REVIEW | Taxi Driver (Mobeomtaxi) Season 1

Korean crime drama Taxi Driver has no connection to the Martin Scorsese film from the 70s. But it does give a pulpy vibe reminiscent of Green Hornet and a supporting cast that could as well be a pastiche of the Batman family. They got a middle-aged benefactor, a mechanic, a rocket scientist, a hacker, and of course, the soldier-turned-chauffer - Kim Do-Ki (Lee Je-Hoon).

All kin of individuals who lost their lives to criminals, the five employees of Rainbow Taxi offer a revenge-call service to passengers wronged by the most vile beings in the society. The story is based on the webtoon The Deluxe Taxi.

The Korean series has been on Netflix Philippines' Top 10 list for a couple of weeks now and that might be because we relate it to the imbalance of power in our country.  Who wouldn't want victims get their revenge when laws and authorities could no longer help them? Still, the series shows that there is a price for vengeance - violence begets violence.

Apart from episodes dealing with voice phishers, serial murderers, and organ traffickers, Taxi Driver also tackles high school bullying, abuse of people with disability, and pornography. It even goes an extra mile by including a short report on how the limitation of statutes affects  wrongly convicted individuals in South Korea.

The epilogues are also not skippable. The snippets show how the victims are somewhat connected with each other. Metaphorically, it says that everyone would have helped each other had one of them reached out.

What makes the series weak however are the convenient plotlines that might alienate people to think that the protagonist is too lucky or almost superhuman. Still, the strongest parts of the series are the early and the final episodes. Regardless of the arcs that felt like fillers, the main Big Bad would keep you watching until the end.

The end of the first season sets a new, interesting direction for Taxi Driver and I could not wait for the deluxe ride to arrive.

Rating: 8/10

Taxi Driver (Mobeomtaxi) is now streaming on Netflix.