Signal + Oh My Ghostess
Oct. 17th, 2016 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I finished Signal! It was excellent. Of course, I was expecting it to be, so anything less would have been a disappointment. ;) I now have a little crush on Lee Je-hoon. I'm going to try that period drama he's in, Secret Door, which he received a number of acting accolades for. Actually, now that I'm looking, apparently he's won a bunch of acting awards in general, so I'll probably check out some of his other stuff, too.
There was really strong storytelling overall. You do have to forgive the natural contradictions that occur whenever you deal with anything having to do with changing things in the past, but that was easy enough, because the story was compelling and the characters really well drawn. All the actors were wonderful. Kim Hye-soo is a freak of nature that she's able to look/act so young, and then so weathered later. And when I saw that IRL she's actually 46 I'm like WTF! Has she been bathing in the blood of unicorns and virgins or something?! She's a fantastic actress, though. I loved how gruff and lovable and decent Cho Jin-woong was as Lee Jae-han.
I did have a few pet peeves, though:
1) The way people would answer questions unnaturally in order to drag out the suspense was one of them. Someone would, for instance, ask, "Did so and so get on the bus at this stop?" And the interviewee, instead of saying yes or no, would say: "Well, that person... on this day... would have gotten on at XX stop... and it happened the other day, on my normal route... and it's the last stop of the day... so I remember it well. No, no one got on at that time." Like seriously?? Who answers questions like that??
2) The way they would be extremely repetitive with information. I don't know if it's a function of the language, or the translation, or the writing, but they would repeat obvious things that were just said or just happened in the same scene.
3) The characters weren't able to put together extremely obvious clues from time to time, and they were supposed to be PROFESSIONAL DETECTIVES. I mean, maybe it's easier for a viewer to grasp, I guess? But like, IT WAS SO OBVIOUS PARK HAE-YOUNG'S BIG BROTHER WAS MURDERED. And even though narratively, I had guessed that fairly early on, Park Hae-young had gotten so many hints about it that when he finally got to it, I was like, I can't believe it took this ace profiler this long to put this together OMG, especially because he was already distrustful of authority/the police/everyone involved with the conspiracy to begin with!!!
4) I don't know if Lee Je-hoon brought something to the role that they weren't expecting, but his introduction as a character never made sense, even from the start. He's an extremely smart, introverted guy, but he was introduced as one of those arrogant hotshots who was dishing celebrity news on the side. What??? Given his past, and how seriously he took his brother's case, the fact that he joined the force probably to look into it some more, and the fact that when Cha Soo-hyun was in his room, it was filled with cases and other intellectual paraphernalia, this seems like an extremely poor and frivolous use of his time, which I don't buy him ever doing.
And that last episode just went on and on and ON. I was like, where is this going?! And apparently it was basically a pilot for S2. Has anything about that been announced, I wonder? It isn't normal, at least in my experience, for an Asian drama to have multiple seasons, so that would be pretty cool if it did. (Though the Japanese and Chinese versions of Hana Yori Dango did -- of course not the Korean one, which I would have wanted the most -- and so did It Started With a Kiss. So obviously, it has to have been super successful to warrant a second season, which I'm sure Signal meets that bar.)
It would have been more interesting, imho, if they'd changed things up a bit and different characters were paired up -- like if in the new version of reality, it's Cha Soo-hyun who goes missing, and Park Hae-young and Lee Jae-han team up to find HER. Then again, they seem pretty determined to use the walkie-talkie as the communication method, so I guess they felt it had to be Lee Jae-han who remained the guy in the past.
The whole thing about the changes that were made in the future make no sense, to be honest. Why is it that Cha Soo-young sometimes remembers the first version of events, and sometimes doesn't? Does just the knowledge of the walkie-talkie immunize her from forgetting? That's never even addressed, much less adequately explained. They supposedly lived whole new lives once the events of the past were changed -- how come Park Hae-young can't seem to remember any of his second life, though in reality, he would have lived it? Or did he not? How does that work? (This isn't a contradiction specific to this show; it doesn't really make any sense on 12 Monkeys either.)
