We’re back with a new K-drama review and this time we’re taking a closer look at ‘Taxi Driver’.
The 2021 series was created by Studio S from SBS and has 16 episodes. The drama is based on the WebToon written by Carlos and Lee Jae-In.
Plot
‘Taxi Driver’ is about a group of people who work together to get revenge for people who’ve been mistreated or let down by the justice system. The stories of each episode are based on real incidents in Korea which is rather heart-breaking in my opinion.
The team consists of Jang Sung-Chul, played by Kim Eui-Sung who founded the service. His parents were brutally murdered and it’s been his mission to help other victims.
Lee Je-Hoon, who you might know from ‘Signal’ or ‘Move To Heaven’ plays Kim Do-Ki. He’s a former soldier and a skilled fighter. He’s the one who drives the taxi and picks up potential clients. He listens and records their stories and then the team decides whether or not they’ll pick up the case.
Ahn Go Eun’s character is portrayed by Pyo Ye-Jin. Her sister was the victim of revenge porn and it thoroughly destroyed her life, to the point where she committed suicide. Pyo Ye-Jin has been trying to get rid of the video for years. She’s the tech-savvy one in the team.
Jang Hyuk-Jin and Bae Yoo-Ram play the characters Choi Kyung-Koo and Park Jin-Eon respectively. They’re brother-in-laws who lost their siblings in a fire that was lit by a pyromaniac. Their role is the mechanics who spruce up the car to switch licence plates with just the push of a button.
Esom portrays the prosecutor Kang Ha-Na. She’s on the other side of the taxi driver team. Her role is rather awesome and plays by the book which sometimes works and sometimes it’s simply inefficient to deal with certain criminals.
Revenge
The cases they take on, usually aren’t the easiest. There’s the story of a disabled woman who was taken advantage of by her employer. This storyline showed the ugly side of greed.
There was also the case of school bullies who pushed a boy in front of a scooter so he broke his leg.
A very interesting story in my opinion was the U-data one. The cloud company wasn’t just a horrible employer, it was also a lot more insidious.
The team deals with their own trauma while helping their clients and it was a great watch. What I wasn’t necessarily a fan of, was the fact that Jang Sung-Chul imprisoned the abusers to ‘reform’ them. It doesn’t exactly go as planned. I understand where he’s coming from, but I think the execution was lacking. Especially considering the fact that he has to work together with loan shark Baek Sung-Mi. The character, portrayed by Cha Ji-Yeon was absolutely amazing! I loved her role to bits.
Overall
If you enjoy crime shows, I definitely recommend watching ‘Taxi Driver’. Even if you aren’t, I would recommend watching a couple of episodes.
This series is a great example of when both the writing and the acting are absolutely on point. It was very engaging to watch and raises some good discussion topics.
You can watch the trailer below.
