Taxi Driver 2 (2023)

Not Meant to be as Good as Season One, but rather as impactful

This second journey of Taxi Driver and our beloved team of Avengers reprised by the ever so enigmatic Lee Je Hoon, Kim Eui Sung, Pyo Ye Jin, the dynamic duo of Jang Hyuk Jin and Bae Yoo Ram, and the addition of Shin Jae Ha as a villain motivated solely by his distaste for humans, in general, is one that I wanted so badly, as I was a massive fan of the first leg of the journey, which touched me deeply. I knew I would like the second season, and I did, but on a different scale than the first. The second is brilliant, and as I continued to watch it week after week, I realized it was as good as the first, and in some cases even better, even if it was not as awestriking as the first. But as the journey neared its end, I understood it wasn't meant to be as good but rather as impactful, and it is indeed.

Even as I say this, the first season was dynamic. The differences to me were in the punishments. The first journey was meant to serve as a loud message to society and the law enforcement and justice community. And that was evident in how daring, loud, elaborate, and grandiose the punishments were, befitting of the cruel and, in some cases, unfathomable crimes. The team dynamic was terrific in the first journey. In this second one, I felt, for most of the first half, and much into the second, the team lacked the chemistry that made them so great. Their interactions could have been more fluid and less forced. But still, I loved this journey for the message it was trying to share.

Yes, the punishments this season seemed subdued and sometimes felt incomplete or a walk back, not befitting the level of crimes. At first, I thought maybe it was because the first journey was heavily criticized for how cruel the punishments were, which I disagreed with entirely, as all the penalties befitted the horridly overwhelming crimes it brought to light. It was daring and brilliant, not only in how it showcased but also addressed some overwhelmingly mammoth issues. From labor and mental health abuse to significant workplace harassment, pornography, organ trafficking, and thrill killings, the statute of limitations, and the biggest and most challenging to reconcile the abuse of an almost lawless justice system, seemingly instituted to preserve the rights of the powerless, yet somehow ended up shielding the lawless and the criminals.

Still, I think this leg of the journey was clever in how it incorporated real-life crimes and stories straight from the headlines, like the Burning Sun Sex Scandal, which brokered innocent women to wealthy VIPs, politicians, and chaebols, as well as the crimes of child trafficking, modern slavery, elderly scamming, criminal medical malpractice of the poor, and religious cults as recently portrayed by Netflix in the Korean religious leaders' sex cult expose: In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal, which uses religion to justify the application of violence for personal gain, power, and control of those who innocently follow and believe in them. The Crimes were indeed atrociously unacceptable. It highlights how some people have become so devoid of humanity, so emotionally detached, that they are okay with brutally taking advantage of vulnerable children, women, and older people.

The last two episodes of the second journey are the best. What this second season does well, as it came to its end even more than the first season, is how beautifully it brings what we, as viewers, thought were crimes each committed by one villain or groups of villains was admirably directed by one masterful villain, Bishop (Park Ho San), disguised as a holy man of the cloth, easily and craftily manipulating the many villains we so vehemently disliked along the way. Even more brilliant was that as much as this master villain and his followers believed himself/themselves to be smarter than our Taxi Avengers, they didn't even come close. As they did the first time, our Avengers proved always to be not one or ten steps but a million steps ahead. I loved that about this team.

Again, Taxi Driver succeeds in its second leg to make us question our humanity. Well, at least it did to me. It made me question: where do we as individuals find meaning in life; is it in communing with nature, or could it be engaging in philosophical or religious contemplation, or is it in attaining societal acceptance, or the pursuit of riches and power, or is it something entirely different; ultimately, what it comes down to for me is we as humans gain much of what shapes us from our social environments. Daily we are impacted by experiences and lessons we learn from our family life or lack thereof, our peers in school or as adults in other group settings, our community leaders, and so forth. These influences drive who and what we become.

I think Taxi Driver's message this time is similar to last time. This leg of the journey emphasized imparting solutions to achieve wide-ranging reforms across the board, not just judicial reforms but, more importantly, human forgiveness. Revenge may be sweet, but it is not an answer, nor is locking up criminals and throwing away the key. Human beings must work on becoming socially inclusive rather than practicing social exclusion based on societal status or class. Because ultimately, we as human beings are meant to find the purpose of life in each other. All the actors were great in their respective roles, and the dynamic between Lee Je Hoon and Shin Jae Ha, the righteous vs. wicked, is well done. Shin Jae Sha deserves praise for how well he has evolved as an actor, especially as a villain, from his role as the creepy CEO of Babel Research Center in Welcome 2 Life, followed by Crash Course in Romance, and now this. Kudos to him and the whole production team.

