Beautifully crafted crime drama
Most of the times, I have a hard time watching Korean crime dramas. Though they are exciting to watch, sometimes there are just too many names to remember (hard to remember foreign names vs english ones).I am currently watching the Queen's Umbrella and saw someone comment in his review how much he liked Kim Hye Soo in Signal. I loved her in Juvenile Justice so I decided to watch Signal and see her in a different role.
After finishing this series in record time, I agree with loving Kim Hye Soo. Not only is she a great actress, she totally suits the role of a tough detective. I also loved Jo Jin Woong. His acting is so natural and he is so in character as Detective Lee Jae Han. I looked around for his other dramas but sad to say that he doesn't have any current ones.
The storyline is also well written. It captures the viewers interest and there are some heart pounding moments when you wonder if this or that is about to happen.
While the radio transmissions give you Frequency vibes, it is still different in certain ways. Definitely a must watch
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For summary sake this is about a police officer who finds a walkie talkie of a missing officer from the 80s and he can communicate with him from the past at a certain time. together they solve crimes in the past and present.
It has so many twists and turns I couldn't predict what happened next up to the last minute.
1. If soppy love storys are your type of dramas this isn't for you. YES there is a female lead who had a past spark with the missing officer (I never remember names) but is all very subtle and never really brought to the service although their bond is amazing.
2. The acting and emotions are great, I was really drawn into every episode by the incredible acting and storyline.
Minor SPOLIER - The ending can be frustrating as it is a cliffhanger and you have to kind guess what happens but It doesn't bring down the story at all just think of the ending you want as it leaves it up to you anyway.
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This is an epic drama. At first i thought this is just another boring crime solving drama. After watching it, i realized how wrong i was. This drama takes you to a journey of two different people connected by a signal from different times. It's not like you just starts solving cases and won medals and all that. If you change the past present changes too.
Signal is a crime thriller that will keep you on the edge throughout most of the show.
The main leads were really good at what they were doing. they were amazing at their roles. I loved this show.
If you want to enjoy an epic crime thriller with a time traveling twist. This is for you, Don't think twice just go and watch it. You can thank me later.
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Must watch
I loved the series, why i didn't score it higher? because oce the mister is gone, is difficult to re-watch and get the same emotions. I would like a season 2 to complete to blank spots.The character of Jo Jin Woong brought a baggage of emotions, while I was expecting more from the other 2 main characters, especially Kim Hye Soo, I truly love her works.
The story is great, don't want to spoil the mistery and the OST perfect, I have it on my YouTube private library :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe5J2l2scl8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpyPPEr-9DM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZYSjUADrw&list=PL1LdzvvpQJSAQT_ZSmkVAB8jaRFQjvjWJ&index=2
Is a must see series.
Enjoy !
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i started watching signal at a rather impressionable age. at one where i'd be easily blinded by enjoyment over everything as my primary factor for rating a title. then, it was a 10 for me. almost 3 years later, it's still a 10 for me, but now i've a bit wider vocabulary to word how i feel about this series as accurately as possible or even assess it.
this title greatly sticks out of the usual norm of korean dramas and, depending on the circumstances, it may not even be for everyone or, it might not be your cup of tea if you're looking for something light-hearted or totally opposite.
since i cannot summarize the story in my own way because of review rules, i will instead be vocal about my impressions on it, the other factors, and what i've disliked.
i don't have a particular preference when it comes to k-dramas but as i've said before, this one greatly sticks out of the norm. it is thought-provoking, it keeps you on the edge of your seat almost every time, emotionally, it plays with you and intellectually & methodically, it toys with you. events that happen during the series might not be immediately obvious to you, so that's why you have to make sure to pay attention so you don't miss anything. that's something i love about this series & observation is one of the key points of this drama, from a viewer perspective. the same goes for the plot hole of the series. what stops me from giving a 10 on story is the lack of information about the very key object of the drama, the walkie-talkie. what is it's origin, why is it able of doing what it does? those were the questions i've had near the end of the drama that eventually were not answered. although it would've been better for the general experience, it didn't stop me from enjoying the drama to the extent of giving it such high ratings.
