The ending of The Signal swaps plot for theme, making the supposedly imminent arrival of extraterrestrials a reminder of humanity’s needless division. It’s a nice idea, but a lackluster one compared to the mysterious build-up of the German Netflix series into Episode 4. Viewers will likely be disappointed with the revelation, if not necessarily the journey took to get there throughout Season 1.
Let’s just lay out the setup first and foremost, since in such a short miniseries, events in the first episode are just as relevant as those in the last. So, Paula is a German astronaut returning to Earth with her colleague Hadi after a mission aboard the International Space Station funded by Indian billionaire Benisha Mudhi. Paula and Hadi land safely back on terra firma despite Paula toying with the idea of not deploying the shuttle’s parachutes for a few seconds, and all seems well.
But all is not well, as we quickly learn. Paula calls her husband Sven that night and relays a cryptic message, and the next day, when Sven and their hearing-impaired daughter Charlie are waiting for Paula’s plane to land back in Germany, they get news that the aircraft has vanished over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 178 people on-board. Sven and Charlie begin to investigate whatever conspiracy is at play in the present day while flashbacks to the ISS show what seems to be Paula receiving first contact from extraterrestrials who’re edging nearer and nearer to Earth.
Why was Hadi sabotaging Paula?
The Signal relies on a very played-out trope which suggests that Paula might be imagining the transmission due to mental health issues. However, as the show progresses we learn she was being actively sabotaged by Hadi, who was working against her because he was being blackmailed by Mudhi.
Hadi’s first approach is to gaslight Paula into believing that what she’s hearing is a hallucination. Paula entertains the cruel idea, but eventually learns that Hadi has been playing saboteur to prevent her from sharing the news publicly. If she were to inform the other astronauts on the ISS about what she was hearing, it would be reported to the world.
Hadi takes things to the next level by trapping Paula in a section of the station and draining it of oxygen, trying to force her to reveal the exact date and location of the aliens’ supposedly imminent arrival on Earth. Paula eventually relays her calculations but reveals after that she was broadcasting it live over the radio. Hadi frees her and tries to explain later that he was acting against his will, but it’s small consolation after almost asphyxiating in space.
Who arranged for the plane to be brought down?
Sven and Charlie learn that the world’s governments have agreed to blow up any UFO immediately, without effort to communicate. Luckily, Paula didn’t broadcast the right date and time, throwing them off. However, Sven does not suspect Mudhi, so goes to her with coordinates that he believes Paula secretly gave Charlie while communicating with her over the radio.
By the time they all arrive at the desert location to await the aliens, Sven has learned that it was Mudhi who arranged for Paula and Hadi’s plane to be brought down, covering her tracks. Mudhi wants to make first contact, but no aliens arrive at the coordinates. Fuming, she orders her assistant Nora to kill Sven and Charlie, but Nora lets them go.
Do the aliens land on Earth?
Sven and Charlie figure out that the coordinates given to Charlie only reveal the right location of the landing spot, but not the right time. That information was obscured in the cryptic voicemail that Paula left for Sven before she boarded the flight. Putting the information together gives Charlie and Sven the right time and the right location.
So, three months later, and with Mudhi arrested, Sven and Charlie head back out into the desert to wait for the landing. And there is a landing – however, it’s not aliens. What lands back on Earth is NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, sent out in 1977.
Voyager 1 contains The Golden Record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper phonograph record containing images and sounds designed to portray the diversity of life on Earth, selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. You can check out the contents of the real thing on the official Golden Record website.
What Paula was hearing was a section of the record’s audio greetings from Earth’s inhabitants, playing on a loop. What she thought was alien contact was humanity’s own efforts to contact aliens.
How does The Signal Season 1 end?
The Signal ends with no aliens having arrived on Earth. However, the discovery of the Voyager 1 probe carries with it another mystery – someone, somewhere, sent it back.
Contrasting present-day attitudes with those preserved on the Golden Record shows how far we’ve fallen since; the humanity that left those images and messages is not the same humanity that would bomb a UFO on sight. We sent a message of peace and unity that we never lived up to and preached values we couldn’t maintain. The snapshot of our previous attitude to exploring the universe serves as a reminder that we can do better and band together again, so that perhaps when whoever sent the probe back decides to visit, they’ll find a planet and people worth the trip.
What did you think of The Signal Season 1 Episode 4? Let us know in the comments.
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