"Taxi Driver" Korean drama season two: Episode four recap

 

Air Dates: 17th until April 15, 2023. Friday and Saturday nights at 9:00 pm on SBS/ViuTV

Director: Lee Dan    Screenwriter: Oh Sang-Ho.... This episode's rating: 11.3%

This series ran for 1070 minutes or close to 67 minutes an episode.

Main Cast: The five heroes from Jang's 'Revenge Squad' are also in this second season. The only major character who didn't return was the prosecutor Kang Ha-Na so don't know if Jang's crew will be feeling any pressure from the authorities. She was mentioned in the opening minutes and also her superior won't be in this series. The top five names below are the 'Revenge Squad', think at least one more major character will be added in plus will be doing a lot of editing in the first half of the series. The bottom characters will be the guest stars for the story, for the first case will leave them there for two recaps. If you didn't read the posts or view the first season highly recommend that you do as it's my top drama from the last three years. Here are the links to the final two episodes of season one if you want to get a feel for the series:

Episode fifteen .... Episode sixteen

 Lee Je-Hoon as Kim Do-Gi.... Everyone on Jang's team is important but Do-Gi is the most essential part of the team. He used to be a member of the Special Forces of the Korean military and is truly one unbeatable fighter. Shortly after Do-Gi was discharged from the military his mother was murdered by a serial killer and that was a key story in the first season. After that killing is when Do-Gi was recruited by Jang to be a part of his 'revenge squad', after being together for over three years the team was disbanded at the end of season one. But Do-Gi kept in touch with his mentor and after two years rejoined fighting evil with Jang, soon the other three completed the team.

 Kim Eui-Sung as Jang Sing-Chul.... Leader of the 'revenge squad' and for well over a year it was a solo project. Jang also owns the Rainbow Taxi company which is a semi cover for his team, he also runs a victim's organization called Blue Bird. At the end of the first season Jang felt his squad had done all they could do so disbanded the team, think he was also worried for their safety. However Jang did secretly keep in touch with Do-Gi and in the first episode the pair did work on two revenge cases. The second case was so intense the rest of the old 'revenge squad' found out some details about it and Jang eventually brought them back into the fold. Jang below was telling the police after the squad's disbandment that he did everything by himself but the charges were soon dropped.

Pyo Ye-Jin as Ahn Go-Eun.... Her sister had been framed by a sex con artist and because of that had committed suicide. That was over five years ago and after hearing Go-Eun's story Jang recruited her to be a member of his squad. Go-Eun is the techno whiz of the team and there's seemingly nothing computer related she can't do. After Jang broke the team up Go-Eun took the civil service exam, when the series began she was working for the police in their Information Management division though soon returned to Jang's squad in the second episode.

 Jang Hyuk-Jin as Choi Kyung-Goo.... Was the head mechanic at Rainbow Taxi and really knew how to 'soup up' Do-Gi's vehicle. When the 'revenge squad' was disbanded Choi went back to being a researcher testing out new automobiles but he really missed working with his mates. At the end of the second show he, Park and Go-Eun all quit their new jobs to return to Jang's 'revenge squad'.

 

Bae Yoo-Ram as Park Jin-Eon.... In real life him and the above man are a comedy team who also appear in many dramas together. Below is Park on the left, Choi is on the right. Park comes off as being a bit goofy but what an intelligent man he is! What he did after the team broke up was to work for Korea's version of NASA designing spaceships but was about to be transferred to Russia(?) for five years.

Shin Jae-Ha as On Ha-Jun/Kim Don-Woo.... New driver for Rainbow Taxi who we first met in the third episode. There are two names for him as On is the alias he's using while working as a driver. Don't know much about him yet so will be editing this bio info but it appears he's a mole working for the below man who we haven't seen much of yet.

 Park Jong-Hwan as Park Hyeon-Jo.... Don't know much about him yet but think he will be a major character and also a thorn in the side of Jang! Park works for the Northeast Seoul PD and is also an executive at the Geumsa Organization which appears to be a shady outfit.

 ****Guest stars for the second story which lasts for two episodes, will update/change the names for every story and most last for two episodes.

Byun Joong-Hee as Lee Im-Soon.... Elderly woman who was the victim for the second revenge case. She had been duped badly by the next character and her meager savings had all been stolen from her. Im-Soon had thought about jumping in front of a train as the shame was too much to bear but right at that moment noticed a decal for Jang's 'revenge squad' and called him for help.

Ko Sang-Ho as Yoo Sang-Gi.... A ruthless scammer who usually preys on the elderly as they're ones who rarely contact their family or the police. Yoo dupes these people by putting on free musical shows and does have a talent for making others believe everything he says. In the end he often gets them to sign up for fraud credit cards and also sells them damaged goods.

Kang Young-Taek as Lee Dong-Geun.... One of Yoo's henchmen.

Yoo Dong-Hoon as Goo Jae-Seung.... Another of Yoo's henchmen, the pair are the two men below in the screenshot.

