signal

i was just finishing stranger and then obviously netflix would give me more criminal mystery/police story in my recommendation list, so i watched signal next. and let me tell you, if you're not into romantic comedy, then you should try watching this and stranger first. 

title: signal

cast: lee ji hoon (park hae young), kim hye soo (cha soo hyeon), choi jin woong (lee jae han) and many more

genre: criminal mystery/ police story

a criminal profiler (park hae young) was a cynical police officer who lived in 2015. though he was a police officer, being a witness to a kidnapping case that turned into murder case then cold case and his own brother was wrongly accused by the cop, made him think that most cops were corrupt. the kidnapping case that he witnessed was about to reach its limitation date when he found an abandoned walkie talkie that was suddenly turned on and he could talk to another police officer on the other side. later he found out that he was talking to a detective from 15 years ago, lee jae han (choi jin woong). with some clues provided from the past, he was able to solve the kidnapping case and caught the kidnapper just before the limitation date of other crimes that was connected with the kidnapping case. 

because of this success, the police department decided to form a cold case team, led by detective cha soo hyeon (kim hye soo). secretly, she's been searching for her mentor/love crush, detective lee jae han. she didn't know about the walkie talkie at first, but after working together and there were some incident which couldn't be explained without telling the story about the walkie talkie, she found out about it. 

lee jae han himself was a quiet but hard working detective that was good at his work, but he stumbled upon some corrupt police officers and somehow it led to his disappearance. back when hae young just solved the kidnapping case, he heard gunshot sound from the other side, and in 1989, lee jae han was vanished. up until 2015. when the walkie talkie came alive second time, park hae young was talking to lee jae han from several years before, and he had no idea about hae young. together, they solved serial murder case that was inspired by true story, the hwaseong serial murders.

both of them worked back and forth through time. sometimes it worked, but sometimes they messed the timeline so they had to undo the future by making a different move in the past. but the main mystery was why jae han was targeted and then accused for being corrupt cop. both soo hyeon and hae young tried to solve hae young's brother case because they found jae han's note that it was his last case before he disappeared. they found out that jae han found a corrupt team inside the police department, involving his own team captain and an assemblyman from the past. the assemblyman is still alive in 2015, so both hae young and soo hyeon had to work against the assemblyman's men secretly. however, the ending is not conclusive, so many hopes that they will making the second season of this drama.

what i like:

- this is a good solid story. though it involves two different times, there's no hole in the storyline. the concept of changing the past also changing the future is seen in this drama. so there's no confusion why the future is changing and keep moving in the story.

- all the actors and actresses were good. solid performance from all the casts. though you'd see repeating faces like some fellow police officers who i've seen several times in other dramas. they also did a good job in styling the characters. no flashy outfits for the police officers and detectives, even the makeup is minimal (you'd notice the difference between this drama and bong soon. in bong soon, you'd see that min hyuk is definitely wearing base makeup, even ji soo). even when they're telling story from the past, they were carefully use landline phone and flashlights, and all clothing were from the past style. like what my mom used to wear back in the day. 

what i don't like: 

- an open ending. though it might be a good thing as it might open the possibility of continuing this drama into second season.

- typical "powerful people always win" type of story. but mixing it with time-travelling walkie talkie that connects two different times are good. it gives another vibe to the drama, but still not overly ridiculous. 

rating: 10/10

binge worthy: yes

recommended for: someone who likes criminal mystery story with a bit mix of fantasy/different time zone mode. doesn't mind a drama that didn't have beautiful actor/actress as its main casts.