The Good:
Signal expertly weaves a story that spans decades. The writers use a circular narrative structure to pull the audience in while not revealing too much about the past while the audience and main characters are in the present. Had they not done this I don't think the time manipulation that is so central to what makes Signal work would have been effective. The plot in general is well structured and well crafted. Every episode left me waiting impatiently to start the next and the way the different cases were interwoven gave the audience much to figure out as more details were revealed. The cinematography too is excellent. The mood, tone, and ambiance of the drama is expertly achieved and adds to the storylines by alerting the audience to a scene's overall feel before any dialogue is spoken. The acting too is excellent on almost all fronts. The three main leads especially deserve praise for their emotionally impactful and gripping performances. Personally, I felt that Jo Jin Woong carried this drama. He was beyond amazing as Lee Jae Han and without his performance I don't think the drama would have been as successful and popular as it is.
The Bad:
My main gripe with this drama is with its villains. Early on there are hints of a bigger bad guy than just the perpetrators of the crimes being investigated in each episode. When he is finally revealed it was not shocking and that was okay with me as I felt that he has been built up and foreshadowed well by the writers and so the audience was already predisposed to dislike him. However, this character remains so one dimensional throughout the drama that I felt like I was watching a villain from an old James Bond film. I wanted to know more about his motivations, his character, and maybe see some growth or doubt. None of that came. The character remained stagnant with no deeper motivations or character traits beyond greed. The villain was also strikingly immoral in a way I feel that few actual human beings are. What made the villain stand out as being poorly written for me was how well the writers had done with portraying the inner worlds and motivations of the lesser villains. The perpetrators of the weekly crimes had more interesting backstories and story arcs than the antagonist. This was evidence to me that the writers could write bad guys well and simply failed to do so with our main antagonist. I also took issue with the way Park Hae Young's profiling technique was utilized. His prowess for catching the bad guy was almost otherworldly and to pin all this skill on his talent for profiling seemed highly unrealistic. He was just too good at his job for it to be realistic. I felt that Lee Jae Han's detective techniques and skills were much more realistic and better fit the realism of the story.
Overall Signal was great. It was well written and gripping. However, the antagonist was poorly written and plot devices to move the story along sometimes were too obvious. I would recommend this drama to anyone who likes both the crime and time travel genres. It is not a thriller but it is well paced and leaves you feeling satisfied with its conclusion.
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A masterpiece.
That's it. That's the review. Signal is a masterpiece. Anything which follows is flavour text.If I were asked to recommend a show to someone who had never seen an Asian drama before, Signal would be the recommendation. I'm at a loss for how best to even describe it, as I don't feel like any of the words I could give would do the series justice. In my opinion, Signal has one of the most unique stories I believe I have ever come across on television - definitely within the crime/detective genre, anyway - and it paces itself so well and so confidently that I'm worried it's set the bar too high for me to appreciate any dramas I watch after this.
Every single actor - lead, side or extra - gives every scene their all. You feel your gut wrench or your heart pound as characters are thrown again and again into these intense, impossible situations that sometimes do not have a fairytale ending. You may have seen other reviewers talk about how much they cried watching this, and I am no exception. Some of the cases the detectives are tasked to solve are harrowing, particularly when they are of personal importance to a main character. But the acting is so stunningly good that you cannot help but empathise completely with what each character is going through, regardless of the morality or soundness of their decisions.
For me, this series is a perfect illustration of why it's so important to give more older actors lead roles. The level of acting you are treated to is just unparalleled, and I firmly believe that this series would not have been the same without the seasoned, top-level performances that these veteran actors brought. The lead actress in particular won several national awards for her incredible performance in this series.
Although I wouldn't listen to the OST outside of this drama, I've given music a 10 as each song fit its selected scene like a glove. You can tell a lot of care went into the placement of the music throughout this series. Rewatch value is the only non-perfect score at 9.0, as to me the final episode started to outstay its welcome towards the end. However, this alone was not enough for me to drop any of the other scores from perfect.
TL;DR Signal is, to me, the true definition of a masterpiece. I enjoyed every second of it, and hope you do too.
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Signal excels the most in two categories: the plot and the characters.
The plot was surprisingly deep, well-written, and was executed brilliantly. The time manipulation aspect was not corny or cliched.
The characters took some time to develop and to understand completely. The show does a great job of showing perspectives of other characters and revealing backstories to create character depth.
The only weak aspect of the show was the slow pacing, which works well for character development, but not so much for plot progression. Some of the aspects of the main plot are easily forgotten after being dragged on for several episodes.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this show!! Check it out and let me know if there are any other shows that are similar.
