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Deluxe Taxi / Taxi Driver 모범택시 [ S1- 2021] [S2 - 2023] [S3 -TBD]


abs-oluteM

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Recap : eps 1

It was a pretty eventful 1st episode. We were not only introduced to the crew of Rainbow Taxi  and Prosecutor Kang HaNa ( Esom) , we also got to see Rainbow's modus operandi in seeking justice for its clients.


There were two distinct cases - the 1st one was related to a sexual predator ( Cho)  who had initially been sentenced to life but in the opening scene he was released on probation with an electronic tag, and was picked up at the jail by a deluxe taxi. His released was met with much uproar given the press coverage. As the driver drove off, the taxi was hounded by reporters. Kim Do Gi ( LJH ) was driving the taxi , and at Kim's request he managed to escape the press. Of course a lot of things were set up by the rest of the team. Cho realised that Kim isn't driving the right direction . A fight ensued in the moving taxi- but Kim managed stab Cho's leg. They entered a tunnel , an awesome drive sequence took place where he passed a bag of money to the big boss of Rainbow , Jang Sung Chul ( I always remember this actor as the comic writer from W: Two Worlds) . And the taxi that KDG was driving was transformed into an ordinary black sedan , and he drove off in the opposite direction. Later we find out that KDG will leave Cho with this gangster loan shark lady at Jang's instructions.

 

We were also shown more of what every one does. Jang runs an ordinary taxi company where KDG is a taxi driver, hacker girl Go Eun ( Pyo Ye Jin) is the bookkeeper/ receptionist and the resourceful engineers Choi & Park who modify the black taxis are the mechanics. So on normal days they operate the taxis etc but whenever a client calls engaging their help , they pitch their talents and skills together to exact revenge. Look out for the cool underground basement that they use. I love that they still use pagers and tapes - logic for that according to Go Eun is that they can't be hacked.

 

Then we also find out that Jang is the president of a support foundation for crime victims called Blue Bird. Blue Bird does it best to work with legal agencies such as the police and the prosecution office. In eps 1 , Jang was finally assigned with an in house prosecutor to help Blue Bird and this turned out to be Kang Hana. Hana is well-known in her field to be a bull-dozer fierce sort of prosecutor. She is a  hard-worker. She was the one who put Cho behind bars, and now that Cho has disappeared after his release , she starts investigating again.

 

The 2nd highlight case (which really made me so mad @Darkarcana) involved this social enterprise who was known to be a kind organisation/ factory  hiring anyone regardless of their intellectual abilities. But of course that was all rubbish as they turned out to exploit their staff and punishing them in very cruel ways. They also bribed a local cop , so the staff cannot even get help from the police. We got to see their cruelty 1st hand from Maria , a slightly intellectually challenged young girl who had joined them. She was tortured and I think also sexually harrased. She tried killing herself - they sent her to the hospital. Later she escaped and wanted to commit suicide at the Han River. She saw a sticker from Deluxe Taxi who's tag line was "Don't die. Get revenge. We'll do it for you". She did and then the rest of the episode we saw how KDG and gang infiltrated the factory. The mechanic guys will carry out the distracting bit ..ahahah these two provide the comedy too

Spoiler

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....Go Eun all the tech support and KDG will go in to crack the safe. From what I understand is that they help the clients get "financial compensation" . I don't think they will kill anyone for the clients. Anyway in this case, unfortunately the safe had no money. KDG sees a photos of Maria in the supervisors phone, and realises the young man had bad intentions too. It ended with him wanting to smash a flower pot on the supervisor and the owner.

 

Now what is interesting as well as is that Jang uses the loan shark lady to help him keep the sexual predator Cho. She's just in it for the money so she doesn't care what happpens to Cho. But Jang had his personal reasons for asking her to hold on to Cho. Later we see him go to where Cho is and it looks like he wanted to beat / kill Cho.  I wonder if Cho had done something to someone that Jang loved or cared about. Also in the last bit we saw how Jang came to recruit KDG four years ago. Jang's mother was murdered and unfortunately the killer "committed suicide" in jail . 

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Overall I enjoyed the action packed premiere. Loved seeing LJH again. He's very cool in this . He seems a little aloof - has some anger going on inside. But I caught him smiling a brief few moments and I hope he'll smile more soon. And I need a gif of him wearing his sunnies! :heart:

 

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Clocking in for episode 1~ 

 

Easy to understand. A vigilante group who takes matters into their own hands because the legal system failed to do so. Justice is served through them.

