Baek’s Revenge
Episode 13 of Taxi Driver begins in the past as we see Baek up on stage, performing as a jazz singer. However, that soon changes when she’s encouraged to work as Chairman Jung-Hoon’s understudy and learn the ropes of this business. With his health deteriorating, the white truck of doom ploughs into the side of their car, saving Baek but killing Jung-Hoon. Unfortunately Baek is blamed for his death. Back in the present, the Deluxe Taxi crew arrive at Baek’s underground lair and find all the culprits for the cases we’ve been following over the weeks. They’re all tied up, kept in cages and pleading for help. Unfortunately the Goo twins show up and gas the room, knocking out everyone inside, including Jin-Eon and Kyung-Koo. After locking the pair up, the Goo twins pack up and move their operation. In the aftermath of this, Sung-Chool apologizes as Do-Ki questions his resolve and trusting Chairman Baek all this time. After all, he guaranteed the prisoners would be looked after and that’s obviously not the truth. Goo Young-Tae is separated from the others though and steals a car, driving erratically after frantically calling his brother and gaining an address. Elsewhere, Go-Eun learns that Baek is likely inside the Embassy of the Bahamas. As they show up, Kang Ha Na is also there, having managed to figure out the trail of clues too. She immediately prods the hornet’s nest, speaking to a man named Jack Johnson and waiting for the drones to come buzzing out before she makes her move. This man immediately phones Baek and tells her to pack up her things and leave. Well, Go-Eun and the others force the issue. Smoke bombs are set off inside the embassy and the place is evacuated. With fire trucks inbound, Do-Ki finds himself alone with a returning Young-Tae. He beats the man down, smashing glass over his head and desperate to know where the patients are. However, he remains tight-lipped – either out of necessity or genuinely because he doesn’t know. Either way, Do-Ki knock the man down and takes off in an ambulance with him. This happens to be the Deluxe Taxi’s bargaining chip, with Sung-Chool ringing Baek and offering up a trade. Only, that’s made more difficult when all the prisoners break free from their restraints and continue to drive using their bus. However, everyone is intent on killing Do-Ki, Baek and the others who put them there. Well, tat hits a serious roadblock when Goo Suk-Tae captures the various criminals and gives them the option of revenge. After, the meeting goes ahead on the bridge with Sung-Chool duped by Baek. Another bus holding the criminals shows up, each holding different weapons. Do-Ki steps out his taxi but police suddenly race to the scene, breaking off the deal and seeing Ha-Na join the hunt. Even worse, Do-Ki is arrested and Young-Tae is taken into custody. Go-Eun tries to collect Maria, who finds herself stalked by Jong-Geun. Only, Seung-Tae shows up and smacks Go-Eun across the head with a lead pipe, knocking them both out. With Baek swarming over to Sug-Chool’s place and intimating him, Do-Ki receives a note in prison. He’s told to leave and eventually shows Ha-Na the note. This is enough to let Do-Ki walk out, as he receives a call from Baek telling him to hurry over. Well, Do-Ki does just that, showing up and knocking out all the goons who come at him with a variety of weapons. With the lights out and night vision goggles on, he easily thwarts the threat while all the individual goons struggle to see what they’re doing. One is left – General Manager Lee – whom Do-Ki stands over as the episode comes to a close. During the epilogue we see that it was actually the Goo twins who hit the Chairman’s car. This, in turn, was orchestrated by Baek to rise up the ranks faster and become the chairman herself. She chuckles sadistically to herself when she realizes he’s dead.
The Episode Review
Taxi Driver returns with one of its best episodes yet, turning the tables and seeing all the prisoners escape and head off on the rampage. It’s a nice dynamic shift and another example of the show tying all these individual cases together. In a way, this feels quite reminiscent of the anime Great Pretender, which dealt with heists rather than revenge but used the same trick of bringing everyone together at the end. Here though, everything is given an extra dose of urgency as we see Do-Ki and the gang in over their heads and with little maneuvering. After all, taking these clients out individually was hard enough but with all of them together? That’s some serious bad news! The ending definitely leaves the door open for more though and next week’s follow-up should be quite the dramatic affair. Will Do-Ki and the others make it out alive?
