Presentation
Korean Title: 모범택시
Aired in: 2021 (16 episodes)
Channel: SBS
Grade: 10/10
Actors: Lee Je Hoon and Esom
For more…
Lee Je Hoon:
– Where Stars Land
– Tomorrow with You
– Move to Heaven
– Signal
Esom:
– The Third Charm
– Because This is My First Life
– Save Me 2
Dramas with teams:
– Mad Dog
– Squad 38
– Player
– You’re All Surrounded
Analysis
Synopsis
Kim Do Ki is a deluxe taxi driver for a very special company called Rainbow Taxi. Accompanied by 4 of his colleagues, they secretly get revenge on criminals for their passengers.
My Opinion (No Spoiler)
Amazing drama! Taxi Driver has the ability to denounce many societal issues, while remaining entertaining, full of action and thrilling! Though it is a very violent drama (Rated-19), it really shouldn’t stop you from watching it! The plot is incredibly well-written and actors very charismatic!
If you like action dramas, full of revenge and self-made justice, you should definitely binge-watch that one!
Analysis (Spoiler Alert)
Characters:
The team that constitutes Rainbow Taxi all have one thing in common: they have brutally lost a lost one. If the pain and grief were not enough, they also suffer from a greater injustice: most of the criminals have either not been arrested or judged poorly. Therefore, each one of them is a very complex character, bearing the weight of the world on his/her shoulders and trying to move on from this difficult past. As they have witnessed the mishaps of law and justice for themselves, they have chosen a dangerous but still noble path: to help innocent and helpless people get the revenge they deserve, while teaching criminals a lesson.
The main lead and man of action of the team is Kim Do Ki (Lee Je Hoon). He used to be in the military but quit the day his mother was brutally assassinated. Since then he suffers from a trauma, which comes and goes when he hears a sound that reminds him of that dreadful day. The supposedly murderer has been convicted but committed suicide in jail, robbing Do Ki of his revenge. However, Kim Do Ki discovers later that the real murderer is a man named Oh Chul Young, who currently sits in prison. For him this news is as heartbreaking as satisfying because he is finally able to make justice for himself.
Kim Do Ki remains consistent throughout the drama in his purpose. He punishes in his own way criminals but his opinion regarding their treatment differs greatly from that of his superior. Still, he obeys and stays silent. Because of his military past, he is an excellent fighter, very resilient and strong. He never gives up and his stubbornness allows him to save victims from bad people and/or situations. Interestingly, Kim Do Ki is the kind of character who almost never talks but from the look in his eyes other characters, as well as viewers, can sense his inner turmoil. He sometimes burns with rage or anger. This unspoken state of mind transpires through every pores and looks of the character, adding to his complexity.
Moreover, Kim Do Ki is empathetic and kindhearted. Even though he knows a situation is dangerous and all odds are against him, he is still willing to jump in the fire if it means rescuing someone, particularly one of his teammates. He has a straight line of conduct. After this terrible moment (his mother’s murder), he has clearly understood how biased law can be if exerted by the wrong people. He is also convinced that the judicial system is corrupted and full of flaws, that’s why it can be trusted. Innocent victims will always fall prey to “big powerful and wealthy fishes”, whether it’d be outside or within the system.
Because he has lost everything in an instant, he considers Rainbow Taxi as his own family. He protects and cares deeply for them. The last episodes of the drama are the perfect epitome of that spirit. When his teammates are captured or tortured by the criminal organization they used to work with, he runs at their rescue, fights to save them and worries for their life in the hospital. He is a loyal, clever, rational and strong companion, who is indispensable to the team’s functioning.
The computer crack of the team is none other than Ahn Go Eun (Pyo Ye Jin). Under her innocent and sweet appearance, Go Eun hides a troubling past and a long-lasting pain. Her sister committed suicide after she had been filmed by her boyfriend during their sexual intercourse. He then posted the video online and she found herself trapped in internet’s web, unable to take it down. It ruined her life, her reputation and on the long run destroyed her mentally, to the point that she preferred taking her own life. Go Eun was not aware of her sister’s situation. When she learned about it she felt guilty. She tried to take her sister’s video down, unsuccessfully. Her boyfriend was never arrested and no one paid for her sister’s death. Therefore, Go Eun decided to join Rainbow Taxi. Without her, I have to say that the team wouldn’t be able to operate. She can do literally anything with her magic fingers: shutting buildings down, hacking a computer company and help her friends on the field. She is a badass woman, who has managed to turn her sorrow into a vital strength. She uses it in her everyday life to help others and also to avenge herself at some point.
