‘Signal’ is a 16 episode police K-drama. It originally came out in 2016 and got really great ratings and audience response. Choi Jin-Hee and Park Ji-Young created the K-drama. Kim Eun-Hee wrote the script and won multiple awards for that, even a Presidential Commendation Award. There’s even a Japanese remake of ‘Signal’.
It took me a while but the drama had been on my watchlist for forever, but it wasn’t until a friend urged me to get on with it that I finally caved.
Just WOW. What a great, original, fresh storyline. The corruption is a thing I expect in all of my dramas nowadays, I’m not talking about that part. I mean the walkie-talkie communication between timelines. That was amazing!
Of plot and walkie-talkies
I should probably give you the basic story line of the K-drama ‘Signal’. Criminal profiler Park Hae Young in the year 2015, played by Lee Je-Hoon finds a broken walkie-talkie and somehow it brings him in contact with detective Lee Jae-Han, portrayed by Cho Jin-Woong who lives in the year 2000.
Cha Soo-Hyun is the female detective. She’s played by Kim Hye-Soo who was crushing on Lee Jae-Han when he was her senior, and in the year 2015 she is the team leader of Park Hae Young.
Together, with the help of the magical walkie-talkie they manage to solve giant cold cases. But then there are forces inside the police that they have to battle as well.
The actors all did an incredible job, which was probably made easier by a fantastic script. I also loved the fact that you had two different colourings for the two timelines. The ‘past’ timeline is more yellow, giving it that vintage feel like it was shot on old film. The ‘present’ timeline is quite dark, like the colors have bled out a bit, with lots of grey tones.
I also want to do a quick shout-out for the opening credits, because that was like a vintage fever dream and I thought it was so well done. Totally loved it.
Bechdel Test
However, I have one issue with the story. I didn’t like the fact that detective Cha Soo-Hyun’s entire character revolved around her crushing or being in love with detective Lee Jae-Han. Every conversation she even had with her sister or her mother was about makeup or going on a blind date, or her crush. Like come on! I sincerely doubt the drama (which is over sixteen hours) would pass the Bechdel test.
Though, happy news is that in the first half of 2020 we should expect a second season. So I’m totally hoping that we get a new female character in there. That’d be dope.
Anyways, despite the not passing the Bechdel test, I would 100% recommend ‘Signal’ if you like police dramas. Also if you liked Lee Je-Hoon’s performance, go check out our review about ‘Tomorrow With You’.
Go check out the trailer:
