Taxi Driver 3: Episodes 1-2

by DaebakGrits

Guess who’s back, back again! Yes, that’s right, everyone’s favorite vigilante team has returned for another season, and while it’s still to be determined if the latest installment of this popular franchise will top the energy, undercover disguises, and star-crossed bromance of Season 2, it’s off to a strong start and with an international cast and setting.

Episodes 1-2

There’s something wonderfully delicious about a K-drama whose entire premise is built upon vigilante heroism — especially one that manages to interject heart and humor into the story without downplaying the severity of the sensitive topics at the forefront of our characters’ justice-seeking operations. The Taxi Driver franchise has a fairly solid track record of maintaining that balance, and given that Season 3 opens in medias res, with our heroes rescuing a group of women from a Japanese-based human trafficking ring, we have immediate confirmation that this threequel won’t be shying away from delicate subjects.

“But what of the humor?” you may ask. Well, it’s still deeply embedded in this season’s essence, as demonstrated by the cinematic and dramatic reveal of our leading man KIM DO-KI (Lee Je-hoon), whose iconic Jason Voorhees hockey mask makes a deliberate appearance before his face. It’s the kind of campy fanservice reserved for Marvel superheroes popping out of portals during the final boss battle, and like said superheroes, who shout character-defining catchphrases as they reveal themselves, Do-ki — when prompted by his opponent mid-fight — introduces himself (in Japanese) as “Taxi Driver.” To which his opponent comically asks, “What kind of lame name is that?” (LOL) before getting his lights punched out. (Cue: title card).

Our story then jumps back in time to establish the series of events that led up to the opening scene, and we’re introduced to a young Korean woman who’s being held captive by a yakuza organization. She manages to escape her locked room through a window, but her captors hear her break the glass and follow her trail to the edge of a cliff. As she stares down at the ominously choppy and rocky waters below, she decides the fate that awaits her in the ocean is better than whatever her captives had planned for her.

Miraculously, she survives the fall, but even more astonishing is the fact that she washes ashore next to a bottle containing one of Rainbow Taxi’s signature business cards. At the nearest payphone, she calls Rainbow Taxi’s number, but before JANG SUNG-CHUL ( Kim Eui-sung) can get a sense of his caller’s emergency, she’s dragged away from the phone by the yakuza.

Team Rainbow Taxi immediately launches an investigation into the brief phone call they received, and after traveling to Japan to scope out the pay phone from which the call originated, Sung-chul identifies their mystery caller YUN YI-SEO (Cha Shi-yeon) through the student ID she strategically hid in the phone booth. Do-ki goes undercover as a teacher at her high school and learns that Yi-seo’s classmates are under the impression she’s on an extended field trip, but that story doesn’t align with her grandmother’s belief that Yi-seo is studying at a boarding school.

Sensing that neither account is the truth, Do-ki hunts down Yi-seo’s friend and discovers that she tricked Yi-seo into playing a mobile game that was actually a front for a loan shark operation. After first hooking Yi-seo with a few easy wins that paid out with real cash money, the game became exponentially harder to beat, and poor Yi-seo, who was desperate to fund her grandmother’s cataract surgery, borrowed “points” in the game, not realizing a real loan agreement — with an exorbitant interest rate — was hidden in the terms and agreements.

Unaware that her creditors were legally barred from making a loan contract with a minor, Yi-seo is too scared to report the loan sharks to the police because she’s fearful she’ll be punished for her gambling. After terrorizing and intimidating her, the loan sharks offer to lower her interest rate if she can recruit five more players, but (unlike a certain so-called friend) Yi-seo’s conscience won’t let her drag anyone else into the same predicament. The loan sharks then present her with an “opportunity” to clear her debt by “working” overseas in Japan, which is how she became the yakuza’s captive.

Now that Team Rainbow Taxi has a general idea of what they’re dealing with, AHN GO-EUN (Pyo Ye-jin) downloads the app and eventually forfeits enough in-game currency to trigger the shady loan agreement. She goes undercover as another victim, and Do-ki and crew follow her to Japan, where the money trail leads them to a boxing gym, where the mastermind behind the whole organization supposedly recruits his part-time workers.