Plus, she drives a bike! What else do you ask for? All in all, Go Eun is kindhearted, lovable, but also fierce and fearless. She would do anything to avenge her sister, which she does in the drama. She also gets along very well with other members, especially Kim Do Ki. He is like an older brother to her. Despite all that, she remains pretty vulnerable and many scenes show how hurt and in pain she is, as long as criminals have not been arrested and have not paid for their actions.
Choi Kyung Koo (Jang Hyuk Jin) and Park Jin Eon (Bae Yoo Ram) are the two engineers working for Rainbow Taxi. Thanks to their incomparable set of skills the deluxe taxi is always ready for revenge. Both characters also lost a beloved family member leading them to join the rest of the team. They are more timid than the others and mostly operate in the garage to upgrade the car. Yet, they are not afraid of getting their hands dirty to help their teammates, even if it means risking their lives. Together, they form a lighthearted duo that brings laughter and joy to the serious and violent overall atmosphere. Their innocence and naivety are beyond compare, which creates a certain attachment to them. They have a friendly attitude and like to bicker, especially with Ahn Go Eun.
Finally, I really need to talk about this famous (or should I say, infamous) deluxe taxi. This car is better than any of those in The Fast and the Furious, with its opaque windows, over-the-top motor and special system to start the revenge missions. On top of that, I think the many accessories are enough to show how gifted these engineers are when it comes to repairing and upgrading cars.
The leader of that team, and also the founder of Rainbow Taxi, Jang Sung Chul (Kim Eui Sang), also lived a life full of misery, pain and suffering. His frustration, resentment and anger towards his parents’ murderer led him down a road at the fringe between good and evil. Indeed, not only does Rainbow Taxi avenge its clients, it also punishes criminals in a very special way. Once captured, they are given to a criminal organization called Paradise Credit’s Group led by Baek Sung Mi (Cha Ji Yeon). This godmother is definitely evil, cruel and ruthless. She doesn’t have an ounce of empathy and doesn’t care at all about humane treatment, as long as it brings her money. She is also a tough cookie and a force to be reckoned with. Paradoxically, this enigmatic and devilish personality are at the same time the reason why Sang Chul chose to associate with her, and the cause of his demise. When Rainbow Taxi’s hidden activity is about to be uncovered by the Prosecution, the noose tightens around both the Rainbow Taxi team and Paradise Credit’s Group. This naturally leads to a sort of ‘David and Goliath’ fight in the ending episodes, a battle between good and evil.
Prosecutor Kang Ha Na (Esom) is supposed embody law and order. However, she is fair and understands that the system she works for is flawed. Though she spends most of her time chasing after the deluxe taxi and its owner, she ends up in the last episode joining the Rainbow Taxi team. Thus, she becomes the missing link of the chain, as she can easily conceal the team’s actions and arrest criminals faster.
At first, she appears to be quite cold and the team’s antagonist. She doesn’t condone the way they treat criminals and considers that they should be taken care of by the prosecution. Nevertheless, the more she learns about the Rainbow Taxi team and their revenge missions, the more she realizes how unfair the judicial system actually is. She goes from being totally convinced that law should prevail to understanding that sometimes other methods have to be used to preserve this so-called justice. Plus, she is resilient, stubborn, has a lot of instinct and is therefore a great asset not only to the team at the end, but also to the overall plot.
Atmosphere: Taxi Driver is a subtle mix between action scenes, violent fights and satisfying yet emotional revenges. I really loved it and had the impression to watch a Korean movie such as A Bittersweet Life. It gets even better when viewers discover for the first time the ingenious and clever system that allows the team to work on their cases. While clients are being transported to a mysterious destination, their story and injustice is being recorded. Once arrived, they are presented with a machine (ATM, game at an arcade…). They enter a code and rapidly instructions are given. Lee Young Ae’s voice cameo is by the way always so enjoyable.
What I liked the most in the drama is that up until the very end, the team never forces anyone to take revenge. The given instructions are actually there to dissuade clients from avenging themselves. Only them have the final word and the team never acts without their consent. In the drama, there is one client who refuses to do it and the team respects his decision. This only showed how balanced characters were, proving that they were only to help and not to act first.
