"Taxi Driver" Korean drama season one: Episode thirteen 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! **** Perhaps being a mystery was better for starting with the tenth show the more we learn about Baek the more we learn how cunning and ruthless she is!!!!

Lee Ho-Cheol as Goo Seok-Tae.... Baek's ruthless main bodyguard and though has been in every show just added him in for this eleventh episode. Main reason was his name wasn't revealed for so long and check the guest star list as his name will be there too.

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. In a shocker Wang was stabbed to death at the end of the eleventh episode by Gu, Ha-Na dearly wants revenge but even with Jang's squad helping her justice has not been meted out.... yet!

Guest Star for the first nine episodes .... Have kept this first name here as he did make minor appearances and his storyline did become major until his death.

  

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 had still been alive and kicking as in the sixth episode he was able to escape from the dungeon. But he was recaptured by Baek's bodyguards after he stabbed Jang and was killed at the end of the ninth show.

Guest stars for the eleventh through fourteenth episodes

Lee Ho-Cheol as Gu Young-Tae.... As you can see Lee plays two characters in these four shows.  He's playing a set of twin brothers, Seok-Tae is Baek's bodyguard while Young-Tae is a junior director at her Nakwom company. Both brothers are brutal but especially Young-Tae and who knows how many he's killed to date?!!!!

The twin brothers, on the left is Young-Tae and on the right is Seok-Tae.

Han Kyu-Won as Go Dong-Hee... We won't see much of him save for flashbacks but he worked as a salesman for a construction company. His disappearance was what opened this new case and all fingers are pointing towards Young-Tae who is presumed to have killed Go. The main reason is Go was engaged to the below woman who Young-Tae had eyes for.

Han -Hyun-Ah as Lee Hye-Yeon.... As mentioned she was engaged to Go and really did love him but if Young-Tae can't have her no man can!

Lee Yoon-He was Pastor Go.... The father of Go Dong-Hee, and turned down Jang's offer of getting revenge for his son's disappearance/death.

Jung Kang-Hee as Sim Woo-Sub.... An associate of Young-Tae but that man really abuses Sim endlessly. Sim owns the HM company which is really just a 'paper organization' that will be explained in the twelfth recap.

Previous recaps .... most cases are for two episodes but the fifth through eighth episodes were for one very long and intense revenge case. There's a second four episode story which ran from the eleventh to fourteenth episode.

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

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

Episode nine .... Episode ten .... Episode eleven .... Episode twelve

 That's Wang above and it really was a shocker that he was murdered at the end of the eleventh episode, he was quite a likable character. After today have two more episodes to view and recap, then will get to a few other dramas and then begin on season two. That ended two weeks ago, the day after it was announced there would be a third season and why not as the ratings were so impressive. Those last two recaps each had five segments to it, first time in at least two years they had to be that long. But there wasn't much of a choice as just so much is taking place in this series plus every other episode is seventy minutes or longer, am hoping to keep this at four sections.

 For the first eight episodes a key character was the very mysterious woman Baek, she didn't get a lot of screen time but she was very important. Since that eighth episode Baek may be the most important character and has quite a bit of screen time as you'll be seeing. For a long time didn't know what to think of Baek, she did have a shady past but seemed like a decent enough woman but throw those opinions out the window!!!! What an evil and devious woman she is, Baek and her 'associates' are the main story for these two episodes and have no clue how things will turn out as I haven't viewed the next show yet but may halfway through this or then again maybe not as to keep the suspense level high. Let's get to the action and hope I can keep this at four sections but as mentioned before the longer a recap is the better the show was. 

 This episode began off with about a four minute flashback from Baek's past, say fifteen or so years ago. It appeared at one time she was a singer in a club which we had never heard of. One customer fell head over heels for her who is the man in the top screenshot, his name was Ha who was the director of a hospital. He was single and the two of them began a torrid affair, Ha was much older and his eyesight was rapidly deteriorating but Baek insisted he see a doctor who could do a transplant. On their way to see this doctor their car was slammed into by a massive truck, it hit the passenger side where Ha was sitting and he was instantly killed. Baek was so devastated about this man's death for it seemed she really did love him. **Though not mentioned have a feeling he may have left Baek quite a bit of money in his will, with that she opened her Nakwon company and got involved in some shady activities.

