Taxi Driver 2 (Series Review)

by DaebakGrits

Everyone’s favorite ragtag team of taxi company employees who moonlight as vigilante heroes has returned for a second season, and the hype leading up to Taxi Driver 2 was only surpassed by its ratings. This action packed sequel is fun, humorous, and — dare I say? — better than the original.

 
SERIES REVIEW

For many of us here at Dramabeans, Korean dramas are appealing because of their single-season format, which — in a perfect world — yields a tightly written story that is strong from start to finish. While we can all name a drama (or ten) that have failed to stick the landing, the majority of our favorite shows have wrapped up with a decisive ending devoid of loose ends or lingering questions. Taxi Driver also had a fairly conclusive ending, so one has to ask: did we really need a sequel? No, but it was 100% welcome.

The secret to this particular sequel’s success likely lies in its procedural format of taking down bad guys on a case-by-case basis, and since dramaland is not short of con artists and evil doers, it’s unlikely that KIM DO-KI (Lee Je-hoon) and company will run out of baddies to outsmart and bring down. Quite frankly, it’s a formula that appeals to the masses and doesn’t get old — assuming, of course, that vicarious vengeance is something that cranks your tractor. (*raises hand and waves wildly*)

As with the first season of Taxi Driver, we see our characters taking on a series of cases and using their respective skills to turn the tables against con artists and scum. Their clients range from a father searching for his son who has been kidnapped overseas to a reporter trying to expose a night club for illegal activities (rape, drugs, murder, etc.). Along the way there are also several cameos, including — but not limited to — returning fan favorite characters from Season 1 and from other SBS dramas. I was particularly tickled to see Namgoong Min reprise his role as the One Dollar Lawyer and give Do-ki some unsolicited legal advice on a medical malpractice lawsuit that turned out to be way, way worse than Team Rainbow Taxi initially suspected.

This season, though, there is one noticeable difference in the cases Team Rainbow Taxi took on: all of them are tied to a single criminal organization that is part mafia and part religious cult. Casting aside the unlikelihood that Do-ki would pick up a series of clients who have all been victimized in some capacity by the same underground syndicate of scoundrels, having a singular villain that ties everything together keeps the audience invested in the larger plot and promises a clear endgame. Something, in my opinion, that I found lacking with Season 1.

OHN HA-JOON (Shin Jae-ha) may not be the big boss man at the top of the food chain of evil, but for the bulk of the drama he’s the frontman, the highest ranking underling sent to infiltrate and destroy the quirky little team of do-gooders who have been systematically pruning the branches of their evil money-making empire. And, man oh man, Ha-joon is such a great opponent for Do-ki.

In terms of brains and brawn, Ha-joon and Do-ki are closely matched, so it’s no surprise, then, that when Ha-joon goes undercover at Rainbow Taxi to learn more about the deluxe taxi driver foiling all his boss’s illegal side hustles, he starts to admire and respect Do-ki even though they are from opposing “families.” Unfortunately, this bromance is more tragically star-crossed than Romeo and Juliet, and while my heart was absolutely crushed in the finale episode, the even playing field between these two characters made the build-up to the end feel like a suspenseful game of tug-of-war — with some classic Taxi Driver heist-film-esque elements thrown in for good measure, of course.

At the top of the criminal organization is a man who goes by the name BISHOP (Park Ho-san), and I’m not going to lie, it took me a hot minute to make the religious connection. Like, I legit thought we were dealing with chess codenames and metaphors until Bishop finally appeared on screen wearing a clergy collar (*facepalm*). Not sure if I’m just that oblivious or if I wasn’t expecting Team Rainbow Taxi to encounter another religious leader so soon after Do-ki went undercover as a shaman to bring down a cult. Either way, featuring a second corrupt — albeit more Godfather-like — religious figure seemed a bit repetitive, so I wasn’t wholly receptive to the religious overtones added to Bishop’s identity.

Until, in hindsight, I made the connection between his position as a (religious) “father” and the paternal role he filled as Ha-joon’s pseudo father figure, which is all sorts of effed up. This drama is built upon the theme of found families, with Do-ki and the rest of Team Rainbow Taxi being a unit that relies on each another for emotional support, and for when they need someone to bail them out of trouble (or jail). It’s a stark contrast to Ha-joon’s found family of criminals, and in the final episode we see Ha-joon reflect on how different his life would have been if Team Rainbow Taxi had found and fostered him instead.

In an effort to keep this review mostly spoiler-free, though, I’m not going to say much other than: the entirety of Ha-joon’s tragic past was one plot twist I did not see coming. If you know, you know, and if you don’t know, you should watch Taxi Driver 2 just to see how everything comes together in the end. While a part of me does wish Ha-joon’s story arc had been given a little more screen time, there were enough subtle hints along the way to suggest that he would later become a sympathetic character. Anything more than what we were given might have detracted from the whole, so I’m not going to complain too much.

Overall, I enjoyed this sequel, and I honestly prefer it over the first season. The humor, the retro vibe, the killer OST, and — of course — the complex (and campy) undercover operations that were a staple of the first season carried over to its sequel, but this time around, the story gave us an interesting and multifaceted villain to challenge Do-ki along the way. Antagonists can make or break a series, and the combination of Do-ki and Ha-joon broke 2023 ratings records. I’m not sure what the recently green-lit Season 3 will have in store for us, but the team behind the Taxi Driver series is going to have their work cut out for them if they hope to top this season.

 
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