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Here's my take on what I've seen so far. I watched season one in 2021 but went back to rewatch this a few weeks ago after finding out there was going to be a season 2. I wanted to vividly remember why I loved the first season and I'm being truthfully honest. I'm glad I rewatched the first season because to me it seemed like it picked up right where it left off once they were able to get rid of the second main antagonistic group.
The plots are the same. The revenge factor is the same except that some scenes are a bit more grittier than the first. Some of the cast that made it seem like they were going to be in season 2 is not in season 2 so far.

I love the cast but it seems like the two guys are dumber than dirt this time around. For one to be good with cars and the other a rocket scientist their skills are truly dismal in the second season. I love their chemistry but I really don't like side kicks who act like Jim Carey.

Unfortunately I knew who the antagonist was before the sixth episode. Makes me wonder how that scenario is going to play out.

I'm hoping against all possible hope that there's no romance in this. It never bodes well and it would be a waste. I got a funny feeling that it will go in that direction. I'm hoping it won't.

Alas as for me, I'm loving the second season. After coming from watching The Glory and it's dismal watered down revenge drama, this one is exceeding my expectations so far.

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You Shouldn't Be Alone When You Are Hurting

"As long as the phone never stops ringing, the taxi will be in service"
And as long as this drama will continue on Season 3, I will not stop watching.

Just the right amount of action, witty planning, a hint of comedy, and a side romance...I like this type of drama. Plus, I like how they seamlessly end Season 2. Some of the downsides of Korean dramas are their endings. Sometimes, endings hurt the overall ratings of Korean dramas but I'm happy to say, this drama is an exception to the rule.

I keep on laughing at the many faces of Kim Do Gi, it's one of the highlights of this drama. Awesome cast, and a great storyline for me ( all cases and situations) and the rapport of the cast. And I must mention all the great actors and actresses who made a guest appearance on the show...love it!

I will be looking forward to Season 3. Please come early!

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Deux ex Machina: The Remake

I actually enjoyed myself most of the show, and thought about rating it at least a 6 or 7. If you watch without context, and take it as a fun heist-like show, then the first arcs can be enjoyed a lot. Actually, watching it as a standalone is the fairest chance you can give this show, since, besides 2 offhand mentions of a character from s1, everything else about this season feels like a remake of the og story rather than a continuation of where we left off in s1, and that is where this whole show starts to fall apart. The shameless abuse of deux ex machina in the last few episodes are what truly drove the nail in the coffin of this season, and at least to me, made me even dislike our beloved leads a lot by the end, quite a feat considering how the characters are what elevated season 1. Either way, don't recommend if you liked season one, watchable if you come for the heist-like structure of the arcs, but the ending will still suck quite a bit.

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It is a must watch!!!!

I loved this K-drama, and I learned a lot from it. I don't know why most people are not enjoying season 2 like they enjoyed season 1. Maybe it is because it focused less on the main characters (the revenge team's) backstories and more on the revenge. The series already covered their story in season 1, so they will not have a reason to show it again. Nonetheless, it was still very enjoyable, and the plot twist of a character not being who he truly is made me love it. Although Shin Jae Ha physically did not seem very much like a formidable villain, irrespective of that, he did play his role very well.
Also, I want to say that Mr. Kim Do Gi still needs to go to therapy; he might not be able to fully overcome his trauma, but he will be able to manage it. And I think we can all agree that Mr. Kim is superhuman because he is really doing some sh*t that normal humans can't do.
Anyway, kudos to the crew, cast, and everyone who contributed to the success of the series. I am happy I went against everyone's opinion and still went ahead and watched the series.

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Another MDL rant ?

I do agree that I like season 1 more because it’s more emotionally relatable. However, Season 2 has something else to offer which I thoroughly enjoyed a lot. So basically Season 1 focuses on giving justice towards people who are not able to rely on lawful ways, which we can all agree often happens that criminals don’t get the punishments they deserve. We are able to relate well because the stories of our main characters portray such stories. In Season 2 though, I’m not sure if some of you noticed but, they referred on actual crimes that took place in Korea — big ones I might add — and tweaked them a bit to follow the storyline.

For examples (and this is just based on my own observations cuz I won’t be googling these stuff just for a review)
- the story about the cult whom they call 아버님(Father) if you go to Netflix there’s a full documentary of a cult that sounds just like it. The most notable similarity for me is when they said “if he touch you, you will be healed” (in the documentary it’s literally sexually touching women while saying it’ll heal them (disgusting person). In the series tho, they changed things a bit
- the black sun (honestly do we not remember the whole ‘Burning Sun’ from 2021). The most notable similarity is with the drugs, drugging women, the idol Victor and the CHATS. At first I was just guessing but when Victory was chatting with his friends, that solidified it for me. The series of course, changed things a bit.

