Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Bloody Lucky Day’ on Paramount+, A South Korean Series Where An Unwitting Cabbie Picks Up A Serial Killer

In A Bloody Lucky Day, which drops in full on Paramount+, Lee Sung-min (Reborn Rich) is a hapless cab driver in Seoul, desperate to believe his luck will turn around. But just when he’s putting together a pretty solid money shift, a new fare jumps into his taxi. What ensues is a long drive through the night, as the mysterious passenger gives the driver more and more heebie jeebies energy. And that’s before he starts killing people on the road. Can the cabbie survive the ride, and maybe even make some real money for once? It’ll take a Bloody Lucky Day to do that. The ten-episode series is adapted from a webtoon of the same name.

A BLOODY LUCKY DAY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Oh Taek (Lee Sung-min) smiles as his family frolics on the beach. “Only good things ahead! That’s what we deserve.” But this idyllic moment feels off somehow, and sure enough, it soon twists into a Kafka-like nightmare.

The Gist: There goes Taek feeling lucky again. First it was his dream, as it transitioned from time with family into a friendly visit with a pig. Next it was seeing a puffy cloud shaped like a pig. Then it was the lottery ticket he purchased – “Jackpot, here I come!” – and the promises he made to his estranged wife about money he doesn’t yet have. Before we learn anything else about Taek, we’ve learned that he avoids confrontation to a fault, and that he’s what his mechanic buddy at the cab company calls “gullible.” After all, this is the reason why he’s driving a cab. Taek lost his shirt on a business deal when someone took advantage of his willing nature. Now, his wife wants very little to do with him, his son and daughter avoid his calls, and being a cabbie barely scratches away at his massive debt. Nevertheless, despite all of this, Oh Taek is smiling. (That lottery ticket might still hit!) And then a serial killer gets into his cab.

Geum Hyeok-soo (Yoo Yeon-seok) is a gangly guy in a mushroom cut and track jacket. He looks like a college student, not Tom Cruise’s frosted hair killer in Michael Mann’s Collateral. But as Taek agrees to drive Geum from Seoul south to Mokpo – a four-hour drive like that promises a big fare, and Taek needs the money – we’ve already learned that this young man is a suspect in at least two murders. (He’s also lugging a huge roller suitcase, which is definitely big enough to hold a body.) In the cab, Geum keeps Taek off balance. He offers friendly rejoinders in one moment, and antagonizes his driver the next. He tells Taek not to take any crap from motorists who cut him off. And they seem to bond over doing impersonations of Travis Bickle. “You talkin’ to me?” 

Still, it’s not long before Taek is nervously looking in the rearview mirror. He is unsettled by Geum, but can’t figure out why, and they still have a long drive ahead. Back in Seoul, we also learn a little more about Geum, as Hwang Soon-kyu (Lee Jung-eun, Parasite) pesters the cops and pretty much anyone else who will listen about her son’s death. She swears it wasn’t a suicide. And Soon-kyu begins an investigation of her own, beginning with the few wisps of evidence she has that point to Geum’s involvement.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Even before A Bloody Lucky Day mentions Taxi Driver by name, it seems to understand where it’s coming from with the randomness of a cab at night and what mysteries or dangers it might encounter. Hack, the early 2000s series starring Andre Braugher and a brooding David Morse, was good at this too, but it doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere. (Get on it, Tubi!)    

Our Take: “Call it my unique ability. Without fear or pain, life becomes enjoyable. Because you become powerful.” Whether speaking cryptic/psychotic lines like this or simply glancing forward in Oh Taek’s cab, Yoo Yeon-seok is adept at making us queasy about Geum Hyeok-soo. And that’s key to A Bloody Lucky Day for two reasons. First, it gives us even more cause to root for Taek – Lee Sung-min makes him likable and a little goofy, traits we would not wish to see snuffed out by the serial killer in his back seat. But the weird vibes Yoo injects into Geum also make him formidable in a slow-burn way. It’s just these two guys out on the highway strip at night. We have to be able to invest in this war of wills that plays out by the mile marker, and like Cruise and Jamie Foxx in Collateral, Lee and Yoo are up to the challenge. 

We’re curious – hopeful! – about how Taek will get out of this. If it goes just right, he might even get his family back. But we’re also interested in the story playing out beyond the environs of Taek’s Hyundai. It feels like the clues about Geum’s movements and motives that Hwang Soon-kyu is uncovering are nothing that he expected. Even though it’s said that serial killers want to be caught, if Geum Hyeok-so gets brought down by a mother out for justice and a cabbie who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, then won’t that just be his luck?    

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode, anyway.

Parting Shot: After a whole lot of talk that could’ve gone one way or quite another, Geum has revealed exactly what mayhem he’s capable of. But for reasons of his own, Taek’s about to encounter a scene that could go very badly for him. The lesson? Don’t barge into recreational vehicles parked in highway rest stops after dark.  

Sleeper Star: Taek’s suspicions grow as he drives Geum Hyeok-soo. But in the early going of A Bloody Lucky Day, it’s Lee Jung-eun’s Hwang Soon-kyu who’s providing us with many of the most enticing clues. It’s Soon-kyu’s dogged DIY investigation that will determine whether Geum murdered her son, since no one else seems willing to help her.

Most Pilot-y Line: 

The passenger: “I’m smuggling myself out.” 

The cabbie (being sarcastic): “You must have committed a serious crime. I should get you there quickly so you don’t get caught.”

“Won’t that make you an accomplice?”

Pause…

The passenger: “Kidding.”

Is he, though?

Our Call: STREAM IT. A Bloody Lucky Day is slow to develop. But oblique references to killer on the road stuff like Taxi Driver and Collateral put an unpredictable spin on the developing war of wills between a serial killer and his hired driver, who’s just looking for a bit of luck to go his way for once.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.