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Signal: Episode 16 (Final)

Be still, my beating heart. From an intense opening to this heart-stopping conclusion, Signal shows us that it can utilize every available minute at its disposal to deliver the best it has to offer. Despite the familiar moments that may seem like we’re right back where we’ve started, there are hidden clues that suggest that the end is, in fact, only the beginning.

A solid drama like Signal is hard to come by in any year, which is what makes it so very special. We’ll never know a cleverer detective than Jae-han, a badass team leader like Soo-hyun, and an astute yet flawed profiler like Hae-young, who have captured our hearts and all share a connection that goes beyond the radio waves.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Seung-yeol – “꽃이 피면 (When the Flower Blooms)” from the OST [ Download ]

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FINAL EPISODE RECAP

August 3, 2000. Nearly all of today’s events look familiar: Jae-han bumps into young Hae-young at the precinct, argues with Director Kim after the case briefing, and tells Section Chief Ahn to stop acting like an obedient slave.

Speaking of which, Director Kim tasks Section Chief Ahn with tailing Jae-han since he has solid proof to expose Senator Jang’s nephew (and by extension, himself). Given the test results he saw, Director Kim surmises Jae-han got a hold of the red scarf.

Warning Section Chief Ahn of the ramifications if the truth comes to light, Director Kim orders him to use any means necessary to retrieve that scarf.

While Hae-young tells Soo-hyun that the transmissions always come at 11:23 PM, Jae-han is alone when Soo-hyun arrives at the precinct. He assures her that they’ll talk soon once everything is over. Wait a minute, that sounds different.

This time we see Section Chief Ahn trail behind Jae-han’s car when he leaves for Seonil Psychiatric. In the present, Soo-hyun calls for an ambulance while she and Hae-young wait in anticipation for the walkie-talkie to light up.

Jae-han speaks into his walkie-talkie when it comes alive… but nothing happens on Hae-young’s end. Oh no. Confused, Jae-han asks if he’s speaking with Soo-hyun, then drops to banmal to explain how Suspect Seo’s body is in a manhole behind the psychiatric hospital.

It’s Hae-young in 2015 who finally picks up, bringing us to the moment when the transmissions first started for him. Jae-han barely says his name before getting bludgeoned over the head. Oh my god, I don’t know if I can go through this again.

We catch up to the last moments of the previous episode as Hae-young stops breathing just as the ambulance arrives. Over in the past, Section Chief Ahn shakes Jae-han awake and tells him to give up the red scarf.

He’s shocked to learn that the scarf can also prove that Director Kim murdered Sun-woo, since he was under the belief that Sun-woo committed suicide. When Director Kim and Kim Sung-bum arrive, Section Chief Ahn asks if it’s true.

Director Kim bends down and confronts Jae-han about the test results. While he talks, Jae-han covertly grabs a shard of glass from behind him and tells Director Kim that things doesn’t always go his way in this world.

After conversing with Soo-hyun through the radio, Jae-han told himself that the future can still change. He concluded that Director Kim had taken the scarf and wouldn’t be the type to discard it so carelessly. Since the director must’ve been in a hurry, he ruled out Inju or the precinct as possible hiding spots.

However, Jae-han recalled a small but crucial detail: he’d burst in on Director Kim tending to his own cut finger… with a bandage he bought at a pharmacy in a rest stop. He figured Director Kim would dispose of the scarf and checked the trash bins there, but was told the trash has already been picked up.

Jae-han then went to the landfill and rifled through the bags, and saw poor elderly woman wearing the red scarf. He thought of taking it to the NFS building, but then judged it wasn’t safe when he saw a fellow cop there.

So Jae-han sent the scarf to a forensics center in the States, and used a dictionary to arduously translate the lab results that were sent to him via email. Ah, so there’s a failsafe—an electronic copy exists.

Basically, the forensics lab was able to confirm that the scarf belonged to Hye-seung, but they found another man’s blood on the scarf and required another reference sample. Remembering Director Kim’s cut, Jae-han made up an excuse to gain entry into Director Kim’s office so he could swipe a used cigarette butt.

Once the forensics report came back as a match, Jae-han arranged a meeting with the prosecutor. We see just how Director Kim killed Sun-woo after he fell unconscious: Director Kim had slit Sun-woo’s wrist and wiped off his own fingerprints from the blade. When he’d tried to place the blade into Sun-woo’s hand, Sun-woo had an involuntary spasm and he sustained a cut.

His finger was still exposed when he’d handled the red scarf, and good lord—Sun-woo is still breathing while he bleeds out.

Director Kim chuckles when he sees the look of surprise on Jae-han’s face at the mention of the prosecutor. He offers Jae-han one last chance to give up. Jae-han refuses, knowing full well that Director Kim won’t let him walk out of here alive.

Jae-han encourages Director Kim to do whatever he wants, so the latter tosses the test results into the flames. While Section Chief Ahn protests against killing one of their own, Jae-han keeps cutting at his restraints until he finally breaks free.

Jae-han gets stabbed and manages to escape, thanks to Section Chief Ahn holding Kim Sung-bum back. Furious, Director Kim issues an ultimatum—either they spend their lives in prison if Jae-han lives to tell the tale or save his sick daughter by doing away with Jae-han now. He hollers: “Choose!”

So Section Chief Ahn runs after Jae-han, and Director Kim reminds Kim Sung-bum to let Section Chief Ahn murder Jae-han.

Meanwhile in the present, Hae-young struggles in the ambulance, but he’s conscious. He sees a slight breeze pass through Soo-hyun’s hair and realizes that something has changed. “It’s changed…” he ekes out. “The transmission has changed.”

He remembers that in their first transmission, Jae-han had said he was the one who warned him about not going to the psychiatric hospital. But this time, it was Soo-hyun, which means there’s a chance that the past has changed.