 

Good execution so far. A promising drama. I think it'll be an entertaining, fun watch.

 

It generally received good reviews in SK too although there's a minor nitpicking too because Cho Do Chul is a real life offender. Therefore featuring him would be sprinkling salt on the victims' wounds.

 

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source: thingskateknows

 

@abs-oluteM I'm looking forward to next episode where he wore the mask. Look so cool (when he shouldn't coz Jason wears something like that in the US movie).

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4 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

It generally received good reviews in SK too although there's a minor nitpicking too because Cho Do Chul is a real life offender. Therefore featuring him would be sprinkling salt on the victims' wounds.

 

Oh my , there are so many dramas based on real incidents....knetz so sensitive these days. Soon , everything will offend them :idk:

 

Thank you for the gif. Ooo is there a US movie using this story/ webtoon?

 

@Darkarcana looks like he will school this awful manager!

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35 minutes ago, mademoiselle said:

@abs-oluteM I was talking about Friday the 13th - Jason Voorhees

Would love to see him wielding a knife so..... *praying for a scene like this* though I know this series, at the end or the middle, he is going to be a lose cannon. So I just really want to see how his character will take off when his character would ultimately be affected by something.

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Wow! Those were two very interesting and good episodes. I enjoyed every minute of it! I can't believe I even considered not watching it -- blaming it on fatigue for clouding my judgement for a bit there. Lee Je Hoon is that actor for me -- I've watched almost, if not all, of his dramas without knowing what it is about. I mean, that's how I got stuck watching the awfulness of Fashion King! :jiminbtssigh:

 

This first case hit a little closer to home for me because my brother has developmental disability and that's also majority of the clients I have at work. It's very common for manipulation to happen without them realizing. This population is usually very easily taken advantage of because of their lack of understanding and inability to process the situation around them. I'm glad that Maria was given a chance to finally succeed outside of the orphanage. I love that she is now helping the taxi company out. :heart:

 

Can't wait for the next episodes! So glad this is my only weekend drama. Haha!

 

 

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Done with episode 2. I'm a bit worried about the head of the Deluxe Driver team, especially at the end of this episode him saying he wants to reform the bad guys. Errr... how? Also this actor is famous for playing villain so it wouldn't even be surprising if in the end he turns around becoming the biggest villain of all time.

 

At the end of this episode, it shows Maria is back at the jeotgal company and is running the company now with the other disable women. I thought it would be traumatic for her to return to that place again. Also enlighten me as I don't have much understanding on developmental disability and how much or limited they process information — the jerk who sexual harassed Maria told her to take birth control pill, but wouldn't "birth control pill" be written on the packaging? Or "birth control pill" could be a term she may not understand?

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@mademoiselle - Same, I thought it was pretty interesting that they had her go back to the jeotgal company to run it too. Usually someone wouldn't want to go back to a place that traumatized them. 

 

Everyone process information at different pace depending on other underlying health conditions. My brother is 35 but his mental age is around 14-16. He's pretty smart but is not able to abstracting understand situations. One common thing among people with developmental disability is that they are pretty trusting of the people around them and don't really understand stranger danger especially if they were not taught this repeatedly growing up. Even though the man was a scumbag, he is someone familiar to her. If he told her that the medication was to make her feel good and happy, it's pretty common for someone to take it without asking questions. Often times I see my clients get into relationships with people that verbally abuses them but I'm limited on what I can do because the government says, someone with a disability has the right to the same risks as everyone else. :idk:

 

 

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What a fantastic concept!

I like it and it's so much fun. Except the bits where Maria was being abused and violated... that was awful and so hard to watch. Those people involved in the fermented foods factory were absolutely despicable. 

 

I hear that it's based off a webtoon. And no wonder! It feels like something off the pages of a graphic novel. It's got that dark superhero-vigilante justice feel. I am surprised that it's on SBS because it feels very much like an OCN drama. 

 

The show has so many resonances for me but I kind of settled on Leverage, Transporter and Mission Impossible. Even Knight Rider. (Showing my age here) For some reason it has a 70s, 80s feel to it but darker. My favourite thing is how LJH's character is used here. He's a man of many masks including the taciturn tsundere. But my favourite one at the moment is most likely the cheery dork.

