With desertification becoming a reality, scarcity of food and water is no more a threat of the future. Set in the dystopian near future, The Silent Sea is about a time when water is rationed due to scarcity, and new methods of growing food with as little water as possible is the need of the hour. With the future of water on Earth looking bleak, humans head to the moon in search of a solution. While other countries leave after failing to find any water there, South Korea continues with its research at a lunar station it built on the moon. However, when a radiation leak kills all 117 people at the lunar station, it is temporarily closed. Five years later when they decide to permanently close the station, a group of astronauts are sent on a mission to retrieve an important sample from the research facility before it is permanently shutdown. The astronauts have exactly 24 hours to complete their mission on the moon.
The Silent Sea starts with the astronauts crash landing on the moon, when they are still a few kilometers away from the research station. With no space shuttle to return, and an abandoned lunar station where the communications system is completely ruined, the crew has to find a way to contact earth while looking for the sample they have to take back. However when strange things start happening on the lunar station, their survival ends up becoming a priority over everything else. In order to figure out how to survive the strange happenings they will first need to know what exactly happened to the 117 crew members five years ago.
What I loved about The Silent Sea are all the characters telling the story, and the amazing actors that bring them to life. Each character has a reason for being a part of the mission. Their reasons vary from something as simple as getting a level higher in the water ration hierarchy, to saving their sick child who is hospitalized. There are also others who are there to either get rid of a guilt or find closure. While these may be their personal reasons for accepting the mission, it is their collective dream and hope of seeing the Earth back to its healthy self that drives them. The question is how far are they willing to go to make this dream a reality. There are many instances in the drama where I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do if I was ever in the shoes of any of these characters, especially Han Yoon-jae and Song Ji-An. For Yoon-jae completing the mission would mean saving his only daughter, and for Ji-an completing the mission would mean burying the truth behind her sister’s death forever. However the fate of the planet depends on whether they complete the mission or not. There never is a right answer in such situations. You just have to go with your instinct and hope that you did the right thing. However, making this decision is also not easy.
Of all the actors the ones that stand out the most are Gong Yoo as Captain Han Yoon-jae, Bae Doo-Na as Dr. Song Ji-An, Lee Joon as Lieutenant Ryoo Tae-seok and Kim Sun-young as Dr. Hong Ga-young. I really missed Gong Yoo and Lee Joon on the small screen. The last time I saw Gong Yoo in a television series was Goblin, and I think I haven’t seen Lee Joon after his My Father is Strange. So, I was really happy to see them back on the small screen. However, the actor I was most happy to see was Kim Sun-young. I love Sun-young and I am alway sad to see her being typecast as a mom or ajumma. So, to finally see her in a role such as Dr. Hong made me very happy. She is an amazing actress and does an awesome job as Dr. Hong.
So, if you are in the mood for a good sci-fi thriller or want to watch some of your favorite K-Drama actors in action, definitely check out The Silent Sea that is currently streaming on Netflix.
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