The Weekend Binge: "Taxi Driver 2"

Taxi Driver 2 dominated the ratings since its first episode. Is the new season worth the hype?

The Plot

If you haven’t watched Season 1, read the plot and review here. Kim do-gi (Lee Je-hoon) and his gang—tech expert Ahn Go-eun (Pyo Ye-jin), mechanics Choi Kyung-goo (Jang Hyuk-jin) and Park Jin-eon (Bae Yoo-ram), and company owner Jang Sung-chul (Kim Eui-sung)—are back as vigilantes for hire in Taxi Driver 2. This time around, they’re out to get traffickers, cult leaders, and drug syndicates. But someone is out to give them a taste of their own medicine. Will they survive or will they get caught by their own violent rope?

The Review

Those familiar with the first season will notice that by episode 12 things had taken a lighter turn. With the change in writers mid-season because of artistic differences, the resolutions to the later cases brought the drama into less dark territory.

The “lighter” tone (lighter being relative since the series is still very much about heinous crimes) continues in this second season. The show is especially good at making their villains more villainous and giving them a satisfying end without making the Rainbow Taxi crew look ruthless. “Let the punishment fit the crime” is the MO and the team allows fate and karma to play their roles.

You'll need to suspend your disbelief several times though, as the team's revenge plots get even more complex and audacious. But since we already knew going in that getting revenge is itself a wish-fulfillment fantasy, it's not that much of a stretch to believe that the team can get away with practically everything.

It is still a satisfying watch, made even more entertaining because the chemistry among the cast just keeps getting better. In the first season, we grew to love the crew as their loyalty and concern for each other became more evident. This time around, we see them have fun with each other, too. We even dared to hope that our favorite taxi driver could have a love life. There's more room for the co-stars of Lee Je-hoon to shine, each one getting his/her turn in the spotlight as he/she dons different personas to con criminals.

Taxi Driver 2 takes what was already a successful k-drama and made it into a successful franchise. While we won’t be holding our breath for a third season (as these are so rare in k-dramaland), you can’t keep us from crossing our fingers. They have a good thing going here and I'd love to see more of Lee Je-hoon and the Rainbow Taxi gang kick (more) criminal butts.

Edit: The producers have announced that there will be indeed a third season. (YAY!) Whether or not the same characters return remains to be seen.

Stream if you enjoyed season 1.

Skip if violence upsets you.