"Taxi Driver" Korean drama season two: Episode five 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: 14.7%

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 Eun-Go'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. **** Here we are up to the fifth episode and haven't seen him since the first show.

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

Ahn Chae-Heum as Hwang Seo-Yeon.... Eight year old girl who is below and had been wandering the streets when found by Do-Gi and his mates. Seo-Yeon's life was a mystery until the next show save that she was looking for her younger sister  So-Mang. It was discovered her and many other children were being held captive by the man below. The children had been taken from their mothers shortly after birth and were being used to appear they lived with families who Kang sold houses to. If it sounds confusing the recaps should make the story clear.

Kim Do-Yoon as Kang Pil-Seung.... This man is one ultra conceited creep and that's him below. Kang is the president of a company called Feeling Consultants who help low income childless families get houses or condos. Sounds nice but in reality in the end the married couples are scammed and lose everything they had, the house and all the money they had paid! Much more about this lowlife in the recaps, it was so nice seeing justice done to him!

Jeong Young-Gi as Park Joon-Min.... The lead manager for Feeling Consulting, when he screws up which is often Kang's henchman is there to give him a licking! That's Park on the right below, with him is his assistant Im.

Previous recaps

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

 A highlight video for episode five that's subbed in English. It's when Do-Gi asked Go-Eun to become his wife(!) and I was beaten to the punch again....

 

 

 Will view the entire series but will I be recapping all sixteen episodes? Will have the two for today and then also a pair for the next story which will be episodes seven and eight. After that is when I will make my decision, if episodes nine and ten show an improvement will recap all of the shows. While it's been decent to date there's been a drop off from the first season, especially in the intensity and violence. Wonder if any viewers complained about all of Do-Gi's fighting in the first season, bet some did yet the drama drew some record breaking ratings. So will play it by ear for now and for the second episode in a row Do-Gi didn't get into a scrap. The lightheartedness is still a tad too high but least he looked good playing a 'married couple' with Go-Eun above. 

 Twice have mentioned how there could be a minor storyline beginning and perhaps it could become a major one. It has to deal with the corrupt police captain Kim being shot to death at the end of the second episode while he was in Vietnam. At the time it appeared Kim may shoot Do-Gi but was instead shot first. Back in Korea this secret organization or maybe even the police have been spying on Di-Gi and the other Rainbow Taxi employees. Sure he's the main target and if so why didn't the sniper shoot Do-Gi while he was with Kim? In the opening minute of this episode Go-Eun did notice a man taking photos of the taxi company but he sped away before she could do anything. That was the last of that potential story in this show but as mentioned it could soon become very key. While the humor has been a bit too high to date the stories have been very serious and this could be the most serious one to date as it has to deal with a small girl being possibly abused, let's finally get to what took place in episode five.

 The young man in four of the above screenshots is Rainbow Taxi's newest driver On. He hasn't had a lot of screen time until now but think his role will become important and supposedly he's a mole from the police but hasn't done any spying yet. Well, at the end of the last episode On did discover the secret elevator located in a locked building behind the main office. On would have gone down it but had been stopped by his boss Jang though On did try once again in the beginning of this show. The elevator leads to the secret HQ of Jang's 'revenge squad' but after going down three feet the elevator stopped and On scooted away. Jang had an idea of what his new employee may do so had his mechanics Choi and Park tinker with it and for now it's out of order. We did see a lot of On in the first ten minutes as we saw that he had also moved into a new apartment and it happened to be the one right below Do-Gi at his building. On said it was a coincidence but I do wonder about that, perhaps Do-Gi does also. The older man above is the owner of Rainbow Taxi and the leader of the 'revenge squad', Jang. He was telling Do-Gi the following day how he had cleared out his second floor and it would make for a fabulous apartment, he had wished Go-Eun would have moved in but she refused.

 Go-Eun is on the hunt for a new pad and had her eyes set on the one that was below Do-Gi's. She was more than upset when she heard the new driver On had snatched the place up though he did go apartment hunting with her along with Do-Gi. It was another one of those less than serious scenes and that apartment at Jang's house will become important at the end of this recap. After viewing an apartment the trio of Go-Eun, Do-Gi and On were heading back to work when Do-Gi slammed on his taxi brakes as a young girl suddenly appeared on the road. That's her in the third and second to last screenshots above, her name is Hwang Seo-Yeon and I'm so bad with young ages, perhaps she's about seven? Seo-Yeon will be the focus of this third case and though she didn't ask for help Jang took it upon himself to come to the bottom of this young girl's troubles and what were they? It did take a while to figure out as Seo-Yeon was such a scared young girl and had tried running away at first but was found by Do-Gi who brought her back to Rainbow Taxi. Jang does have a kind way with children and maybe that's because of running the victim's group Blue Bird. He soon put Seo-Yeon at ease and throughout these two episodes we slowly learned the story of her.

 The only bit of info they were able to get from Seo-Yeon was that she was looking for her sister who we never did see in this episode save for one older photo. Besides that it took Seo-Yeon a while to open up to the group even though Jang had put her at ease. He nor his team could even get her to reveal her name but if Seo-Yeon does have a sister it probably means she also has a family and was she reported missing? Jang did contact the police about a missing young girl but didn't reveal any info on why he was calling though he did find out a girl resembling Seo-Yeon had been reported missing by her mother. Do-Gi was sent to scope out the apartment alone and did notice two suspicious men at this apartment talking with the 'mother'. Do-Gi overheard these men saying they'll 'take care of things' to the woman and left, Do-Gi soon had a plan and called Go-Eun back at Rainbow Taxi. He asked her to take a side view photo of Seo-Yeon and send it to him immediately which happened. Do-Gi then knocked on the door of this woman and showed her the photo saying had she and also her now present husband seen his daughter? Both laughed at him and said they had never seen the young girl(Seo-Yeon) before, couldn't Do-Gi watch his own child!

