"Taxi Driver" Korean drama season one: Episode ten recap

 

 Air Dates: April 9th until May 29, 2021 on SBS-TV, Saturday and Sundays at 10:00 pm

Director: Park Joon-Woo... Subs done by Sally G... This episode's rating: 12.7%

Main Cast: Bit of a large cast plus there's many guest stars whose roles are big but the episodes are an hour or longer. The setting is the Rainbow Taxi company which is a legit operation and is run by an older man named Jang. For now it seems 100% of the drivers are just your regular cabbies but there is one driver who goes beyond the call of duty and will be the first character you'll read about below. His name is Kim Do-Gi, usually in recaps use the last name for males and first names for females which I hope makes things easier. However will be referring to him as Do-Gi, there's a woman that I'll be using her last name who is Baek.

A second season began on February 17th of this year, hopefully can recap most of the episodes before that season ends and may do posts for that also. Almost all of my drama recaps for the past year have been for shows with the episodes being between 25-45 minutes and have been doing a good job at keeping them brief yet also not leaving any details out. So these recaps will definitely be longer but so much takes place in this show and will already give this series a very high recommendation. As it says in this screenshot this drama is about revenge and we need more in that vein!

Lee Je-Hoon as Kim Do-Gi.... This is a man who can do it all, if I described everything we'd be here for days! Do-Gi is the most unbeatable fighter I've seen to date in a drama, he had once been an elite member of the Special Forces division of Korea's military. Four years ago his mother was slain by a crazed killer who later committed suicide in prison which meant Do-Gi couldn't avenge his mother's death. He soon met the man below and above who is Jang and the owner the Rainbow Taxi, he told Do-Gi if he wants revenge to join his company. Which is a legit taxi service though Do-Gi also specializes in helping others getting back at those cruel people who have made their lives a living hell! Could add more in but that's enough for now....

Kim Eui-Sung as Jang Sung-Chul..... Owner of Rainbow Taxi and that's him two screenshots above. Jang's parents were murdered twenty years ago and since then has sworn to avenge the victims of brutal crimes or who have been mistreated so badly. There's five members at the taxi company who do work on helping others get revenge but after two shows unsure if that number just may be a bit higher. Jang also runs an organization called Blue Bird which helps victims of crimes.

Esom as Kang Ha-Na.... The exact name as one of my all time fave Korean actresses! She's a prosecutor for the Seoul Northern District and was hell bent on finding what happened to a goon named Cho who disappeared after being released early from prison. But Ha-Na's supervisor told her to lay off the case and has assigned her to work with Jang, besides owning the taxi company he also has an organization helping victims of crime. Since the second show Ha-Na has been a bit leery of how the company operates, are they mixed up in some illegal activities?

Pyo Ye-Jin as Ahn Go-Eun....  I need to do some regular posts for her! Go-Eun is an elite hacker and tech expert who works at Rainbow Taxi and is one of five people there who work on the unknown 'revenge squad'. Go-Eun's sister committed suicide a few years back, Jung-Sun was her sister's name and her story is in the seventh and eighth recaps.

 Jang Hyuk-Jin as Choi Kyung-Goo.... The head mechanic at Rainbow Taxi, Choi and his assistant Park also work for the 'revenge squad'. Along with the above Go-Eun him and Park also work off site doing surveillance work and other duties.

Bae Yoo-Ram as Park Jin-Eon.... Bae and Park are a also comedy team and I've seen them paired up often in dramas. Park's younger brother was married to Choi's younger sister but both were killed in an apartment fire set  by an arsonist.

Cha Ji-Yeon as Baek Sung-Mi.... A very mysterious middle aged lady who owns the Nakwon Company. When Jang has to stash one of the people who they've taken revenge on he brings them to Baek who charges some very high fees. She also owns a shady night club and appears to even run a call girl ring, we learn more about Baek in every episode..... but then again that adds to her mystery!

Yoo Seung-Mok as Cho Jin-Woo.... The Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the Seoul Northern District office. Cho is Ha-Na's supervisor and he's also good friends with Jang.

Lee Yoo-Joon as Wang Min-Ho.... Ha-Na's assistant at the prosecutor's office.

Guest Star for the first two episodes .... Have kept his name here as he did make a reappearance but will be be seen again after the tenth show?

  

Cho Hyun-Woo as Cho Do-Chul.... A sexual offender who was sentenced to life in prison but was released after only eight years to public outrage.  He was picked up at court by none other than our hero Do-Gi who brought this sicko to first Jang then to Baek's 'prison'. Ha-Na is on the case to find out what's happened to Cho with no success.... yet. Cho is still alive and kicking as in the sixth episode he was able to escape from the dungeon.

Guest Stars for the ninth and tenth episodes

Shim So-Young as Lim Bok-Ja ....  Woman in her forties who is the owner of a Chinese restaurant. However that's just a front as also in the building is an illegal casino and more importantly than that Lim runs a voice phishing operation. She does have some assistants who are all men but never once were their names revealed.