Do-ki dons one of his trademark disguises — this time a hilariously flashy “yanki” persona — and, after one of the hired thugs spits on his shoe, he makes a big stink about receiving compensation for the damage and disrespect. He’s invited inside the gym, where he demands to see the boss, but, as these are still low-ranking hired help, Do-ki knows he’s going to have to do something to impress the yakuza leader — something like win a fight against the gym’s strongest member — to earn an introduction.

And so, Do-ki faces off against a sumo-style wrestler whose body fat seemingly absorbs his punches like a Kevlar vest. Do-ki discovers the wrestler’s only weakness is his head, and after a few elbow jabs to the forehead, the wrestler topples over like a giant sequoia. Basking in his victory, Do-ki asserts his dominance — and puts on a show for the recording security cameras — by using a marker to write his phone number on the unconscious man’s back. Looking right at a camera and speaking directly at the organization’s boss, Do-ki insists he’s owed a pair of replacement shoes.

Come to find out, the wrestler Do-ki defeated is actually part of an undercover police operation led by Interpol Agent Michael Chang (Hong Kong actor Edan Lui), and Michael is frustrated by Do-ki’s interference. However, he’s also immensely suspicious of the trilingual Korean taxi driver and has a hunch that Do-ki can be his new inside-man. As long as Do-ki cooperates and helps bring down yakuza boss MATSUDA KEITA (Japanese actor Kasamatsu Sho), Michael won’t ask any questions about Do-ki’s real identity.

After meeting with Michael, Do-ki gets the call he’s been waiting for: Matsuda would like to see him. He’s prepared a fresh pair of shoes for Do-ki, but he’s also affronted by Do-ki’s earlier ruckus at the gym and expects him to pay for the disruption…with a finger. A swarm of yakuza members enter the room, and Do-ki fights them off with his impressive skill. As the last man standing, he drags one of the men to Matsuda, sets his hand on the table, and, after unsheathing the small knife Matsuda gave him for severing a finger, asks whether the requested digit must be his own.

Matsuda is impressed, but before he can answer, Michael leads a police raid on the building. Do-ki follows Matsuda and his driver, and as they speed away, he convinces Matsuda that the police were after him, a wanted murderer from South Korea. He then antagonizes Matsuda, intentionally pushing his buttons until Matsuda feels compelled to prove his authority. Matsuda orders his driver to stop the car and challenges Do-ki to a fight in a railyard. The brawl ends in a draw when both men, seemingly of equal skill, collapse in exhaustion and mutually agree to abandon the fight due to the oncoming rain.

Once again, Do-ki has charmed his target, and the flame of Matsuda’s one-sided bromance has been lit. He asks Do-ki to come work for him, but Do-ki refuses, knowing he can’t look eager to join Matsuda’s organization or else Matsuda will be suspicious of his intentions. Instead, Do-ki plays the long con, working and existing inside Matsuda’s territory where he’s easily visible — and observed.

Eventually, as planned, Matsuda approaches him, and Do-ki hooks him with a story of betrayal and lost brotherhood. Once again, Matsuda offers him a job, and this time Do-ki accepts — but only on a part-time basis. As a part-time worker, Do-ki is assigned to secure the perimeter of the auction, where Matsuda intends to sell a group of kidnapped women to the highest bidders. Instead, Do-ki and Team Rainbow Taxi raid the auction, and our story finally catches up to the opening scene of Episode 1.

Naturally, Matsuda is furious that the auction didn’t go according to plan, and immediately rounds up all the part-time workers, including Do-ki, with the intention of eliminating them all. The mole must be among the new faces, but Do-ki scoffs and delays his execution by accusing Matsuda of being overly paranoid and of betrayal. Matsuda doesn’t take the bait, but before he can eliminate Do-ki he gets a phone call from Sung-chul, who claims he’s part of the old guard — the yakuza of yore — and ruined Matsuda’s auction in order to reclaim his territory.

You see, Matsuda is kind of a nouveau yakuza, and the old timers who once ran the streets have been put out to pasture. Many of them, like HOSHINO MASAHISA (Takenaka Naoto), who enjoys shaking down CHOI KYUNG-GOO (Jang Hyuk-jin) and PARK JIN-UN’s (Bae Yoo-ram) for a cut of their undercover takoyaki stand’s profits, are homeless and disrespected by the younger generation of gangsters.

