SaraaReviews: Signal
Hey guys, I'm back for another K-drama review! While everyone else is chasing episode after episode of The King: Eternal Monarch starring Lee Min Ho (Boys Over Flowers) and Kim Go Eun (Goblin), here I am binge watching the older K-dramas such as this one that was released back in 2016.
The only question I had after watching all 16 episodes is 'How did I miss this drama back in 2016?' simply because the plot and character development were too good. My honest review would be to rate it at 9 out of 10 because a good crime, mystery and thriller drama is hard to find.
Recommended in The Tablo Podcast, I decided to give it a go out of curiosity and true enough I was hooked to the storyline that I completed 16 episodes in about 9 days. Without further ado, here's my take on this highly recommended drama.
Before you continue on, please note that this is a review so there will be spoilers ahead. Though this might be a good time to binge watch it all because Season 2 of Signal is coming out this year! However, there are no clues if they will keep the casts from Season 1. Nevertheless, I'm still excited to seeing the ensemble and what the plot has in store.
I'm sure this part is subtly trying to convey the concept of balance in life, that these are limitations even when you can change the past. A few other questions that follows are - why only Park Hae-Young gets to retain that memory while others don't? Is it because he is the only one who knows about the transmission?
Episode 6: When Detective Lee Jae-Han was forced to arrest the main suspect of the 1995 burglary, Oh Kyung-Tae who was an ex-convict turned friend. Oh Kyung-Tae had no choice but to watch his daughter Eun-Ji board the bus home while he was handcuffed to Detective Lee Jae-Han's car. Sitting right behind Eun-Ji is Shin Yeo-Jin and her father who were the victims of the kidnapping case planned by Oh Kyung-Tae in the present day.
The plot then goes back to the past to unravel what made Oh Kyung-Tae commit the kidnapping case. As Oh Kyung-Tae watch Eun-Ji, the bridge that they were on collapsed and the bus crashes onto the fallen section of the bridge. Detective Lee Jae-Han stopped his car just in time. Passengers were pulled out one by one, but no one could see Eun-Ji except her father who was shouting helplessly while being handcuffed. By the time the paramedics discovered the gas leak, a decision has to be made either to save Shin Yeo-Jin or Eun-Ji.
Just seconds later, the bus bursts into flames and I felt that pang of sadness upon knowing who didn't make it. The pain and shock from Detective Lee Jae-Han and Oh Kyung-Tae's expression - I can't even imagine the pain they must have felt when they realize that there's nothing they could do but to watch. Yet from a human to human, you can't help but to understand Oh Kyung-Tae's actions who is trying to get even with Shin Yeo-Jin's father in the present day - to make him feel as helpless as he was.
Episode 9 and 10: Luring the depressed and lonely women using a helpless cute puppy, then strapping a black plastic bag over their head before choking them to death - the 1997 Hongwon-dong case tops it off on the level of eerie and creepiness as it resurfaces again with more hidden bodies in the present day.
This is also the first time where we can see the vulnerable side of Cha Soo-Hyun and the history behind the suspicious mark on her neck. While trying to be helpful to Detective Lee Jae-Han's case, Cha Soo-Hyun spent the entire day tracing the victim's footsteps while trying to find the common motive. Fooled by the injured puppy, Cha Soo-Hyun was captured by the murderer. She wakes up to the sound of water droplets, a black plastic bag over her head, and hands bound.
She regained parts of her memories and she began to lift herself and walks her way to the door just before the murderer returns to kill her. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat towards the end of episode 9 when they change the angle of the camera to portray what Cha Soo-Hyun sees - with the screen fading into darkness and the light detail at the corner of the screen.
Once Detective Lee Jae-Han found her and safely brought her back to the police station, she tried to piece her memory together to narrow down the scope of the search. Buried deep as a memory she never wanted to ever remember, Cha Soo-Hyun is determined to figure it out to solve the cold case. At the same time, they noticed the difference in the pattern with the ninth victim and once again Park Hae-Young's profiling is spot on even though it is fully theoretical.
The two episodes clearly showcases Kim Hye-Soo's acting as one of the victims because of her expression and actions in reenacting the traumatic experience was outstanding and surreal. The fear and the unimaginable pain she expressed when Detective Lee Jae-Han finally found her was not an amateur acting.
