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Being a victim in the face of injustice is the worst – revenge promises release of suffering
Dealing with some actual crimes in South Korea, "Taxi Driver" retells them from the perspective of the victims - a variation of vigilante justice is the driving force and explosive in the plot development. A lot of action is guaranteed. The pace is high. There's nothing tear-jerking about. Romance has no place here. However there is room for emotions.
Although the crimes are extremely brutal and unscrupulous as well as the fights and chases don't sugarcoat anything - Taxis Driver is overall fun to watch (not in the sense of ´funny´ though!). On the one hand, this is because the perpetrators are caught and the victims actually get 'help'. On the other hand, and above all, it is the actors. Not only the team around Kim Do-gi, also and especially the individual villains in male and female versions. While on the one hand turbulent action fills the time (yes, for me personally less would have been more, but that's probably a matter of taste), it's actually the theatrical performance of the mimes that characterize the esprit of the series. The fact that Do-gi has to slip into new roles for his assignments has a certain charm - i.e. sometimes he mimes the inexperienced substitute teacher, sometimes the gallant, wide-legged criminal with a fur coat...
It's still quite a brutal TV serial. That's because of the cases. Yet they aren't invented. It helps that there is room for a pinch of humour, harmless situation comedy and a wink every now and then.
Despite all the vigilantism, which is the driving and fundamental premise of the entire series (and probably also of the 2nd season that is already planned), it is respectable: there is also a serious examination of justice/injustice, law/judiciary and the state's monopoly on the use of force. The brilliant public prosecutor Kang Ha-na in her idiosyncratic way and her team are excellently suited to this. The heroic deeds of the 'exemplary taxi crew' are thus not only whitewashed, but also rightly confronted. The script has in that sense hit a fine line that doesn't take away the joy of satisfaction, but still puts a question mark behind vigilantism, and thus gives credit to honest, committed and highly motivated law enforcement officers - because the country needs them. Vigilante justice, that should be clear, cannot and must not be the solution. (Human history is full of cultures of lynching and blood feuds - certainly this never did and will not promise a better world.)
And then: the heroes of the story are human beings, too. Flashbacks provide an insight into the taxi team's traumatic, formative past while tying them into current cases. They too are victims. On this earth there is probably hardly any person who does not have had the experience of being a victim in the course of their life - more or less traumatical. It is an ugly feeling, a deeply shameful experience, as it reminds mankind of its greatest weakness: the ultimate loss of control and helplessness inherent in the finitude of being, the inevitable surrender that sooner or later everyone awaits.
Accordingly, forgiveness and reconciliation are also a topic of this KDrama. However, this is ruled out as a serious option quite early on. A nice concept, yes, but rather not practicable, because people prefer to thirst for revenge. In this story, the emphasis is on the satisfaction of such. There are others, emphasizing that the pain doesn't go away with revenge. Because the fact remains: For a victim, the past cannot be reversed - in fact, the pain associated with it and the feelings surrounding it are rarely in the past anymore. They shape life from that moment on, become a part of it in the here and now. The experience cannot be erased or undone. In this respect, revenge on the perpetrator doent´t help either.
Taxi Driver gives less importance to this consideration. That's actually my only (but not insignificant) criticism. The series prefers to ride the obviously successful Speed&Action wave. Because otherwise that would have robbed the KDrama of the basis for the second season, so to speak. Consequently, they want to build on the success of the first. (Without Esom in the role of prosecutor Kang Ha-na, by the way, since she apparently left the actors´ crew due to other appointments.)
Although the crimes are extremely brutal and unscrupulous as well as the fights and chases don't sugarcoat anything - Taxis Driver is overall fun to watch (not in the sense of ´funny´ though!). On the one hand, this is because the perpetrators are caught and the victims actually get 'help'. On the other hand, and above all, it is the actors. Not only the team around Kim Do-gi, also and especially the individual villains in male and female versions. While on the one hand turbulent action fills the time (yes, for me personally less would have been more, but that's probably a matter of taste), it's actually the theatrical performance of the mimes that characterize the esprit of the series. The fact that Do-gi has to slip into new roles for his assignments has a certain charm - i.e. sometimes he mimes the inexperienced substitute teacher, sometimes the gallant, wide-legged criminal with a fur coat...
It's still quite a brutal TV serial. That's because of the cases. Yet they aren't invented. It helps that there is room for a pinch of humour, harmless situation comedy and a wink every now and then.
Despite all the vigilantism, which is the driving and fundamental premise of the entire series (and probably also of the 2nd season that is already planned), it is respectable: there is also a serious examination of justice/injustice, law/judiciary and the state's monopoly on the use of force. The brilliant public prosecutor Kang Ha-na in her idiosyncratic way and her team are excellently suited to this. The heroic deeds of the 'exemplary taxi crew' are thus not only whitewashed, but also rightly confronted. The script has in that sense hit a fine line that doesn't take away the joy of satisfaction, but still puts a question mark behind vigilantism, and thus gives credit to honest, committed and highly motivated law enforcement officers - because the country needs them. Vigilante justice, that should be clear, cannot and must not be the solution. (Human history is full of cultures of lynching and blood feuds - certainly this never did and will not promise a better world.)
And then: the heroes of the story are human beings, too. Flashbacks provide an insight into the taxi team's traumatic, formative past while tying them into current cases. They too are victims. On this earth there is probably hardly any person who does not have had the experience of being a victim in the course of their life - more or less traumatical. It is an ugly feeling, a deeply shameful experience, as it reminds mankind of its greatest weakness: the ultimate loss of control and helplessness inherent in the finitude of being, the inevitable surrender that sooner or later everyone awaits.
Accordingly, forgiveness and reconciliation are also a topic of this KDrama. However, this is ruled out as a serious option quite early on. A nice concept, yes, but rather not practicable, because people prefer to thirst for revenge. In this story, the emphasis is on the satisfaction of such. There are others, emphasizing that the pain doesn't go away with revenge. Because the fact remains: For a victim, the past cannot be reversed - in fact, the pain associated with it and the feelings surrounding it are rarely in the past anymore. They shape life from that moment on, become a part of it in the here and now. The experience cannot be erased or undone. In this respect, revenge on the perpetrator doent´t help either.
Taxi Driver gives less importance to this consideration. That's actually my only (but not insignificant) criticism. The series prefers to ride the obviously successful Speed&Action wave. Because otherwise that would have robbed the KDrama of the basis for the second season, so to speak. Consequently, they want to build on the success of the first. (Without Esom in the role of prosecutor Kang Ha-na, by the way, since she apparently left the actors´ crew due to other appointments.)
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