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two

 Another behind the scenes video though this time its not subbed, it's for this and the previous episode's story.

   

 That above video is worth a view as it features the tech whiz Go-Eun dressed as a cowgirl, WOW! It's kind of funny how I had planned to mention the woman Baek who is right above. She was such a key figure in the first season and will admit I miss her conniving and cruel ways. She had been such a dedicated ally to Jang's team but that was all a ruse and she almost ended up destroying the 'revenge squad'. Baek was eventually taken down and was sentenced to prison for ten years, don't think she'll be appearing in this season but a brief mention was made about her in this episode. 

 It's only been four shows but will admit to date season one was much stronger. It was more intense and the stories were much more interesting though there still are a dozen more episodes to go. The intensity has dropped in this season to date and there's been much more light heartedness which is okay in small doses. The violence has also gone way down, as a matter of fact this is the first of the twenty episodes where we didn't see Do-Gi in a skirmish, even he's been much more humorous in this season. Let's get to the second part of this story and sure you've read the above recap so won't need to explain much of what's taken place, Jang and his team are about to take down a trio of men who have been scamming the elderly.

 Yoo Sang-Gi is the leader of this small group that has been targeting the elderly, that's him in the third screenshot above. Two below that one are his henchmen Lee and Goo who do get a lot of screen time but won't be mentioning their names too often. The trio have been going to smaller villages with a high amount of elderly residents, they will scam one or two of them for as much money as they can and hightail it out of the village and move on to the next one. Not just money the trio swindle but have been also been able to con these people into signing up for fraud credit cards and phone plans which the three use to their advantage. No one had ever brought a complaint against these creeps until the last episode when an elderly woman named Lee In-Soon had. She had been conned so bad and was heavily in debt because of their credit cards that were in her name so she had to pay those bills! She was ready to throw herself in front of a train in the village of Hwajun when Im-Soon noticed one of Jang's decals for his 'revenge squad'. She contacted Jang and the team immediately began on the case and tracked the men to the village of Yongsori where they have just set up shop and have some targets they'll be exploiting.

 When the last episode ended the trio's truck had broken down in the middle of nowhere, that was courtesy of the engine being tinkered with by the mechanics Choi and Park. Coming to the goons rescue was..... farmboy Do-Gi and he had the 'hick' routine down pat! He fixed their truck but did tinker with some things along with the mechanics. At these villages Yoo will put on a free music show for the elderly and then get to know them much better which has made scamming them so much easier. Yoo would do such things as having a free raffle but not really free as he tells the winners they have to pay the taxes and fees for the shoddy prizes and almost all pay up. But in this show the mechanics Choi and Park were able to switch raffle numbers with who they knew would 'win'. So the pair of men did win the prizes but Yoo couldn't scam them for any fees, in her van Go-Eun has hacked into their phones so knows every move the trio will be making. The mechanics even designed an instrument that would shut down any transmissions which they gave to Do-Gi. Yoo was able to 'borrow' a credit card from an older man and was about to order more credit cards and such under his name. However Do-Gi used that device to thwart Yoo's scheme and he's getting mighty upset that his team hasn't made one scamming deal yet. That's Do-Gi as the farmboy in green above and with him in the bottom screenshot is his leader Jang who is impersonating as an older man named Bang Sang-Mi.

 Though Yoo and his cohorts had a couple of people in Yongsori they had thought of conning their main focus soon became Jang, will usually refer to him as Baek for now on for that's the name he used. In the intro did mention the woman Baek and he used her last name as the stories about her evil ways were on the internet. Go-Eun was able to edit the stories adding in the fake male Baek's name and how he had swindled so much money but the charges against him didn't stick. One other thing is in the top two screenshots above, Go-Eun had been unable to find where Yoo has been stashing all of the scammed money. He didn't have any bank accounts nor did he invest in stocks or such, Do-Gi said he would get to the bottom of the mystery which we didn't learn about until the end. Back to Jang as Baek and with his mates Yoo began to tail the older man 24 hours a day. They did notice at Baek's small cottage the man must have more money than can be used for he was walking around his yard throwing bills everywhere! However a search of his cottage turned up no cash so where was Baek hiding it all?

 Yoo's truck broke down for a second time and sure that was planned so he would have to visit Do-Gi's garage again. It was so obvious to Jang's team what Yoo and his goons were doing so it was so easy for the 'revenge squad' to string this trio along, Do-Gi had told Yoo he had seen Baek bury boxes n the woods and would label the locations with red flags, to Yoo is that where Baek has been hiding his money? The trio did travel to the woods and noticed all of those small red flags that had been put there by Do-Gi. They borrowed his tractor to begin digging but it was all to no avail as no cash was found. However they did find one box that had something interesting in it which was..... Poop!!!! While funny in a way the humor in this episode was way more than needed and I'm really missing the intensity of season one, more lightheartedness is coming up. After that failed attempt to find his money the trio began to hound Baek even more, they even slept at his house one evening. Baek acts as though he's very deaf and senile which was so frustrating to Yoo's crew, actually this entire village has been so frustrating to Yoo for to date they've lost so much money which had never happened before.