He asks if anything has changed in Soo-hyun’s memory about her last conversation with Jae-han on August 3, 2000. She realizes that her mind now houses a different memory, one where Jae-han had reassured her that they’d talk soon and he would return.

“The past… has already changed,” Hae-young breathes, then gasps for air again.

As Jae-han slips in the woods, he thinks of how everything will go cold if he dies here—the Inju case, Sun-woo’s death… and Soo-hyun. Recalling Soo-hyun’s cries of how long she waited, he’s determined to keep his promise and return alive.

Meanwhile Hae-young is wheeled into the ER, and we hear his voice thinking of Jae-han: “11:23 PM. The time you died, Detective. Rather than being afraid of death, the possibility of those cases remaining unsolved troubled you more, didn’t it? Did you send me those transmissions from that desperate heart?”

Since CPR doesn’t work, the doctors use a defibrillator on Hae-young, who keeps thinking: “Detective… please use that determination to live. Not the transmissions, but your own will to live.”

Jae-han tumbles down the hill and hides the walkie-talkie before Section Chief Ahn approaches with a gun in his hand. A shot rings out… and Hae-young flatlines in the present. His final thought: “Don’t give up.”

Some time later we see Soo-hyun sitting in a car by a lighthouse, and she takes out the photo of her and Jae-han tucked behind the Batman photo.

We flash back to the moment to the sound of a gunshot… but the bullet lands in Section Chief Ahn’s shoulder. They’re soon surrounded by police—who were called in by Jae-han—and both Section Chief and Kim Sung-bum are apprehended. While the cops help Jae-han up, he barks at them to nab Director Kim, who is now long gone.

Instead of heading to the hospital, Jae-han insists that he needs to stop somewhere first. That somewhere is Soo-hyun’s house, and when she comes running out looking thoroughly upset by his injuries, Jae-han pulls her into a tight embrace. Aw, and ha—the other guys awkwardly turn away to give them some privacy.

“I… I kept my promise,” he tells her. He holds her tight, and Soo-hyun sinks into the hug. Hm, but a tear rolls down Soo-hyun’s face in the present. Don’t tell me something else happened in the interim.

We then segue to Hae-young, who gasps awake in his room and immediately checks for any injuries. Is this a different present than the one we see Soo-hyun in? I’m so confused now. What’s even more mind-boggling is that there’s a loving note from his mother… because his parents are together again in this present.

The pictures hanging on this wall show the three of them as a happy family at his high school and police university graduations.

With Jae-han surviving the attack on his life, Hae-young’s memories have now changed: Nurse Yoon is arrested for the Kim Yoon-jung case, and Jae-han reveals to Hae-young and his parents that Sun-woo was innocent and wrongly murdered.

He apologizes for not uncovering the truth sooner, though he chokes up at the words. Sun-woo simply wanted his family to be together again, and everyone in the room is overcome with emotion at hearing the truth. As Jae-han looks at little Hae-young, another tear falls from his eyes.

Hae-young follows him out to thank Jae-han over and over again. Jae-han’s words get caught in his throat, then he walks away.

“Lee Jae-han… he survived,” Hae-young says in awe in the present. He runs over to the watch repair shop and asks to see Jae-han. But he’s told that Jae-han has been missing for over fifteen years now. Oh crap.

Hae-young bursts into the precinct in Seoul, where the mountain of paperwork that used to sit on top of the cold case squad’s corner is still there and no one there recognizes him. So he heads to the precinct in Jinyang, hoping to find Soo-hyun there.

She isn’t in, and neither Detective Kim nor Heon-ki recognize him either. They don’t know where she is, and it must be some weird kind of nostalgia for Hae-young to see these two bickering.

Finally Hae-young heads to his tiny precinct and asks where the walkie-talkie without the batteries went. He’s told that Hae-young never had anything of the sort.

We transition to the past as Soo-hyun waits alone at a restaurant. It’s her first date with Jae-han, and her sister had insisted that she spray on perfume to impress her date. So she spray some on just before Jae-han arrives, only to be called outside again.

They eat the pig skin restaurant in Inju instead, and Jae-han sniffs the air and asks what that weird smell is. HAHAHA. The ajumma there explains that she hasn’t seen the kid eat here in some time because he’s living with his parents now. Jae-han already knows that, and he smiles.

The past and present blend together when Hae-young heads to that same restaurant. Jae-han doesn’t explain who the little kid is, and Soo-hyun asks if he’s still looking for Director Kim.

She tells him that he should hand off the case to someone else, but Jae-han clarifies that he’s out to fry bigger fish than Director Kim—he’s looking for the one who’s been pulling the strings in all of these crimes, and that’s who truly deserves to be punishment: “One must correct the actual wrong in order to change the past, and to be able to change the future.”

That night was the last time the restaurant ajumma saw Jae-han, and Hae-young wonders what could’ve happened.

Jae-han drives out to an abandoned building in the countryside. His phone signal to Soo-hyun is weak, and makes sure to take precaution upon entering. He keeps a watchful eye out as he heads deeper inside, then Director Kim pounces on him.

Director Kim kicks him away, but Jae-han drives him into a pile of wood and punches him. “You think the world will change if you catch me?” Director Kim spits tauntingly. Jae-han replies, “No. I need to a catch a different bastard in order for the world to change.”

He asks if Senator Jang is responsible in puppeteering this elaborate cover-up, and Director Kim doesn’t deny it. Corruption was how the senator rose to power and that’s just how the world works, he barks.

That’s the very problem with it all, Jae-han spits back as he grabs Director Kim by the front. Senator Jang will continue to use his influence to cover up a crime, spend money to pay people off, and tinker with crimes—and Jae-han swears to stop the injustice himself.

