This Revenge K-Drama Features A Different True Crime Story In Each Episode

As South Korean television, or K-dramas, continue to find growing success with international audiences, one genre that they particularly excel at are revenge thrillers. A recent standout is "Taxi Driver," which is not based on Martin Scorsese's ultra-violent crime movie but rather the webtoon series "The Deluxe Taxi (Red Cage)" by Carlos and Lee Jae-jin. Premiering in 2021, the series proved enormously popular with Korean audiences and was renewed for two additional seasons. Available to stream on Rakuten Viki, "Taxi Driver" has a unique premise that makes its visceral thrills all the more compelling to viewers worldwide.

"Taxi Driver" follows Kim Do-gi (Lee Je-hoon), a former special forces soldier who begins driving for the Rainbow Taxi Company and is haunted by witnessing his mother's brutal murder. Do-gi's taxi company offers a unique "revenge-call" service, with drivers carrying out vengeance on behalf of paying customers who were wronged in their own respective ways. The company is run by Jang Sung-chul (Kim Eui-sung), who has assembled a crack team ready to take on criminals who have escaped the law. There is an underlying story involving Do-gi's past, while the revenge cases taken on by the Rainbow Taxi Company usually span two episodes.

More than just a procedural series with a unique premise, there is a surprising amount of real-world inspiration behind "Taxi Driver."

There is a significant true crime element to "Taxi Driver," as many of the revenge cases taken on by its characters are based on real-life crimes. This practice isn't a new one for U.S. crime procedurals — "Law & Order" has taken inspiration from real cases for years — but not so much for South Korean television. This creative basis helps ground the series, especially with some of the developments and episodic premises that may seem a bit over-the-top at first glance. And with its two-episode-per-case pacing, "Taxi Driver" gets more room to breathe for its episodic stories, rather than trying to resolve them too quickly and cram in the underlying narrative.

Aside from strong pacing and real-world inspiration, "Taxi Driver" is a sharply written show with plenty of tightly choreographed action. Lee Je-hoon is absolutely magnetic as Do-gi, not only in delivering the reserved anguish of the character in his quiet moments but also as a powerhouse in the action set pieces. Given the premise, the show can get quite dark with its stories, making the payback provided by the Rainbow Taxi Company all the more cathartically triumphant. There are plenty of great revenge K-dramas, but "Taxi Driver" gives audiences more successfully accomplished vengeances per capita than its contemporaries.

Perfectly accessible for first-time K-drama viewers, "Taxi Driver" expertly balances exhilarating action with grounded stakes across its run.