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time travel emg memusingkan.
oke ini aku nikmati banget si. cuma aku suka sama yang kasus kasus beda gitu, lebih excited aja gitu rasanya dan juga time travel masih bisa dipahami walaupun kadang agak ga ngeh ini tuh jaman kapan. nah kalau untuk kasus yg utamanya, aku agk kurang suka. belibet banget karena time travel nya. aku gapaham, misal adegan 1 ni trus ke adegan 2 eh balik lagi ke adegan 1. jujur ak tak paham betul-betul konteksnya. trus terakhirnya ga terlalu dijelasin detail bgt kejadiannya. hppy ending sbnrnya cuma mungkin bisa ditambahin minimal mrk jumpa lah dan menurutku penulis mengakhiri hidup villain tu kurang tepat, ak sm skli ga ngarepin hal itu. aku harepin dia dapat hukuman di masa depan yang kek menderita banget. tapi setelah aku pikir” kl dia ga mati di jaman 2000-an, pasti banyak kasus yang diusik sm tu org. so yaudalah ak terima. but, terlepas dr main problemnya, kasus kasus kecil jg bagus jalan nya, ada plottwist nya juga.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Mixed bag
I've read so many raves about Signal and am aware that the drama garnered best drama at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards, so I was really looking forward to it. I like gritty detective stories, particularly Scandinavian noir and this sounded right up my alley.Ultimately, I found myself disappointed in the drama. There was a lot of good, but some lazy storytelling marred the series.
First, the good:
Interesting premise: the idea of a walkie talkie that could connect detectives in modern-day (2015) Seoul with a detective in the past was intriguing and generally well used. I liked seeing detectives work on a case in both timelines--and the effect that solving a crime in the past had on the present. I was particularly intrigued in one episode where using the walkie talkie led to tragic consequences. It wasn't used as a device that magically solved all problems.
Tie in to actual past crimes in Korea. It was interesting to learn about some of these past crimes; I found myself googling the particular crimes to learn more about them.
Character development: I especially loved Detective Lee Jae-han and his commitment to doing the right thing. Park Hae-ye's storyline was also interesting, as we learned about his past family tragedies.
The not-so-good:
The romance between Lee Jae-han and Kim Hye-soo. She seemed mostly a bumbling, enthusiastic rookie with a rather immature one-sided crush on her superior officer. Her behavior seemed inappropriate to me; she kept chasing him even when he expressed his disinterest.
The crime solving relied on coincidence and the hunches of the profilers far too often. In one episode, the detectives in 2015 Seoul are trying to track down the victim of a crime who had lied about her attacker. Park Hae-ye uses his profiling skills to deduce where she might work, and then just happens to see someone walking past him and figures out that it is her--based solely on what? He's never seen her before, but yet she walks past him in the street? Similarly, in the final episode, Lee Jae-han determines that a perpetrator has thrown away a crucial piece of evidence at a rest stop near a particular pharmacy. But by the time he arrives, the trash has been collected. We next see him at the landfill tearing through bags, only for a homeless woman to walk by him with the very item that he needs.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the main plot device, but the crime solving aspect was just too far-fetched.
I still give this drama a fairly high score because it was well-directed and well-acted. If only the crime solving had been a bit more thoughtful, this drama would be an "A", instead it's a B, maybe a B-
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The story was well-created and told in a way that it would keep your interests throughout the show, in which they mislead you with different plot twists and side stories, which eventually were connected to the main story itself. By dealing with several crime/rape cases. the producers and directors approached each crime in a different way. For example in one crime, you'll know the culprit immediately, while in others you did not. They did even hire the perfect actors/actresses for specific roles as all three of them exceeded my expectations with their performance, especially Lee Je Hoon's role as Park Hae Young impressed me.
So I definitely recommend you all to watch it if you haven't watched it as of yet. It is totally worth it.
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I love it from the start ! I even watch it with my parents who love it too !
The writer did an amazing work ! The actors deserved their awards especially Kim Hye Soo I completely fell in love for her acting !
You must watch if you're hesitating.
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Definitely a must watch!
Definitely the best Kdrama, no scratch that, one of the best dramas ever made!I have read mostly great things about this drama and wanted to keep it on my watchlist in case I ever needed particularly good entertainment. After almost 6 years this moment arrived. I finally watched it! And I’m not disappointed one bit. Well the last was a lie, the ending is making me kinda nervous.
