A Signal straight to my heart.

INTRO

I just rewatch the show in Netflix and I wanted to share the review I wrote 4 years ago because there are some people who haven't watch it yet, which is wrong, and those people do not deserve happiness until they do.

Now, there’s one issue… just a tiny one. Season 2 isn’t out yet and I been waiting a while for it now and… maybe this year. Yes. This year.

Now, the first time I saw this show it absolutely shattered my world. 

“It did what?” 

Shattered my world!! 

I fucking loved it so much. I still do, it just wasn’t as powerful all around the second time, but still pretty fucking good.

This is a short one, as I don’t want to spoil much.

START

Signal is a drama-detective show, a procedural where a detective from the present communicates with a detective from the past and together they solved “cold cases” which are cases that happened in the winter. They use a radio for this. Now, you might be thinking that the cases are solved easily because of this, but you would be wrong. They can only communicate for around a minute or so and the cases are solved by good old-fashioned police work, sometimes mundane police work, the boring stuff that is usually not shown, but here is never really boring. Don’t ask me how, Kim is a magician ... God, I love her.

Anyway. Where was I?

Minimal spoilers incoming!

TIMEY WIMEY STUFF

Right. The timey wimey stuff is mostly there to kick start the case, to make it possible, to give it a gentle push, but is never used in a cheap way to solved the case when they hit a wall.

Part two of that is the butterfly effect and all that jazz. Now, writing time travel is usually a very bad idea because it is so hard to do correctly, to make it make sense, but, after years of Doctor Who, I don´t really care that much at this point. Is a flaw, but at the end, if is not that egregious, that obviously wrong that it is stupid, I can be fine with it if the rest is good. And the rest of Signal is very good. The time stuff is good too, I think.

I mean, the outcome is always bittersweet. They might save a person by solving the case or interrupting the killer, but another person dies as a consequence. Someone’s life is always getting fuck no matter what. There’s a point when they even regret doing the thing because so much shit went wrong and they almost quit. There’s a balance, an equilibrium that grounds the stakes and creates powerful drama. Some of that shit even impacts the main characters directly. One thing goes right, another gets wreck.

In terms of making sense, it kind of does. Is a very small “effect location”. I mean, is not impacting stuff in a big way, it does not care about the whole fabric of history and shit, only the lives of the characters related to the case, and how those changes impacted their existences, emotionally and physically. Is quite tight and small in scale, I didn’t notice crazy stuff going on, is all very minimized to avoid said butterfly problems and focus on the good stuff.

I only remember one moment that was kind of weird, because a character almost quits, but the reason it does not do that is because it gets advice from someone else, but that someone only gives the advice cause of future shit. But it can just be that originally there was another reason to stay and I pretty sure that I know what that is xD

Oh, and of course, the very basis of the show is... problematic, it seems to be a paradox, a sort of causal loop. But I mean, the show is not over so...  I trust in Kim.

Lastly, I´m not sure if they are following a rule like Doctor Who with time being in constant flux, capable of changing in “real time” at every point, or a more cause and effect straight line. There’re glimpses of the first one, tho. At least a similar one.

TECHNICAL STUFF

Now, the show has long episodes, but shit is always happening, case stuff and character stuff, learning about them in the past and present, their values and histories, and other present stuff beyond the immediate plot, and … uff.

Both timelines, both plots are happening at the same time in screen. Somehow, is not confusing, because is so competently weaved together that… god I love Kim so much. Writing and directing are on point. The transitions from thing to thing are fucking seamless, is just crazy good storytelling, crazy good television. Always keeps you engaged and trust you to get it and doesn’t explain stuff to you. The acting greatly helps with that.

Is so obvious compare to … I’m also rewatching the Thirteenth Doctors era because I hate myself, and my dad wants to see it anyway. They tell you the traits and conflicts of the characters to your fucking face! Not here, my darling, is all told to you thought filmmaking and acting, as is supposed to be.

Sorry for the detour, I just truly hate… Back to the review.

The cases last more than one episode because of this, is not solely focus on the crime, but in politics and character exploration. Now, there’s a bad side of this, episodes sometimes do not end when the case is over, so, you might want to rest and think about what you just saw, but the fucking thing keeps going. I guess it depend of what you like.

