While Babel and and their law firm do damage control, our leads move onto the next phase of their plan. It’s time to take their fight to court. Our legal team knows the fight won’t be fair, and they’ll need to get creative to win against a corporation as powerful as Babel. Thankfully, unconventionality is our leads’ strong suit.
EPISODE 5
After their successful mission, Cha-young is flustered when one of the victims of the Babel case grabs her in a hug before leaving. Elsewhere, Joon-woo nearly chokes Chairman Jang to death because he doesn’t like his tone. He reminds Chairman Jang he’s just a puppet and orders him to ensure the fire is attributed to an electrical failing.
Vincenzo and Cha-young discuss their next steps over drinks. He’s determined to beat Babel in court, but he’s not licensed in Korea, so Cha-young will have to be their official lawyer. As a former insider, Cha-young decides targeting Babel Chemicals is their best shot. Meanwhile, Monk Chaeshin has a meal with a long-time friend who happens to be a Babel Chemicals employee.
At the gym, Chairman Jang overestimates his strength. Vincenzo just happens to pass by and help him out, and he makes a show of recognizing the amazing Chairman Jang. Playing the fan, Vincenzo strokes his ego while also testing him by dropping names and business knowledge that goes over Chairman Jang’s head.
Chairman Jang loses his cool when Vincenzo gets too in his space and brings up how tabloids have said the fire at the Babel factory was arson. Like Myung-hee, Vincenzo only needed one interaction to gather that Chairman Jang isn’t the real boss.
Joon-woo runs on the treadmill and talks to Cha-young on the phone while she does silks. He brings up the fire which Cha-young says Babel had coming, and Joon-woo readily agrees with her. After he hangs up, he surmises that she was behind it.
Vincenzo and Cha-young meet up, and she isn’t particularly surprised to hear that Chairman Jang is likely not the real leader of Babel. Drawing from Mafia strategy, Vincenzo guesses that the best way to draw out the real boss is to destroy the puppet. He’s surprised when Cha-young comes to the same conclusion.
While Myung-hee ruminates on her brush with death in the laundromat, Attorney Han barges in and shares that Vincenzo, the lawyer palling around with Cha-young, is clean. He checked with Italian sources and the NIS. Myung-hee is sure something is off about him and goes to check him out in person.
At Jipuragi, Myung-hee finds Joo-sung singing in Italian and wearing a knockoff blue suit. She asks if he’s Vincenzo, which he affirms while clicking one of those cheapy lighters in an aggressively uncool imitation of the real deal. She’s taken aback and doesn’t buy the act, especially when he almost burns his face off with his little lighter.
Myung-hee storms out and runs into Cha-young and the real Vincenzo in the hall. Vincenzo didn’t disguise his voice on the phone with Myung-hee, so Cha-young bluffs that he has tonsilitis and can’t speak.
Myung-hee invites herself for tea and poses her threats as well wishes, advising them to lay low so they can survive. When she keeps pressing Vincenzo to speak, he uses this strange, high-pitched voice. The whole encounter confuses Myung-hee who isn’t sure if Vincenzo is her guy.
At Wusang, Attorney Han calls Joon-woo into his office and reluctantly announces that he’s been made partner. Attorney Han is frustrated and baffled by Chairman Jang’s request, but he has no choice but to promote Joon-woo. In a move very reminiscent of Cha-young, Joon-woo does a little victory dance once he’s around the corner.
At Jipuragi, Cha-young gives a presentation about Babel Chemicals using Joo-sung’s ridiculously colorful slides that look like they were made by a grade schooler. The gist is that RDU-90 is not Babel’s only dangerous product embroiled in a lawsuit. Babel Chemicals is developing a new product, and several researchers exposed to it have died of “leukemia.”
The victims’ lawyer Attorney So is working with Wusang to convince the victims to settle. Babel owns the hospital that gave out fake diagnoses to the victims and has the newspaper Daechang Daily in their pocket.
Vincenzo is set on Jipuragi representing the victims, despite only having five days until the trial. He and Cha-young meet with Attorney So makes up excuses for accepting bribes. While he whines about how hard it’s been, Vincenzo interrupts to say hypocrisy is the only sin he can’t abide. He threatens to send him to a secluded place where no one will find him if he doesn’t agree to transfer his clients to them.
Chairman Jang presides over an awkward board meeting where he berates everyone for Babel’s plummeting stock and the tabloid articles about arson. He pettily forces them to eat spicy food and rushes out to take a call from Joon-woo who instructs him to have Daechang Daily (falsely) report that Babel Chemicals’ new product is market-ready.
Meanwhile, Cha-young thinks persuading the victims would’ve been faster than going for the lawyer. She brags to Vincenzo that she only needs five minutes to win them over. She wants to bet on it with the loser suffering a flick to the forehead, but Vincenzo refuses – he doesn’t hit women, even for games.