 

A few things made me laugh:

The initial James Bond feel -- gadgety car cared for by a comical Q style engineer as well as a Money Penny receptionist bantering with the male lead

The taxi lair -- a mix of some version of the bat cave and the Green Hornet 

The analogue tech. I was surprised by the wide use of 20 century tech -- pagers, cassette recorders, and push button whatever etc. I understand the reason for it. It does make some sense.

LJH's character playing baseball as a form of torture. Just because he had a cameo in Hot Stove League as a tech business CEO. 

 

I am also rather taken by the idea of the taxi driver as superhero who roams the streets and is in touch with the everyday concerns of ordinary people. He sees the best and the worst. He catches glimpses of conversations of real life. It's like when Clark went to work for the Daily Planet so that he have a finger on the pulse of what's going on. All kinds of people get into a taxi and each one has a story but you can't assume anything just by looking at them. A friend of mine became an Uber driver after he retired and he loves the interaction with the customers about anything and everything. I personally enjoy having a good chat with the driver because they're a repository of all kinds of information.

 

All these superhero shows in the last 5 months... I can't complain really. :D

 

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Finally watched the first episode. It’s a fresh concept of helping the oppressed and powerless people. However, I am still uncertain about the theme that taking revenge is the way to do it. But I will continue to watch and see how the mission resonates with me. 
 

On 4/10/2021 at 1:25 PM, abs-oluteM said:

the big boss of Rainbow , Jang Sung Chul ( I always remember this actor as the comic writer from W: Two Worlds)

Me too!! Haha...

 

On 4/12/2021 at 1:15 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

Even Knight Rider. (Showing my age here

😂 You made me laughed... as if your username has not revealed anything 🤣🤣🤣

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I watched the first episode @abs-oluteM and I loved it. This is my kind of drama. :cool:

 

I'm all for dramas/ films ft. high violence revenge against evil scumbags that escape corrupt systems. I guess it was telling that I would love this drama since my favourite film is Drive and this is giving me massive vibes - but in the opposite way. Ryan Gosling was a get away driver for criminals. Lee Je Hoon is capturing/hurting criminals. I'm also massively crushing on Lee Je Hoon. :heart:

 

Will do a write up tomorrow since it's late now 

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Watched the first 2 eps already~ 

Mm...not sure about how I feel about the drama yet. There were some really cool scenes which I truly enjoyed but overall the first 2 eps haven't wow-ed me (I have a feeling I have probably reached that stage where most of kdramas won't do that to me anymore)... 

 

Def likes LJH as the main actor :hearties:  and the Rainbow taxi team members too. Esom's character is pretty cool but I'll wait around to see whether the character will turn out to be likeable or annoying. 

This drama reminds me of a Japanese drama with similar theme "Joker: Yurusarezaru Sousakan" - although it's not about taxi driver but still about a person exacting justice to the criminals and 'prisoned' the criminals in a secluded island far far far away from civilisation. 

For some reasons, it does give me some satisfaction to watch that justice can be served promptly like that because some criminals are just truly evil, dangerous and can't be reformed. 

 

Now on to the things I don't quite like... I feel the changes in timeline/scenes sometimes aren't smooth enough (for me). I got confused sometimes trying to piece together what happened before what :idk: but to certain degree I blame it on my poor memory.. eg: I think I missed the part where Maria tried to kill herself and got sent to hospital (thanks to @abs-oluteM for her recap) :shocked:  I was wondering how come she got to go out and played that video game which led her to summon Rainbow Taxi service. Also, the scene where Maria was inside that gallon filled with water... where should we fit in that scene? Coz in that scene the bad guys said that she ran away.... ran away from who? 

 

Anyway...I'll stay around for a few more eps and then let's see what I'm gonna do with this :brb:

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On 4/12/2021 at 2:15 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

The show has so many resonances for me but I kind of settled on Leverage, Transporter and Mission Impossible. Even Knight Rider. (Showing my age here)

I will join you ...grew up on shows like this. Knight Rider was my favourite. Did you watch the k-version of Leverage? This show reminded me a little of that drama though Leverage (the kdrama) was not as polished as this one here and had a bit more comedy. 