Covering three major cold cases that remains unsolved to this day, this drama may have provided the comfort/closure or even imagination as we watch the three detectives decode the truth and the real murderers from the perspective of past and present. At the same time, the constant agenda has always been to find out what happened to Detective Lee Jae Han.
Love, Sara
The only question I had after watching all 16 episodes is 'How did I miss this drama back in 2016?' simply because the plot and character development were too good. My honest review would be to rate it at 9 out of 10 because a good crime, mystery and thriller drama is hard to find.
Signal (์๊ทธ๋)
Highly praised for its acting and the thoroughly-constructed plot that includes real-life crime cases in Korea such as the Hwaseong serial murders that still remain unsolved to this day. This drama was a hit in 2016 and won the Best Drama award along with Best Screenplay and Best Writer. Here's what you don't know - this screenplay was written by Kim Eun-hee, the same person who wrote the thriller series on Netflix called Kingdom (another personal favourite series of mine) about Korean zombies back in the Joseon era.Recommended in The Tablo Podcast, I decided to give it a go out of curiosity and true enough I was hooked to the storyline that I completed 16 episodes in about 9 days. Without further ado, here's my take on this highly recommended drama.
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| Image credits to tvN |
Overview
Through a mysterious walkie-talkie, a transmission signal marks the starting point where the past and present collide as it allows Detective Lee Jae-Han (Cho Jin-Woong) in the year 1986 to communicate with Park Hae-Young (Lee Je-Hoon), a criminal profiler in 2015. After their first success in solving a 15 year-old kidnapping case, a cold case team was formed and led by Detective Cha Soo-Hyun (Kim Hye-Soo). The two-way communication between Detective Lee Jae-Han and Park Hae-Young continues as they solve cold cases and help Detective Lee Jae-Han to solve cases in the past. Here's the catch, the intermittent transmission will only happen at 11.23pm, often last about one minute. As the three detectives teamed up to change the past, the future remains unknown for them as they race against time to save themselves and uncover the truth about what happened to Detective Lee Jae-Han.Before you continue on, please note that this is a review so there will be spoilers ahead. Though this might be a good time to binge watch it all because Season 2 of Signal is coming out this year! However, there are no clues if they will keep the casts from Season 1. Nevertheless, I'm still excited to seeing the ensemble and what the plot has in store.
Favourite Highlights
Episode 3: The moment when Park Hae-Young noticed the change in the name of the eighth victim (Lee Mi-Sun) of the South Gyeonggi serial murders. What adds to the effect is that he was the only one who remembered the initial victim, while Lee Mi-Sun survived the attack in the eyes of others. As Park Hae-Young later compared the past and present, he realized that the number of victims remained the same even when it felt like few people may have died.I'm sure this part is subtly trying to convey the concept of balance in life, that these are limitations even when you can change the past. A few other questions that follows are - why only Park Hae-Young gets to retain that memory while others don't? Is it because he is the only one who knows about the transmission?
Episode 6: When Detective Lee Jae-Han was forced to arrest the main suspect of the 1995 burglary, Oh Kyung-Tae who was an ex-convict turned friend. Oh Kyung-Tae had no choice but to watch his daughter Eun-Ji board the bus home while he was handcuffed to Detective Lee Jae-Han's car. Sitting right behind Eun-Ji is Shin Yeo-Jin and her father who were the victims of the kidnapping case planned by Oh Kyung-Tae in the present day.
The plot then goes back to the past to unravel what made Oh Kyung-Tae commit the kidnapping case. As Oh Kyung-Tae watch Eun-Ji, the bridge that they were on collapsed and the bus crashes onto the fallen section of the bridge. Detective Lee Jae-Han stopped his car just in time. Passengers were pulled out one by one, but no one could see Eun-Ji except her father who was shouting helplessly while being handcuffed. By the time the paramedics discovered the gas leak, a decision has to be made either to save Shin Yeo-Jin or Eun-Ji.
Just seconds later, the bus bursts into flames and I felt that pang of sadness upon knowing who didn't make it. The pain and shock from Detective Lee Jae-Han and Oh Kyung-Tae's expression - I can't even imagine the pain they must have felt when they realize that there's nothing they could do but to watch. Yet from a human to human, you can't help but to understand Oh Kyung-Tae's actions who is trying to get even with Shin Yeo-Jin's father in the present day - to make him feel as helpless as he was.