Vincenzo rolls his eyes as he watches Cha-young fake sob and try to convince the victims. But they have no desire to fight this out in court, especially after the Babel Pharmaceuticals case. When they mention how Yoo-chan died after supposedly coercing the victims and witnesses, Cha-young’s face turns stony.
For once, Cha-young turns sincere. She admits Yoo-chan was her father and says she wants to beat Babel against the odds. But even her earnest pleas don’t get through to them. Vincenzo joins in – with a megaphone for good measure – and argues that he and Cha-young are suited to the job because they’re winners, unshakeable, and tireless.
Elsewhere, Chairman Jang publicly announces the release of Babel Chemicals’ new product BLSD, a substance that will be used in display panels. As he shakes the researchers’ hands, Monk Chaeshin’s friend Woo-young starts to cough and grabs his chest. When Chairman Jang reaches him, Woo-young coughs and sprays blood all over Chairman Jang’s face.
Chairman Jang has a freakout and demands they call the hospital for him, entirely ignoring the unconscious Woo-young who collapsed. Chairman Jang’s bodyguards whisk him away as cameras flash. One of the other researchers lowers beside Woo-young and whispers that they won’t call the hospital until he signs.
Back at Geumga Plaza, CEO Park and his men eat at Chef Baek’s restaurant, and they make a show of “finding” a nail in the food. CEO Park threatens to put this on social media, and right as a fight breaks out, Vincenzo and Cha-young arrive.
CEO Park turns docile the second Vincenzo enters, but his men are fired up and try to fight. As expected, Vincenzo takes them out without problem. Cha-young recites the law while CEO Park walks shakily to the door. Vincenzo gets him to pay before leaving and hands Chef Baek a wad of his own cash to use to pay for the damage.
After Joo-sung rushes out of the office in nervous excitement for his first blind date in years, Vincenzo warms up his fingers – he changed his mind about the bet. His intense stretching makes Cha-young nervous, but she shuffles over to receive her penalty for failing to win over the victims.
Cha-young squeezes her eyes shut, but he takes forever deciding the exact location of the flick. She tells him to hurry up, so he steps closer. Vincenzo stares at her softly as she scrunches up her face in anticipation. He smiles and flicks her so lightly it’s more of a tap.
The romantic atmosphere is broken by Joon-woo sneaking in and startling Cha-young. He tells her something happened and excitedly busts a few moves. He ends on a knee slide and flexes his hand as he asks, “Can you feel my heartbeat?” HA!
Joon-woo tells her about making partner at Wusang, but her unenthusiastic reaction disappoints him. She offers to take him for a dinner (of her choosing), and he agrees after some grumbling. Vincenzo declines to go until Joon-woo suggests Italians can’t handle spicy food. They get into this stupid man argument over who can eat spicier food.
It turns out neither Vincenzo nor Joon-woo can handle super spicy food well, but they can’t admit it because weakness or something. Cha-young, on the other hand, adds more spice since it didn’t have enough kick. Joon-woo decides Vincenzo seems like a cold guy and warns him not to mess with Cha-young. Overstepping, much?
Meanwhile, Monk Chaeshin rushes to the hospital to see Woo-young. The doctor tells him Woo-young has leukemia. Since the doctor is one of Babel’s people, he attributes the illness to genetics or Woo-young’s own behaviors like smoking or not following Babel’s safety protocols.
While the boys suffer the consequences of their petty male rivalry, Cha-young gets a call from Monk Chaeshin. She tells Joon-woo to go home and helps Vincenzo up. Joon-woo watches as she wraps her arm around Vincenzo’s shoulder and walks him back to Geumga Plaza.
Cha-young and Vincenzo sit with the tenants and explain Babel’s latest atrocities concerning BLSD, including the fake diagnoses given to people like Woo-young. The tenants are livid since Woo-young is like family. Abruptly, MONK CHEOKHA hops up and, speaking for the first time, officially announces the completion of his training. He’s ready to help, too.
Attorney So hears chanting coming from the victims’ meeting room where a sign is posted barring him from joining. He enters and finds the victims no longer want him on their team. Monk Chaeshin and Monk Cheokha cast him out as an evil doer and slam the door in his face.
When the victims heard Cha-young’s recording of her drunk ex-colleague ranting about how Attorney So accepted bribes from Wusang, they signed with Jipuragi. As a bonus, Vincenzo emptied Attorney So’s office safe and donated all the dirty money to charity.
Cha-young and Vincenzo stop by Wusang to announce they’re now representing the Babel victims. Done hiding his identity, Vincenzo not only doesn’t disguise his voice, but he makes sure Myung-hee knows he was the one who threatened her by repeating a phrase he used on the phone with her.
After they leave, Attorney Han is impressed enough with Vincenzo and all the gutsy things he’s done that he wants to recruit him. Myung-hee is even more determined to win and announces she’ll handle all Babel cases, which thrills Attorney Han.
