Delivery Man (2023) Episode 1

Mar 16, 2023

Episode 1 of Delivery Man introduces us to Seo Young-min, who’s a taxi driver and aspiring police officer with NASCAR skills. After a day of transporting various customers, he picks up his friend, a fellow taxi driver, to go get an expensive speaker. However, they spot some thieves in the act. They embark on a high-speed chase to recover it. Young-min corners the car and the fight leads to a badass alleyway wrestling match, with Young-min as the winner.

The next day, a banker comes by his house and explains that Young-min is really behind on paying the mortgage and needs to pay a great deal of money if he doesn’t want the house to be auctioned. He feels anxious about this news as he is already tasked with taking care of his grandmother.

Young-min also finds a phone in his car, but accidentally drops it, breaking it. Later, a young woman appears in his car and they both discover that she is a ghost. She keeps on disappearing and reappearing in his car, freaking him out.

Neither of them have any idea why she is in his taxi, and she can’t remember how she died. But the scene cuts to a woman in a hospital bed; the plug is pulled on her life support machine.

They deliberate about how she died and she says that she is not able to leave the taxi. She demonstrates that by showing him that when she tries, she gets thrown back inside it by an invisible force. Young-min’s phone dings and he has no choice but to take the ghost woman with him to pick up his next customer. His customer asks to stop because he feels sick and implies that Young-min’s taxi has something to do with that.

Young-min and the ghost go to the police station to see if they can find out who the woman is/was, but they are out of luck. He comes home, disappointed to have an unproductive day with no profit. He goes to sleep but dreams that the ghost girl is hovering over him, blood dripping from her eyes.

The next morning, he takes his grandma to an appointment but the ghost is still in his taxi where he left her. The ghost nags him about leaving her overnight while he’s driving, and it causes him to almost get in an accident, startling his grandma.

Determined to get rid of the ghost woman, he takes her to a “medium” who tries to get rid of her by throwing rice and doing some other fraudulent tricks. Unsuccessful, they leave and Young-min gives a ride to a doctor, who seems to be unaffected by the ghost’s presence in the taxi.

Later, he has flashbacks about when his mom died. He gives a gift to the doctor he previously gave a ride to, apparently because that doctor tried to help save his mom, but the relationship is not clear.

That night, the ghost woman guilt trips Young-min into parking his car close to the house instead of far away like last night. Young-min discovers his grandma asleep on the couch, her laptop open. It turns out she was checking for jobs for the elderly.

Meanwhile, the ghost woman resolves to stick to Young-min like glue because she needs his help to find out who she is and why she died. Young-min, determined to earn some income, picks up another customer, but it turns out he is a ghost, too. After a hilarious interaction between Young-min, the ghost woman, and the ghost man, it turns out he is sticking around for a little while, too. The next morning, Young-min decides to sell his taxi, much to the two ghosts’ dismay.

When he is in the act of starting the sale, a ghost in the car lot asks the ghost woman to help him get his gold rings out of his car so he can help his family pay for his child’s hospital bills. She tells Young-min about the gold and he takes the rings before the car dealer sees, bringing them to the child in the hospital.

The rings bring relief to the deceased ghost father and living mother. After this, the ghost dad disappears. Young-min, the ghost woman, and the ghost man they picked up observe this, and the child walks over to Young-min and hands him a ring, telling him that her dad said to give it to him.

This gives the ghost woman an idea: Young-min can use his taxi to help ghosts, and the ghosts will pay him (in unconventional ways). She tells this to him and the episode ends with a grinning Young-min, confirming his answer to her suggestion.

The Episode Review

This episode delivers a delightful blend of humor and an intriguing storyline. The theme is both endearing and enigmatic, leaving us with a sense of curiosity.

The mystery surrounding the ghostly woman adds an extra layer of intrigue, while the empathy felt towards Young-min’s struggles to provide for his grandmother creates an emotional investment that leaves one eagerly anticipating the next episode. So far, so good!