First two important things:
* All of you who have been watching this series on a weekly basis while it was airing must have nerves of steel. Teach me your ways Senpai!
* And even worse, you were waiting for season 2 since 2016... HOW EVEN??!?
My review:
The drama has everything one needs! Definitely a must watch! Probably no potential for a rewatch, as the suspense is very important for such a crime series.
Positive:
* Great story, acting, music, vibe, suspense, cinematography, pacing, message, characters and villains (I hated them, which is a good sign for villains).
* The 3 leads were charismatic, intelligent and were of different ages which is so refreshing! Oh and the female lead was finally normal (strong enough and still had feelings/empathy), what a surprise!
* The motives and behavior of all characters were believable and kinda human. They all had weaknesses and strengths.
* It has a lot of realism (without being boring/annoying) with a cool scifi aspect to it and a pinch of a love story (no forced “they have to kiss once at the end” and not really a 2nd lead).
* It has no unnecessary CGI or stupid overdone fights (everything felt real and yet exciting).
Negative:
* On a contrary to many, I like the ending, it fits the whole vibe. But it makes me nervous, so I can’t say it is a great ending. I need season 2 to be able to sleep better. Is there any hope we will get one?
* Up until the end I wasn’t 100% sure if what they portrayed between Park Hae Young and Cha Soo Hyun was only respect/friendship or should show some kind of one-sided love on Park Hae Young’s side or the start of a new love between them both. I loved their friendship and wish it was meant that way/will stay that way. However, at moments I felt conflicted, because they would make a great love pair... I would have preferred they would not have given me mixed signals tbh. Does anyone get me or am I the only one seeing things? Maybe I'm just having a permanent 2nd lead syndrome. :(
* If you are watching this for a love story, then you will be disappointed. It’s not the main driver of this show. It’s just a nice touch to it.
Trigger warning:
* This is not a deal breaker for me, because it is needed for a crime series to be good. However, some of you might not like the violence and themes of the crimes they try to solve... Not much is shown, but still, some of you might not be comfortable watching this.
Now, guys go watch it if you haven’t and if you have please talk to me. Tell me it’s going to be alright!!!!!
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OH! if you are a fan of thriller dramas like Signal, I recommend you to watch "voice"!!! IF YOU ARE MISSING "SIGNAL", YOU DEFINITELY HAVE TO WATCH "VOICE"
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There's something seriously missing here
I have this thing that if somebody would recommend me to watch something a lot, I would instinctively postpone watching this thing till forever. Normally I want to know as little as possible about the series I’m about to watch, that way I do it with clear mind and no expectation. And maybe that was exactly the problem I was so disappointed after watching Signal. Plus, at the same time I was watching Kairos, series that’s based on very similar idea, and that gave me additional perspective on how Signal is using the motive of communicating with the past.The idea is relatively simple. In 2017 detective Park Hae Yeong is solving long lasting murder case when he finds old walkie talkie that allows him to communicate with Lee Jae Han, who turns out to be police officer from late eighties, who’s also working on the same case but in the past. Knowledge that they both acquire helps them solve the crimes that were opened for years. But there’s a catch. Every, even slightest change to the past dramatically influences events in the future (or present, depending how we see it). So every step is very risky.
Writing about Kairos couple days ago I admitted that I love time travelling related motives and Signal was actually first on the list, since it was recommended to me so many times. And I’m honestly not sure where does all that praise come from, since Signal turned out to be merely mediocre drama for me.
I’d like to say here that I’d probably won’t be able to restrain myself from comparing Signal to Kairos, so if you don’t want any spoilers from both of the series, please beware.
I like how whole mechanism of communication via walkie talkie was introduced early on. Basically the first episode was pretty neat introduction to the characters and the way changing the future influences future events. So at his point the viewer has more or less knowledge of what can happen when the past is changed. Even tough first episode was pretty slow, at his point it wasn’t an issue. The problem was that the pace was like that basically throughout the whole series. It wouldn’t be that bad if we get some connection with the characters, but unfortunately they seemed so distanced that it was hard to get emotionally attached to them. And I don’t only mean time distanced but I think it also played a valid role in how the drama was viewed. I’ve wrote in Kairos’ review that the strong side of that drama was emotional bond with the characters. We’ve seen events basically from their perspectives. We’ve shared their feeling, we could immerse ourselves in their pain. Here I had the problem that characters of Signal were much more distanced. Obviously one reason was that they weren’t so connected to the cases they’re solving as it was with Kairos. They were also separated by much longer time period. The crimes were mostly pretty old, since in the present timeline they were dealing with very old, sometimes over 20 years old cases. So the emotional attachment towards them was almost inexistent. And I mean, we've seen some tears, we've seen some anger, but it was just not enough.