“He’s someone that you, the police, the prosecution… even the Blue House can’t stop,” Director Kim chuckles. He finds it absurd that one man would even dream of taking someone like Senator Jang on. Jae-han knows that Director Kim erased the files related to the corruption scandal on the floppy disk, but there must be a copy because Director Kim would want some sort of insurance on his part.

Before he can get an answer, a throng of suits rush in to attack Director Kim. He and Director Kim try to fight them off, but Director Kim is soon brought down and beaten with sticks and pipes.

Seeing the duffel bag Director Kim was carrying, Jae-han keeps fighting his way through. That day is November 20, 2000 as Hae-young reads about the case in his New Present.

Director Kim’s body was found in the building and traces of Jae-han’s blood and DNA were found at the scene. Jae-han became a suspect in the case and his whereabouts have been unknown since that day. His car was later found abandoned alongside a highway.

Hae-young doesn’t believe that Jae-han would’ve murdered Director Kim—someone else must’ve framed him for his murder. But who?

Jae-han jumps out of the window with the duffel bag in hand, climbs into his car and escapes. Meanwhile, Soo-hyun and her fellow cops are out looking for him in the city.

Later that night, a bloodied Jae-han sits in his car holding his radio, waiting for it to flicker on. “If only I had the walkie-talkie…” Hae-young thinks to himself.

As the throng of suits pull up to his car, Jae-han grabs his casebook and quickly jots something down before the suits start attacking his car. Just then, Hae-young remembers seeing Jae-han’s old casebook on Soo-hyun’s desk and realizes that there’s still a way to communicate even without the radio.

Hae-young doubles back to the Jinyang precinct and quietly pockets Jae-han’s casebook. Once he’s safe in the car, he flips to the back of the journal to the memo that lists the cases they worked on together.

Jae-han would’ve anticipated that Hae-young would see this in the future—a note only Hae-young would understand. It’s a number: 32-6.

It’s his old house in Inju, and thankfully his mother is at home. She’s surprised when he asks if the detective that helped them years ago left something in her care, then gives him the envelope asked her to keep safe for him.

She kept it all these years, believing that he’d return one day to collect it. Inside is a letter addressed to him… and a floppy disk. Whatttttttt.

Jae-han writes of how he hopes Hae-young will read this one day since this is the last way he can get it in touch with him. He remembers how Hae-young had no idea who he was back in August 3, 2000—perhaps that’s when he realizes that they could’ve been caught in a time loop. But he hasn’t once received a transmission ever since he survived that night.

He’d hoped that their transmission would continue, and wondered if him surviving is what ended their connection to one another. The day Hae-young thanked him for solving his brother’s murder, it made him think about if the ones truly responsible never pay for their crimes, that something terrible may happen again in the future.

He has enclosed the floppy disk that would expose the Jinyang corruption case. He explains that he couldn’t think of anyone to give it to in his generation out of fear that it would put lives at risk or the evidence would disappear again.

“But the world you live in must be different,” Jae-han continues. We see the corruption case is now covered by the media and an older Senator Jang is swarmed by reporters. The news reports remark on how this scandal could cripple the society, and Senator Jang brusquely orders to do whatever must be done.

At the very least, Jae-han hopes that Hae-young now lives in a world where evil men pay for their crimes. “You, who are in the future, are my last hope. I believe that this letter will be my farewell. I pray that you will take care, be healthy, and be happy.”

Hae-young tracks down the postmark on the mailing envelope to a coastal town. He also follows up with the precinct about any missing persons in the past fifteen years, and is relieved to find that Jae-han’s name doesn’t appear in any of the reports.

He does, however, happen to see Soo-hyun, who still carries around Jae-han’s photo, hoping that someone will recognize him. She pauses when she turns around to see him, and Hae-young asks if she remembers him.

All he knows is that he woke up and the cold case squad was gone and no one recognized him. He couldn’t find her at her old precinct and kept looking for her. Soo-hyun cuts him off, replying in banmal that he probably couldn’t find her number saved in his contacts list.

They sit down to chat, as Soo-hyun explains she went through a similar bizarre experience: She came to and tried looking for Hae-young at the ER, but there was no record of him. She even swung by his place, and was relieved to hear from this mother that he was sick, but alive.

“What about Lee Jae-han?” Hae-young asks. Soo-hyun takes a deep breath before answering that she remembers everything: she had woken up in her car, dazed and confused. She remembered hearing Jae-han making a demand from her, but in this changed present, that never happened.

Jae-han is still missing in this present, and she’s been looking for him ever since he’s gone missing. Her mind remembers that something else has changed as well: she received a phone call at the precinct sooner after Jae-han had gone missing.

She picked up, but there was silence on the other end, which made her think that it was Jae-han. “It’s you, sunbae-nim, isn’t it?” She called out to him several more times, but then the line went dead.

She tried tracing the number that called, and that led her out to a public phone booth in the coastal town. “He didn’t say anything, but it was definitely him,” Soo-hyun recalls, then corrects herself. “No… I thought that it would’ve been him.”

Hae-young asks if she received that call on November 24, 2000 because that’s the same day Jae-han sent him a letter. Since the postal records were erased a year later, he’s unable to confirm that it was him, but he believes it was Jae-han.

Jae-han must’ve known that his life was in danger, so he sent him this letter, Hae-young concludes. He wishes that Jae-han is alive too, but Jae-han isn’t the type to go off the grid for fifteen years, either. It breaks his heart to admit that if Jae-han were alive, he would’ve tried to make contact already.

Soo-hyun entertains the possibility that Jae-han had no choice but to remain in hiding all these years—if there no proof that he’s dead, he could still be alive. The facility name on the envelope strikes familiar with her, and she shows Hae-young an anonymous text she received not too long ago warning her not to go there on February 5.