Season 2, gave me a sense of satisfaction. I don’t mean that I, outside of dramaland, would allow unlawful justice because law is there for a reason. However, if it were not up to the law, at least once in our lives we hoped that these criminals have experienced the same kind of pain as their victims. Or is that just me?

Anyways, enjoyed it a lot! Waiting for Season 3 !

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No better than Season 1

Maybe like others, i jumped in with high expectation seeing how good the show was in season 1. But then i kinda regret it. Here's the things: The acting was still good like before. The musics were the all reused from the previous season, and this time, it was a bit overused aka too much music playing from time to time. The cases were lame compared to the previous, and unlike the first season which had balance between action & comedy, this time it focused more on comedy side. And the product placement ads for that coffee candy (sigh...)
Perhaps the biggest flaw came from the scripts. In season 1, the character Go-eun didn't have much showtime so her unrealistic hacking skill was not too obvious. But not this time. She became like the world's numero uno hacker. It was totally so unrealistic, to a point that she could close a random gate in Vietnam. ? She could hack all things, period.
So, to sum it up, it wasn't better than the season 1. Still a good show, though if you want to watch it.
I'll give the season one 8.5-8.7 score, and this one an 8.

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Didn’t disappoint

It’s exactly what you expect from a season 2. They didn’t make any unnecessary changes or give crazy plots, they continued with season 1 in season 2 and delivered great stories!

The reason why my rating isn’t 10/10 is because some of the stories were a bit predictable and slow, at the beginning i had a little bit of a hard time continuing it but then i went back to it because i missed the show so much and it was great! I love the actors and the relationships between the characters!

I’m curious if there would be a s3 because of the plotwists they added in the end, if there is, i would definitely watch it!

Worth a watch!

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Less Revenge More 'Fix the Unjust'

Surprisingly, I like season 2 better than season 1. This season is like Taxi Driver 1 with steroid. You either like it or hate it - I think it's hard to get middle ground on this.

The premise remains the same. It's a service for revenge, giving option for those who want to kill themselves or can't see way out to cancel their suicide plan and go back to live and move on. The characters have all changed, they are stronger. This is not only physically stronger but also there're new depths in each character.

The new Kim Do Gi reminds me of Jason Bourne or Kim Je Ha of K2. The superhero who has everything, brain and physic. The kind of hero that too good to be true but I simply don't care. I want entertainment, I got entertainment. At least, the character is consistent throughout the series. Even Ahn Go Eun became this super cool hacker who even know how to fight. What a change, right?

Story-wise, I like that there is no 'in house' prison like season 1. Each revenge feels less and less like a revenge but more like reclaim the justice - vigilante way, of course. The story has more layers. Justice is not black and white, most time, it is grey. I like this kind of story because reality is never black and white. I like the variety of topic they brought in this season. From trafficking to cult, to fraud and drugs. Villages and cities. In South Korea and abroad. This provides opportunity for each actor to play different character. What a joy to see. Everyone has their own time to shine.

Can we talk about Shin Jae Ha as On Ha Joon. He stole the show. I LOVE Je Hoon but can't lie, Jae Ha gave everything he has. That last episode, where he just sit, no talk, no funny face but tells a lot of emotions is one of my fave scene. Perfect cast! Interesting character that is executed very very well. I can't wait to see more of him, protagonis, antagonis, bring them all.
Another one that stole the show despite short screen time is Shim So Young as Lim Bok Ja. Please, bring her back in the sequel. She is perfect!

This is a perfect drama for those who like super hero action. Binge-watching if you like but also watch 1-2 episode per sitting is recommended. I applaud the director, she is doing awesome job here. I like it that much, I immediately rewatch the drama when I finished episode 16.

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ESPERANDO LA TERCERA TEMPORADA

Lee Je Hoon lo vuelve a hacer. Otra temporada que carga el solito a sus espaldas. Da gusto verle pegar puñetazos y patadas. Cuando estoy cabreada con el mundo, estresada o harta de como van las cosas , ver actuar a Lee Je Hoon repartiendo hostias a diestro y siniestro me produce una paz mental tremenda.
Esta segunda temporada Shin Jae Ha ha sido una grata sorpresa. Junto a Lee Je Hoon han llevado todo el peso de la temporada. Ya habia conocido en Support Role de poca importancia a Shin Jae Ha, sin embargo en esta temporada ha sido simplemente sublime. Se añade a mi lista de villanos favoritos. Al final fuese villano o una victima de todo esto quería que todo le fuese bien y que fuera feliz, me ha dolido su final asi como su historia. Me hubiera gustado que al final se uniera a la pandilla. Actuación impecable.
P.D: el mejor capitulo es el de la religión/secta. Esa forma de resolverlo , simplemente magnifica.

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