Summary
This series is an abundance of human emotions and an analysis of our flaws.
This review of the Netflix K-Drama series The Silent Sea season 1 does not contain spoilers.
Unfurl the writing for The Silent Sea, and beneath it all is a story highlighting the many facets of the human consciousness. Of course, it’s easy to absorb the K-Drama production, especially as it reels the audience in on the opening chapter, but it quickly becomes a study of human decision-making and our flaws, intrinsically linked to our emotions. And that’s a theme that strongly resonates with me; an emotionally driven sci-fi, and one that is based in space, is the perfect condition to tell a story about the connections between a community of people.
The series opens up in an intriguing but fractured way. Earth is struggling due to the lack of water resources. A person’s classification results in how much water access they get. Farming is getting destroyed, and tensions are high. But then the series brings in astrobiologist Song Jian, who Director Choi asks to carry out a mission on a moon research station with a well-skilled crew captained by Han Yunjae. The only objective is to retrieve an unknown sample within 24 hours and return it to Earth.
The station itself has been abandoned due to a radioactive leak, and Director Choi claims she has no idea what the sample is. The audience is plunged into a world of conspiracy, where our characters quickly learn their mission is not what it seems. It becomes a complex mystery, with horrors lurking around every corner, and the technicalities of being in space take the cornerstone of the story.
The reliance on the lead characters’ intentions drives the core of the story. They all have their individualistic goals and emotional reasons to take the mission. Their desires are slowly peeled away with each chapter, as secrets are revealed one drop at a time to a thirsty audience. The Silent Sea would not be a worthwhile sci-fi without the significant character development and an engaging cast.
Credit also has to be noted for the soundtrack. If you enjoy the emotional chords of the likes of Interstellar and Arrival, you will surely appreciate what the Netflix series is trying here. The K-Drama has put in a sizeable production to elevate this story, which is unsurprising in this industry, but something we should never take for granted. I fear the day when K-Dramas make shortcuts on productions. Hopefully, it’s not in my lifetime.
The tentativeness, the murky mystery, and the presumed relativity between Earth and the moon works marvelously in The Silent Sea. There’s this emphasis that the crew is so far from home that outside solutions are near-all impossible. A sci-fi that can achieve this will always capture the audience’s attention because we lack the relatability of being away from Earth. The flashbacks help, showing characters before their mission, but presenting this emptiness of being on the moon, on a clean, modern, and disengaging research station with a bad history is an embracing premise.
The Silent Sea represents the end of a wholesome year for K-Drama series, and it only entices viewers to hope that there will be many Friday complete binge releases in the future. This series is an abundance of human emotions and an analysis of our flaws.
What did you think of the Netflix K-Drama series The Silent Sea season 1? Comment below.