 One of those activities was holding the criminals Jang's 'revenge squad' captured and held them in a dungeon at a remote building. But things have taken a turn for the worse with Baek's and Jang's relationship, one incident was that her main bodyguard Gu killed the assistant prosecutor Wang plus Baek has been using these prisoner's organs for transplants! Jang wants these prisoners back along with Gu, that was arranged at the end of the last show but Baek pulled a fast one on Jang and his team. Her henchmen put the two Rainbow Taxi mechanics in a cell and took away the rest of the prisoners in a bus, that you can see right above. Those ten prisoners are ones who have been captured since the first episode, not enough time to talk about their stories again nor was there space to add them into the Guest Star section. But all have one common goal.... to find and kill our hero Do-Gi who was responsible for them being taken prisoner. So these returning lowlifes will be featured for the rest of the episode, Jang and Do-Gi want to capture them again but even if they do where can they hold these criminals? Plus the entire 'revenge squad is in danger because of these goons and of course Jang's team is still being targeted by Ha-Na.

 The person on Jang's team that really wants these criminals caught again is in the second and fifth screenshots above, she's Go-Eun who is the tech whiz for Rainbow Taxi and the 'revenge squad'. One of those prisoners is named Choi who pretended to be the boyfriend of Jung-Eun who was Go-Eun's older sister. However Choi just used her to make a secret adult video, the shame of it was too much for Jung-Eun who eventually killed herself and Go-Eun can't stand the thought of this creep getting away with murder! More on those two later on and I'm really curious how that story is going to pan out. Mentioned Ha-Na who is the top prosecutor for the Northern Seoul office, she's in two above screenshots. First she was interviewing Baek as she's demanding to know what's happened with Gu as she wants to avenge Wang's murder. It is kind of a waste to question a person like Baek who is so conniving, Ha-Na knew that but wanted to put some pressure on her which slightly worked. Through some luck and also much meticulous digging by Go-Eun the bodyguard Gu has been found, he had stolen a vehicle and is now hiding out at a building in Icheon.

 Not just any building but the embassy for the country of the Bahamas! May be hard to see her but in the second to last screenshot above Baek was receiving an award from a major company there for helping out their health department. However very few knew the true details, what Baek had been doing was selling human organs to the country and she was well compensated. Baek was able to convince the embassy director to hide out Gu there for a while but when you have Do-Gi and his mates on a case then someone in hiding has no chance! There's two Rainbow Taxi mechanics, one is Park who is out of commission for a while as he suffered a fractured foot from one of Baek's goons. The other mechanic is Choi who broke into the embassy and disabled the power, that was thanks to Go-Eun's plans. It would be out for three minutes and in the commotion Do-Gi was able to get to the second floor where Gu was hiding. This creep was injured and can't recall anyone beating him up at the end of the last show. So Do-Gi was able to subdue Gu quickly and dragged him away unnoticed to a fake ambulance. Also at the embassy was Ha-Na who via watching surveillance cameras discovered where Gu was but she and the police have no kind of authority at an embassy. With her in that bottom screenshot is a detective named Park, we've seen him here and there. Now that Wang is no longer alive he's been escorting Ha-Na when she visits crime scenes, once again Ha-Na knew she would get nowhere at the embassy but wants to keep the pressure on Baek which did work.

 Mentioned about Ha-Na putting pressure on Baek and at times it does feel as though her empire is about to explode. But she always comes back, however when the embassy director learned that the wanted killer Gu was hiding out there he ordered Baek to get him out.... NOW! That's something that Baek couldn't do as by now Do-Gi had him in an ambulance and was zooming away from the embassy but had been noticed by Ha-Na and her somewhat partner Park. The pair gave chase but Do-Gi was able to escape thanks to a traffic jam. Later that night Ha-Na did pay Do-Gi a visit demanding he hand over Gu which he refused to do, one reason is that Do-Gi feels justice won't be done and another reason is of a plan his boss Jang has come up with. You can see that proposal from Jang above, he's offered to hand over Gu to Baek if she gives him the prisoners that his 'revenge squad' had captured. At this point neither trusts each other but set up a meeting that night to make the swap at the World Cup Bridge. There could be a major problem as the criminals have managed to escape, the ten or so had been on a bus just driving around the Seoul area. All want revenge, not against Baek at this point for of course Do-Gi was their main target. All of this action is in the above screenshots.