I'm really super bummed that Park Sun-woo wasn't able to be saved. I was soooooooooooooo mad at Lee Jae-han about that. The kid URGENTLY CALLED YOU to tell you about a CRUCIAL PIECE OF EVIDENCE, about a case that you KNOW really powerful people are determined to do all sorts of terrible things to keep hidden. And yet you had to go on that attempt to catch a mugger (seriously, a WHOLE SQUAD of dudes go after a mugger? Do cops in South Korea have nothing better to do?!)? Granted, it was to watch out for Cha Soo-hyun, but she herself was stupid for going when she's physically injured! And she went after the mugger without giving her teammates any notice! I was so done with the stupidity of all that, especially since it was such an obvious ploy to draw out the drama of whether or not Lee Jae-han would be able to save Park Sun-woo. And when he failed because of it, I WAS SO UPSET. Like, that poor fucking kid! Fucked over, again and again, by people who should have done right by him! God, it still makes me so mad.
I also was glad that the opening little girl was able to be saved, but really unhappy with the way that came about. It was such a seminal case -- it was the case that started the show -- and yet Lee Jae-han, even with the information he had, didn't hop on it and try to save her. I mean, I can't remember the specifics now of what he knew and what he didn't know, but obviously he knew enough to save her later, off screen. It would have been much more satisfying if, during that flashback scene of the girl smiling at Park Hae-young, and him not offering her the umbrella, he could have seen her go off with Lee Jae-han instead, so we'd know she was safe. Then again, then it wouldn't have been a case at all... which works fine narratively, but in reality doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If Lee Jae-han could have prevented her from being kidnapped, he would have done it.
Speaking of flashbacks, there were way too many of those for my taste. It's like, omg I have ALREADY SEEN THESE SCENES. OVER AND OVER. But I guess they felt like they had to really tie it together for us.
I loved the whole Cold Case team -- with the Grouchy dude and the Forensic Scientist dude -- so I hope they'll find some way to bring them together again as a team if they do a second season.
As I toldadelagia, it kind of sometimes seemed like they wanted to get Park Hae-young and Cha Soo-hyun together, what with his standing inappropriately close to her (to the point where she remarks on it), the behavior of her mother, the fact that he changes the past in order to save her, etc. I'm really glad they didn't go there, though. I'm as much for older women being with younger guys as anyone, but the Soo-hyun/Jae-han story was really cute and well developed, and I wanted them to be able to be together.
The last few episodes of the show made me an emotional wreck, however. I basically cried through all three hours. :)))))))
It's disturbing to me that the show was inspired by a real-life case. In reading about it on Wikipedia, it seems that the case was never solved!!! I mean, I guess that's why it inspired a show about cold cases, but still! WTF. And I also learned that the statute of limitations on murder is CURRENTLY 15 years in South Korea. Double/triple WTF. So that means the reality of the show -- in which there are no statute of limitations for violent crimes -- is total fiction! It's as fake as a modern-day monarchy a la Goong! Wow. I do NOT understand having a statute of limitations on things like murder and rape. Not at all. Why the HELL would you have anything in the law books that basically says, you can commit a horrible crime, but as long as you stay hidden for xx number of years, you're free and clear!
I would also like to see Park Hae-young have a love interest in season 2. :D I would love it most if it were that girl who apparently helped him study and prep for getting into the Police University.
And finally, I really loved the opening theme song. It was like a Korean country song of sorts, and it worked really well!
Since I now have a DramaFever subscription, I've started watching other shows in my queue. I started Oh My Ghostess, which has really high ratings on DF, and my Korean co-worker andakscully both rec it as well. I was hooked within the first 30 min!! It's AWESOME. Signal was so emotionally intense; this show is like eating a big, delicious slice of cake. I love the lead actress (I first saw her in a movie to or from Atlanta, called , about a budding journalist. I wasn't sure what I thought about the lead actor from his picture, but in live action, I like him. In terms of the ghost stuff, it's really minimal, though there are a couple of really minor parts that might be alarming to those who are sensitive to such things. :)) Ahem.
I watched two episodes last night, and I CANNOT WAIT to watch more. It's soooooo fun/good.
Na Bong-sun (Park Bo-young) has an extremely timid personality and low self-esteem, doesn't have any close friends, and is constantly getting reprimanded at her job as an assistant chef at Sun Restaurant. She also occasionally sees ghosts, thanks to a shaman grandmother (Lee Jung-eun). One day, Bong-sun gets possessed by a lustful virgin ghost named Shin Soon-ae (Kim Seul-gie). To make up for the lack of romance in her short life and believing that only by losing her virginity will she be able to "resolve her grudge" and move on to the afterlife, Soon-ae is determined to seduce as many men as she can by possessing various women, and she finds the perfect vessel in Bong-sun.
