Based on true stories
Signal tells the story of Park Hae Yeong who, one night totally by chance finds an old walky talky in a garbage... and suddenly comes into contact with a cop from the past, Lee Jae Han. With this one and the help of Cha Su Hyeon, they will try to solve famous unsolved murder cases.Inspired by true stories, the different investigations that we follow throughout the drama (and which are spread over several episodes) are all more interesting than each other... At no time I was bored and we follow the path of clues and discoveries with some palpitations... The suspense is widely to meet and does not come alone since it brings with it many emotions. I confess to have cried a lot on several occasions simply because the drama manages to involve us so emotionally (and the superb BO is not for nothing) that we cannot remain insensitive to the difficulties our characters are going through. We get attached to them very quickly and we love always discover a little more about their past.
Speaking of past, I want to say that the jumps in the 80-90’s are just as interesting as the present and I had a great time with Lee Jae Han and the very young Cha Su Hyeon. The time jumps are neat, well used, well positioned and complement the present skillfully. Our brain starts to do gymnastics very quickly to know what year it is without any confusion.
The drama raises a big question: "If we had the possibility to change the past, would we take the risk of changing the present?" Because while Park Hae Yeong and Lee Hae Han are working together to try to catch these culprits in the past to try to save lives, their actions change the present and if sometimes they manage to save people, Others die as collateral damage. Difficult decisions, guilt and remorse then came to Park Hae Yeong who does not know what he should do... And we neither...
We have a true originality for the script and impeccable content and realization. I am really impressed that they were able to offer us 16 well-done episodes. Indeed the only small downside is that the characters do not seem to age (there is only their haircut changing) while 20 years have passed, but at least it has the merit of allowing us to never be lost, since when we change the actors to mark the passing of time, sometimes it is a bit difficult to follow...
Although I was very disappointed with the ending, the drama was exceptional during the other 15 episodes. Without a doubt one of the best I’ve seen, and my favorite for my 2016 screenings. Suspense, action, storyline, characters... Everything was so perfect that I sometimes had a hard time believing it. And then, emotionally speaking, it was really successful, led by a sublime OST, the drama makes us cry, stress, panic, curse and beg. So, backed by a quality realization, the rendering could only be a crush. I advise to everyone.
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STORY: The story is about 2 different cops from different timeline, connected by a single walkie-talkie. Once they finally realized this is happening for real, they decided to stop multiple unresolved serial murder with present evidence/locations of the murder to stop it from ever happening.
in all honesty, this is actually a great concept of a story that you rarely sees in asian drama..The story progress was smooth and develops very well towards the end. They used a lot of flashbacks from what they've already shown you in previous episodes but these flashbacks actually hide tiny details that you tend not to catch on your first watch...So if you're worried that it might bore you with all the flashbacks, don't...it's rather good execution..
ACTING - Superb acting by the man who plays Lee Jae Han, you actually buy it that how anyone of his character would react...Also the female lead officer did superbly as well...
there's multiple times that I actually felt it was real thing that is happening, not an act--like the person is actually experiencing the traumatic events/heartbreaking events for real...
OST - I have them in my music collection and I play them regularly even after almost 2 years...that should tell you how it was
REWATCH VALUE - You don't get bored with the story, the acting, music, the humanity that this drama brought... even if you're not interested in crime drama, you should give this a try
I've watched this drama from start to end 3 times so far, first time alone, second time with my dad which we watched until 4am and third time, with my mum whom always gets emotional in some of the scenes..
The only issue I had was with the ending...I thought it could've done better way..For me, it had barely any closure on the characters...some might argue it warrant a sequel, which I doubt it happening
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it's great. binged it in 4 days
I loved it. the story was great, we have to remember the laws in Korea are different than where some other people may live. the low ratings don't know what they're talking about. people always complain about something, you can't please everyone.The majority of us liked it. it kept me watching. it's a great mystery, crime / drama. I feel like it covered reality and how it is when you have money and power. give it a try, I wasn't disappointed at all. I would definitely recommend this drama series to someone I know, even someone I don't know.Was this review helpful to you?
The premise is simple on the surface - what if you could change the past, including your sad past? This crime thriller - indirectly time travel drama definitely surpassed similar drama in terms of its storyline, directing and acting. The story has more than meets the eye; how the past has more intricate connections than I could ever imagine - like peeling layers of an onion. Cha Soo Hyun (Kim Hye Soo) portrayed her character seamlessly; going back and forth between her past and future character. Lee Jae Han (Jo Jin Woong) turned the drama into a quite emotional journey as the story progressed. Get ready for a box of tissue, you are going to cry and rooting for Detective Lee Jae Han. Park Hae Young (Lee Jae Hoon) can be over dramatic sometimes - but it's minor. The classical and nostalgic OSTs are gems - hard to forget. After all, can a Misaeng production team gone wrong?
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A 100x times better than the CW-adaptation (girl and her father in the past communicated via radio).
A lot of people loved Kim Hye Soo in her role as the main female lead but I really did not enjoy her acting in this. Her eyes are expressive for sure but too much eye acting made it feel she was a creepier character than she really was. I enjoyed the main male leads' acting in this
The wrap-up was satisfying. A show I've been consistently recommending to my non-kdrama watching friends as a hope to get them into watching kdramas!
It's usually really hard for me to watch shows with little to no romance but this show succeeded by making me watch it all the way through.
Overall, a really solid show if you are into great writing, execution, and acting. One of the most recommendable shows of 2016 for sure.