 However the bus did have a tracking signal and Gu's twin brother Young-Tae, along with a dozen armed henchmen, found the bus and took the lowlifes captive again. Baek met with them and made her own proposal which is that after Gu is freed they'll be released to do whatever they want against Do-Gi! That detective Park had been tailing Do-Gi, when he discovered what was about to happen he contacted Ha-Na. Before any trades could be made she and a huge force of officers arrived in the scene, Baek quickly fled with her henchmen and prisoners but Gu had to be left behind. Gu was arrested and that was the last we saw of him in this show but sure we'll see much of him in the next episode. Also arrested was Do-Gi and that's something Ha-Na did not want to see happen, it was all because of her new semi-partner Park and even at the prosecutor's office Ha-Na's superior wouldn't release Do-Gi. Cho is her superior's name and while he knows much is going on with Jang and his team Cho doesn't know the half of it. Park had zero success interviewing Do-Gi and the main reason for his arrest was because he was harboring the fugitive Gu. To Do-Gi's rescue was Ha-Na who while Do-Gi was eating dinner allowed him to escape and that left her boss Cho fuming, of course so wasn't Park. But if Baek and her cronies are going to be nabbed there's no better person than Do-Gi to have on your side. You also have to remember besides Wang being killed by Gu Baek had been running an illegal organ program and not as much was heard about that in this show. Almost forgot to add in when Do-Gi was served dinner someone had slipped in a note which said 'Your colleagues need saving'. Ha-Na didn't write it nor any of Do-Gi's mates who had other pressing matters. The only person who I can think of doing that would have been Cho as he was close friends with Jang but the actual person was never revealed.

 Whew, will be able to keep this at four segments and still haven't viewed the next episode yet. With a little over ten minutes to go we saw only two more scenes which were long and very important. Some of the characters go way back to the first story such as the man in the top screenshot above. His name is Cho, him and his partner owned a fish supply company and treated the employees like concentration camp prisoners. Of course Cho and everyone else was eventually nabbed by Do-Gi, those people have now escaped and all wanted revenge on Do-Gi. Not Cho who is a little bit slow in the head and fell head over heels for one of the fish company employees/prisoners named Maria, that's her in the second screenshot. She's eighteen in age and Cho had repeatedly sexually abused her while she worked at the factory though after Cho was taken away Maria thought she was safe. Which was the case until his escape, now Cho wants to revive this sick relationship and found Maria living at a group home with her two younger siblings. Maria thought she spotted Cho spying on her and Go-Eun said if Maria was ever in trouble to call her. Which she did and said Cho was on the loose, Go-Eun knew this was true and zoomed there on her motorcycle. 

 Go-Eun arrived just in time as Cho was about to drag Maria away but she knocked the creep aside as Maria jumped on the bike. But before Go-Eun could dart away another motorcycle appeared out of nowhere and knocked Go-Eun over the head sending her and Maria sprawling. This culprit was another escaped prisoner named Choi who was responsible for Go-Eun's sister's suicide which was talked about in the seventh and eighth recaps. That was the last we saw of this group and if anyone deserves revenge it's Go-Eun, how and if she gets it will be in the next post. While that was going on invading Jang's house was Baek along with her henchmen and seven other prisoners who all want to hurt Do-Gi badly. Of course he wasn't there as for at the time he was just leaving the police station. Baek has become such a cruel character, she wants to see Do-Gi taken down too but it appears she wants to hurt Jang even more so. Until now Baek had never known about the secret basement at Jang's house where the HQ of his 'revenge squad' works out of. At the time sitting down there was the mechanic Park who has a fractured foot and couldn't do much do help his mates out. He had no clue Baek and her army were upstairs, Park ventured there to see Jang and when he went through the secret entrance the game was up! Though he had a bad foot Park was able to get back to the basement first and zoomed away in a taxi but he had no clue where to head to, no one was answering their phones.

 Will need one more paragraph. Of course Go-Eun couldn't answer as she had been taken hostage, Park headed to the police station to possibly see Do-Gi. At that exact moment is when Do-Gi was released, he spotted Park who told him all about the situation at Jang's house. Do-Gi had a plan, Park would arrive back at the basement in the taxi alone which would grab the attention of everyone. That's what happened, sneaking up from another entrance was Do-Gi who smashed the circuit breaker sending the basement into darkness. But above you can see Do-Gi was wearing night vision goggles and with some tools was able to clobber the twenty or so men in the basement, during this time upstairs was Baek and Jang who had no clue what was taking place. So this episode ended on that note and at least two cliffhangers, one with Go-Eun and Maria being held hostage. The other with this basement scene and while Do-Gi did take out so many men none of the problems his team has encountered have been taken care of fully. Those should be solved in the next post which is just below this one which is the final of this four episode story and as always do recommend viewing these screenshots.