Bong-sun's boss is arrogant star chef Kang Sun-woo (Jo Jung-suk), whom she secretly has a crush on. Sun-woo hasn't dated anyone since getting his heart broken by his college friend Lee So-hyung (Park Jung-ah), who's a TV producer. But when Bong-sun seemingly gets rid of her shyness and suddenly changes into a confident, dynamic woman, she finally catches his eye. Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding Soon-ae's death involves Sun-woo's brother-in-law, a kind police officer, Choi Sung-jae (Lim Ju-hwan), who may not be what he seems.
I assumed that the ghost would pop in and out of the lead actress, so that Bong-sun would from time to time get to be herself and perhaps "fix" the things that the ghost put out of sorts, but at the part I'm at, she's "trapped" in her hostess's body. In which case, my biggest concern is that the hero would basically fall in love with the girl ghost, because she's the one in control. :/ Butakscully assures me that they address it, so that's good.
The guy is kind of a Draco, but not... he's not an outright asshole. He's arrogant, and can be asshole-ish, but his decency is also very obvious. It's not like Gu Jun-pyo, who you have to really look past a myriad of deficiencies to like, over time. :))
It's also super refreshing to see a woman being open with her sexuality, in a Korean drama, which is so rare. She's not slutty, but she can appreciate the male form, which is nice. I seriously doubt they actually let her be promiscuous, on the show.
It's a little trippy that the hero's name is Sun-woo, which is the name of Park Hae-young's brother in Signal. I guess I can think of it as that character getting his bit of happiness. :)) (In Korean it might be two totally different words, depending on accent/pronunciation, but in English it's just Sun-woo, so the same name as far as I'm concerned.)
Now that I'm using DF more often, I'm also seeing the benefits of Amazon Fire vs Chromecast. Amazon Fire is WAY better for this purpose. Amazon has a DF app and a remote control, so that's all I need to watch. With Chromecast, I have to have my phone or iPad in order to fire up the app from there, which means I have to have one of them with me when watching. But there doesn't seem to be any way to fast forward or rewind or do any of those functions, which is frustrating. And then sometimes, doing the casting goes awry, and it either only casts audio with no picture, or the subtitles don't show up, or whatever. There are none of those issues using Amazon Fire and the native DF app.
There was really strong storytelling overall. You do have to forgive the natural contradictions that occur whenever you deal with anything having to do with changing things in the past, but that was easy enough, because the story was compelling and the characters really well drawn. All the actors were wonderful. Kim Hye-soo is a freak of nature that she's able to look/act so young, and then so weathered later. And when I saw that IRL she's actually 46 I'm like WTF! Has she been bathing in the blood of unicorns and virgins or something?! She's a fantastic actress, though. I loved how gruff and lovable and decent Cho Jin-woong was as Lee Jae-han.
I did have a few pet peeves, though:
1) The way people would answer questions unnaturally in order to drag out the suspense was one of them. Someone would, for instance, ask, "Did so and so get on the bus at this stop?" And the interviewee, instead of saying yes or no, would say: "Well, that person... on this day... would have gotten on at XX stop... and it happened the other day, on my normal route... and it's the last stop of the day... so I remember it well. No, no one got on at that time." Like seriously?? Who answers questions like that??
2) The way they would be extremely repetitive with information. I don't know if it's a function of the language, or the translation, or the writing, but they would repeat obvious things that were just said or just happened in the same scene.
3) The characters weren't able to put together extremely obvious clues from time to time, and they were supposed to be PROFESSIONAL DETECTIVES. I mean, maybe it's easier for a viewer to grasp, I guess? But like, IT WAS SO OBVIOUS PARK HAE-YOUNG'S BIG BROTHER WAS MURDERED. And even though narratively, I had guessed that fairly early on, Park Hae-young had gotten so many hints about it that when he finally got to it, I was like, I can't believe it took this ace profiler this long to put this together OMG, especially because he was already distrustful of authority/the police/everyone involved with the conspiracy to begin with!!!