onto the cast/acting. let's just say there's a reason why i gave a 10 on cast/acting. i've faced with most of the cast for the first time when i saw this drama, but i've had the fortune of watching tomorrow with you, in which lee je hoon was the main lead. i was impressed by his versatility & general acting. the cast chosen for this title is brilliant. they got into their characters remarkably well, i was very impressed. it was a tense & emotional run for me which is, for one, because of the cast.
onto the music. crème de la crème of this k-drama. music is very important since it takes part in setting the ambiance or, that might just be my opinion, i don't know. anyway. the ost is rather bitter & tearful and by giving it a listen you could have the general idea of what this drama would be like. the bgm is suspenseful & gloomy but right on-point too. i love listening to it sometimes, just for the reminiscing of it.
this concludes it i guess.
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I am speechless (in a good way)
My head is spinning ( just finished the last episode )first case ( 1-4 ish):
I was pumped, and full of adrenaline, it was crazy and the story was interesting.
I calmed and acted it got solved. And I kinda of didn't have the urge to watch the next episode right away.
The same thing happened with the other cases until around episodes 7-8 ( I think) where the cases got more personal/related to our main characters and I got emotionally attached to them so I was more invested in the drama. It's kind crazy how much I ended up loving the characters when I am not really that attached to the characters of thriller/mystery dramas.
The story was interesting and done well.
Though it made my head spin a few times, it wasn't that confusing.
The last episode was something, the drama suggested so many things, like how the transmissions could have gone to someone else and it was just crazy and I am really happy that he was alive.
I really love how all three main characters had some sort of relationship.
Even though this isn't a romance, the relationship and chemistry between detectives Lee Jaehan and Cha So Hyun was so cute and then Cha So Hyun and Park Hae-young had less of an implied romantic relationship but they had a hot sizzling chemistry and weirdly, I was shipping for both relationships.
( I don't usually ship a person with a lot of people)
I feel like they won't make a second season, but I wonder how they will do the story if they decide to, like there are so many things to touch on but I wonder what they will do the characters with)
I am not unhappy about the open-ended even though I was wishing for a reunion of all three of them but yeah, this is a good drama and it really made me cry especially when our main characters were on the verge of death.
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This review may contain spoilers
I, like some people watched The Tunnel first and loved that one. When I saw that Signal had almost the same premise as The Tunnel I decided to watch.For some odd reason I only made it to the first episode. The female lead messed it up for me. Her demeanor, and facial expressions made this less enjoyable to watch.
Someone stated that I should definitely watch so I followed their suggestion. To my dismay I really didn't like this too much. The male character who was in the past played his parts to where I clouded up a bit in some scenes.
To me the two male cops connected even though they never meet. Other cast members seemed to be disconnected from each other.
The cases that they dealt with was interesting but in my opinion it lacked intensity and depth. Especially the last episode. It caused me to be so disappointed with the days I spent watching this. Some of the dramas that I've seen know how to wrap it up in the last episode and a lot of dramas that I've seen don't know how to wrap it up and this was one of them.
The pace in every episode was extremely slow too.
I wanted to like this but unfortunately I'm one of the few who didn't care for this too much.
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Why then did I continue to watch this? Of course because things picked up immediately after that especially with the "Hongwon-dong case", enough for it to be nail biting until the end. But it is also true that such dramas don't tend to have much re-watch value for me since the suspense factor is gone once you have watched it completely.
Having said that, this was not your usual crime procedural, nor was it like your typical time travel/time paradox drama. This was different, in its plot and execution. It made me think more than usual about time paradoxes, and more than anything, how, you would/could probably never change some decisions, even if you knew, what the consequences would be. The central characters all left a lasting impression. Coincidentally, this was also the very first time I was watching Lee Je Hoon and Jo Jin Woong on screen, and both of them made me sit up and take notice of their acting. Throw in Kim Hye Soo, and this was definitely a seasoned cast at play, I would say! There were no trailing plot threads either and everything was tied up well together till the end. In that, I think Signal has won (hats off to the director, writer and cast).
Finally, the message I take away from this drama is that "If you don't give up, you can always change your future for the better", and I will probably be reminded of this whenever I face obstacles in my own life :) Also if ever there was a second season, I think I would not want to give it a pass!
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