Jae-han, Hae-young, and herself were the only three people who knew about the walkie-talkie’s existence. Furthermore, small nursing facilities don’t require an identification check to admit patients, so one could theoretically stay there hidden for years.

But Hae-young says it would’ve been impossible for Jae-han to finance his stay there for all these years when he was considered a suspect. Unless someone was helping him, that is.

It’s at that moment Hae-young realizes that someone may have helped Jaehan: his father. He had seen the half-charred remains of a ticket from Gangwon-do to Seoul when he went to see Jae-han’s father.

As Hae-young and Soo-hyun travel to the medical facility in her car, he narrates: “This never made any sense from the beginning… from the moment the transmission began from a walkie-talkie without any batteries in it. So there’s no reason to be disappointed already.”

Unfortunately another group of suits is on their way as they rush inside the building. Damn, are these Senator Jang’s men? In one of the rooms, someone pulls themselves up from the bed. Jae-han, is that you?

“I don’t know what will be at the end of this road,” Hae-young thinks to himself. “Whether I’ll meet my closest friend whom I’ve never met before… Or if a dangerous fate may await us.”

“There’s nothing I can do,” he finishes as we cut back to Hae-young and Soo-hyun’s conversation again. He says that if Jae-han truly did send this text, then it’s dangerous for them to go to that medical facility.

Jae-han held on to the radio, and while their connection to him may have ended, it’s possible he began another one with someone else from the future who warned him about this date, February 5, 2016.

But Soo-hyun counters that Jae-han went to Seonil Psychiatric on August 3, 2000 even though they warned him not to go. It’s possible that Jae-han sent them this message in anticipation that they too would do the same.

Well if they’re going they better hurry because Senator Jang’s men are already inside the building. The one thing Hae-young knows for certain is that the transmissions began because of one man’s determination. “That voice over the radio taught me one thing: all you have to do is never give up.”

He breaks into a sad smile at the thought of Jae-han’s zealous words, and Soo-hyun smiles too. “As long as one doesn’t give up… even toppling a corrupt power that seemed so insurmountable and meeting someone you’ve wandered in search for sixteen years… are all possible. As long as one doesn’t give up, there’s hope.”

In that hospital room, a man looks out the window. The walkie-talkie on the windowsill has a yellow smiley face sticker on it… and it flickers on. The man slowly turns his face…

… it’s Jae-han.

 
COMMENTS

Just take a look at that badass glory shot. Go ahead and drink it in… I’ll wait. It’s these moments where I feel so lucky that we have such a skilled actor like Jo Jin-woong in this role of Jae-han. While Jo doesn’t possess the flower boy handsome look of other actors, he has a magnetism and brings a stage presence that both commands my attention and draws me in as a viewer. Although Jo is an actor best known for his supporting roles in movies and other dramas (Full Sun,Tree With Deep Roots), there’s no doubt that Jae-han is the true hero in Signal.

I don’t think there are enough words to fully describe my admiration for Jo as Jae-han, a character who has made me laugh at his adorably awkwardness around women he likes, cry in his darkest moments, and my heart flutter at the very sound of his voice. My mind is filled with questions at this finale, like how he managed to escape the clutches of Senator Jang’s men to go into hiding for the past fifteen years. In the end, I’m relieved that he’s still alive because I feared that something terrible must’ve happened to him and we would once again find him a corpse.

I was worried that it might’ve been too late for Soo-hyun and Hae-young to prevent the seemingly inevitable that is (was?) Jae-han’s death. But once again, there were so many instances in these final 88 minutes where the tiniest of changes propelled Jae-han into action and even plan ahead days, weeks, or even years ahead. And sometimes his most clever decisions came at the most crucial life or death moments. We’re left to wonder who it is that Jae-han is connected to now and how that person found the walkie-talkie, but whoever it is, their lives are about to be changed.

On a production front, Signal never let us down from start to finish. Handling a story centered around a time paradox is a complicated task, to say the least, but this show went above and beyond in presenting an overarching mystery that also tied into various cases of the week and took into minute details that one could easily miss. A story of this scale would need to think of all the possible alternative realities depending on the consequences of our character’s decisions (or sometimes, even in spite of that). To that end, the narrative was solid and well-built, and I always felt assured that there must be an answer to my question, even if we as viewers weren’t privy to it yet. Sure that made for maddening moments in the recaps trying to describe two concurrent timelines on paper vs. what we saw onscreen, but that didn’t take away my appreciation for Signal’s ability to keep us on our toes from start to finish.

Of course, Jo Jin-woong isn’t the only acting powerhouse in this series. Signal has also blessed us with the talents of Kim Hye-soo, who took on this project as her return to dramaland (since God of the Workplace in 2013) and Lee Je-hoon, who simply never disappoints. The show also boasts an impressive supporting cast with Kim Won-hae as Detective Kim, and guest stars like Sohn Hyun-joo as Senator Jang. As for PD Kim Won-seok, I wouldn’t have expected anything less in terms of the stellar quality we were given in Signal, and I can’t wait for what his next project may be.

As previously posted, PD Kim Won-seok and writer Kim Eun-hee are giving serious consideration for a second season. Although you’ll usually find me in the camp of not encouraging a sequel for most series (’cause why tinker with something that ain’t broke?) I can also see how a second season could tie into this story. This kind of open ending where the transmissions do continue allows the possibility for Jae-han to continue to fight injustice and affect more lives in the future. For myself, it would have to be Jo Jin-woong as Jae-han because I can’t imagine anyone else in this role of a bold, badass, and in-your-face detective that can take a serious beating over and over again. Realistically, it would be difficult to gather this talented cast back together again, but if there’s anything that this drama has taught me, it’s that there’s hope as long as I don’t give up.