 As mentioned what Yoo and his henchmen do is put on free musical shows at these villages for the elderly to cozy up to them. Which has always worked until they came to the village of Yongsori, Baek had attended one show but left after a few minutes. These shows have been the best way to meet the elderly so Yoo thought why not try a different kind of show with someone else as the musical act? He called an agency which was intercepted by the mechanic Choi who said they would send out a new singer that day! Her arm had to be twisted but eventually it worked where Go-Eun would be the new singer and that's her above as a cowgirl!!!! She looked better than alluring to me and Baek may have thought the same way as during Go-Eun's performance he tipped her $100. That of course was noticed by Yoo who was so infuriated with Go-Eun but his anger would soon hit the Nth degree! For she told Yoo she was quitting as the old man Baek had asked her to stay with him at his cottage! Go-Eun went there first and soon after Yoo with his mates arrived at Baek's place. A bit too late as they noticed his shiny new red Porsche was gone and did he give it to Go-Eun?

 Yes he did and Baek even said he gave Go-Eun a map to dig up all of his buried treasure!!!! The trio tore off and though Go-Eun had a head start and was driving a Porsche they were able to catch right up to her though that was part of the plan. That truck can zoom and Yoo tried to knock Go-Eun off the road and it appeared that would be successful. But also on the road was farmboy Do-Gi who got in the way of Yoo's truck which enabled Go-Eun to escape and take a dirt road into the hills. Yoo was of course furious with Do-Gi but there was no time to stop and moan about that as he too took that dirt road which ended up at a large quarry. Go-Eun's car was there but she wasn't and the trio never wondered what happened to her? Perhaps because in the front seat was that map which showed the location of where Baek had hidden his 'massive fortune'. It wasn't at the at quarry but instead at a place called Mount Shinwoong so that's the next destination for Yoo. However unknown to him viewing everything from high above was Do-Gi and as you can see above was holding a small object. When Yoo had brought in his truck for a second time to be fixed it was but there were also a couple of special features added in! That was courtesy of the mechanics Choi and Park who installed a tracking device and mikes to listen in on them. The key item was this small vial of acid that was placed just above the braking system and what Do-Gi was holding was the device to activate the acid. So when he did the acid disintegrated the brakes and as you can see the truck rolled away and fell off a cliff!!!!

 Earlier was saying that Go-Eun couldn't find out where Yoo and his gang were stashing all of the money they had conned from the elderly for it appeared he had no bank accounts. Which was true as when the mechanics were 'fixing' Yoo's truck they searched every nook and cranny of it with Do-Gi. And that's where the money had been stashed and there was too much to count, there were even many gold bars! So with his truck going over the cliff and exploding Yoo was in tears as all of his money was burnt up! However that wasn't the case as of course Jang's team wouldn't let that happen, They had taken all of the conned loot and gave most of it back at the end to the scammed woman Im-Soon plus probably kept some for their fee. After that Yoo really began to fall apart in the head and with his two mates hunted down the old man Baek. Not in a friendly manner and threatened him with a knife to reveal exactly where Baek had stashed all of money. Which Baek refused to do and soon jumped off a cliff into the ocean and it appeared he was dead! Of course Jang and his team always have everything planned out and waiting for Jang with a boat were his pair of mechanics. That incident really creeped out Yoo's two henchmen Lee and Goo, someone dying had never happened and that was the final straw for them. The pair left Yoo on his own though were soon captured and tied up by Do-Gi, that's them in the water above.

 Final paragraph and Yoo did have that fake treasure map which Go-Eun had left behind in the Porsche. The treasure was supposedly buried on Mount Shinwoong where Yoo soon headed and according to Do-Gi Baek would bury his money under small red flags. Do-Gi had planned this out on his own and it was a very unique ending. He knew that mountain was where the Army does their training, they install small red flags where life land mines are!!!! It was night time when Yoo arrived at the mountain and soon found himself in a mine field! He discovered that when his right foot stepped on a live mine, if he removed it would the thing explode?! So that was the last we heard of Yoo and wonder what ever became of him and we may learn that in a future episode. Didn't talk about the new driver at Rainbow Taxi who is named On but he could become a key character. That's him in the top screenshot below and shortly before the episode ended it appeared he may have found the secret HQ of Jang's 'revenge squad'. But a more important incident happened in the final few seconds. Across the street from the taxi company was a man spying on everyone and it seemed he was looking mainly for one person. Which he found for when he noticed Do-Gi the unseen man said Bingo! and is this man a part of the secret organization that murdered the corrupt police captain Kim in episode two? Think he is and that will be an intense storyline then from here on out, bit more intensity and violence is needed. That wraps up this post and did the first four recaps fairly quickly but don't think the next pair will be published for another eight days. No big deal as each revenge case is for two episodes.