Previous recaps .... most cases are for two episodes but the fifth through eighth episodes were for one very long and intense revenge case.

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

Episode five .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 After this case is wrapped up the next one will be another four episode story, the last one with that many episodes was very good though quite long. Won't finish these recaps before the second season ends as it's happening this week(!) but that's okay as that wasn't a goal. Unsure what to view next, season two or a different drama which in a way is close to this show. It's called "Delivery Man" which just ended it's twelve episode run. May watch and recap that series first as not to get tired of this show and it's characters. Sure you've read the above post which was for part one of this 'revenge case', will mention a few things from it but much more happened in this episode. Actually this new case only took up about 25 minutes of the last show as there was a bit of cleanup from the eighth episode.

 That top screenshot opened the show but it took place after the two screenshots below that. On the right is the drama's hero Do-Gi who is leading this new case due to his boss Jang being in the hospital. The previous evening Do-Gi had gone to an illegal gambling den which was run by the above woman Lim. You can see what she looks like and glad I could never be that desperate or drunk! She's an immigrant from China, the gambling den is in the basement of the Chinese restaurant she runs which is just a front for the casino. But the main illegal activity Lim runs is a Voice Phishing operation and to date they've probably swindled millions from unsuspecting Koreans, more on that very shortly. Do-Gi posed as a Chinese immigrant named Wang and as you can see he really changed his looks. He went to that casino where the dealer tried to pull a fast one on Do-Gi, will usually use his real name instead of Wang. Of course Do-Gi saw the slight of hand trick and nabbed the dealer in the act, shortly after Lim and her henchmen entered to find out what the commotion was. She returned all of Do-Gi's cash and after he said how about a one on one face off with the dealer, winner take all! Besides his cash Do-Gi also threw the contents of his bag onto the craps table, out of the bag came a hundred untraceable cellphones but the offer to the dealer was turned down, those phones will be very important shortly.

 Always make that first paragraph too long! This case against Lim and her Voice Phishing scam began because the head mechanic at Rainbow Taxi Choi had been swindled in the last show and sent all of the money in his bank account to Lim! The caller had claimed to be from the Seoul Prosecutor's office and how can someone like him fall for that? Many others have too and the 'revenge squad' leader Jang said let's go after Lim to get Choi's money back along with as many other victim's cash as they could. Choi usually has somewhat frizzy hair but slicked it down for this case to look a bit meaner. To get closer to Lim's operation the other mechanic Park has disguised himself as a young man named Lee and got a job at Lim's office trying to pull the same prosecutor scam, that's Park with glasses above. He was an instant success as he was able to swindle twenty people or that's what Lim's associates thought. Even though her henchmen had a lot of screen time never once were any of their names mentioned. All of Park's aka Lee's calls went to the hi-tech whiz Go-Eun and that's her in the second to last screenshot, she set it up for all of his calls to go to her. So though Park was successful those calls only netted Lim a few hundred dollars and she was furious. The main reason for that is the callers could only use a cellphone once, then it would be trashed. Park went through so many phones soon their supply was deleted and none could be delivered for another week, how can she keep up her scamming????

 There's other minor stories going on too so though not in order think it'd be better to get to most of what took place with Lim first. A few hours later who should arrive at Lim's Chinese restaurant but Do-Gi acting as Wang. She remembered the bag of burner phones Do-Gi had and cozied up to him, Do-Gi can be a woman charmer(!) and his act as a Chinese national was quite impressive. Go-Eun did her homework and found out where Lim is from, Do-Gi pretended to also come from her province though had no clue what he was talking about! That's because Do-Gi had a small transmitter in his ear and was fed all of these answers to Lim's questions immediately from Go-Eun which satisfied Lim, she proposed a deal to buy his phones. 'Too late' was Do-Gi's response as he said he sold them and as a matter of fact a minute later walked in a thug who is in the third screenshot above. He was the buyer but had some issues with Do-Gi beating up someone from his gang, he wants revenge and also the phones for free! But this thug was a plant of Do-Gi's who quickly vanquished this man, that impressed Lim mightily and soon she had a deal to buy Do-Gi's phones, the beginning of the end for her!

 Because of course Go-Eun had planted bugs in each of them so she was able to monitor every call and often would drop the call to the fury of the people working for Lim. As mentioned the mechanic Park was working at Lim's Voice Phishing office using the name of Lee. He too had a transmitter in his ear with which he was able to communicate with Go-Eun. However he was caught using it and at first it appeared Park signed his death warrant as Lim's thugs never show any mercy. But showing up in the nick of time was Do-Gi with more phones for Lim and this upcoming incident was all scripted out well though left room for no margin of error! Do-Gi was able to convince Lim to let him punish the man in his own way, even Go-Eun listening in thought this was too much of a gamble but it would get rid of any suspicions Lim had about Do-Gi. Park was brought out on a boat and while tied up was thrown in a hug vat, shortly after Do-Gi kicked his mate into the ocean!!!! But of course he was saved and it was by his mechanic partner Choi who had rented a boat and was able to fish Park out of the ocean with no time to spare! Though scripted out Do-Gi did take a huge gamble with that stunt but as this was such a difficult case some risks needed to be taken.