Joon-woo runs after Cha-young and begs Vincenzo to talk her out of fighting Babel, but it’s no use. Vincenzo and Cha-young are both determined. Joo-woo sighs to himself in dismay that he can’t keep going easy on Cha-young.
That night, Vincenzo pragmatically notes that Cha-young’s chances of winning against Myung-hee are low since she’s not willing to be as inhumane. Instead of focusing on winning, they should make sure it’s a draw. Vincenzo plans to teach Cha-young how to become a “real villain” now. She doesn’t like taking advice, but she agrees on the condition that he takes her advice in the future.
Suddenly, Cha-young smiles and wonders how Attorney So is. We see him zipped inside a sleeping bag on what looks like a little island that’s right across from Seoul. Next to him are a few survival supplies and some vegetable seeds.
At Jipuragi, the team discusses strategy. Vincenzo wants to employ the Mafia’s method of rigging the game so no one can win. They can’t postpone the trial, but Vincenzo is confident they can upend the trial while it’s in progress.
After a long night of work, Cha-young wonders about Vincenzo’s long-term plans and surprises him by asking if he’d want to stay in Korea. He looks pleased by the indication that she wants him to stay, but he isn’t attached enough to the country to settle here. Neither can fully hide their disappointment.
Before the trial, the tenants show their appreciation towards Vincenzo and Cha-young in their own ways. Hong-shik dry cleans their suits, Chef Baek sets out his mom’s homemade meal for them – the first food to get Vincenzo’s approval – and the monks pray.
Reporters swarm the Wusang team when they arrive at the courthouse, and Myung-hee accuses the plaintiffs of playing the victim unfairly painting the innocent conglomerate as bad. But once Cha-young and Vincenzo arrive in his badass car looking like celebrities, all eyes are on them. Cha-young poses against the sports car as she announces who she is.
Joon-woo smiles at Cha-young’s antics as Wusang is completely ignored. At the top of the stairs, Vincenzo announces in Italian that a devil drives out another devil. As the reporters puzzle over what he’s saying, a protest against Babel begins across the lawn.
The tenants put on a whole performance featuring chanting monks and an interpretive dance involving fake blood. The reporters go running, leaving only Wusang to witness Cha-young and Vincenzo’s smug strut into the courthouse.
COMMENTS
Vincenzo and Cha-young make a great team. They’re both determined, unorthodox, and unafraid to break the rules when necessary. Not only do they complement and read each other well, but they’re clearly getting attached. We got some romantic vibes between them this hour, which I knew had to be coming. Whenever a man and a woman in a drama bicker that much, they must fall in love. It’s basically a rule. Vincenzo is looking less excited about his plan to get the gold and split these days. Between potentially falling for Cha-young and getting more involved with the tenants who are starting to accept him as one of the family, he seems to be putting down more roots than he intended. And then, there’s the unresolved situation with his mother. Speaking of Kyung-ja, what will happen to her now that Yoo-chan is dead? He was the one making sure she got treatment in addition to representing her, so she could be in jeopardy now that he’s gone. Vincenzo might not be ready to face her, but I don’t know that he’d want her to have no one on her side. Maybe Cha-young can take over her case now that she’s stepping into her father’s shoes as a lawyer.
For now, though, everything is focused on this second Babel case. Even though I’m sure Vincenzo has something planned to upend the trial, Babel has enough power and support to turn most anything around. One lawsuit isn’t going to break them, and no matter what Vincenzo says, I can’t imagine he’ll be satisfied with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist for a company like that. If he does stay for longer and keep fighting Babel, his Mafia past is bound to be revealed. Although, with how much Vincenzo mentions the Mafia, he’s not exactly hiding his association. I initially thought Team Leader Ahn would be the one to reveal his past, but now that he’s a Vincenzo fan, he might actually prove to be an asset rather than a liability. But Babel and Wusang could potentially use Vincenzo’s background to discredit Jipuragi. And on a personal level, I bet Joon-woo and Myung-hee both would jump at the chance to take down Vincenzo.
The way Joon-woo switches between personas is frightening. I’m wondering if his puppy dog side is entirely fake or if he’s sort of a blend of his two identities. Not that it matters – even half of his violent persona is too much. It’s pretty safe to say that he does genuinely like Cha-young given his continued attempts to get her away from the Babel case and how he isn’t doing anything despite knowing she had something to do with the fire. I don’t think that will stop him from hurting her if he can’t find another way, but he does seem to be looking for a way to let her off the hook if possible. Now that she and Vincenzo are going head-to-head with Babel in court, though, that is going to be harder. They’ve made themselves targets and aren’t trying that hard to hide that they’re behind the misfortunes befalling Babel and Wusang of late. Vincenzo made it crystal clear to Myung-hee that he was the one to threaten her and take out her men, and it’s not hard to put the rest together. With people like Joon-woo and Myung-hee at the helm, I’d say forgiveness isn’t in the cards.