Best of 2020

This is one of the best dramas I've ever seen. I rarely come across a drama that can hold my attention for 16 episodes, much less 40. I loved seeing the main characters grow up, grow apart, and grow back together, and the love story really felt incredibly organic. I'm already looking forward to rewatching it.
The one complaint that I have is I felt the drama weakened after the 30-episode mark. The main couple and the dads got pushed to the side toward the end in favor of wrapping up the side plots. I really feel like this should've been closer to 45 or 50 episodes with how rushed the last 5 episodes felt, to the point that I wonder if they had to make significant cuts pre- or post-production. The finale didn't feel like a finale at all, and some of the resolution felt a little shallow. I would've liked to see Ling Xiao go to freaking therapy for one, and for his mom and sister to actually get some help too.
But overall, amazing drama that had me crying literally every episode, with a stellar cast and so much heart. Definitely a highlight of 2020 and a go-to comfort drama now.

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Has its flaws, but still brilliant

(spoilers)
There's so much to love about Vincenzo: the acting, the killer music, the comedic moments interspersed with intense drama, the action scenes, the contemplation on good vs evil and the nature of justice. Song Joong Ki is at his peak in this drama, making the titular character shine in all his complexity and moral ambiguity. He makes the show what it is and continues to prove that he is a force to be reckoned with on the screen. Jeon Yeo Bin was a new face to me, but I was in love with her within five minutes of meeting her. She's unlike any FL I've seen in a Kdrama to date, and Jeon Yeo Bin masterfully captures her playfulness, her deep determination, and her messy morals. Taecyeon was a brilliant villain, even if his star started to fade a bit toward the end, and Kwak Dong Yeon (another new name to me) stole every scene he was in with his fantastic acting and the complexity he brought to what could have been a very forgettable role as the younger Jang brother.
I do feel that the writers were a bit too generous with Vincenzo. A tight plot and story is all about balancing characters' wins and losses, and quite frankly Vincenzo got a few too many wins. Song Joong Ki did a stunning job with the script, but there was certainly room in the second half of the show for more setbacks, more give and take between Vincenzo and Jang Han Seok. When the protagonist is constantly outsmarting and outmaneuvering the supposedly terrifying, psychopathic villain, it's easy to get comfortable and lose some of the momentum built early on. Jang Han Seok and Choi Myung Hee, both incredibly compelling villains early on, were readily admitting they were no match for Vincenzo well before the end of the show, and failed to anticipate any of Vincenzo's moves or even have much of a plan of their own beyond reacting to whatever he threw at them. I wanted to see Vincenzo really, truly threatened, to see him defeat a powerful villain after a grueling and satisfying battle, but instead, in his own words, he was the cat and Jang Han Seok/Choi Myung Hee were the mice. (For example, for seemingly no other purpose than pissing Vincenzo off, they murder his mother, and are then shocked when he of course retaliates immediately and brutally? How did that murder fit into their larger plans? Why do it at that moment?)
I have other little qualms with the story of course, but overall this was an addictive, intense, entertaining drama that I would definitely recommend for Song Joong Ki and Jeon Yeo Bin alone. If you're looking for morally gray characters who fight evil with evil, or if you just want a fun, action-packed, edge-of-your-seat story, this is a must-see.

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