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I know I'm a little bit late but I don't think my heart will be able to handle watching this live.

LOVE IT. SO. AWESOME!

Where else can we find a drama that is so beautifully done?? Only this PD and writer can make such a consistent drama! I know there were some questions about the forgotten timeline and the cases but Season 2 will be able to answer these questions, right?

Thanks gummi for the recaps and I cannot wait for you to choose Signal in the year end awards. I know. Too early but I don't think any crime-thriller drama in the future will be able to beat this.

Thank.You!

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Can someone tell me why I should watch this? :)

This looks really interesting, i'm currently watching Memory, and I know TVn has produces the greatest of kdramas I've ever ever watched. I kind of just want to know a bit more about it before jumping in.

Thank you!

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Hey M! Believe the hype, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! I just finished watching it and backtracking the recaps on dramabeans to see what I missed. I wasn’t expecting anything great either, but have read raves about it so much so I decided to watch anyway. It was so good that I put all my other dramas on hold to marathon this. Me and my husband watched it together and if we both had the luxury of time, we would have marathoned the show in a day or two, it was that good. It has a very tight-written script, well-paced storyline, great use of plot device that makes sense, characters that you just sympathize with their pain and frustrations so much. Sometimes in kdramas we’re so used to fillers in between episodes that didn’t really mean much to the big picture of the show, and Signal didn’t even have to do that since everything is an integral part of the whole drama. I’m even trying to convince my non-kdrama friends to watch it since it really has a potential to be a crossover drama. So hopefully you had already watched it at this point!

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Thank you so much Gummimochi for recapping this! Really enjoy reading your comment section, as always ?

My admiration over Signal has been voiced out by many of few which will make mine sound redundant but who cares; Signal is awesome anyway. Kudos to all the production team especially for writer and pd for sticking with this kind of story. They have clear vision of what they want to create and when it becomes real, in the form of art we all can enjoy, it feels great and amazing. I love how they bring up the cold case. The emotional effect and the never-ending fight for injustice is portrayed well and real and still give us so much hope.

Strange thing, i don't feel like watching the-best-drama-evaaa when watching Signal. But the lingering effect and post-withdrawal syndrome stays. I guess what makes this watching experience even more fun is dramabeans. All the discussion and reading comment, dissecting over every little detail while fawning over Jo Jin Woong, Kim Hye Soo and Lee Je Hoon (and his magical pointy nose) really makes this even more enjoyable. So thank you, beanies!!!! See you all on comment section for Signal season 2!! *joining the prayer circle*

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Just wanted to add my voice on how awesome this show is! I agree with most people, it is THE best drama yet - from the actors, script, director.. such a highly intelligent drama!!!!

I know everyone's gushing about the 3 leads but I also have high praise for Jang Hyun Sung as Director Kim. The mark of a true villain is how much he makes you hate him and wanna gouge his eyes out..lol

Add me to the many new fans of Jo Jin Woong! That bad-ass ending shot of Lee Jae Han made all the blood rush to my head in it's awesomeness!!! And his crying scenes? Ugh. I hope he gets the award recognition he deserves, the whole drama too!

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Just realised I haven't completed a Korean drama in 6 years which was Secret Garden. I've probably tried only 2 dramas within that time but couldn't get past a few episodes...

What a great series.

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This drama sets my standards high! All the other current dramas look like pebble compared to Signal Wall. Daebak drama! I want a Season 2!

And Park Haeyoung is so cool~. I like how this drama is not romance-based, and if there is romance, it is just like a "slice of life" take or a little of it, something that does not affect the plot of the drama as a whole.

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I finally got around to watching this drama and I have to say it was the best in it's genre. Everyone did a fantastic job in their roles and all of the plots and subplots felt fresh. This drama is ripe for being franchised like the Reply series. Jae Han's adventures with different walkie talkie buddies featuring different cases. As long as Jo Jin Woong keeps playing Jae Han, I'll keep watching.

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Just finished this series. The funny thing about this time warp reality where the past changes due to warnings from the future is that, cases you thought you had solved are still cold. For e.g., PHY and CHS discovering LJH's remains and giving him a proper funeral in the 1st timeline of the show and thereafter having to search for him again in the current timeline. Imagine the agony! In this current present, it is thus no wonder that our detectives - having gone through so much - are tired and resigned to disappointment but will still go all out to seek answers.

Appreciated how LJH's 15 year hideout parallels that of the Gyeonggi Nambu culprit's, but this time round, it is used by someone worthy to be saved, someone who wanted to continue saving the lives of others, even at his own expense. Not too sure whether GyNbu culprit was arrested in the past or in 2015 but it seems like someone took a leaf out of that book (or past timeline).

Also, it was heartwarming how LJH took CHS on their 1st date to the bbq joint frequented by little PHY just so he could introduce them much earlier knowing their future connection. If little PHY had turned up as well, it would have been the first time all 3 leads were in the same screen together.

Many questions linger... but now, we see that all 3 of them are now more closely bonded with one another than at the beginning of the series. Add Gyechul and Hyeonki to the team, and I think we can say, as long as we don't give up, there is hope.

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should I just give up romcoms altogether and just focus on criminal and legal procedurals? becoz their quality certainly beats many of the flower boy romcoms?

I kept looking at the time while lapping up the last ep, fearful of what sort of ending would be appearing on my screen.... no no no....please do not mess up this xcellent drama.... PDnim .... and whew! thank you! you didn't ! loved the ending where CSH and PHY were speeding along the mountain road towards the hospital - reminiscent of the Terminator 1 movie where Linda Hamilton was speeding off into dark skies towards an uncertain future. the underlying feeling of dread and injustice, realism was always the tone of this drama - where the criminals and police were in equal measures desperate and perpetrators became victims and vice versa.