Plus, there is definitely a 80s vibe in that drama that I personally loved. Between the video-games-like instructions, Kim Do Ki’s retro style (sunglasses, gloves on the wheel and charismatic look) and the vintage music straight out of a 80s vinyl, I adored this modern and old universe.
What are the themes tackled?
Taxi Driver manages to tackle different but important societal issues, dedicating one or more episodes to each of them. Fortunately for us, it is the occasion to see Lee Je Hoon play a huge number of different roles and show us how incredible an actor he is.
Episodes 1-2: The first episode focus on a young disabled woman who unfortunately fell prey to an underground exploitation system. She is promised a job by a social worker, who in fact works hand in hand with a corrupted company using these disabled people as cheap labor. Imprisoned, terrorized, raped and tortured, there seems to be no way out. Until the young woman succeeds in running away before a corrupted police officer brings her back to the warehouse. It is a realistic and terrifying view of modern human exploitation, as well as a wake-up call allowing viewers to better grasp disabled people’s struggles and the potential dangers that await them in society.
Episodes 3-4: The classic but so much needed theme of school bullying is dealt with here, proving how cruel adolescents and kids can sometimes be. A young boy is being terrorized by a group of bullies, who think they are untouchable because of their wealthy background. Unfortunately for them, teacher Kim Do Ki happens to be even more intelligent and powerful, teaching them an excellent lesson, that will (we hope) last forever.
Episodes 5-8: These episodes are the first combining at the same time a societal them and a character’s personal story. A computer company U-Data becomes the target of the Rainbow Taxi team, after a series of incidents: violence at work, homicide, suicide. Later on, the team discovers that the company is actually much worse than it seems, downloading on the internet illegal pornography, including Go Eun’s sister sex tape. A clear warning is visible here, as we understand that filming someone without consent and worse posting it online is definitely punishable by law and sadly can destroy someone’s life for good.
Episodes 9-10: The second personal involvement is this time related to Choi Kyung Koo. He is the victim of voice phishing. People on the phone pretend to be prosecutors asking for money to deal with a problem. Of course, it is only a scam. Realizing how many people had been lied to Kyung Koo decides to take revenge for them and himself. These episodes may be the least violent of the drama but this issue also happens to be the most common. Beware of phone calls asking you for money, it is most of the time a scam!
Episodes 11-12: Diving in deeper into the personal background of our favorite characters, the tension between the taxi company team and the criminal organization progressively rises. Little by little, the Rainbow team discovers what criminals are really used for by Paradise Credit’s Group. They are taken and become unwillingly and forcibly organ donors. This sheds light on probably one of the most terrifying networks of all: organ trafficking.
Episodes 13-14: The climax reaches its peak in these two episodes with the murder of Kang Ha Na’s assistant at the prosecution office. Brutally murdered by Gu Young Tae, Baek Sung Mi’s right arm, Ha Na seeks revenge for herself through Rainbow Taxi’s services. She has uncovered their identity and kept their affair secret for now. Together, they are able to dismantle the criminal organization and put an end to this horrifying business. Baek Sung Mi is arrested and sent to jail with the rest of her gang.
Episode 15-16: The last two episodes give us a glimpse in Kim Do Ki’s past as it is revealed that his mother’s real murderer is Oh Chul Young. The one who committed suicide was in fact innocent. While getting their revenge on him, Taxi Driver offers viewers a time jump, showing that justice can make mistakes as well. The end of episode 15 tells the real story of a man, falsely convicted for the Hwaseong serial murders. He spent 20 years in jail when he was actually innocent. It is only recently that the real killer has been caught, enabling the poor man to regain his freedom. Despite that, he can’t be compensated for the lost years. The frustration and anger related to this true story are even greater because of the way he was convicted. Tortured by police force and coerced, he had no other choice but to confess even though the proofs were absent. This episodes worked as a sort of warning to all of those working in the police and judicial system asking them to be careful and to examine material proofs.
Hidden tracks E5 / E13 / E15: The special epilogues of these episodes cheered up my heart a bit. Each of them pictures second leads (victims) meeting in real life. This connects all the cases and enables viewers to understand that everyone has his/her own pain and burden to carry. It also proved how well-written the plot was, as fates seemed to be intertwined.
Moral at the end of each episode: As each set of episodes tackle a different issue, the drama does an excellent job at leaving us with a moral. A short sentence that is impactful and necessary to sum up the story and to take away for our everyday life.
Once Upon a Drama 