you can't help but fall in love with. Led by the smooth-talking titular Mafia lawyer, it oozes with style at every corner; every character - from Yoo Jae-myung's Vincenzo Cassano to Jeon Yeo-been's Hong Cha-young to Kim Hyung-mook's Toto - bursts with life and story, an effervescent mix of humor and depth that gives Vincenzo a level of immersion not matched by even the best.

One of the my favorite parts of Vincenzo, however, is that these characters that shine with so much glamour aren't forced into unwieldy relationships or hurried romance. While most K-dramas can be summarized in similar form to that of "a romance while ____", Vincenzo is more-so a revenge story with the lighthearted story beats of a romance to break up the mood of the drama.

Admittedly, Vincenzo's first few episodes can be deceptive, either the most difficult or the easiest to get through. They lack the humor that comes to define the show, making them a hard sell for most casual viewers. The persistence is worth it, however, because the show's comedic and emotional payoff uses the cliffs built by those first few tense chapters to glide through beautiful canyons of unique storytelling.

Vincenzo also succeeds in being the gritty-comedic mix it so impossibly manages to be because it doesn't shy away from either. It doesn't hesitate to go all-in on the violence - the series ends with the main character drilling a hole in the villain's chest and setting another person on fire - but it also doesn't hesitate to leap for those cheesy gags and classic jokes. It reminds you that though it may be dark, it also doesn't take itself very seriously; that's the charm of the show.

The show is also carried by the incredible acting chops of both leads and the side characters, with the show really being more ensemble than double-led. There's a scissor wielding former gangster, a pseudo-Italian chef, a government agent, a dumb gangster villain. Vincenzo juggles the weight of an incredibly hectic of characters like a well-practiced circus man, each character not haphazardly jumbled together but rather nicely combined in an immersive world.

Vincenzo is not my favorite K-drama of all time; there are others that tug harder at your heartstrings, pull farther at your mind. But it will always be a comfort drama, that one show that you don't need to prepare yourself for. It's not a tearjerker, it's a nice, warm series that you can save for a rainy day, as many times as you need. It's not a pillar of the art community - but it is an instant classic.

Images from Netflix