I felt every emotion flitting across the 3 leads even tho they were such different characters. sun woo deserves special mention for his measured and tragic acting.

the sets were so realistic- the Spartan and destitute 1980s, 90s were portrayed so well on the recreated winding , eerie backlanes and winding roads.

Back to anti romcom dramas - think Punch, heartless city - another excellent, intelligent drama - filled with so much heartbreak but with nary a kiss or hug in sight. Korea does abstinence and control really well.

the leads and supporting cast all deserve the accolades for their acting. This is truly a gem of a drama - which stayed true to the era, the premise and storyline. had to agree that LJH's acting was on the theatrical side but his earnestness could not be faulted and it is consistent with his youth and experiences in the show. KHS is one of the best actresses in Korea - having to portray youth, falling in love, being kidnapped and the trauma thereof , living in pain and desperation, overcoming disbelief at the radio transmissions .... what a meaty role she had! was almost hoping for a noona romance between her and PHY - which thankfully - never materialised lol!

Thank you, PD nim and writer, for raising the bar in k dramas. Signal is a superb classic and certainly not a cold case drama left forgetten in the annals of k dramaland .

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Thanks for the recap!

I've just finished the last two episodes today because weeks ago, I just didn't want this show to end yet lol.
So glad that finally we have a high quality drama so early this year. Signal has restored my faith in kdrama; so once in a while, we'll find an incredible one.

Despite for its very awesome parts, when I watched the part where the villain didn't burn the red scarf (get rid off that bloody evidence), I couldn't help but chuckled. Then again, if that thing wasn't found, the story would be ended earlier, and became boring. Also, I still don't like the way CSH reacted to the most critical condition. Idk...that's just my opinion.

That said, I agree with previous commenters here. Signal is one of the best shows in dramaland.

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This has to be one of the best dramas (and not just Korean) I have seen in a while. I was impressed by the production and execution of this drama - from the storyline, casting, filming style, editing, to the soundtrack. It was a given that the trio would showcase brilliant acting, but I was also impressed by the secondary characters, including Kang Chan Hee who played Sun-woo. His acting was very natural, allowing the character of Sun-woo to shine through (I'm still reeling at how he died D: D: TT_TT)

I'm still up in the air regarding the potential of a Season 2. Why fix something that isn't broke? Although I would love to see more of the trio, and discover what Jae-han has been up to during all these years, I feel that the open-ending stayed true to Signal - it was a happy ending, but not one that unrealistically reunited everyone and that all the bad people were punished. Also, with the possibility that during these years, Jae-han has been communicating with someone else via the radio transmissions, would that mean that if a second season was given the 'ok', that it would focus on Jae-han and this new person, with the potential of cameos made by Soo-hyun and Hae-young?

It could just be my own attachment with a drama, that I often feel ambivalent about a sequel when the main cast wouldn't be returning. Jo Jin Woong, Kim Hye Soo and Lee Je-hoon had such great teamwork, great chemistry, that I feel that it would take me a while to get used to a sequel where Jae-han would be with a new set of characters.

But who knows, maybe the trio might return together? We can hope right?

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Best.drama.ever.

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Signal falls under suspense-thriller/ fantasy crime genre. But it delivers much more than that. It’s about a detective and a criminal profiler solving cases by communicating through a broken walkie-talkie and realizing the consequences that come along the way. It’s no easy task to tackle on a time paradox concept drama but Signal definitely aced it.

I have no expectations or any idea what this drama is about beforehand. I heard about this drama through Runningman when Lee Je-hoon guested on the show. They briefly mentioned about it and asked him to reenact a scene from the drama. I don’t know why but it flickered my curiosity and got my attention. So I started watching it the next day.

It was executed so brilliantly with all the details revealing to us bit by bit at the right time. A time paradox concept drama if not executed well can be a disaster. It can confuse us and doesn’t make any sense to a point that the drama will eventually fail. But Signal had done it so amazingly that it might be confusing at some point but it will make sense afterwards. In fact, in the midst of all these confusions and making sense overlapping each other, you will most likely be blown away. No, you will be. I was so mind-blown through out the whole drama. It was so crazy I had goosebumps every single episode.

Not to mention, the award-winning acting from the casts especially Jo Jin Woong. You will experience every single thing that’s prepared for you - suspense, mystery, pain, angst, love, injustice, corruption, confusion, desperation, hope.

Be prepared to go on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

I am satisfied. I have never been so satisfied watching a drama. I love the ending. I don’t need a season 2 unless they can promise me the same casts and quality. If not, why tinker something that ain’t broke.

I really want to go into details of the drama but I realized I can’t really put them into words. You will understand why I said that after you watched.

Signal - A solid high quality drama that I doubt any of the dramas out there can beat. At least among all the dramas I’ve watched this is the best.

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This is the best drama i have ever watched! This drama could lock in my head forever!!! The plot is perfect, the background music and OST of the drama is perfect, the suspense of the drama is damn epic, the acting of Jo Jin Woong, Kim Hye Soo and Lee Je Hoon are emotional and top class, the storywriters were creative and superb, everything is perfect in this drama, FLAWLESS!!!!!! Although many things in the ending was left open ended, but i can at least know that Lee Jae Han doesn't die! Maybe a season 2 can explain all the things that are unexplained, but all the 16 episodes of this drama gave me excitement and epicness throughout the whole 1hour+ episodes that i have enjoyed very well. SIGNAL the best!!!!!!

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I regret watching this. If I didn't watch it, I wouldn't have finished it and now I'm so sad.

