For fans of Korean dramas, 2016 is considered the best year for Korean dramas. There are so many best dramas this year with various genres, such as Replay 1998, Descendants of The Sun, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, The Legend of the Blue Sea, Love in the Moonlight, Goblin and Signal. A few days ago, I just finished watching Signal (2016) after a 3 day marathon to finish its 16 episodes. This time, I want to give my reasons and review for this drama.
Signal 2016 Synopsis
The story of this drama begins in 2000, there was a kidnapping and murder case of a girl. The suspect in the case is a man, but according to his schoolmates, Hae Young's abductor is a woman. Hae Young repeatedly comes to the police station to notify the police, but is ignored. The killer was not caught and the case was not solved until the case expired in 2015.
In 2015, Hae Young (Lee Je Hoon), a police officer and criminal profiler, meets a celebrity reporter at a coffee shop to sell news on celebrity scandals. Unbeknownst to them, female detective Cha Soo-Hyun (Kim Hye-Soo) watches the meeting and arrests Hae Young for a case of celebrity stalking. As he leaves the police station, Hae Young hears the transmission sound of the walkie talkie calling his name.
The transmission was from Detective Lee Ji Han (Jo Jin Wong) in 2000. In 2000, he was investigating the kidnapping case and found clues about the kidnapping case. As fate has decided, Hae Young and Detective Jae Han continue to communicate with the walkie talkie to uncover an unsolved cold case.
The reason to watch this drama ?
Adapted True Story
The criminal cases raised in this drama are inspired by true stories that happened in South Korea. Like the kidnapping and murder case of a girl at the beginning of the episode adapted by the “Park Chorong Bitnari Kidnapping-Murder Case” case in 1997. Just like in the drama, this case also prompted changes to the law restricting criminal investigations.
Furthermore, there is one case that was adapted from the most shocking serial murder case in South Korea, namely Hwaseong Serial Murder. In South Korea, this serial murder case shocked the country and is still being discussed today. This case also became a lot of inspiration about crime movies or dramas in Korea. In addition, this drama also successfully adapted the incident of the Seongsu bridge collapse in 1994 with a very interesting conspiracy storyline.
Unique and Fresh Screenplay and Storyline
It's hard to imagine how the criminal and investigative genres can be combined with fantasy (time travel). However, storytellers and directors can make this a lot of fun to watch. It never occurred to me or imagined when there would be telecommunications from the past to help solve criminal cases in the past that had not been revealed. At first glance, the storyline is very cliche but well packaged and not boring. We can see the scenes that are made in detail and make us more curious from episode to episode.
This cool and unique script will not be executed perfectly if you don't find the right actors and actresses. The biggest credit to Kim Hye-Soo is playing Cha Soo-Hyun, a female detective who has different characters in the past and present. Kim Hye-Soo displays the image of a female police officer who is smart, strong and brave in making decisions. The detective character Lee Ji Han is played by actor Jo Jin Wong and is very successful in telling the story of a police detective who is brave, honest and has very high justice.
Satire Against Legal Institutions
The problem of law enforcement seems to be a problem experienced by all countries in the world. Law enforcement tends to be firm to the small people and weak to the rich, officials or rulers. Signal catches and adapts this situation well, every criminal case will be involved with the circle of power and corruption so that people always become victims. As is often experienced in real life, how a powerful person can easily not get caught in a legal case with his connections and money.
Cold criminal cases are considered a double-edged sword for legal institutions. If the case is revealed today, the public will question the past performance of legal institutions that were unable to reveal the truth. If the case is not resolved, the public will assume that the legal institution is not taking it seriously. I thought that this drama would become more satire when some cold cases could be solved with the help of past transmissions. As if telling us, honest legal institutions exist only in our imagination.
My Short Review
Watching Signal is very suitable as an alternative drama that we can choose when we are too bored with the romantic comedy genre. The point of view presented in each case is very interesting, especially the way in which each case is resolved, considering that all cases are adaptations of the true story, so we need the right way to make it elegant at each ending.
The way to explain time-travel radio transmissions to the audience is also very good, so the audience is not difficult to understand each case in this drama's timeline. Incorporating a time-travel theme in a drama or film is also very risky, if not executed properly it can make the story strange and difficult to understand, but Signal can make it an interesting and exciting story. For fans of crime and mystery dramas, I recommend this drama for you to try watching.
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