 

22 hours ago, JenL said:

I'm also massively crushing on Lee Je Hoon. :heart:

LJH is always effortlessly cool. And I adore him even when he is wearing his signature frown or looking like a dork ( looking forward to teacher-nim this weekend)

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@SnowBlob I agree that the timelines could be better defined. They should clearly indicate either by text or a change in screen size or a more distinct change in filter when they do flashbacks or when they want to do a reverse chronology in their story telling. 

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Having watched a number of vigilante / anti-hero type shows ( Lookout, Leverage , Lawless Lawyer, currently airing Vincenzo,  just to name some that popped up at the top of my head), the common thing I notice is that at the end of the day , the criminals would still be turned over to the law. The marked difference here is that the criminals are caught and they are all imprisoned by loan shark lady boss - Baek Sung Mi who of course is being paid by CEO Jang to do so. Clearly there's zero trust of the legal system.

 

And interestingly Jang's intentions here is one of "reform" . His motto, it seems,  is about overcoming evil with good. But I am very curious how he intends to do that with all those people sitting in Baek's  'dungeon'. While both Jang and Kim Do Ki ( and the team) have good intentions helping the those who have been let down by the justice system , I wonder if the drama will bring up ethical issues regarding the justification of vigilante justice. I am thinking that is probably why Kang Hana , a tough as nails prosecutor, is brought into the picture. 

 

@joccu__ @liddi are you guys watching this? 

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Like everyone else, I'm just basking in the hotness and cool of LJH. I'm liking him so much in this that I binge-watched Tomorrow With You in a couple of days. Prior to this I had only seen him in Signal -- a long time favourite. 

 

@abs-oluteMI have seen the K version of Leverage. I started, stopped and then went back to pick it up again early last year. It got better as it became more like the US version. Wasn't too impressed with the early episodes but it got progressively better. Plus JHB is brilliant in it. She's as good as the original in that role.

 

I'm a bit of a fan of these dark vigilante dramas but what is different here is that the director of Blue Bird has got his own reform agenda which is still an unknown. With Leverage, they always called in the cops at the end because their priorities was always to compensate the victim in some way and not focus on the villains except as an impediment. But here the focus is get the villains out of the picture and teach them a lesson. I'm not entirely sure what the director means by "reform". Does he intend to torture them into becoming responsible functioning citizens? What's his plan? What's the point of keeping them in the dungeon and incur all that expense? Whatever his rationale, it had better be good. It is better than killing them outright. But then there's a darkness in his soul that makes one wonder.

 

I personally have no issue working out the timelines. 

 

 

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On 2/20/2021 at 12:59 AM, abs-oluteM said:

Same here...not easy for me to love facial hair. :shocked2:

 

 

Hahaha and yet he's back with the facial hair for Move to Heaven :idk::laugh:

On 4/5/2021 at 4:42 PM, mademoiselle said:

Bahahahaha I still don't trust them. I vaguely remember the one thing crime profiler (not sure true or not) mentioned was that often psycho serial killer looks very normal, can be charming in looks (reminds me of vampire luring their prey with their looks xD)

 

Ok good. I didn't want to be rude but I honestly want to put a distance between me and stranger.

 

True apparently Ted Bundy was considered good looking to many women but then he killed them :shocked: 

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On 4/11/2021 at 3:37 PM, Tofu said:

 Lee Je Hoon is that actor for me -- I've watched almost, if not all, of his dramas without knowing what it is about. I mean, that's how I got stuck watching the awfulness of Fashion King! 

 

Hahaha what is fashion king?! Sounds scary :lettalKWA:

 

On 4/11/2021 at 3:37 PM, Tofu said:

This first case hit a little closer to home for me because my brother has developmental disability and that's also majority of the clients I have at work. It's very common for manipulation to happen without them realizing. This population is usually very easily taken advantage of because of their lack of understanding and inability to process the situation around them. I'm glad that Maria was given a chance to finally succeed outside of the orphanage. I love that she is now helping the taxi company out. 

 

It's always nice when you see understanding of a topic close to home in media, particularly dramas. I thought that storyline was really sad, but moving in the way the Deluxe Taxi staff watched out for her and got her back on her feet. :heart:

 

On 4/11/2021 at 9:16 PM, mademoiselle said:

Also this actor is famous for playing villain so it wouldn't even be surprising if in the end he turns around becoming the biggest villain of all time.

