Sign

Sign Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
A medical investigation drama about forensic doctors solving murder cases. Go Da Kyung is an eager rookie investigator who gets paired with the famous forensic doctor, Yoon Ji Hoon. They initially clash due to their different styles of investigation as well as their opposing personalities - Da Kyung's energetic nature is a source of irritation for the prickly Ji Hoon - but later develop a complex relationship as the two strive to uncover the truth through science.

Cast:
Park Shin Yang as Yoon Ji Hoon
Kim Ah Joong as Go Da Kyung
Uhm Ji Won as Jung Woo Jin
Jung Gyu Woon as Choi Yi Han
Jun Kwang Ryul as Lee Myung Han
Song Jae Ho as Jung Byung Do
Jang Hyun Sung as Jang Min Suk

My comments:
I was hooked on Sign (SBS, 20 episodes) since the first episode. It was a thrilling and exciting crime drama with unexpected twists of the cases. There is one main murder case since the first episode that lasted until the epilogue that was complicated due to manipulation of evidences from politicians, law enforcers, lawyers, you name it. We know who is the murderer very early but because the murderer is a VIP who has powerful background; therefore, it’s frustrating to see the folks gathering evidences and then evidences getting destroyed countless times because everyone’s corrupted. I felt that the endings of the villains were not harsh enough, especially the real murderer since she did not show signs of remorse with that smug expression. Grrr….

Sign was good because it did not have messy love relationships. The romance was so light that it was almost nonexistent. Ji Hoon and Da Kyung had little progress as pair to the point where a little holding hands scene and a few crying on the shoulder scenes were the most intimate between them. That’s why I didn’t buy them as a romantic pair since I get the mentor/student vibe more. Yi Han and Woo Jin was an enjoyable pair and at least they have a happy ending.

Now the ending, it created a lot of dissatisfaction. I didn’t read spoilers ahead and I’m glad because it had a greater impact. I cried so much at the last episode. It’s been a long long time that I didn’t see a male lead die in a K-drama that wasn’t in the melodrama genre. I was sad about the ending but I thought the death of Ji Hoon made sense because it was needed for the conclusion of that particular case, in which every single evidence is destroyed and every witness is killed. If he didn’t do what he did, how will the truth ever be will revealed?

I like the cast overall although I’m sometimes scared of watching Park Shin Yang (he’s one of the reasons why I didn’t continue War of Money). He’s an intense actor and in this drama, he plays a serious and demanding autopsist but he tends to yell too much. Jun Kwang Ryul as his rival is the complete opposite. He doesn’t show a lot of expressions, that’s why you don’t know what he’s really thinking. He does what he does driven by ambitions but at the end he didn’t completely lose conscience. Kim Ah Joong matured a lot in looks and acting compared to 200 Pounds Beauty.

Overall, Sign is a satisfactory drama that I didn’t regret spending 20 hours on it…

* Opening credit of the drama