Sung-chul’s faux identity is inspired by Hoshino, and his role in Do-ki’s plan is to draw Matsuda out and set the stage for Do-ki to save Matsuda from Sung-chul’s sneak attack and prove his loyalty. Moved by Do-ki’s actions, Matsuda invites him into his inner sanctum and confesses that he’s never allowed himself to trust anyone because, no matter how loyal he was to others, he was inevitably betrayed. Eventually, his kill-first-don’t-bother-with-questions-later method of self-preservation led to his isolation, and now he’s so lonely that he has no one to send food pictures to when he feels the urge.

One thing the Taxi Driver franchise has always excelled at is crafting multifaceted villains. The antagonists are often the absolute scum of the earth, yet there’s always some defining trait that humanizes them — something that lifts them above the typical K-drama villain who exists solely to oppose the hero. Matsuda isn’t redeemable by any means, but his loneliness and his quiet longing to share even a small piece of his life with someone else is deeply relatable. For a moment, despite his horrific crimes, I genuinely felt sorry for him, fully aware that Do-ki was ultimately going to shatter that fragile trust. (Then I remembered the kidnapping, trafficking, and enslaving women, and I was once again more than ready for Do-ki to take him down.)

Matsuda hosts a formal ceremony to welcome his new “brother” into the yakuza, but the high-profile, heavily attended event provides the perfect opportunity for Do-ki and Team Rainbow Taxi to unleash chaos and bring their heist to a close. They start by provoking the older yakuza members, riling them up and pushing them to vent their long-held frustrations on Matsuda’s crew. The old guard storms the ceremony, and in the midst of the brawl, the police raid the building. Do-ki pulls Matsuda out of the turmoil and into his taxi, launching into an epic car chase with the cops on their tail.

Do-ki drives them to Matsuda’s main hideout, where he stores all the evidence of his illicit business dealings. Using the key he swiped from Matsuda’s necklace amid the chaos, Do-ki opens the safe and lets his facade fall away. Matsuda feels utterly betrayed, and when he demands to know why Do-ki would abandon the world he offered him, Do-ki answers in Korean: it’s time for Yi-seo to go home.

Enraged by Do-ki’s deception — and by his refusal to explain himself — Matsuda launches into another fight. But this time, he’s quickly overpowered; Do-ki had clearly been holding back during their first clash. Realizing he can’t beat Do-ki with brute force, Matsuda pulls a gun. Before he can fire, Michael zaps him with a taser.

With the villain finally arrested, Rainbow Taxi’s first case of the season comes to an end, and our heroes return to South Korea, where Yi-seo is happily reunited with her school friend — though the choice doesn’t entirely sit right with me. Yes, the friend was the only person who truly understood where Yi-seo had been and could fully appreciate her return, but I can’t overlook the fact that she was the one who got Yi-seo hooked on the gambling game in the first place, and then never bothered to tell an adult what actually happened when Yi-seo disappeared. I’d have rather seen Yi-seo show up at her grandmother’s restaurant with a portion of the money Do-ki stole from Matsuda.

Still, the first two episodes of Taxi Driver 3 were strong and perfectly aligned with the spirit of the franchise, even with the overseas detour to Japan. I enjoyed the change of scenery, especially since the culture shock, language barrier, and opposite driving patterns produced some of the funniest moments between Kyung-goo and Jin-un. (And on a personal note, I was in Japan around this time last year, so all of Do-ki’s rooftop meetings with Michael made me strangely nostalgic for Japanese vending machines.)

That said, because these first two episodes took place outside the usual setting, it’s difficult to predict what the rest of Season 3 has in store. We can safely assume Do-ki will slip into plenty of new personas for future heists, but I’m curious whether we’ll get an overarching villain tying the season together (like in Season 2) or if Do-ki will once again operate alongside — or at odds with — the police (like in Season 1). I don’t really expect Michael, who felt more like a one-off character, to show up in South Korea and recruit Do-ki for another undercover mission, but I wouldn’t complain if he did. Either way, I’m eager to see Do-ki kick our next villain’s ass.

 
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