Vincenzo Season 1 ending explained: A concluding symphony of justice, revenge and incomplete romance

Netflix's K-crime drama Vincenzo, starring Song Joong-ki (in the titular role), aired back in 2021 with 20 episodes of a thrilling journey of comeback, revenge, & poetic justice. The story revolves around a young man (of South Korean origin) named Park Joo-hyung, whose life is turned upside down after circumstances drive him to be a part of the Cassanos, an Italian family with a notorious mafia background.

Having joined the gang, Park is guided and mentored by the head of the Cassanos, Don Fabio. Very soon, he re-emerges as Vincenzo Cassano, consigliere to the Italian mobsters. However, owing to an unprecedented situation, Vincenzo has to head to Seoul (South Korea) in order to retrieve a huge amount of gold (1.5 tons) that he had secretly stashed in a building named the Gemuga Plaza years back.

On his arrival, he realizes that the tables have turned, as The Babel Group is now in illegal possession of the plaza (in whose basement the gold is kept hidden). As the finale nears, we see Vincenzo (with the help of Hong Cha-young, a young and ambitious lawyer) tracking key members of The Babel Group and hunting them down one by one. However, while walking on the path of justice, Vincenzo also seeks revenge on account of personal loss and stands at the verge of becoming a good mobster, but does he really? Let's see if we have a few answers.

Vincenzo goes on to find justice, but he lands somewhere else - perhaps a turning point in his story

When Vincenzo comes to Seoul to take back the gold (he had kept it secretly hidden under the Gemuga Plaza), he boards a very dangerous train, which he had no idea would land him where. Once he learns that between him and the gold now stands the drug cartel-backed corporate firm The Babel Group, Vincenzo realizes that the conventional methods won't work.

In the meanwhile, a young attorney called Hong Cha-young (who used to work for Babel) comes into the picture following her father Hong Yoo-chan (brainchild of a rival firm named Jipuragi Law Firm)'s murder by members of The Babel Group. It is at this point that Vincenzo finds his interests aligned with those of Cha-Young and decides to seek revenge for her and himself (and also retrieve the gold in the process).

As the plot culminates in the Season finale, we see the already cold aura of Vincenzo getting even more fearsome, and he decides to resort to criminal ways (that he learned from his Italian mafia roots) to get what he wants. His first target becomes Myung-hee, a lawyer employed at The Babel Group whose history is quite stained.

As revealed in Episode 17, Myung-hee was responsible for the death of Vincenzo's birth mother (she went by the name Oh Gyeong-ja), and she was also the one who passed the orders for murdering Hong Yoo-chan. But as Vincenzo takes matters into his own hands, sweet revenge is served, and he kills Myung in a cold move (pours gasoline all over her body and sets her ablaze as Zumba music plays in the background) - ironic since Myung was also a Zumba lover.

Vincenzo's next target becomes Jang Han-seok, who initially makes his on-screen appearance as an intern employed at the Wusang Firm (the one that works for and defends Babel). However, it eventually turns out that Han-seok is the main antagonist and the brainchild of Babel (and its shady associations).

But, in a poetic round of justice, Vincenzo kills him as well in the finale using a lethal piece of equipment known as the Spear of Atonement that very slowly drills Han-seok to death. While all throughout the show, we see Vincenzo trying to stick to a moral code of conduct in dealing with the mobsters, the finale introduces a sharp turn in his character arc.

Vincenzo Season 1 finale leaves our titular hero's character arc amidst a lot of questions (or maybe a good mobster is a myth)

Vincenzo Season 1 finale clearly portrays the kind of influence Vincenzo's mafia background had on him (even though we thought that he always wanted to be a good mobster). But probably, the whole concept of it is a myth.

Vincenzo, once he realizes that his modest ways won't work, resorts to violence and starts killing people with his own hands for vengeance, and he probably goes too far this time. It is also worth mentioning how he has been fighting his inner demons constantly in order not to go awry.

His pet pigeon, Inzaghi, is the manifestation of his muddled conscience (as we see that each time he behaves rudely with it, something bad happens to him). So, after everything is settled and Vincenzo grabs hold of the gold, he goes away to Malta and buys a private island there - in an attempt to become the good mobster. But after having taken up such cruel means of seeking vengeance, redemption does not look easy for our titular hero.

Vincenzo goes in search of a new life, but it is eventually revealed that he has not given up his mafia ways. Though he is now the owner of vast acres of olive fields and lives peacefully, the last episode does not bring his character arc full circle.

The finale rather serves as a heartwarming and romantic reunion between Vincenzo and Cha-young in Malta. But it ends on an open note, as Vincenzo has clearly not left his past actions behind him yet. So, it remains to be seen how the story moves forward from this point.

Moreover, with no official confirmation about a second season and a cliffhanger finale, fans have been eagerly waiting for Vincenzo's journey to continue for a long time now. Does he eventually find redemption? Does he really want justice? Or does he only want to neutralize the people who are way worse than him? A lot of questions remain unanswered, and Vincenzo Season 2, if it ever happens, definitely needs to address the same.

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