The silent sea cast and reviews
The Silent Sea (Season 1) takes place in an alternate reality skewing very close to a possible and prescient future. This is a time when humanity is dying out due to drought and overpopulation. The population is supplied with class cards having different designations; differentiating how much water can be extracted by every member of the populace from the water supplying kiosks. This is the cause of class disparity in this near-future dystopia.
Set in these turbulent times, Bae Doona’s Dr. Song Jian is assigned a mission to go to Balhae Station on the surface of the moon and retrieve important samples that might hold the key to solving the water crisis back on Earth. Joining her is Gong Yoo’s Captain Han Yunjae, military head and the brawns of this operation, to lead this expedition in the abandoned moonbase where 117 researchers had died 5 years earlier due to a mysterious radiation leak.
As the show opens, the spaceship is in complete disarray, while reaching the moon, the landing mechanics of the ship causes the ship to crash-land on the edge of a cliff on the surface. Now, barely escaping from the crashed site, the crew journeys to the moon-base to search for the sample, but as they become acquainted with the base, things to start go horribly wrong as the crew discovers a mystery that might potentially endanger their time there.
Sci-fi always works well when it takes concepts that are very easily imaginable with regards to the current landscape, and thus imagines a solution for solving the said situation. Most Korean dramas are character-based, but The Silent Sea (Season 1) is an exception. I’m not saying that writer Eun-Kyo Park (Mother) doesn’t crafts a sci-fi and horror series which feels very much like a genre exercise done right. The Silent Sea excels at getting the tone and claustrophobic vibe of the show once the characters enter the moonbase and uncover mysterious findings not completely in sync with the information that had been supplied to them. It also adds an interesting wrinkle when the characters all exhibit a strong sense of individualism and personal stakes. These almost always cause clashes, especially between the two protagonists. However, the events occurring finally make the two protagonists work together, even as the supporting cast slowly starts dwindling down.
The conceit of the said show, the solution to solve the water crisis is one of those extremely simple sci-fi concepts that if used right, works wonders. The Silent Sea, as the name might infer, manages to make even a natural resource like water terrifying for the audience, and that is just clever writing at play. It is also remarkable how water used here, reminds us very presciently of our current situation in the midst of a pandemic. Revealing too much would be a spoiler, so the writing is on tenterhooks here.
Combine that simple conceit with concepts of claustrophobic sci-fi horror resembling Alien, as well as sci-fi leaning towards the weird like The Girl with All the Gifts or even Claire Denis’ High Life, and The Silent Sea is quite a lot. However, the script and the story are grounded by the leads and their motivations which feel relatable and empathetic to the audience. Even the supporting cast is mostly likable though some of them don’t get the chance to rise above their archetypal offerings.
While some characters feel like exposition machines, content to voice their motivations in the first couple of episodes, from the third episode the narrative becomes much more assured and the details of the plot slowly start to unfurl. It helps that the science used in the sci-fi angle skews far closer to reality, thus allowing the audience to follow the story along.
The pacing of the show might feel sluggish at some places, but credit must be given to how quickly the show sets up its world without getting bogged down by too many backstories. The action sequences are staged and edited well, and the cinematography too gives the show a visual splendor, even though at times the illusion of the moon being an actual sound-stage threatens to break, but it really isn’t enough to break your immersion.
The overall focus on humanity and its different aspects serve to showcase how it is its own worst enemy. In an effort to create a solution for the whole world, humanity resorts to measures that are revealed as outlawed and illegal. While these are well-worn tropes of sci-fi when done well they work. The focus on conspiracies between two rival corporations, and a rival corporation sending in saboteurs to derail the operation since the beginning sounds like unnecessary additions to the show, but they are woven very well into the narrative while managing to maintain a suitable amount of tension as the show races towards the finale. It also helps that the visual effects rival most Hollywood productions in terms of showcasing the narrative and the horrors shown on the screen.
The ending of the show is where the show stumbles for me. Nitpicking a sci-fi show based on plot holes is an easy mark for criticism, but the ending of The Silent Sea (Season 1) introduces a wrinkle that comes out of nowhere. It also ends in a way that could be taken as ambiguous in one aspect or inviting a continuation in another aspect. Knowing Netflix, the latter is the higher possibility, which is both a good thing as well as a shame. Good thing because the world introduced here is a unique one which I won’t be averse to seeing continued, the ending revelation deserves an answer. Bad thing because a complete story from beginning to end is always a far better way to go out on. Though I am certain fans of the leads won’t complain too much.