4) I don't know if Lee Je-hoon brought something to the role that they weren't expecting, but his introduction as a character never made sense, even from the start. He's an extremely smart, introverted guy, but he was introduced as one of those arrogant hotshots who was dishing celebrity news on the side. What??? Given his past, and how seriously he took his brother's case, the fact that he joined the force probably to look into it some more, and the fact that when Cha Soo-hyun was in his room, it was filled with cases and other intellectual paraphernalia, this seems like an extremely poor and frivolous use of his time, which I don't buy him ever doing.
And that last episode just went on and on and ON. I was like, where is this going?! And apparently it was basically a pilot for S2. Has anything about that been announced, I wonder? It isn't normal, at least in my experience, for an Asian drama to have multiple seasons, so that would be pretty cool if it did. (Though the Japanese and Chinese versions of Hana Yori Dango did -- of course not the Korean one, which I would have wanted the most -- and so did It Started With a Kiss. So obviously, it has to have been super successful to warrant a second season, which I'm sure Signal meets that bar.)
It would have been more interesting, imho, if they'd changed things up a bit and different characters were paired up -- like if in the new version of reality, it's Cha Soo-hyun who goes missing, and Park Hae-young and Lee Jae-han team up to find HER. Then again, they seem pretty determined to use the walkie-talkie as the communication method, so I guess they felt it had to be Lee Jae-han who remained the guy in the past.
The whole thing about the changes that were made in the future make no sense, to be honest. Why is it that Cha Soo-young sometimes remembers the first version of events, and sometimes doesn't? Does just the knowledge of the walkie-talkie immunize her from forgetting? That's never even addressed, much less adequately explained. They supposedly lived whole new lives once the events of the past were changed -- how come Park Hae-young can't seem to remember any of his second life, though in reality, he would have lived it? Or did he not? How does that work? (This isn't a contradiction specific to this show; it doesn't really make any sense on 12 Monkeys either.)
I'm really super bummed that Park Sun-woo wasn't able to be saved. I was soooooooooooooo mad at Lee Jae-han about that. The kid URGENTLY CALLED YOU to tell you about a CRUCIAL PIECE OF EVIDENCE, about a case that you KNOW really powerful people are determined to do all sorts of terrible things to keep hidden. And yet you had to go on that attempt to catch a mugger (seriously, a WHOLE SQUAD of dudes go after a mugger? Do cops in South Korea have nothing better to do?!)? Granted, it was to watch out for Cha Soo-hyun, but she herself was stupid for going when she's physically injured! And she went after the mugger without giving her teammates any notice! I was so done with the stupidity of all that, especially since it was such an obvious ploy to draw out the drama of whether or not Lee Jae-han would be able to save Park Sun-woo. And when he failed because of it, I WAS SO UPSET. Like, that poor fucking kid! Fucked over, again and again, by people who should have done right by him! God, it still makes me so mad.
I also was glad that the opening little girl was able to be saved, but really unhappy with the way that came about. It was such a seminal case -- it was the case that started the show -- and yet Lee Jae-han, even with the information he had, didn't hop on it and try to save her. I mean, I can't remember the specifics now of what he knew and what he didn't know, but obviously he knew enough to save her later, off screen. It would have been much more satisfying if, during that flashback scene of the girl smiling at Park Hae-young, and him not offering her the umbrella, he could have seen her go off with Lee Jae-han instead, so we'd know she was safe. Then again, then it wouldn't have been a case at all... which works fine narratively, but in reality doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If Lee Jae-han could have prevented her from being kidnapped, he would have done it.
Speaking of flashbacks, there were way too many of those for my taste. It's like, omg I have ALREADY SEEN THESE SCENES. OVER AND OVER. But I guess they felt like they had to really tie it together for us.
I loved the whole Cold Case team -- with the Grouchy dude and the Forensic Scientist dude -- so I hope they'll find some way to bring them together again as a team if they do a second season.
As I told
adelagia, it kind of sometimes seemed like they wanted to get Park Hae-young and Cha Soo-hyun together, what with his standing inappropriately close to her (to the point where she remarks on it), the behavior of her mother, the fact that he changes the past in order to save her, etc. I'm really glad they didn't go there, though. I'm as much for older women being with younger guys as anyone, but the Soo-hyun/Jae-han story was really cute and well developed, and I wanted them to be able to be together.The last few episodes of the show made me an emotional wreck, however. I basically cried through all three hours. :)))))))
It's disturbing to me that the show was inspired by a real-life case. In reading about it on Wikipedia, it seems that the case was never solved!!! I mean, I guess that's why it inspired a show about cold cases, but still! WTF. And I also learned that the statute of limitations on murder is CURRENTLY 15 years in South Korea. Double/triple WTF. So that means the reality of the show -- in which there are no statute of limitations for violent crimes -- is total fiction! It's as fake as a modern-day monarchy a la Goong! Wow. I do NOT understand having a statute of limitations on things like murder and rape. Not at all. Why the HELL would you have anything in the law books that basically says, you can commit a horrible crime, but as long as you stay hidden for xx number of years, you're free and clear!
