Taxi Driver 2 (2023)

Mode cérébral off, du divertissement à l'état pur!

Alors oui, oui je ne nierais pas que le scénario est moins bien élaboré que la saison 1.
Oui, l'effet de surprise ne prend plus.
Oui, la tension dramatique a laissé la place à plus de légèreté.
Oui, les cas traités ne sont plus aussi émouvants et poignants que dans la 1ère saison.
Oui, oui Do Ki et Go Eun n'ont toujours pas de relation amoureuse (je fais partie de ceux qui croisent les doigts pour une romance, je n'ai pas honte de le dire).
En bref, oui, cette saison est moins.
Et pourtant, en toute honnêteté, malgré la faiblesse du scénario, et les incohérences de l'intrigue, s'il vous est possible d'en faire abstraction, il est fort possible que vous puissiez :
Rire, mais rire. Oui car à défaut de vous faire pleurer, ce drama regorge de moments loufoque, de répliques hilarants et de situation épique! Ah mais, ce moment où débarque tous les VIP, les randonneurs arc en ciel, au Black Sun!! Rien que pour cela, j'irai en boite nuit. Ou ce passage dantesque avec l'apparition de Madame Lim et notre Wang Tao Chi préféré! Chaque épisode est donc prétexte à des gags en cascade, des répliques bourrés de drôlerie.
Tous ces traits d'humour bon enfant sont soulignés par notre équipe de choc qui slalome avec grâce entre délire total et heu...délire total. Ah, cette équipe, pour rien au monde, nous n'en voudrions en échanger un seul!
Au-delà de cet humour qui les caractérise, il y a ce lien, incroyable, qui va plus loin que de simples potes. Peut-être moins présent que dans la saison 1, on n'en ressent pas moins ce lien familial qui les unit, cette confiance qu'ils ont entre eux et qui n'a fait que se solidifier au fur et à mesure de leur avancé. Malgré la violence des actions et parfois, il faut bien l'avouer, la douceur de leur relation, leur complicité et alchimie indivisible nous fait fondre. La phrase que Do ki prononce dans la saison 1 résume d'ailleurs leur force : "si elle (Go Eun) doit remporter son combat contre elle même, pourquoi devrait-elle se battre seule?"
Bref, Si beaucoup est moins, leur lien, leur famille n'est que plus. Plus forte. Plus drôle. Plus soudée. Plus confiante. Plus aimante.

Je n'ai pas été impressionnée par les "vilains", malgré une petite pointe de tristesse pour On Ha Joon. Leur défaite un peu trop facile ne donne pas l'impression de se trouver face à une organisation de dingue. C'est bien en dessous de notre "vilaine" de la première saison....
Nous pourrions aussi reprocher que les obstacles pour notre équipe arc en ciel sont un peu trop lissé et que les difficultés rencontrés sont bien moindre, les "enquêtes" moins bien élaborés et peut-être moins intense. Contrairement à "Missing the other side" qui avait réussi à rendre la saison 2 encore plus émouvante que la saison1, ici, "Taxi driver" est donc moins émotionnellement réussi.
Et puis, j'ai attendu avec impatience que Do Ki et Go Eun avance un peu dans leur relation, malgré quelques indices sur leur sentiment respectif ( qui reste à sujet à interprétation...), et seule la petite scène de fin annonce une possible avancée entre deux, mais cela reste mon envie d'y croire.

Dernière chose : J'ai adoré l'apparition de Nam Goong Min (mon chouchou de toujours) en Chun Ji Hoon!!

C'est donc un drama qui peut décevoir. En ce qui me concerne, ma préférence reste la saison 1, mais la saison 2 a réussi à me faire rire jusqu'au bout, et ce n'est pas souvent que cela arrive. Et l'alchimie de l'équipe arc en ciel est une des mieux réussi dans tout dramaland, rien que pour cela, "Taxi driver" reste un must, saison 1 et 2! Vivement la saison 3.

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Apesar de manter a essência da primeira temporada (vingança pelas vítimas negligenciadas pela justiça regular), a segunda temporada de taxista não foi tão boa quanto a primeira. Se na primeira temporada tudo parecia mais sombrio com uma pitada de humor para balancear o clima pesado, nesta segunda temporada parece que os roteiristas decidiram escrachar no lado cômico, o que por vezes diminuía o peso da história, embora engraçado perdia um pouco do peso narrativo.

