Signal (2016)

le walkie talkie magique qui communique à travers le temps

 Pour donner envie :

Le tout jeune profiler Park Hae Yung arrive dans l'unité du lieutenant (femme, ça a son importance) Cha So-Yun, et il y est reçu plutôt fraîchement : le profilage, c'est de la daube, il ne connaît rien au terrain, et de plus il est assez arrogant... Il se trouve aussitôt mêlé à une enquête qui dure depuis 15 ans concernant l'enlèvement d'une fillette, alors que le délai de prescription est sur le point d'être clos. Passant à côté d'un sac d'objets obsolètes destinés à la casse, il entend son nom et découvre un walkie-talkie émettant un appel "Lieutenant Park Hae-Young, vous êtes là ? " La voix lui donne alors un renseignement précieux pour l'enquête... et la radio s'éteint. Et le jeune homme se rend compte qu'il n'y a même pas de batterie dans la machine...  


Et nous voilà embarqués dans un chassé-croisé entre le passé et le présent, sans qu'il y ait de vrai déplacement, (le walkie-talkie est le seul lien, s'ouvrant seulement à 23 h 30 pendant 2 minutes), dans lequel vont se mêler les enquêtes "cold-case", celles du jour, et les implications dans le passé et le présent des personnages, qui, bien sûr ont tous un passé plus ou moins douloureux.

Ce drama est passionnant de bout en bout,    le réseau des actions/réactions passé/présent avec leurs conséquences sur les changement qui en découlent  est mené dans une logique imparable, tout se tient, tout s'explique...    sauf la fin et alors là, je ne suis pas d'accord du tout avec elle !!!     Plus frustrante tu meurs ! Ce n'est pas qu'elle soit ouverte, c'est carrément un gouffre, un abîme d'ouverture !!   Je me suis trouvée à trépigner en criant "NOOOOOOOOON !" devant mon écran, et pourtant, je recommande très chaudement ce drama !      
Cho Jin-Wong (qui semble se spécialiser dans le rôle du mec droit, solide, loyal jusqu'au bout avec un côté nounours confortable absolument craquant) est absolument parfait, et même si tout le reste de la distrib est excellent, pour moi il domine tout le monde !        
La BO est excellente (oui, je peux dire ça !   ) discrète, parfaitement adaptée, juste ce qu'il faut quand il faut, et même les chansons sont très bonnes et pas du tout envahissantes (genre I love you de DOTS.... )
Par contre j'ai eu un souci, les images changeaient de format quand on changeait d'époque, 16/9 aujourd'hui et 14/3 dans le passé) et moi qui déteste viscéralement les images déformées, ça m'a posé un vrai problème !
Mais laissez-vous embarquer, vous ne verrez pas le temps passer ! Par contre c'est un drama dur, assez noir car on évolue dans le milieu de la corruption, et l'espoir que le bien triomphera un jour est mince...

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Signal was an amazing drama from start to finish. At first, I thought that this was simply going to be another crime-solving drama where the main character goes around solving mysteries. Boy was I wrong! This drama is so much more than that. Signal was a crime thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout most of the show. I kept checking back to see when the next episode was available because I wanted to see what was going to happen next! The time-traveling walkie-talkie definitely added some extra spice to the show. Does the walkie-talkie actually time travel? No it doesn't. Are you curious as to what I'm talking about? Well let's just say you'll just have to watch the show to find out! Trust me it's definitely worth it. Or else the drama wouldn't have a score of 9.2 at the time of me writing this review. Continue reading if you're unsure still unsure about whether you want to watch this show or not.

Story: [9.5/10] One thing that this drama does well is it takes very common story elements and turn it into something special. Have you ever seen a crime-solving drama? I have seen many myself. None has impressed me as much as this one. This show stands out from other crime-solving shows because it involves two people from different times attempting to work together to solve the same crime. There where a lot of flashbacks and events from the past that were used to help the characters in the present solve the different crimes. I must admit that initially I thought that this was not something that would have worked well with this type of show. However, in the end, the director and writers manage to mesh all of these elements together to create a great show such as Signal.

Although there were several things that kept me from giving the show a 10. One of the reasons that I didn't give the show a 10 has to do with the walkie-talkie. I wanted to know more about the walkie-talkie. I was a little disappointed by the end because I had some questions about the walkie-talkie that were never answered. I don't want to bring up the actual question because it may spoil a little of the show for you if you haven't already seen it. Just know that the walkie-talkie plays a very big part in the show and that I'm annoyed because they didn't answer my question haha.

Perhaps another weakness of the show is that it can be confusing at times. As I mentioned, there are a lot of flashbacks, and moments where we see events from the past. It often got confusing because the show would sometimes jump back and forth between past and present. On the flip side of all this, the show also had its' own strengths when jumping back and forth between the past and present. The writers of Signal did a very good job in setting up the different time jumps. As I would often find myself only confused for about 5-10 seconds before saying oh this is what is going on and I see why there was this flashback/time jump etc. In a way, I was never really confused at all because my confusion went away since the show itself answered most if not all of the questions I may have had about what was going on. This is a good thing because most shows don't do this. Other shows will often just leave you to wonder what the heck is going on the whole time.

Overall this show also kept a very good pace. It never felt like it went to fast or that it was dragging on.for too long. I applaud the director and writers for coming up with such a great story. They did a very great job in turning simple plot elements into a very sophisticated story. They didn't exactly invent a new genre or anything (or did they?). One thing is for sure though. They sure know how to tell a darn good story!

Acting: [10/10] All of the actors and actresses did a very commendable job during this whole drama. There were times where I was completely drawn in by the acting. In fact I cried at least two times during this whole drama. Let me just tell you now. I don't cry very often when watching shows. I rarely ever cry while watching sad dramas, let alone a crime thriller! This can mean one of several things. The first possible meaning is that the actors did a very good job acting. The second is that the story was very well told and that we were meant to cry at that part. I'm inclined to believe that it was a mixture of both. There where also several child actors and actresses in this show as well. Although they were all mostly pretty young, their acting only helped to improve this drama.

Music: [9/10] The music was very well made. If there was a suspenseful moment, suspenseful music that fit the scene came with at the right moment. All in all, the music helped enhance certain moments of the show depending on where it was needed. The OST to this show was nothing to scoff at either. Was it a ground-breaking OST that I will listen to for years to come? No, not really. However, it's definitely something that I will put into my playlist in the future.

Overall I definitely suggest you watch the show if you already haven't. You won't regret it! Objectively I can't give this show all 10s because it definitely wasn't completely perfect. However, subjectively it was one of the most well written Korean drama that I've ever seen.

Thank you for reading my first ever review on MDL! I hope you enjoyed it!

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