Drama Review: Signal (시그널)

Photo from Dramafever

Watching Korean dramas have been my introduction to Korean culture. My habit is I wait for the drama to finish before I watch them. Signal is the first drama I watched almost real time. It was ongoing when I first started to watch.

Signal (시그널) is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Lee Je-hoon, Kim Hye-soo and Cho Jin-woong. Hae-Young (Lee Je-Hoon) works as a criminal profiler and is also a police lieutenant. Even though he is a cop, he doesn't trust cops due to his own past experience. Back in 2000, when Hae-Young was in elementary school, his classmate Yoon-Jung was kidnapped and later found dead. Hae-Young saw a woman taking Yoon-Jung from school that day, but the police announced that the suspect was a man. Hae-Young even went to the police station and told the police officers that he saw the kidnapper and she was a woman. The police officers though didn't pay attention to him. The killer was never caught and her case remains unsolved to this day.

Hae-Young meets a reporter at a cafe to reveal bombshells about a celebrity scandal. Meanwhile, veteran detective Soo-Hyun (Kim Hye-Soo) is at the cafe staking out the meeting, unaware that Hae-Young is a cop. She arrests Hae-Young for stalking celebrities. While leaving the police station (the same police station he went to as a kid), Hae-Young hears someone talking to him. He looks around to find a walkie-talkie. The man who is talking to Hae-Young is Detective Jae-Han (Cho Jin-Woong). The detective though is from the year 2000 and he is investigating the disappearance of Hae-Young's elementary school classmate. Hae-Young and Detective Jae-Han begin to communicate via the walkie-talkie. (Synopsis from Asianwiki)

Given the drama is a remake of the hit movie “The Memories of Murder”, it stood out on its own and was widely received by the audience. There are even rumors of a sequel given the ending. I got hooked since the first episode. The acting is superb. It's amazing how Kim Hye-soo conveyed her emotions through her eyes. Being a huge fan of crime dramas, the drama did not disappoint. Its ending was even a surprise and different from the usual K-dramas I've watched.

I can share my favorite scenes but I don't want to give spoilers. We can compare though if you leave a comment. From the collage below, the pic on the top left is from one of my favorite scenes. I would watch this again given the chance but I still have a few dramas lined up.

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