With an astronaut who goes missing while on the trail of something incredible that her family members – of course opposed by all kinds of dark forces – must find, a series has all the ingredients to be nail-bitingly exciting. That makes it all the more tragic that the German miniseries That Signalwhich will be released on Netflix next Thursday, hardly ever becomes truly moving.
In recent years, German makers have repeatedly managed to impress with beautiful productions, such as last year with the psychological thriller series Love’s Child. You managed to create an eerie feeling even in your own familiar living room. And especially the success series Dark (2017–2020) kept the viewer on the edge of their seat with its shifting timelines, thrilling plot and intriguing, unreliable narrative form that kept you guessing. Perhaps that is why it also operates at the intersection of thriller and mystery series That Signal expectations were extra high.
Puzzle pieces
The design of the four-episode miniseries is excellent. It is clear that what the German astronaut Paula (played by Peri Baumeister, The Last Kingdom) discovered during its mission on the International Space Station (ISS) is of world-changing nature. There is also enough ambiguity to keep you as a viewer interested in what the next piece of the puzzle will be. Her husband Sven (Florian David Fitz) and daughter Charlie (Yuna Bennett), who remained on Earth, seem to be on the trail of something so important that enemies appear everywhere to prevent further discovery of the truth. Sven plays with gusto with his Nokia 3310 phone (“I’m not a data junkie!”) the role of ‘wappie’ who takes on a real existing conspiracy in this case.
It’s almost amazing that this quest never really becomes interesting. Mystery is essential to keep stories like this exciting, but… That Signal It remains unclear for too long what the big secret is supposed to represent. As a result, as a viewer you do not really sympathize with the challenges that Paula and Sven face. You see that the makers have thrown in plot twists, but unfortunately they don’t work.
Sign language
Although the blood-curdling tension is lacking, the series offers more on an emotional level. Deaf Charlie makes you sympathize with her longing for her mother. The sign language she speaks with her father (and which can sometimes function as a secret language) gives an extra dimension to the dialogues. Also has That Signal attention to mental illnesses in a respectful and nuanced way, something you would like to see more often in films and series. The series is further dominated by strong female characters.
One of the nicest characters and locations, an ‘autonomous citizen’ who lives on her own secured estate and “does her own research” into the earthly and extraterrestrial, has to make do with a pitiful fifteen minutes of playing time. Just when things start to get a bit fun, it’s over, she deserved a lot more.
Delivers on a production level That Signal. The weightless scenes in the ISS provide a glimpse into astronaut life. The spinning camera work translates the dizziness that this state must give to the viewer. There also appeared to be enough budget elsewhere for great action scenes. Perhaps the series would have worked better as an exciting film of two hours or less than as a miniseries twice as long.
Making those few plus points That Signal ultimately a not bad series to watch, but it hardly ever becomes truly thrilling. And that’s a shame. That Signal had all the elements to be a success, but somehow failed to make it happen. Injury.