 Who we didn't see that much of in this episode was the ace prosecutor Ha-Na. She's still so frustrated that she hasn't been able to prosecute any of the criminals in these recent cases and of course it's because Jang's 'revenge squad' has solved and cleaned up those cases quickly. Ha-Na still has her suspicions about Rainbow Taxi being involved and even visited their office to put a bit of heat on some of the workers, mainly Do-Gi. The mechanic Choi was there and said he was taking a mini vacation, that was of course to work on the Lim case. Choi said he was taking a vacation too and Ha-Na tailed him to a beach where for two days she watched him fishing. But of course Choi was there so he could get into the ocean quickly when it came time to save his mate Park, when Choi went out on a boat Ha-Na was unable to follow him. After the rescue the four 'revenge squad' teammates gathered on the beach to talk things over and think they did that for Go-Eun knew Ha-Na was 'secretly' watching them and perhaps that would throw her off their tail.

 But Ha-Na is not a quitter and the following day did follow Do-Gi to Lim's Chinese restaurant, Ha-Na was baffled about his appearance for Do-Gi had disguised himself as Wang. Ha-Na was unable to get any info about Do-Gi but soon found about about the phishing operation. Ha-Na was able to semi solve it but was too late as usual and we didn't see her again until the final few seconds of this show. Do-Gi knew he was being tailed and used that to his advantage, he told Lim a prosecutor was on the hunt for him and Do-Gi said he's planning on leaving Korea the following day. Do-Gi as Wang did such a superb job, this woman Lim has probably never had a lover and Do-Gi really laid many smooth lines on her, so many you could see Lim was smitten with him! As mentioned Go-Eun had bugged all of those phones that Lim's Voice Phishing organization was using, she was able to get the account number at Lim's main bank but not the PIN. Getting that number is the most important task of this case so Go-Eun kept trying different numbers which she knew wouldn't work. But it set off alerts at the bank and Lim was texted that there's been many attempts to break into her account, could she come in? That Lim did and upon arriving there met her hopefully lover(!) Do-Gi who said he was there to get money for his journey. He had a bag with him and asked Lim to watch it while he went to the men's room. Lim was then called to the main desk and on the bag was a very mini camera, when Lim punched in her PIN watching on the camera was Go-Eun and is this case now solved?

 To an extent it is but we do have a ways to go. With that PIN Go-Eun immediately went to work, the account held three million dollars and she began to reimburse as many victims as she could including her mate Choi. Good thing Go-Eun works on the side of justice for she could clean out every account in the world and then some! She was able to do that rather quickly and when Lim went to check her account it showed a balance of.... ZERO!!!! Dashing to the bank didn't straighten the mess out and now Lim was in such a dire predicament as she didn't have any money to play her employees! But there may be a savior as calling on the phone was Do-Gi as Wang, he said he was on the ship heading back to China but of course that wasn't what was really going on. Lim told Do-Gi the story of what happened, is there any way she can join him on the ship? Yes there was he replied, if she had a secret stash of cash he could arrange for the ship to return and pick her up. As it turns out Lim did have some secret money, she was told to put it in a locker and head for the pier which Lim did. Waiting in the wings at the locker was Choi who picked up the hefty amount of cash, more dough for Lim's victims and that may have been the last of her loot.

 Final bit and Lim dashed to the pier to catch the boat bringing her to safety or that's what she thought. When she got on the boat she entered the main cabin which was immediately locked, inside the cabin were her henchmen who had been nabbed by Do-Gi. They were so furious with their boss Lim and where was this boat heading to? Appearing outside the cabin window was Do-Gi who asked Lim how does it feel to have a taste of her own medicine?! She was completely wiped out of all of her phishing funds and Do-Gi said everything was just a trick, he never cared for her in the least and think he enjoyed this case more than any other one! Same here as it's so nice to see such lowlifes eat some dirt! Where the boat was heading to was unknown but it could be to Baek's secret basement prison, we may find that out in the next episode. At the end the boss of Do-Gi and his mates Jang finally learned that Baek had killed the sexual predator Cho and killing a prisoner was a no-no so that could soon be another minor story. At the very end the prosecutor Ha-Na arrived at Lim's office too late to nab her or her henchmen, who beat her to the punch again? The bottom screenshot above is of Do-Gi heading back to Jang's HQ after the case was wrapped up, Jang has a secret office in his basement where Do-Gi's special taxi is stored. To get to the basement is a hidden elevator in an alley, Do-Gi entered it but was unaware to who was watching him from across the street. It was Ha-Na and will her newest discovery about the 'revenge squad' open up the next show? That will be found out soon enough, the next story is another four episode one so hopefully can have all of them viewed and written up with the next ten days, many more screenshots to help you follow the story better.