Lastly, the acting is fantastic, so much that a simple and basic character of a grieving mother is so powerfully portrait that you forget she’s not real and truly believed is a non-acting human being crying in front of you. She barely says anything, barely has anything beyond "someone kill my child and I'm sad" in the very few scenes she gets, and is still gut-wrenching seeing her pain.

I’m just saying that I usually don’t care when is just that, but damn.

The music is kinda meh. I used to criticize the repetitiveness of it, but now I feel that gives it that memorable touch, I mean, you hear the music and you immediately think of Signal. It could have achieved that in a different way, with more of a unique sound, but I don’t care that much. I don’t particularly like the sad one, tho, is kinda shit.

The directing is REALLY fun. I don’t think is unique of the show, in fact, is not, but I have never notice it as much in other shows or movies (Memento?). Is not a thing they use a couple of times, is a constant thing, every episode, and is tied to the time stuff.

Is simple, there’s basically a whole scene, but you don’t get to see the whole thing at once, you get little bits of the scene, or the scene from a particular character perspective, or just enough of the scene that is related to the current events or the knowledge the show wants you to have at that particular moment.

For example, you see a character escaping, and then, later, you see how exactly did he escape. So, if you thought that that was to easy, you learn that no, every little detail was well thought of and the show does not take easy routes.

You see a scene and think: “Well, that was all of it, surely”, and then, episodes later, you see even more of it and you´re like: “Oh shit, it was worse that it seemed”. That also applies to seeing a condensed version of the scene, as if it were a “previously in”, with all the heavy hitting moments highlighted, and then watching the whole of the events that feel like a knife slowly reopening the wound.

You might think I’m crazy for hyping a very common narrative style or technique, but its use in Signal is masterpiece levels. This capacity of creating tension, intrigue and “oh shit” when you get more context that makes a previous scene even stronger, a character more complex or tragic, or simply rewards your capacity to remember what happened, is glorious. Is a great back and fourth from present to past that makes everything more entertaining and elevates its content.

THEME

Is quite simple: Perseverance, never losing hope, corruption of people and the injustice of the world in which the rich and powerful get away with dark shit. “Is the way of the world, there’s nothing you can do”. Is a serious show, but it has a lot of moments of relaxation. It shows horrible people, but also very nice people, and grey too. It has people that never compromised their values, good examples to imitate, but it also has people who gave all that up for money and moving higher in the ladder.

So, the complexity of the human being is correctly explored.

I would have like to see more exploration of the morality of changing the past and stuff. But maybe later.

CHARACTER

Lastly but not least, actually, is the most important thing: Character.

They are very good, okey? Fucking great.

They have defined and different personalities that touches even the way they talk, they are quite human, they make mistakes, get carried away by their emotions, show every range of human emotion, and have views fuel by their experiences. And at least the most important ones, you get to know them well both as people and as professionals (things from their past, their relationships and feelings). They don’t get character development in “real time” but they all had it.

They are not the most original thing in the world, they are born of common archetypes in police stories, but they are so well constructed and portrait that they come to life. They are also not like real police, real cops are just doing a job, they don’t really care that much about justice and shit, in the show they really do. Soo-hyun says that you don’t really get use to seeing a dead body, but real detectives get desensitize real quick. And is fine they went with that, not everything has to be The Wire.

My favorite of the three main ones is Lee Jae-han, the detective from the past, he is simply excellent: he’s idealistic, kind, a real-life hero, a very smart, competent and noble men, but also has his flaws as a person, he is hotheaded, brash, rude, basically socially incompetent, he’s also very eager to get himself kill, and surprisingly insensitive. He is a deeply emotional and sensitive men, but he can really be an asshole sometimes, although is mostly cause he’s kinda dumb in that department. He is also very aggressive and loud, but so sweet too.

God damn, I love that guy.

The bad thing is that the majority of the criminals are just cunts, so, they are not particularly complex. The show makes it up for it with the rest of the characters around and inside the case, but still. 

I have more criticisms that the first time, in the more objective mark, I think is an 8/10.

But, in my heart, is still a 9/10.

Will I ever get to see season 2? Azathoth only knows.

That’s it.

Alaoz!