When Galileo invented his telescope and looked at the Moon, he saw dark spots on its surface, which he believed to be water. He referred to them as “The Silent Sea.” In 1651, astronomers Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Giovanni Battista Riccioli renamed it “Mare Tranquillitatis” (or Sea of Tranquility). Well, there is always some reality hidden in the fiction, I guess. Based on the belief of these astronomers, several lunar missions were carried out to find traces of water on the Moon. And that’s what Netflix’s South Korean series, “The Silent Sea,” is about. Space explorers hope to find water to save the human race from extinction.
Director Choi Hang-yong has adapted The Silent Sea series from his own short film that was released in 2014. The narrative brings a group of space explorers on a 24-hour lunar mission. They have to retrieve lunar water samples from a closed South Korean facility on the Moon called the Balhae Lunar Research Station. But as the team enters the facility, a plethora of secrets start to unravel, which further complicates the mission. So let’s dig deep.
In a dystopian future, the rivers in major cities worldwide dry up due to less or no rainfall. The countries are experiencing declining sea levels and an increase in infant mortality. Due to a water shortage, the South Korean government started rationing water to all its counterparts based on their ranks. Officials with a higher “water grade” receive more water, which enrages ordinary citizens who demand equitable water distribution.
Amid such chaos, Kim Jae-sun (Heo Sung-tae), an official of the Space and Aeronautics Administration (SAA), visits Doctor Song Ji-an (Bae Doona), an astrobiologist who works at HSRC. Doctor Song’s elder sister, Song Wonkyung, used to work for SAA and lost her life five years ago in Balhae Station after the spread of radiation inside the facility. Director Choi of SAA offers a vital mission to Dr. Song in which she is required to go to Balhae Station. In the hope of finding the answers to her older sister’s death, Dr Song undertakes the mission.
At the SAA facility, Dr. Song meets the captain of Balhae Lunar Mission, Han Yoon-jae (Gong Yoo), and other team members. Director Choi briefs the team that they need to retrieve an essential sample from closed Balhae Station in 24 hours before the government can shut it down permanently. When Dr. Song requests more detailed information on the “sample,” Director Choi and Kim refuse to share further details. Dr. Song feels something is amiss with the whole ordeal, yet to find her sister’s remains, she boards the space shuttle along with the space explorers.
Emily wears silly clothes," says the British banker Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), Emily's love interest in season 2. Clashing prints, block colours, fingerless gloves, bucket hats, vintage jackets, retro bags—the fashion is over the top. Her boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) and friend Mindy (Ashley Park) are far sassier and effortless—Emily (Lily Collins) looks bland when in the same frame as them. This American in Paris is still conflicted about Chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo—he with hazel-blue eyes). And like Emily's pop colours, Paris is always sunny and Eiffel Tour is never out of sight.—Nipa Charagi
As already mentioned, The Silent Sea opens with an intense scene onboard a spaceship that has crashed. Obviously, you won’t know what’s going on at this point, so it’s followed with a flashback. Before the episode ends, we’re back on the spaceship.
I always like it when a series opens strongly and then takes the time to explain how we got there. At the same time, this isn’t a series that drags out things for too long. As always with South Korean productions, it is very character-driven. Something that works really well in movies as well as series.
The Silent Sea episodes are directed by Choi Hang Yong, who also directed the short film by the same name. He takes lead on this Netflix series adaption by teaming up with writer Park Eunkyo. Previosuly, Park Eunkyo (or Eun-kyo Park) wrote the screenplay for Bong Joon Ho‘s amazing film Mother (2009).
Also involved with bringing this Netflix production to life is actor Jung Woo-sung as an executive producer of the series. Season 1 of The Silent Sea has 8 episodes that are each around 45 minutes, so it’s a very classic series setup.
The pacing is more along the lines of many English-language productions as opposed to the slow-burn of South Korean productions. Overall, it’s definitely worth checking out this extremely well-produced series with an amazing cast and a fascinating sci-fi plot set in a dystopian future.
Netflix got in one more grim K-drama before Christmas: moon mystery The Silent Sea. Because nothing says Christmas like a spooky, abandoned lunar base! The drama stars Bae Doona (Cloud Atlas, Kingdom) as Dr. Song, an astrobiologist-turned-ethologist who agrees to go on a mission to the lunar base where her sister died in order to retrieve a mysterious “sample.”
