Heart Signal 4 (2021)

The friendships are great but some aspects are disappointing

7/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean reality dating show with 20, 86-121 minute episodes. There are 15 regular episodes and 5 episodes about the singles after the show ended.

First I provide a Unique Synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Six singles, three men and three women move into a house where they all will live together for one month. The women share one room and the men share rooms as well. In the beginning, they do not tell each other their ages or professions. They can flirt, ask each other to talk or go places but they cannot directly tell someone they like them. They must figure out others feelings through signals including anonymous texts each single sends to someone of their choosing at the end of each day. The celebrity panel watches the show and tries to predict who will send a text to whom. They compete for the most correct guesses by gathering and losing gems based on their guesses. After several episodes one more male and one more female single join the show to stir things up.

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Singles

Note: I say was this profession or that because they could have changed since the show ended. The age at filming is Korean age.

Women

Kim Ji Young - birth year 1995. She Was a brand consultant for an interior architecture company. Formerly a Korean Air flight attendant. She would have been 28 during filming.

Lee Ju Mi - birth year 1994. She was a lawyer.

Kim Ji Min - birth year 2000. Student at Sungshin women’s University. She would have been 22 during filming.

Yoo Yi Soo - birth year 1998. She was a casting agent and model. She would have been 25 during filming.

Men

Shin Min Gyu - birth year 1993. His profession was strategy consultant. He would have been 30 when the show was filmed.

Han Gyeo Re - birth year 1989. CEO of F&B company. He would have been 34 when the show was filmed.

Yoo Ji Won - birth year 1996. He was a medical intern. He would have been 27 when the show was filmed.

Lee Hu Shin - birth year 1993. A painter and model. He would have been 30 when the show filmed. He joined in episode 3.

Celebrity Panel

Yoon Jong Shin - a South Korean singer and song writer. He is also a record producer and is the CEO of Mystic Story. He was born in 1969 so would have been 53 when the show aired in 2022.

Kim Ea Na - a South Korean song writer who wrote hit songs for some of the top singers in South Korea. She was born in 1979 so would have been 43 when the show filmed.

Lee Sang Min -  is a South Korean singer, song writer, record producer and television personality. He is a former member of hip hop and dance group Roo'ra. He was born in 1973 so would have been 50 when the show was filmed.

Mimi - birth year 1995. Main rapper in girl group Oh! My Girl. She is also a singer and song writer. She would have been 28 when the show was filmed.

Kang Seung Yoon - Birth year 1994. Singer, song writer and lead of the boy band Winner. Healso acts and has received awards for various acting roles. He would have been 29 when the show was filmed.

Kim Chong Gi - 35 years old at time of filming so born about 1988. He is a Psychiatrist who has a web presence and published many articles on mental health.

Dawn formerly E’Dawn (full name Kim Hyo-jong) born in 1994 would be about 29 when the “after” shows aired. He joined the panel episode 16. Formerly a singer and songwriter in the boy band Pentagon, he is now a soloist.

Review

It is true to the theme of the show with the regular events scheduled by the show and spontaneous interactions chosen by the singles. It is a roller coaster of emotions particularly if you tend to feel other’s emotions strongly. I noticed that the singles get more and more attractive and accomplished through each subsequent episode. I think, with heart signal, I enjoy it a lot up to the point where the “catfish” (the male and female that join late and wind up disrupting a lot of the relationships) arrive. Once they arrive it feels less like we are watching a dating show and more like a game show. It is like watching a fictional romance drama and see the couple building a relationship, fall in love, then a 2nd person comes in during the last few episodes and splits the main couple apart. Most would not consider that a happy ending. I am not at all suggesting the show should steer things so that certain couples stay together, but I do wish they would stop doing things to drive them apart, One might argue if they liked each other enough nothing could drive them apart but that is rarely tge case in a newly formed, fragile, relationship. My daughter, who normally watches Asian shiws with me, rage quit after episode 13. At that point it became very clear things were falling apart.

If you are a fan of the show I would stay still watch this one. All of the singles are amazing people and most are simply too nice and caring of others to be harsher when they perhaps should. I liked most of them a lot. The celebrity panel are amazing as always and their commentary and insights are very enjoyable. Be prepared to be as frustrated with the way things go as you might have been with Season 1. If you get sad when others are (you are an empath) either be prepared to shield your emotions or avoid this. There were days my daughter and I would skip watching as it was too much to handle but in small bites.

Spoiler

I have to remind myself that the singles also know they are on a reality show and realize that others will see events and hear things they say later. It helps to understand that as the texts they send do not always go to the person they are most romantically interested in. They may send a text to a person they enjoyed the day with, or because they want to be sure someone gets a text, or because they are comfortable with the person and sending a text to their actual interest may hurt others.

I thought the best couples were Min Gyu with Ji Young, Han Geo Re with Lee Ju Mi and Lee Hu Shin and Lee Ji Min. But, of course, that is not how it ends up. Min Gyu amd Ji Young were the preferred partners of all of the singles. But those two liked each other a lot.They allowed others to make them feel guilty though and that wound up driving them apart. I thought Yi Soo was very manipulative in that she misrepresented some of the things Min Gyu said to her to Ji Young making her think Min Gyu had stronger feelings for Yi Soo than I believe he did at the time. She also played the sweet innocent younger girl around the other women when it appeared she was way more scheming than that. I think the way she wound up coming across to viewers was a factor of how the show was edited where we saw Ji Young’s hurt reactions a lot and not other things that would have helped us understand better. She did play the perfect “Catfish” as her entry, in episode 6, really disrupted things.

I think you experience a true catfish in this one in Yi Soo. I cannot help but notice some Americanized traits in the way she approaches romantic relationships. “All is Fair in Love and War” is an American saying and I feel she definitely deployed this tactic. Call it selective editing or whatever but she clearly misrepresented things that were said, or not said, to her in order to manipulate the situation. She played her role, and matched the intent of adding singles late, well. But it was brutal watching her utilizing her tactics on the other singles that had a kinder, gentler way of approaching romantic rivalry. She did not allow Min Gu to have other thoughts as she was right there staring him down and making it clear she would be “hurt” if he chose anyone else to talk to or date. I think her sweet, gentle, vulnerable young woman demeanor in front of the other singles when they were in groups was an act. All of that made her an effective disruptor.

I was frustrated enough by the last two episodes I only skim watched them. I was so disappointed in the complete change of heart and just focusing on the dates with one female too much.

After signal makes up for some of the things that happened in the last episodes and you get insight into why the singles made the seemingly baffling decisions.

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