Episode 9 and 10: Luring the depressed and lonely women using a helpless cute puppy, then strapping a black plastic bag over their head before choking them to death - the 1997 Hongwon-dong case tops it off on the level of eerie and creepiness as it resurfaces again with more hidden bodies in the present day.
This is also the first time where we can see the vulnerable side of Cha Soo-Hyun and the history behind the suspicious mark on her neck. While trying to be helpful to Detective Lee Jae-Han's case, Cha Soo-Hyun spent the entire day tracing the victim's footsteps while trying to find the common motive. Fooled by the injured puppy, Cha Soo-Hyun was captured by the murderer. She wakes up to the sound of water droplets, a black plastic bag over her head, and hands bound.
She regained parts of her memories and she began to lift herself and walks her way to the door just before the murderer returns to kill her. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat towards the end of episode 9 when they change the angle of the camera to portray what Cha Soo-Hyun sees - with the screen fading into darkness and the light detail at the corner of the screen.
Once Detective Lee Jae-Han found her and safely brought her back to the police station, she tried to piece her memory together to narrow down the scope of the search. Buried deep as a memory she never wanted to ever remember, Cha Soo-Hyun is determined to figure it out to solve the cold case. At the same time, they noticed the difference in the pattern with the ninth victim and once again Park Hae-Young's profiling is spot on even though it is fully theoretical.
The two episodes clearly showcases Kim Hye-Soo's acting as one of the victims because of her expression and actions in reenacting the traumatic experience was outstanding and surreal. The fear and the unimaginable pain she expressed when Detective Lee Jae-Han finally found her was not an amateur acting.
(P.S - I really want to write more about the other scenes that I like T.T It's so hard to narrow down my favourites in this drama )
Saraa's Afterthoughts
Despite the complex plot, I like how the cinematography differentiates the past and present through shades and tones to set the mood. The yellow tones gives you the warmth and vintage feel while the blue cool tones gives a cool and calm perspective. Other than the characters that exists in their own timeline, the tones too give a hint of which belongs to the past and of the future such as the example from episode 10 below. |
| Image credits to tvN |
Covering three major cold cases that remains unsolved to this day, this drama may have provided the comfort/closure or even imagination as we watch the three detectives decode the truth and the real murderers from the perspective of past and present. At the same time, the constant agenda has always been to find out what happened to Detective Lee Jae Han.
Another thing that I love about this drama is how each character has a case that resonates with them deeply as human beings on top of being the enforcers of the law - the death of a first love that he couldn't save, overcoming her traumatic experience as a victim to a serial murderer and finally to seek the truth behind the wrongful death of a brother who meant the world to him. Hands down Detective Lee Jae Han is the best character who always try his best in searching for the truth, because he knew how it feels to have experienced grief.
"You've probably only seen pictures. All you know about the victims are their names, jobs, time of death and where they were found. Not me."
Despite the two decade apart between the two detectives, it is somewhat still a sad truth where the rich and influential can get away with anything with money - in this drama alone this drama already covers murder, burglary and the gang rape case in Inju. Doesn't it make you wonder how unfair this world is to the poor? What is justice or even truth? This is a constant theme that we still question today, but then again is there anything that we can do?
A few noteworthy elements include the mystery of 11:23pm is always lurking at the corner to leave you wondering why the sporadic transmissions mean and its significance. Could 11:23pm be the time of death of Detective Lee Jae Han back then? Even if so, how did this desperate transmission travel all the way to the future? I think there was one scene where they are almost certain that this transmission to happen again? What is it that he knows about them?
The parallel time concept is also interesting as first shown in episode 5 where a week in 2015 somehow resorted to seven years since the last transmission in Detective Lee Jae Han's timeline. For the sake of the drama and storyline, I suppose the transmissions are 'planned' only when there is a need to solve a particular case.
I think one of the biggest lessons of all is this quote below of which I find so true. Just for fun, I'll leave it here for you to decipher them.
No words can express how just wonderfully presented this drama is - just the right pace and suspense for the storyline and solid actors to pull it all off. Like every #saraareviews post, wrapping it up with the quote that summarizes the entire drama.
I think one of the biggest lessons of all is this quote below of which I find so true. Just for fun, I'll leave it here for you to decipher them.
"There are those who are born monsters while there are those who are made into monsters by people"
"There is (always) hope as long as you don't give up."
Detective Lee Jae Han
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| Image credits to tvN. (Hope to see you three in Season 2!) |
Love, Sara
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