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Last time i read recap from dramabeans was 3 years ago.
Because i had no chance back then to watch dramas/movies so i am only able to "read dramas/movies"

As for SIGNAL, gosh !!!!!!!!
Since i live in a remote village/place where there are only few people who loved Korean Drama-Movies-songs, so i lack of sources to buy CDs. My only hope was to borrow from friends whenever they came back from field break.
I had SIGNAL for already few months, saved as one folder in my external hard-disk.
Then just few days ago i started watching it.
And i really love it.
The story-line, the characters, the -time-split, the laughter, the tears, the stories, the everything (well, perhaps except for one thing: it is so sad that his brother's fate couldn't change) So I guess, only Det. Cha and Det. Lee who got the opportunity to skip death.

Actually, i am curious about one young woman who helps Hae-Young in his early years as a high school student.
The ending seems like promising a 2nd season or perhaps a scene that waiting for the viewers reaction to help the production house to decide will they continue or to stop there and let us hanging (i wish they don't stop)

Well, I do really hope to see them all again and watching their days to continue.

so, i guess, we all will be seeing once again.
See you in the next transmission..

<3 <3 <3 <3

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Just wanted to ask the Track reminiscence(Jang beom jun) written by Jang Ki Ha, as he sings the same song, although the music is a bit different, in the drama potato star 2013QR3 in the 40th episode when No Su Young(Seo Ye Ji) is leaving his (Jang Yul - played by Jang Ki Ha) house after breaking up.

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GO WATCH IT!!

This is the best drama I have ever watched. It tugs on the heartstrings, it delivers everything you could ever wanted out of a badass police series with a hint of supernatural.

Loads of series start out great only to die a slow and painful death after five episodes.. NOT THIS ONE. This one is amazing, from ep 1 to 16, everything is just right.

And the actors, they are very very good. I became a fan of all of them. Thank you for the recaps <3

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just a little thoughts.

my guess is that the 'present' where CSH and PHY are going to find LJH in the hospital is in fact the 'past'.

as to who LJH is communicating with since the 'present' (in this case the past) PHY no longer has it, LJH is most probably talking to the future trio. they may have warned him about the danger and LJH texted CSH. hopefully this is how they will meet again after 15 years.

if there is a season 2, i will not exclude the chance of the past trio working together with the future trio to fight and create new destiny.

overall a awesome and ass-kicking drama. definitely up in my top 10 drama list.

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Gummi, thanks for the superb recaps, you did a great job!

I know I love a drama when I come to drama beans to post-read all the recaps and comments ....seriously, this drama is a master piece. Everything, from the writing to the directing and acting, the set design and music...how can everything just come together so perfectly?! And how will I survive in dramaland now, when Signal is my new benchmark?

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So... just finished watching this, super late. But I have to share my thoughts somewhere bc I'm just bursting with them with absolutely nobody to talk to. So I'll throw them into the void.

To be honest, a lot of it was predictable at least an episode or 2 ahead, and maybe that was intentional, for "foreshadowing," but to me it just felt overdramatic and sometimes sluggish as I waited for the things to happen that I knew were going to happen. It was kind of drawing things out there a few episodes before the end episode, BUT the last (2) episodes absolutely made up for it!

Usually it seems like when ends wrap up too nicely it is annoying or contrived - I thought that Jae-Han was going to die in all timelines, and justice being served would stop the loops. Him not dying - I can definitely get behind any "too good" thing if it happened because someone FINALLY DOES SOMETHING SMART LIKE CALL FOR BACKUP (or preemptively does). So him living and putting a twist on it totally made things speed up and super interesting again.

But actually I was suuuure that that young rookie dude from the first episode would turn out to be the mole or something for the bad dudes. Lol nothing came about from him tho.

I actually thought it would be really interesting if, from one of the past changes ended up with Hae-Young not an officer but things still bad so he has to track down the walkie-talkie by sneaking around. And now it kinda happened? But different. And it's awesome.

I'm glad they're taking into account the weird timeline changes, loops, and such; the stuff we the viewers have been considering.

Also, at least ONE ending hospital scene was from the past, I believe, since it seemed like the ratio was the Past Ratio!! All skinny and distorted!! It could have just been from the 15 years he was in hiding, though. Buuuut at Some point he gets another transmission from the future so... man the mystery is so good.

Honestly this was the best setup for a sequel. One I'd expect from a Western tv series or movie. Actually kind of Sherlock-esque. I can see a sequel going in any degree of good or bad, honestly. It could be awesome, okay, mediocre, or horribly bad. I'm a little nervous bc for some reason Korean dramas don't seem to do well handling sequels. Probably bc they don't really think about extended series, when Western ones try to go for the long run. Hopefully with this ending they were thinking about sequels.

Solid 9/10. I love you, Signal. Sometimes you got a little overdramatic, staring into the distance while you breathily recited your inner thoughts, but who doesn't like a little theatrics now and then? It ups the ante, and gets my heart pumpin'.

Thank you for telling a good story, in a great way.

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Uhhh....I did not get that ending. Whaaaaaaa? Confused and disappointed.

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Watched. Finished. Done.

Now what do I do with my life and broken heart???

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Thanks for all the recaps, gummi! It was fun doing the watch then read. Your present/past writing worked great! I had to do that for Nine, and it was tough to be crystal clear. I think I just went with what worked at the time knowing the people reading were prolly also watching. I didn't have to write it like a novel.

As I watched JH try and try to do good and right wrongs, I had a moment of clarity. Is time travel valuable because it prevents evil from existing in the world, or is it that time travelers can only shift evil from happening to selective victims? And if so, is it even worth the effort? If I go back and stop a crime, or remove a dictator, isn't there someone else who will come along and fill that evil space? Was my stopping THIS murder, actually reducing the murder count in all of history? Maybe, maybe not.

