Kdrama 2016

Signal (Kdrama Review & Summary)

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• Genre: Thriller, Policing, Profiling, Time Travel
• Release Date: 2016
• Origin: South Korea
• Kdrama: 16 Episodes

Cast

• Lee Je-hoon as Park Hae-young,
• Kim Hye-soo as Cha Soo-hyun,
• Cho Jin-woong as Lee Jae-han,
• Jang Hyun-sung as Kim Bum-joo
• Jung Hae-kyun as Ahn Chi-soo
• Kim Won-hae as Kim Gye-chul
• Jung Han-bi  as Oh Yoon-seo
• Lee Yoo-jun as Jung Han-ki
• Kim Min-kyu as Hwang Eui-kyung
• Kim Hyun-bin as young Park Hae-young
• Kang Chan-hee as Park Sun-woo
• Lee Moon-soo as Lee Jae-han’s father
• Seo Ju-hee as Cha Soo-hyun’s mother
• Lim Hwa-young as Cha Soo-hyun’s younger sister

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Episode 1 – 4

I love this drama.  But I am pretty sure many would also hate it in equal measure because of the pacing.

Because it is set in two different timelines, it tends to jump from the present to the past until it gets confusing whether you are watching the present or the past timeline.

Also, the actors tend to be very excitable, overacting.  For a not-so-big police station, they were always shouting whether talking to each other or on the phone.

But having said all that, the story is gripping.

Park Hae Young was a boy who was a witness to a kidnapping of a young girl.

The young girl was then found murdered a few days later.

Hae Young tried to report what he saw but no one in the police station would give him the time of day.

Episode 5

It turned out that Lee Jae Han was not dead but went missing after he was discharged from the police.

Episode 6

Cha Soo Yoon dies from an explosion due to the case called the Big Steal.

Episode 7

The arrest of the real killer reversed the past and the future so Cha Soo Yoon did not die in an explosion that did not happen.

Park Hae Young decided to get rid of the walkie-talkie altogether as changing the past is causing havoc to the present.

Ahn Chi Soo saw him disposing of the walkie-talkie and picked it up.  He knew that it belonged to Lee Jae Han.

Episode 8

The Cold Case team finally apprehended the real culprit behind the Big Steal.

It showed that Ahn Chi Soo killed Lee Jae Han.

At the same time that evening, the walkie talkie started ringing from Ahn Chi Soo’s desk.

Park Hae Young followed the sound and found the walkie talkie but Ahn Chi Soo saw him.

Episode 9

There was a prolific serial killer who wrapped his victims in plastic.

Soo Hyun was a victim but luckily she got away and was eventually rescued by Lee Jae Han.

Episode 10

Soo Hyun went to a psychiatrist to remember everything about her kidnapping by the serial killer.  They have unearthed 9 bodies buried in the mountains.

Episode 11

Park Hae Young caught the serial killer in the present time.  But there was a time change.  Lee Jae Han apprehended the serial killer in his own time in 1995.

Hae Young was confused and went to visit the dead victims from after 1995 and found them alive while the serial killer had been languishing in jail.

The second part of the drama was the investigation on the INJU case and the death of Park Hae Young’s brother in 1995.

Episode 12

Hae Young and Soo Hyun found the body of Lee Jae Han where Ahn Chi Soo said it would be when he confessed to having killed Lee Jae Han with his own hand.

Episode 13

Episode 14

Episode 15

Park Hae Young died.

Episode 16

Park Hae Young is alive because of time change.

Finally done watching this drama and I am so confused of what happened.

Did Lee Jae Han spend the last 15 years in the hospital?  Is he alive?

Despite the crazy ending, we really enjoyed this drama because of the taut story from beginning to end.

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Snippets

• 15 March 2024:  It was officially announced that a Season 2 is happening