Writing a review for Signal is a bit hard. I am conflicted between loving it and hating it. I found it at times to be so amazing but an episode later so terrible. Let me break it down:
THE GOOD: The series from ep 2 to 13 was just amazing. It had a good pacing, well weaved story spanning timelines & superb layering of mystery that keeps one glued to the screen. There's also sub-plots that builds itself along side the main-plot that helped to drive the overall plot.
Kim Hye-Soo's performance also made the series worthwhile and engaging. She did such a great job portraying the development of a character who went from being awkward shy newbie to a determined stoic detective. I feel what made her performance so great for me is the fact that Kim Hye-Soo is not afraid ugly crying and being super awkward. I appreciate her willingness to just be ridiculous in front of camera as it cut the tension and gave the series some comedic relief moments.
THE BAD: I almost gave up on this series, as episode 1 felt rushed to fit everything possible into it. Introduce all the characters, complete a sub-plot, present the entire mystery and wrap it all up. It felt very disjointed and should have been done a bit slower.
The irony is that towards the end of the series, it had the opposite problem. I would have given this higher rating if it wasn't for the extreme slow and pointless episodes 14 and 15. I kept hitting the fast forward button as these episodes became such a bore. These episodes were just a long repeat of previously shown scenes, endless slow overlapping shots of characters (especially Park Hae-Yeong) looking depressed/bewildered & a drag of pointless dialogue that doesn't progress the story. I started to find Park Hae-Yeong to be an extremely dreary character who seems to only have one emotion. It honestly felt as if I was watching Eeyore try to solve a crime. I found the acting Lee-Je-hon a bit bland as he seems to only have one default emotion and, thus, one expression the entire show.
The series does end on a cliff hanger, setting up for a season 2. I am a bit sceptical of how good the second season would be as the later episodes of the first series didn't seem to have a lot of story left.
THE GOOD: The series from ep 2 to 13 was just amazing. It had a good pacing, well weaved story spanning timelines & superb layering of mystery that keeps one glued to the screen. There's also sub-plots that builds itself along side the main-plot that helped to drive the overall plot.
Kim Hye-Soo's performance also made the series worthwhile and engaging. She did such a great job portraying the development of a character who went from being awkward shy newbie to a determined stoic detective. I feel what made her performance so great for me is the fact that Kim Hye-Soo is not afraid ugly crying and being super awkward. I appreciate her willingness to just be ridiculous in front of camera as it cut the tension and gave the series some comedic relief moments.
THE BAD: I almost gave up on this series, as episode 1 felt rushed to fit everything possible into it. Introduce all the characters, complete a sub-plot, present the entire mystery and wrap it all up. It felt very disjointed and should have been done a bit slower.
The irony is that towards the end of the series, it had the opposite problem. I would have given this higher rating if it wasn't for the extreme slow and pointless episodes 14 and 15. I kept hitting the fast forward button as these episodes became such a bore. These episodes were just a long repeat of previously shown scenes, endless slow overlapping shots of characters (especially Park Hae-Yeong) looking depressed/bewildered & a drag of pointless dialogue that doesn't progress the story. I started to find Park Hae-Yeong to be an extremely dreary character who seems to only have one emotion. It honestly felt as if I was watching Eeyore try to solve a crime. I found the acting Lee-Je-hon a bit bland as he seems to only have one default emotion and, thus, one expression the entire show.
The series does end on a cliff hanger, setting up for a season 2. I am a bit sceptical of how good the second season would be as the later episodes of the first series didn't seem to have a lot of story left.