Although Netflix is truly an international streaming service with original programming from all over the world, it can still be surprising when an unheralded series races to the top of the list of the most popular TV shows on Netflix. This week, a little-known German miniseries, The Signal, has gotten the coveted boost from Netflix and landed at No. 3 on the TV charts. That’s an incredible performance for a show that doesn’t have any established actors from the U.S.
If you need an excuse to check out Netflix’s latest sensation, here are three great reasons to watch The Signal. And since there are only four episodes, this binge can be finished in a single night if you just can’t wait for the next chapter.
It’s a sci-fi mystery
The Signal is a sci-fi story, and it wastes little timein setting up the premise. Peri Baumeister plays Paula, an astronaut on the International Space Station who is on a mission for Mudhi (Sheeba Chaddha), a billionaire who wants to find proof of extraterrestrial life in the universe.
It’s not a spoiler to say that Paula does discover something on the ISS, and it’s a secret that is worth killing and dying for. The full picture of what Paula learned is slowly unraveled, but that gives the show one of its best mysteries. The other major mystery is what happened to Paula after she returned to Earth.
It’s a father and daughter story
Because of the magnitude of Paula’s discovery, someone not only wants her silenced, but discredited as well. That’s why Paula’s plane goes down with no apparent survivors as she’s heading home. More alarmingly, Paula is blamed for the crash and vilified as a way to discredit her.
Paula’s husband, Sven (Florian David Fitz), and their daughter, Charlie (Yuna Bennett), are left to pick up the pieces of her life. And that includes Paula’s discovery on the station. Sven and Charlie end up on the run as this father-daughter duo attempt to decipher the clues that Paula left for them while also hoping to clear her name. Their refusal to back off has put Sven and Charlie’s lives in danger, which adds a lot of tension as they attempt to stay one step ahead of the people who are after them.
It has a strong conclusion
Four episodes is not a major commitment when it comes to bingeing shows on Netflix. But it does turn out to be the right length for The Signal. The most important thing to know is that the miniseries does not string viewers along forever, and it manages to stick the landing with a strong and satisfying conclusion.
That’s a rarity, because far too many endings are simply designed to tease what’s next. There may not be any more episodes of The Signal, and that’s OK. It already has the exact ending that it needed.
Watch The Signal on Netflix.