I would also like to see Park Hae-young have a love interest in season 2. :D I would love it most if it were that girl who apparently helped him study and prep for getting into the Police University.
And finally, I really loved the opening theme song. It was like a Korean country song of sorts, and it worked really well!
Since I now have a DramaFever subscription, I've started watching other shows in my queue. I started Oh My Ghostess, which has really high ratings on DF, and my Korean co-worker and
akscully both rec it as well. I was hooked within the first 30 min!! It's AWESOME. Signal was so emotionally intense; this show is like eating a big, delicious slice of cake. I love the lead actress (I first saw her in a movie to or from Atlanta, called , about a budding journalist. I wasn't sure what I thought about the lead actor from his picture, but in live action, I like him. In terms of the ghost stuff, it's really minimal, though there are a couple of really minor parts that might be alarming to those who are sensitive to such things. :)) Ahem.I watched two episodes last night, and I CANNOT WAIT to watch more. It's soooooo fun/good.
Na Bong-sun (Park Bo-young) has an extremely timid personality and low self-esteem, doesn't have any close friends, and is constantly getting reprimanded at her job as an assistant chef at Sun Restaurant. She also occasionally sees ghosts, thanks to a shaman grandmother (Lee Jung-eun). One day, Bong-sun gets possessed by a lustful virgin ghost named Shin Soon-ae (Kim Seul-gie). To make up for the lack of romance in her short life and believing that only by losing her virginity will she be able to "resolve her grudge" and move on to the afterlife, Soon-ae is determined to seduce as many men as she can by possessing various women, and she finds the perfect vessel in Bong-sun.
Bong-sun's boss is arrogant star chef Kang Sun-woo (Jo Jung-suk), whom she secretly has a crush on. Sun-woo hasn't dated anyone since getting his heart broken by his college friend Lee So-hyung (Park Jung-ah), who's a TV producer. But when Bong-sun seemingly gets rid of her shyness and suddenly changes into a confident, dynamic woman, she finally catches his eye. Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding Soon-ae's death involves Sun-woo's brother-in-law, a kind police officer, Choi Sung-jae (Lim Ju-hwan), who may not be what he seems.
I assumed that the ghost would pop in and out of the lead actress, so that Bong-sun would from time to time get to be herself and perhaps "fix" the things that the ghost put out of sorts, but at the part I'm at, she's "trapped" in her hostess's body. In which case, my biggest concern is that the hero would basically fall in love with the girl ghost, because she's the one in control. :/ But
akscully assures me that they address it, so that's good.The guy is kind of a Draco, but not... he's not an outright asshole. He's arrogant, and can be asshole-ish, but his decency is also very obvious. It's not like Gu Jun-pyo, who you have to really look past a myriad of deficiencies to like, over time. :))
It's also super refreshing to see a woman being open with her sexuality, in a Korean drama, which is so rare. She's not slutty, but she can appreciate the male form, which is nice. I seriously doubt they actually let her be promiscuous, on the show.
It's a little trippy that the hero's name is Sun-woo, which is the name of Park Hae-young's brother in Signal. I guess I can think of it as that character getting his bit of happiness. :)) (In Korean it might be two totally different words, depending on accent/pronunciation, but in English it's just Sun-woo, so the same name as far as I'm concerned.)
Now that I'm using DF more often, I'm also seeing the benefits of Amazon Fire vs Chromecast. Amazon Fire is WAY better for this purpose. Amazon has a DF app and a remote control, so that's all I need to watch. With Chromecast, I have to have my phone or iPad in order to fire up the app from there, which means I have to have one of them with me when watching. But there doesn't seem to be any way to fast forward or rewind or do any of those functions, which is frustrating. And then sometimes, doing the casting goes awry, and it either only casts audio with no picture, or the subtitles don't show up, or whatever. There are none of those issues using Amazon Fire and the native DF app.