 One thing was established which is that these people were not Seo-Yeon's parents and we never did learn by the end of this show if she truly did have any. A lot of what took place is in the above screenshots and somehow Do-Gi was able to catch up to that pair of men who had been talking with that unnamed woman. He tailed this pair to an event that was taking place outside of a ritzy business office, the area was packed with married couples. The event was to sell houses for those who had been recently married and didn't have enough money yet for a house. That's all fine and dandy but what did Seo-Yeon have to do with this house selling event and those two 'hoodlums'? Back at Rainbow Taxi Do-Gi reported his findings and obviously something shady was going on with Seo-Yeon such as was she being shuffled around to different married couples for money as an adopted daughter? Do-Gi thinks so and soon didn't the rest of the 'revenge squad', unknown to them listening to the entire conversation was Seo-Yeon. She had escaped from another driver who had been babysitting her but hadn't left the company, Do-Gi soon found her in the back of his souped up taxi and asked if she heard every word. The answer to that was of course Yes but what she overheard did make Seo-Yeon trust everyone completely, now it's time for the team to find out what this case is all about.

 Do-Gi did return to that event which is ongoing the following day to learn more for if they want to find out what the connection is between Seo-Yeon and this house selling business he needs to infiltrate it. Do-Gi has had many more plans to date than he did in the entire first season, in the second screenshot above he had asked Go-Eun to marry him!!!! At first she was stunned but Do-Gi said only married couples are allowed to attend seminars at this company which is called Feeling Consulting. So the duo ended up acting as a ditzy couple and as mentioned many times the humor is way up there in this season though the stories are serious. The two played their roles perfectly as at the even the lead director of this respected company Park gave the couple tickets to the next seminar and those are extremely popular. And the reason for that is leading these seminars is the man in glasses above who is the president of Feeling Consulting, Kang Pil-Seung. This character is such a conceited person and perhaps has the biggest ego I've ever seen a man have in a drama. He is such a slimy creep though is so charismatic when he speaks at these seminars and he does explain thing so well to the audience such as why they may never be able to own a house, condo or ritzy apartment

 Kang had the audience in palm of his hand, even Go-Eun was mighty impressed. Naturally her and Do-Gi were one of the few couples who were able to have a one on one session with Kang which didn't go so well. The pair didn't rehearse enough plus they gave different answers to many questions. That made Kang a bit leery plus he thought the newlyweds had too much money saved up but it was only $20,000(?) or so. Kang looks for couples who are even poorer as they're much more desperate and Kang is able to use them  easier but for now don't know how he scams money off these newly married couples. Do-Gi can't fail as he truly wants to help Seo-Yeon and check out the second to last screenshot above. It was a photo on Kang's desk and in it was Seo-Yeon with him! That other girl could possibly be Sa-Mang and the woman wasn't Kang's wife so the photo was a total fraud. Do-Gi had another devious plan which was breaking into the Feeling Consulting office as he has to get Kang to accept him and Go-Eun into his house buying program. The mechanics Choi and Park were able to turn the power off in the building, Do-Gi rushed in and went to the main office. He was able to insert a USB drive and download info from the main leader's computer but that was of no help to Go-Eun. When the power did go back on he put a lighter up to the sprinkler system which set it off, when the water poured down it destroyed all of the paperwork from the interviews Kang held that day!!!!

 Why Do-Gi did that was obvious as seeing as how he and Go-Eun blew that interview with Kang it'll have to be done over again. So won't everyone else's interviews and Kang was fuming at the office manager Park for not putting the files in his desk or on the computer. Kang has a bodyguard who appears to be with him 24 hours a day, his name is Choi. This goon doesn't say much and he gave Park a few brutal wallops to the face for his huge mistake, think Choi does that to many employees. So that day interview #2 was set up and this time the newlyweds Do-Gi and Go-Eun knew what kind of answers Kang was looking for on the application to buy a house, condo or expensive apartment. This time around the couple put their savings at a much lower figure and Kang did notice the change but accepted their reasons as he could smell a sale. But he was a bit leery of the pair and told them before the application could be approved he wanted to see where they lived.... NOW! That threw the 'married couple' for a loop but help was was there who once again were the mechanics Choi and Park. Do-Gi had called them and explained that Kang would be arriving at their boss Jang's house in an hour. 

 Jang's house was the address Do-Gi had put on the application and if you remember in the beginning did say his second floor was empty and would make for a nice apartment. Don't know how they did it but the two mechanics in less than an hour got that second floor set up nicely and made it look like     Do-Gi and Go-Eun were living there as newlyweds. But only having a short amount of time meant things didn't end up perfect as the pair did miss a few things but the eagle eyed Kang didn't. Such as that the bed was only big enough for one person, both slept in it? There were a few other things which made Kang suspicious of Do-Gi and Go-Eun, as the episode ended he asked the pair the above question about... are they married or not? Just before writing up these last two paragraphs did view the next episode and it may have been the best show to date! Do-Gi finally was able to take his anger out on some goons and the recap for that is the next post.

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