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Not bad but not the best
I watched this drama because a lot of people keep saying that this is really good. I am usually watching a lot of thriller&mystery drama so i had high expectation regarding this. Sadly i was a little disappointed. The story was good but could be a better development of cases and characters. This drama has some original parts that until now i didn't found in another dramas so let's say it worthy to watch. For those who are not a fan of thriller&mistery drama, Signal, can be amazing and catch your atention.Was this review helpful to you?
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Disappointing if you have a high expectation
I started watching Signal because it was directed by the Kim Won-Seok, and won Baeksang Art Awards for Best Drama in 2016, the same as My Mister in 2018. To be honest, the first few episodes got me hooked, but later on it became painful to finish and I almost quit (twice) in Ep 7 and Ep 15.The production is excellent, granted, acting isn't really bad, just average, OSTs are not memorable, but the story is ruined by too much "grandfather paradox" from time traveling. We can never really apply logic to any time travel novels and movies, because it's not logical from the start.
What I like most about this drama is its key messages: injustice that always favors the riches, and "never give up." What I hate most, perhaps as much as illogical time travel, is the stupidities of protagonists--all three of them. At one point, they seemed smart, but then made a series of same stupid decisions. Well, that may be our nature to do something stupid repeatedly, but for a drama, I don't think it's fun to watch our protagonists succumbed to their stupidities too many times.
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Great drama, just a bit overrated.
This is one of those shows that start out as your basic crime story but turns out to be a melodrama after all. The crimes they worked on are quite intriguing. The investigations, though, are sloppy and the police are either lazy and promotion-hungry or just plain lucky. Even the cold case squad members don't have excellent investigative skills. I guess the writer really wants to show to the viewers that the transmissions are the real hero in this story. Everyone else is just a tool --- the self-righteous profiler, the kind-hearted cop who always cries, and the grieving squad leader. The good thing is that there is a clear rule about the impact of changing the past that is established early in the show. Even though there are a lot of awkward dialogues, ugly crying and cliches about cops, overall acting is really great. Even the lazy, conniving cops are so convincing i had to keep myself from throwing the remote.Was this review helpful to you?
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Spellbinding, captivating stuff
This is a show that will linger in your mind long after you are finished with it. It is captivating, heart-wrenching, beautiful, devastating, cruel and agonising. The story of two detectives connected by an old walkie-talkie solving cold cases is a fantastic concept and this show did not falter in exploring how far it could go. I've never watched a show that has finished as strongly as it started.Signal deserves a longstanding reputation as one of the greatest TV shows in Asia. For that, the writers and the actors deserve so much credit. They delivered with each episode. There was no silly subplot, no silly love triangle. This show was coldly ruthless in telling the story it wanted to. The magical realism imbued it with excitement but it was the human story, the struggles involving the characters, that won you. They were all good people trying to fix the old wrongs. At the heart of it was Lee Jee-Haan, the old detective guided by a an unmoving moral compass always pointing the right way. His emotions, the intensity of his resolve and ethics, was beautiful. The music complemented the show superbly too and accentuated the tone of every scene, adding rather than diminishing.
I would recommend everyone to watch this show. You will cry, you will sit in despair, your heart will ache for them. But you will watch it all the way through believing in them as Lee Jee-Haan did in justice. This might just be the greatest Korean show i've ever watched.
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Fast-paced police procedural with time jump element
Highly recommended for those looking for fast-paced police procedural with time jump element.What I like
1) Acting - Cho Jin-Woong was the standout performer out of the three leads. His facial expressions were on point that I cried during one of his scenes (when he was so desperate). Kim Hye-soo and Lee Je-hoon were great in their roles too.
2) Great writing - It was stressful at times because I felt for Lee Jae-han, who couldn't just trust anybody.
3) The connection between three leads - Detective Lee Jae-han-Park Hae-young connection is so sweet.
4) Engaging plot including sub-plots - This drama is plot-driven. I love how the mini cases are interwoven with the big case.
What I dislike
1) The ending - I want to know what happened to Detective Lee Jae-han.
Favourite scene
The bomb scene threw me off guard and made me panic!
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A solid suspense drama and the walkie-talkie business was one of the highlights of the show.
So Signal is about a detective from 1989 and a cold case profiler in 2015 working together through a magical walkie-talkie to solve and prevent crimes from happening. Solving them in 2015 helps prevent them in 1989 and through trial and error, Lee Jae Han, the detective from 1989, and Park Hae Yeong, the cold case profiler from 2015 figure out what went wrong and how to fix them in their own times. The concept behind the show is was initially drew me to watching it and I’m glad that I did because the actors really brought this story to life. It totally made sense to me that there was a magical walkie-talkie helping a man from the 80’s help a man from 2015 solve crime and beat the bad guys.I also thought that the cases that they worked on together were interesting. From the kidnapping case to the rape case, to every other case, each story really stood out and had me thinking about them long after I turned the final episode off. These characters really go through it personally and professionally and they had to overcome so much to get to that end. There were times where I had to walk away from the TV because what was happening was too much for me and my blood pressure but I will say that the villains played their roles really well in this one because I hated their asses so much.
Overall, there were moments when certain characters and cases made my blood boil but I’m glad that I stuck with this show because it was a solid suspense drama and the time through walkie-talkie business was one of the highlights of the show for me. I love the friendship that blossomed between Lee Jae Han and Park Hae Yeong. I thought the way that their friendship grew and grew with each case that they worked on was just so stinkin’ great.
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