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The Silent Sea begins with a tragedy, of a spaceship having had some sort of an accident while on a mission to the Moon, leaving everyone upside down and the engines also down.
Then we go back to just before this mission was conceived, and the world is still reeling from a space mission which took place five years earlier and went so wrong that no-one survived. Earth looks like a post-apocalyptic landscape with all manner of environmental problems such as a water shortage, so it’s rationed, and only the elite are allowed access. Yes, the world is barren and the end is nigh.
This new crew have a mission to the Moon to retrieve samples of a specific substance from Balhae Space Station, and due to potential radiation poisoning, they have just 24 hours. After that, the space station involved will be permanently closed for everyone’s safety. It’s a potentially dangerous mission, depending on what state the samples’ capsules are in when they get up there, but what’s the substance? That’s classified…
However, despite all the danger and shady secrecy from the top brass, you get all the water you can drink, forever!
Rather like 2020’s Mars mission series, Away, problems are abound. Their initial problem came about following a crash landing that could’ve spelled instant death for them all, but compared to what happens next, that’s actually the good news.
When I watched episode 2, I could see this is going to go back and forth between ‘on the mission’ and ‘prior to the mission’, since the opener was pretty interesting, even though the concept of ‘calamaties in space’ is not a new one. However, it seemed to start the process of sharing Away‘s problem of every episode containing a ‘soap opera-quality problem of the week’ to be resolved.
It’s also one of those dramas that features the old cliche of stumbling across dead former crew members. Alas, even further, the episode feels more like they’re just running round a haunted house. The Scooby Doo gang can’t be far behind!
I, therefore, found the second episode extremely boring. Is it worth sticking with? Does it improve? I might not stay, otherwise.
And if you’re wondering about the title, ‘The Silent Sea’ refers to the dark spots on the moon.
The Silent Sea is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix now.
Episode 1 Score: 7/10
Episode 2 Score: 1/10
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-55 mins per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: December 24th 2021
Studio: Netflix
Format: 1.78:1
Director: Choi Hang-Yong
Writer: Eun-kyo Park
Music: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Leigh Phillips
Cast:
Doctor Song Ji-an: Bae Doona
Han Yoon-jae: Gong Yoo
Captain Ryoo Tae-seok: Joon Lee
Kim Hee-sun: Feodor Chin
Lee Gi-Su: Harrison Xu
Kim Jae-sun: Heo Sung-tae
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.