The first episode also proved that changing the history is not easy even if you know what will happen. There’s just so many variables that there’s always something that can goo wrong. This drama doesn’t give simple solutions, characters need to fight for the truth constantly, not being sure if their methods will work. And of course past doesn’t want to be changed. Every try may result in failure in other aspects of the investigation. Nothing is this drama comes easy for characters.
At one point this drama was so emotionless it was almost painful to watch. Overall slow pace of the show didn’t really help either.
After couple of really slow episodes, in the second half of the season we’ve finally had characters involved somehow in the action. The fact that they were directly connected to the case made it a bit more interesting. The fact thew Park Hae Yeong and Lee Jae Han actually almost met in the past seemed a bit too much of a coincidence but was quickly explained in a way that didn’t really spoiled anything.
Overall I was impressed on how detailed this drama was to all the events, but unfortunately very slow pace any really unlikable characters threw me off. I just couldn’t immerse myself in watching the drama. And I know that it’s very subjective but this drama just didn’t worked with me, it was missing something to make it more alive. What was good story worth when we get characters that cannot deliver it?
And why the hell is Park Hae Yeong whispering so often? Most of his conversations with Cha Soo Hyun are whispered and most of the times is doesn’t really make sense!
So overall, I really wanted to like this drama. It seems to fit perfectly in my interests. But I just couldn’t. I see good sides of it, I see well developed plot, but no chances to actually get caught up in it.
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The potential...
So yesterday I finished the drama, and honestly I wanted to love it so so much but it just couldn't live up to my expectations. I really liked the plot, the music, the visual, it gave me a bit of a True Detective feeling. And still I nearly dropped the whole thing after the 4th episode, because the writing pissed me up so much. Basically every character was terribly written.Lee Jae Han: Who is despite a policeman, creeping on his crush following her from 10 meter and hiding behind bushes when she turns? And literally trying to run away when the girl approaches him? Srsly? As a fresh policeman he should be more than 14 years old i guess. At least later on the show he matures and from there he is the most realistic character of them all.
Park Hae Yeong: The absolute worst character I ever met. In the majority of the show he just stares into the abyss with a question mark above his head, or just simply asking back to every piece of information given three times.
He is not the killer!
He is not the killer?
No he is not
So…. he is not?
Despite he supposed to be the brain in the “team”, he was basically useless in the entire show. He is definitely not a professional detective, just a selfish emotional idiot. Sometimes I was truly thinking he got some mental challenges to understand the most basic things happening around him…
The Cold cases team, is also a non existent thing, because the show falls into the most brasil soap op cliche of all times, the members are not talking to each other, not sharing informations the typical thing where a problem could be solved with 2 sentences but, nooo the characters just staring each other and then walking away silently… Oh Cmooon!
I understand they wanted drama everywhere but this is not the way you should make drama. This is just bullshit. I was preparing myself for the episode where they show us the Inju case (the main thing. The case which started all of this), I really hoped they will give to the `what happened that day` a full episode placed only in the past, and show us (the viewers) the brutality of the gang rape, how the whole village knows what happened, who did it, but keeps silent because of the absolute power of the cement company… That could have been dramatic where we see how bad is when company leaders have absolute power on people and even the police. What we got? A half episode a weird rape scene where one person rapes the girl who gets into the hospital after? So it wasnt a gang rape then? Or when did it actually happened? Did I miss something?
Every time something good happened, and I started to lay back to finally enjoy the show the writers decided to make some idiot choice which ruined the whole experience again and again leaving me frustrated because this show had so much potential. The way Lee Jae Han finds the scarf… I'm still shocked how bad that was. And why the heck they had to explain everything like two times to the viewers? I constantly felt the writers thinking im stupid or just really slow like Park Hae Yeong. I remember the scene where I was like “finally the scene they made clever”. It was the photographers missing girlfriend and the fact she was reading a book and they just showed the book in her hand for a split second and I was like omg yess the book the book! And what happened next? I can imagine the writers were like “Oke, we need to explain to the people what is happening because you know not all of them are so smart like our police” and bammm another disappointing solution. Same with the woman who comes back to SK because of the sick mother. You can put together the puzzle pieces but noooo Cha Soo Hyun explains you everything when she talks to the sister…
Im so pissed, because this could have been a unique masterpiece but the lazy, incompetent writing ruined the show for me.
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