What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

Signal (2016)

Signal was one of those shows that on the surface seems like a police procedural, dark and gritty and all the things that encompass a detective show. However, I found the cases intriguing, and as I proceeded with the show, there were actually more links between the cases than seemed apparent at first.

Overall, I found the show extremely engaging, and our trio of detectives each brought their own unique take and style to the team. Detective Lee’s (Cho Jin-woong) cautious optimism for the future was balanced out well with Detective Park’s (Lee Jae-hoon) cynicism and Detective Cha (Kim Hye-soo) helps to bridge the two worlds between the past and the present, by providing helpful insights and a strong emotional thread to connect Lee and Park.

While both Cho and Kim delivered strong performances, at times Lee felt a bit forced in his role. When Lee was onscreen it didn’t feel like I was seeing the character, but rather watching an actor deliver lines, where the other two actors seemed to inhabit their characters like a second skin.

The visual styling of the show was also quite interesting, and I found the flashback in particular stood out. Having the compressed look to them immediately told you what timeline you were in, without the need for clunky exposition or date tags of any sort. It also put me a little off-kilter every time I saw that compressed view, skewing the universe and telling me that something isn’t quite right, as though I’m seeing something I shouldn’t be privy to, getting a peek through a crack I shouldn’t look through.

Ultimately, even though I enjoyed the show, the ending made me angry. Even though I like when an ending is left open with room for interpretation, I found myself yelling at my screen “Is that it?!” as everything went to black and the ending was left open. I think the reason for this was two-fold. First, in a show where the structure serves to provide clear-cut answers to cases, with clear perpetrators and victims, I found it counter-to-message to leave unanswered questions. Second was that I was waiting for some sort of explanation to all the time-related aspects of the show: Why did the radio choose Park? Did they create a paradox when Lee survived? Why did Cha only remember some of the changes to the timeline but not others if she was so closely linked to it? Perhaps I’m taking too much of a sci-fi approach to a cop show, but I think that this was where the show let me down the most, and while I can say that I enjoyed the show for what it was, I wish the writer’s had put a little more thought into the mechanics of the universe they set up.

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (2020) – Ep 11

I only managed to get through one of the two episodes this week, but it was one of my favourites. The kindly harabeoji Kim Man-bok (Lee Soon-jae) has been the silent helping hand throughout the show so far, so it was nice that we finally got some insight into his character this episode. And what a beautiful and poignant tale it is, one that serves as a lesson just as much as it shows the small opportunities and decisions that make up a lifetime. The flashbacks – featuring Go Ara and Lee Jae-wook as the younger counterparts – serve as a record that timing is an important factor in life, serving as the basis for luck and fate to do their work. My largest take-away from Man-bok’s telling of his story was that the separation from his then-future wife actually served to solidify his feelings for her even more, because they made him realise that much more how special she was to him.

Other than looking at his past, Man-bok got to pay homage to his wife in the present. Ra-ra suggested a recital to play his wife’s favourite song on the anniversary of her death, and while he may not be quite at the skill level that he wants to achieve yet, he played with such heart that the townspeople (and I) were moved to tears just to see the depth of emotion he poured into his performance. Whether intentional or not, this show has always seemed to be an advocate for doing the things you love, even when they don’t line up with what is expected of you, even if it isn’t the thing you are best at. Ra-ra played piano out of love for her father, Joon stood up to his parents out of love for his friend, and I suspect that a lot of the townspeople perform similar acts of kindness for one another because of their love for each other.

The other thing that stood out to me in this episode was the lack of all the usual sparkles and shine. There was much more muted tone to this episode to reflect the Ra-ra’s current temperament. I’d mentioned previously that the shows eccentric style seems to be a reflection of Ra-ra own world view, and as she’e faced more hardships, thing seem to have become more muted. I’m hoping that the show can return to its original vibrancy as Ra-ra begins to return to her original bubbly self.