The story is set in a probably-too-near future in which climate change has rapidly reduced the Earth’s water supply, leaving the surviving population to fight for the unevenly distributed resource. Song is part of a team that includes a doctor, two pilots, some engineers, and several seemingly experienced astronauts, including Captain Han, played by Gong Yoo (Train to Busan, Squid Game). While Captain Han is in charge of the mission, Dr. Song has control over any decisions having to do with the unstable and very dangerous “sample.”
I’m glad you asked. When lunar water is exposed to the human body, it multiplies exponentially inside of the host until they are dead, drowned from the inside out. Lunar water is a hopeful discovery in the sense that it could solve Earth’s water scarcity problem, but bad in the sense that lunar water, you know, usually kills its host.
It’s terrifying to imagine how lunar water could be abused in the wrong hands. As evidenced by the fight for water regulation abolition on Silent Sea‘s Earth—and you know how inequality and capitalism works on our Earth—it’s not hard to imagine immoral businesspeople killing people in exchange for the lunar water they produce. Of course, lunar water is useless unless people can consume it. Otherwise, humans are viral drowning in a dry, thirsty world.
As Dr. Song and Captain Han eventually agree upon, Luna is the potential savior of Earth. But what might that look like? SAA Chief Kim (Squid Game‘s Heo Sungtae) admits to them that, while he has grown unsettled by Director Choi’s unchecked power, he is fine with an outcome that would see Luna living out the rest of her probably numbered days being experimented on at a Ministry of National Defense facility. Dr. Song comes up with an alternate plan: bring Luna and the lunar water samples to The International Institute of Space Biology, which seems somewhat akin to our ISS. Dr. Song sees the institute as a more neutral area to continue to research the possibilities of lunar water outside of one government or corporations sole control.
In the final episode, it is confirmed that both Lieutenant Ryu and co-pilot Lee Gisu were hired by RX, which is described in Episode 2 as “a transnational corporation. RX is short for Resource Exploration for Space Mining and Planetary Development. They sound like a corporate-funded group of space mercenaries who work to secure resources that can then be sold to the highest bidder, and they are pretty much sabotaging the mission from the beginning.
In the final act of “The Silent Sea,” Captain Han realizes that they won’t be able to activate the decompression chamber from inside the chamber (because of course), and that someone must stay behind to do it. Without telling Dr. Song or Doc Hong (Crash Landing On You‘s Kim Sun Young), he returns to the prior chamber and activates the depressurization process for them, ensuring that the doctors and Luna will be able to safely leave the base.
All about Netflix’s The Silent Sea, a new Korean sci-fi thriller
Netflix has been relatively tight-lipped regarding its new K-drama series. The teaser poster itself reveals Song Jian (Bae Doona), an astrobiologist who has just set foot on the moon. According to the official logline, the character is a member of an elite team sent to the moon to save Earth, which has been depleted of its natural resources, from ruin.
While looking for clues to save Earth, team members encounter mysterious predicaments and unforeseen events that occur in outer space. Their fates hanging by a thread will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
The Silent Sea is a series based on director Choi Hang-yong’s short film by the same name, which received much acclaim at the 13th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival in 2014. Actor Jung Woo-sung was enthralled by this story that Choi has been crafting over a decade.
“I loved the spectacular ideas behind the story. I wanted to be involved in creating a sci-fi series that is uniquely Korean,” said Jung, whose participation in the production of the series has garnered much attention.
Joining Bae Doona and Gong Yoo in this new K-drama sci-fi series are Lee Joon, Kim Sun-young, Lee Mu-saeng and Lee Sung-wook. With a juggernaut cast along with an intense and suspenseful storyline, The Silent Sea is primed to become a grand finale for Korean films and series in 2021.
The Silent Sea is an intriguing space thriller starring Gong Yoo, Bae Doona, and Lee Joon in lead roles. The film is set in a dystopian world where citizens of South Korea are seen suffering due to a severe water shortage. This is a result of the Great Drought, a fictional event that has taken the world by storm. As a result, the citizens are divided into different classifications with each of them getting varying amounts of water, with varying purity.
They are handed cards that classify each of them into different categories in The Silent Sea and this also decides their standing in the community. Many struggle with this water shortage as they stand in long queues while higher-ups do as much as possible to push for fair water distribution.
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