The Silent Sea is a South Korean science-fiction horror TV drama series streaming on Netflix. The series is an adaptation from the 2014 short film The Sea of Tranquility written and directed by Choi Hang-yong, who also directed the series.
Consisting of eight episodes, The Silent Sea is about a perilous 24-hour mission on the moon, as space explorers try to retrieve samples from an abandoned research facility steeped in classified secrets. The series stars Gong Yoo, Bae Doona and Lee Joon.
It’s fair to say that The Silent Sea is one of the best science fiction TV series of 2021. The writing is top notch, hitting all the right notes of an effective story – and expertly executed throughout. The first episode barely hints at what is in store for the rest of the series and while it might feel a tad guarded and mysterious in presentation, this is so that when the revelations come incrementally, the impact is felt even greater by the viewer.
And that is the whole problem with reviewing The Silent Sea, to spoil any part of this excellent series would be an injustice to you, the viewer. There is so much going on here in terms of plot, characterisation and themes that it has to be fully appreciated without knowing anything about the story. All one needs to know is the threadbare synopsis described above and the rest needs to be discovered and savoured first hand.
Imagine elements of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 : A Space Odyssey, Ridley Scott’s Alien, Duncan Jones’ Moon, James Cameron’s Aliens, John Carpenter’s Thing and Half-Life video game and that might provide the unsuspecting viewer with an inkling of the genius that is The Silent Sea.
With The Silent Sea, Squid Game and Hellbound, the South Koreans have demonstrated that they are perfectly capable of matching and surpassing the Americans when it comes to TV drama production. Highly recommended!
Now streaming on Netflix.
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