Signal

Signal

8/10

Signal

Genre:                                     Episodes: 16                            Year: 2016

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

Park Hae Young is a criminal profiler with a deep distrust in police officers. After his team successfully solve an old murder case minutes before the statute of limitations applies, the government decide to abolish the statute of limitations and create a cold case squad. While working, Hae Young receives strange radio transmissions from the past, and he works with Detective Lee Jae Han to solve cold cases by gathering evidence in the present, and also the past. 

Cast:

Lee Je Hoon (Park Hae Young)

Kim Hye Soo (Cha Soo Hyun)

Cho Jin Woong (Lee Jae Han)

Jang Hyun Sung (Kim Bum Joo)

Jung Hae Kyun (Ahn Chi Soo)

Kim Won Hae (Kim Gye Chul)

General Thoughts:

This drama is an experience. It takes a little while before it snags you- but when it does, it has you forever. Dramas that deal with time tend to be a little bit confusing, and ‘Signal’ is no exception, only its confusing in a good way. Not only are the viewers surprised and confused by results of tampering with time, so are our characters- because once desperation kicks in, all rules are gone and the timelines start to change.

And the changes aren't always good...

While the series does include the butterfly effect, thankfully it doesn’t focus too heavily on how the past changes the future. The idea is there for sure, but the writers don’t take it too far, and the future timeline has big, dynamic changes (like people dying or not dying)- but the core elements of the future remain unchanged, which let us live in a steady, consistent time and gives a sense of continuity despite all the past/present changes.

Poor pumpkin didn't get the chance to smile much

The idea itself is quite novel (though it’s very similar to the American film ‘Frequency’), so there’s no set rules for how to interact with people from the past, because it’s an idea that has rarely even been seen in movies. The acting was pretty fantastic all-round, even by those that had small roles. At first I found Lee Je Hoon overacted a little, but as the series went on he settled into the character of Hae Young much more naturally. As the feel of the drama became much darker and much more desperate, Lee Je Hoon’s acting fit the tone of the series well. And at the end of the day, I’d much rather have my actors overacting than underacting. It took me a while to warm up to Kim Hye Soo as Cha Soo Hyun, but in the end I really enjoyed her in this role. She fit the not-so-girly detective well, and did an excellent job at portraying both the past and present versions of Soo Hyun. Kim Hye Soo nailed the innocent new police officer with a crush on her sunbae, and showed the excellent transition of how this enthusiastic rookie became the independent realist detective in 2015. The effective flashbacks that were used throughout the series also helped in crafting the identity of Soo Hyun, and assisted greatly in making her an understandable, likeable heroine.

Or you could both quit and go live in the mountains and be happy hermits and not die.

Then we have Cho Jin Woong as Lee Jae Han, and he’s just perfect. He has the perfect image for the gruff police officer from the past, but showed just enough vulnerability that he never became too harsh. Of our three main leads, Cho Jin Woong definitely had the hardest task as he had to show such a diverse range of emotion.

He's sad, I'm sad, everybody's sad

He was believable in every aspect of Jae Han’s life, and it’s obvious that the actor put a lot of thought and effort behind his portrayal of Jae Han. It was always obvious to the audience why Jae Han acted the way he did, and what situations led him to act in certain ways. He was a loveable, awkward goof when it came to Soo Hyun, but could become a desperate, powerless officer with Kim Bum Joo in the very next scene. Jae Han’s struggles were perfectly emoted and added a huge amount of tension to the drama, as Jae Han was the one in the past who would be able to alter past events and change the future for our other characters. And let’s be real- were we ever not going to love the righteous cop struggling for justice in a corrupt world? While I really enjoyed the underdog fight, the drama did sometimes get a bit too depressing when it seemed like our three good guys could barely make a dent in the huge world of corruption and bribery. The show wasn’t afraid to go to some really dark places, which added so much tension to the series, and raised the stakes much higher than other shows who play it safe.

The criminals were scary, and it was scary that they were walking around free

It primed the audience to really despise those that were using their power to keep themselves safe while also pushing down innocent, powerless people. While I adored almost all of this drama, I felt the payoff at the end wasn’t quite as satisfying as I wanted- but I guess I should almost have expected that given that the drama’s whole commentary was that the world never changes and that the rich and powerful can always abuse the poor and powerless.

