Pull up a chair. I’m about to talk about brotherhood in #Vincenzo and how established themes and parallels prove that HAN-SEO MUST LIVE. #VincenzoEp19

Rewatching Episode 1, I’m kicking myself for not noticing the parallels between Vincenzo/Paolo and Han-seo/Han-seok sooner. I’ve been wondering all along when Paolo would become thematically important—not just a one-off plot device.

Ep 1 goes out of its way to show Vincenzo’s troubled relationship w/his step-brother, Paolo. It’s such important character background that it seems obvious that Paolo has to come back (physically) at some point in the last two episodes. Yet he’s been pretty tangential so far.

Paolo has to return and be important to the ending if for no other reason than chiasmus...something this show loves. For example, we’ve already gotten this nice bookend moment:

But let’s get into parallels between the two sets of brothers. It’s not just that both V and Han-seo have an elder brother that would betray them for a single corn chip....

It’s also that the elder brother views them as the outsider, interloper, a threat to their “legitimate” authority: Vincenzo is adopted; Han-seo is illegitimate.

Predictably, the root of the conflict is the father. Paolo complains that Fabio always trusted V’s decisions, not his. V says Paolo breaks Fabio’s rule about never harming women and children. Which is also the reason V can never honor Paolo as the head of the family.

Similarly, the root of the Han-seok’s hatred of his brother is that he’s a reminder of his father’s betrayal of his mother, something he says his father will go to hell for. I think deep down Han-seo symbolizes the family their father chose.

The same is true for Paolo’s attitude to V. And, in BOTH cases, the elder brother—yes, even Han-seok—fears the younger. This is at least partly the reason he keeps little bro on a tight leash. (But even more so after being used for target practice ).

(And the fear and anger in Han-seok’s eyes when he finds out about the handgun!)

With these parallels in the background, it becomes increasingly clear why Han-seo begins to see V as the brother he never had. Not just that, they are drawn to EACH OTHER.

They are nothing alike in personality, but dare I say V sees something of himself in Han-seo’s alienation and loneliness?

(Also: these hockey scene parallels tho)

The starkest difference is how each responds to fear, bc I think V also identifies with Han-seo’s fear. V says at one point that he made himself tough because he was perceived as weaker; he had to be twice as strong to overcome people’s racism and bullying.

It’s a small step, but V’s chaos is beginning to inspire a rebellious chaos of his own. Look at this crazy outfit—this baby finally expressing himself after we’ve seen him in colorless suit after suit! Look how PROUD he is of pulling off the world’s simplest secret 911 call.

In the Russian roulette scene, V gives us his operating principle: “there's a limit to pain, but there's no limit to one's fear.” Han-seo learns from V to stop giving in to his own fear.

At the same time, he realizes he can take away what his brother values the most—the control he has over others through fear.

We saw this in episode 18 when Han-seo basically laughs in his brother’s face. “This is exhausting.” In other words, living in fear is exhausting, self-perpetuating, and not worth it. Thanks to V, he’s done living that way.

Just as V has to confront Paolo in the final episodes for the sake of chiasmus, Han-seo has to face Han-seok—clearly we all know that. But I also think there will be an even more meaningful chiasmus....

as the story that begins with V’s dysfunctional brotherly relationship ends with a *forged* brotherhood between Han-seo and V. Resolving the wounds of the past (symbolically) could mean the beginning of a beautiful brotherly love story. /END