Assim como a primeira temporada teve suas histórias mais episódicas (narrando casos isolados), mas como uma trama maior acontecendo ao fundo, que culminou na segunda parte do drama. Essa história foi a parte mais chata do drama. Tudo que envolveu a trama do bispo foi muito chato e isso fez decair a qualidade do drama em geral.

Além disso, estava esperançosa por uma participação especial da promotora Kang Ha Na já que ela foi mencionada algumas vezes, mas em vez disso, surgiu uma nova personagem do nada (suposta primeira taxista da equipe Arco-Íris).

Dito tudo isso ainda é uma boa temporada, mas a primeira é muito melhor. Estou torcendo para que a terceira temporada seja melhor que esta.

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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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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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A borrowed idea of the first season, but wrapped in a layer of sugar

The first thing that I noticed in the very beginning was the significantly worse directing, especially in fights. The pacing and cuts had only comedic function that disrupted the dynamic of action.
The dialogues were tacky, acting was often over the top, some of the plot was primitive, main characters lacked depth and communication, their actions were ill-considered and based on speculation or luck, which was probably the result of lazy writing. A lot of plot holes.

In the previous season there was interesting contrast between willful actions of Rainbow Taxi and law. I liked the tension of being targetted by a prosecutor and nuances where Kang Ha Na was on the fence of law and justice. She could have been a great addition to this season.
The rest of main charecters also had interesting depth before, because they were victims and criminals at the same time who faced the loss of loved ones and trauma, and were still unstable. They had a moral confict between their good intentions and the desire for revenge leading to committing serious crimes on a quite large scale. They have all lost duality aspect in the second season, but Jang Sung Chul lost the most. He was previously the most conflicted, most brutal and hid the most darkness within himself (as well as connections with criminals :')), but he became "family-friendly" too quickly.
There used to be a lot of darkness overall, both in criminals harming people seeking help and in the solutions to their problems by Rainbow Taxi, but in the second season everything was kind of bland.
The story with the villain just was there.

On the plus side some of the episodes were hilarious, we got Madam Lim comeback and directing got a lot better in the second half.

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Waiting for season 3

Season two was amazing as well, personally the first and second episode were my favorite of this kdrama as it was so intensive and just wow. Lee jeehon definitely became my favorite actor, he can potray so many different characters and emotions so well but the cast in itself was amazing. I didnt like it too much that they added a villain into this as it wasnt that interesting as the episodes where they have to punish other people, but it didnt ruin the season either and I'm sure some people liked this addition so I wont give it less stars because in the end it was still an amazing season and definitely worth watching. Looking forward to season 3!

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AMAZING S2 BUT THAT'S IT ??

Okay, I really hated myself that I only finished watching this right now like, it has been aired a year ago and given that Lee Je Hoon is my firever biased, how could it all happened ??
Anyways the Kim Do Ki transformations and role playing was what excited me the most here, because it shows how versatile our JeHoon is , he was so cute and so 멋있어 !! Basically every role he had here was my favorite , I just can't get tired of him.
I drama as a whole was somewhat tiring coz it gets repeated like they just help their clients to get revenge and thats it like there was nothing reallt happening but not too much I mean like will the story or drama revolves around them helping others well off course that is the main plot of this drama right? I don't know I just think somehow it was repeated
I was not satisfied with how Jung Ha and the Priest ended, like of all the crimes they committed, they don't even deserve death ! To be honest I expected more from this enemy of our squad, I was actually worried before the last episodes like I thought they would be really in big trouble with those bishop guys but it turned out that they are as easy enemy to the squad as the others. I felt bad for Jung Ha, He should ve lived .
The ended portrayed like their squad goes on on helping for revenge and justice but maybe it is time for Kim Do Ki's trauma to be addressed, so that the potential enemies have nothing to use against him anymore .
All in all super amazing just too repetetive, but the acting was great the fight scenes, the props all great ! The drama was not boring at all just like of season one. And the cameo actors are really shocking and exciting !
Really had a good watch with this, I probably re watch this once after a while

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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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