Tell Jae Han to just wait 15 years and then all work on it together

The differences between the past and present were so spot on that it was always easy to tell which timeline we were watching on our screens. The attention to detail is so impressive, as every tiny thing in the past sections of the drama seem as though they really came from that era- the radios, the phones, the cars, even the chairs and desks. It’s also brilliant that technology came into play a little bit- with Jae Han sometimes being unable to catch the criminal purely because the technology in his time isn’t advanced enough to analyse the evidence. It added an extra layer into why our detectives needed each other- Hae Young needed Jae Han to find evidence that wasn’t discovered originally, and Jae Han needed Hae Young to figure out how to use that evidence. The music of the series had a really unique vibe to it, and didn’t remind me of the soundtrack to any other K-Drama I’ve seen, which is an in-the-background, but still brilliant achievement.

What Was Great:

Everyone:

The cast was just a fantastic thing to behold. Our three heroes were all wonderful characters and were all acted brilliantly.

It's just a shame we never got all three of them together

The main antagonist, acted by Jang Hyun Sun, was so dislikable. No matter how hideously a character is written, you need a good performance behind your villain to make him really hatable.

Someone please punch that smug smile right off his face

Despite not getting a lot of background information on Bum Joo, Jang Hyun Sun portrayed him well as a slimy, inhumane man who’d do anything to get ahead. Even the smaller roles were all acted brilliantly. We had criminals coming in for a few episodes while their cold case was being solved, and the many, many criminals we had were all enjoyable. None of the criminal cases were played out the same way, so we had a nice diverse set of characters. Each of their reasons for committing crimes were different, as were each of their reactions at being caught. 

Tie-Ins:

At first I wondered if ‘Signal’ had any sort of overarching plot, or if it was just going to be small crime-of-the-hour plot-lines helped along by mysterious radio transmissions. But once we got into the series, it became evident that all the cases Jae Han worked on were connected (if not only by the fact that he worked on them). It was almost as if the corruption in the world connected everything together- there were so many bribes, fake evidence and destroyed evidence in the police force that it was almost impossible for Jae Han to work a case and not have a run-in with corruption.

♫ Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you, bad boys ♫

The gradual buildup to how Hae Young was connected was steady, and managed to be fairly unpredictable. It was fascinating to watch how Jae Han and Hae Young were connected through the past case, and how Soo Hyun’s involvement in both the past and the present ended up being the main factor behind the past changing, and Jae Han making it out alive. Interweaving all the cases so intricately with all the corruption made it feel as though our heroes were fighting one big battle that had been going on for decades. The radio transmissions also added a feeling of continued connection and entangled all the different storylines.

There is no timeline where Hyung lives

It added so much emotion to the series, as it gave Jae Han a feeling of responsibility over Hae Young, and that only made it so much harder for them both (and us) when Jae Han failed to save Hae Young’s brother. 

What Wasn’t:

Open Ending:

I’m very, very rarely a fan of open-endings, and in this case I was particularly not keen to have one.

Let's just end it here and go home

It felt like all drama long we were fighting the big, powerful bosses and all the suffering and pain and death was going to be worth it in the end, because they’d change the world just a tiny bit, and one corrupt powerhouse would fall. That is not what happened. Despite all the effort our heroes go through to bring down the man behind Jae Han’s struggles and the one responsible for the murder of Hae Young’s brother, the man is still perfectly fine when the series comes to a close. I think the drama was trying to be hopeful with the way it left off, kind of like ‘it may not be better now, but if we keep trying surely something will change’. Only they’ve been trying for years and nothing’s really changed, so it was actually kind of depressing. I mean, sure Jae Han didn’t die- but he’s been hiding in a hospital for 15 years and that’s only really one step up from being killed. I think what I really wanted out of this drama was a scene with all three of our main characters together. I didn’t even know I wanted to see it so badly until I didn’t see it, and was left feeling a little bit empty. I’m on the team that wants a Season 2 to explain everything that happened after Jae Han lived and the present changed so dramatically, and also so our characters can have maybe just one teensy tiny smidge of happiness. 

I suppose hiding in a hospital is better than being a skeleton

Re-watch?

Maybe, if I ever recover from how heavy this drama is. If there is gong to be a Season 2 I’ll probably have to re-watch it and then go straight into the sequel.

Six seasons and a movie