 

Haha, I feel like it's a common trope when that happens it's a bit like becoming a monster to capture the monsters. I also feel like there's a point if you can't let go of anger where you have to pick if you'll cross over and join the dark side to avenge people. Join the dark side, it's more fun :Ghastlel:

 

On 4/12/2021 at 3:07 AM, Tofu said:

One common thing among people with developmental disability is that they are pretty trusting of the people around them and don't really understand stranger danger especially if they were not taught this repeatedly growing up. Even though the man was a scumbag, he is someone familiar to her. If he told her that the medication was to make her feel good and happy, it's pretty common for someone to take it without asking questions.

 

It's really sad when people take advantage of those who trust them, especially if they don't necessarily have the capacity to assess character and motive. I think that's a particular type of evil that should be punished a la Deluxe Taxi style :lenny:

 

On 4/12/2021 at 4:15 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

What a fantastic concept!

I like it and it's so much fun. Except the bits where Maria was being abused and violated... that was awful and so hard to watch. Those people involved in the fermented foods factory were absolutely despicable. 

 

I agree with this so much. I'm hooked even just with the first 2 episodes! There's a real bad-ass feel. I just love vigilante heroes and this has a dash of retro and humour sprinkles across the darker elements. :cool:

 

On 4/14/2021 at 2:18 PM, SnowBlob said:

. Now on to the things I don't quite like... I feel the changes in timeline/scenes sometimes aren't smooth enough (for me). I got confused sometimes trying to piece together what happened before what  but to certain degree I blame it on my poor memory..

 

Hahaha I think some of the flashbacks were a little oddly placed in episode 2...but I also think some of the scenes like Maria playing the game is more metaphoric, like she's finally able to take control of her life, as opposed to literal (like the game summoning the taxi company). :MewHi:

 

21 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

LJH is always effortlessly cool. And I adore him even when he is wearing his signature frown or looking like a dork ( looking forward to teacher-nim this weekend)

 

He's pretttyyyyyyy :SquirtleNiceAhah: Why did I never notice his existence before? I've seen several films/dramas with him in it actually, but maybe in his more minor roles.

 

21 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

, I wonder if the drama will bring up ethical issues regarding the justification of vigilante justice. I am thinking that is probably why Kang Hana , a tough as nails prosecutor, is brought into the picture. 

 

Probably. I think there's always that grey area that has to be explored - like what if there was a reason someone did the bad things or if someone was framed etc. And then are you any better if you behave in the same ways, I guess. :poliWeird: 

 

9 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

Like everyone else, I'm just basking in the hotness and cool of LJH.

 

Mmmm, let us continue basking in his hot and coolness :wow:

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Episodes 1&2

 

-I'm glad this is worth the watch for me. It turned out to be as badass and fun as I wanted it to be. LJH is great to watch as a stoic hero who is fighting back against huge injustices :cool: While the support team are great at bringing the laughs - mainly the two mechanics (?) who pretended to be chicken store owners with the chicken van decorated with rubber chickens. I like the female hacker too. The actress Pyo Ye Jin does look quite like Lee Na Eun - I wonder if that was a purposeful choice! :thinking:

-I'm loving the concept of something so ordinary such as a Taxi Service being used as a service for revenge. I think Taxi are quite an element of film noir and Taxi drivers probably do see everything and are the eyes and ears of the city but are easily forgotten :MewHi:

-I wish there really was a Deluxe Taxi watching out for all the people who get taken advantage of in this world. The story with Maria was so heart-breaking and sickening. I'm not sure who I found more disgusting -- the violent big boss, the hunchbacked predator or the insurance/ jobs lady who pretended to be nice only to be delivering a young disabled girl into the hands of evil jerks. I hope these types of people get to experience their own personal hells in real life...but on screen it was soooo satisfying to see Kim Do-Ki take them down one by one and use some of the same forms of torture on them (like when he dunked the boss in the water the way he had done to Maria.) :CharmanderYay:

-The birth control pills scene made me feel sick. It was so horrible to see it happen :shocked:

- I also wonder whether the head of Deluxe Taxi / Blue Bird Foundation will turn out to fight evil by becoming evil. I feel like he has an underlaying level of anger and he senses that in KDK as well. But it may be that in the end they walk 2 different paths to justice especially once Esom's character gets involved. :thinking:

-Looks like the next episode involves School bullies? How appropriate if so! :lenny:

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