Then I thought, it isn't whether good triumphs over evil each time that matters. It isn't the number of "W"s on the score card that matters. It is the fact that we do not allow evil to flourish on our watch. Like this show says, we just can't give up. EVER. It is our individual jobs to prevent harm, however small, whenever we can. Past, present or future.

We may not be able to stop a Hitler-ish person from killing all the people, but we can make sure we do everything we can to keep good alive in a bad time. That message is so important now in the world where it seems like the crazies are in charge. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Imagine what a LOT of kindness can do.

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This show has my heart. I love it. Every single shot of it was breathtaking.

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Just binged watched this drama.

It deserves a lot of accolades. A consistent treatment of time travel and it's consequences. (and multiple paradoxes)

Acting wise, LJH was probably in my opinion, the weakest actor. It is probably more apparent if you binge watched it (so may not be a fair assessment) but his repeated angst/one man makjang look started to be repetitive. He needed more intensity and less over-acting, if that even makes sense.

One nit to pick, surely LJH and KHS as characters must be the most inept cops at apprehending their subjects. I wish the writers would have not repeatedly used the "nearly caught them but they escaped" scene with this duo. I swear, did they ever physically capture anyone successfully?

And how many times did they do the "sudden realization, angst, loss of focus" with LJH in the MIDDLE OF A HIGH TENSION SCENE. Contrast this with the treatment of JJH's character who emotes/struggles but when it comes to act, acts decisively. LJH's character, in contrast, even when given the time to think through and choose his action, acts indecisively and emotionally in the moment.

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Yes, that was one of my main issues also- that Park Hae Young and Cha Soo Yun had the tendency to get too emotional at a high tension scene and behave ineptly. There were a lot of times when Park Hae would communicate with someone, and it would take him SO LONG to react that it annoyed me. He'd stare of into space and waste valuable time instead of sharing precious information to Jae Han or he'd be lost in thought I just wanted to shake him -_- I can forgive Cha Soo better since she's waited for Jae Han for so long (wish her finding about him didn't have to happen at such a CRUCIAL moment since we need her competence!) and I wish she'd handled the scene in episode 16 better (the one where they kidnapped the Kim Bum thug); Good thing it wrapped up nicely at the end.

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I'm also not happy that they showed the senator's men in the hospital Jae Han was at in the end, because for all the trouble he went through, it makes me angry to think they'll get him and kill him :( I wish the drama just left the ending of him at the hospital with no scenes of the senator's men coming inside- then I can just imagine a happy reunion between the three characters...or at least another thrilling chase into the unknown (since that's the theme of the drama, surviving impossible odds repeatedly) but the way they showed the senator's men made me too anxious that they were going to kill Jae Han -_-

Other than that, this was a REALLY good fantasy/crime drama. Sure, there are a lot of theatrics (it's a kdrama) now and then, but nothing that didn't fit or detract from the story or make it less exciting.

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Another thing they do so well in kdramas is make the villains REALLY annoying lol...actors playing them do good jobs though (because I really want to strangle them lol) and the one here in Signal is one of the best villains- so smarmy and smug I wanted him to get hurt everytime he was onscreen.

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Love this show!!??

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So I've finished this drama yesterday and since then it's still stuck in my head. Part of me felt relieved that with each loop and repetition of events, the past and present can be altered and hopefully one day, the three of them can unite and work together (is that too much to ask for?).
While the other part of me wished that the show actually ended on that specific happy ending timeloop because it had been so much of a struggle the past fifteen episodes for all our main characters.
And to quote HaeYoung, I really do want you [three] to be happy.

The show also reminded me of other similar dramas (Queen In hyun's man, Nine Time Travels).

Onward to Tunnel!

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Just a quick question. So jae han was missing for 15 years.. So the jae han we see in the end is the jae han in 2015? I mean is he on the same time line with the 2? How come he warn them not to go to the hosp in feb 5? I'm just confused thanks

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am I too late?! oh myy, I cant believe I watched this drama in 2017. it too late to watch this enjoyable and touching drama T.T watching it is like riding rollercoaster's emotion. suspense, scared, sad, angry, frust.
you know that my mum cried too when when watched this drama T.T

I like the background music too much. downloaded it and put it as my ringtone. ^^

can anyone suggest any amazing drama like signal which doesn't focus on lovey dovey story and doesn't have kiss scene?

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Tunnel and Forest of Secrets

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and Circle

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And Bad Guys (because Bad Guys 2 is coming soon) and maybe Voice too.

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is forest of secrets a detective drama too?

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Not exactly, but there's a cop (Bae Doona ♥) and there are investigations and it's sooo good in a twisty way.

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I downloaded this to watch later as I had too much on at the time. I've reached the penultimate episode and have to say that I find it thoroughly confusing and the time shifting doesn't work for me. It just makes things less easy to follo. It was mentioned in the first recap that the scenes where they go back in time have a different aspect ratio. I watch on a large screen tv using apple tv with my video connection but don't notice this at all. The storyline is compelling and the acting good but I think the pace of the last few episodes has been lost and there is a lot of repition of those awful bloody scenes and violence. I am wondering how the final episode will pan out and depending on that if I will feel like the overwhelming majority that this was excellent.

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there is a tiny glitch in your post, the pig skin restaurant is in seoul not inju (lee and cha's dinner).
and thanks for retelling the finale. just finish it last night and I'm sure i need some explanation :)

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Great writing truly enjoyed this drama hoping for 2nd season 😀👍

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Another Kdrama let-down...episode 16 left me with a bitter taste after really enjoying the previous episodes, which were well done. So after 15 years, the gangsters are just now invading that hospital--what? Seriously seems like they would have found and killed Lee Jae-Han off a long time ago...just, NO, show! And Lt Park Hae-Young talking with someone he has never met--WRONG, show!

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