THE SILENT SEA on Netflix is a new South Korean Sci-fi Thriller series. It features a truly intense story from the very first scene. Also, the casting is very impressive. Read our The Silent Sea series review here and find it on Netflix!

THE SILENT SEA is a new Netflix series from South Korea. This time it’s a Sci-fi Thriller series that opens with an intense scene and keeps going from there. Of course, there’s no getting around the fact that South Korean Netflix series have had a huge year in 2021 after the insane success of Squid Game.

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Our review of Squid Game season 1 here >

The story in this new Netflix series is set in a future Earth that has undergone desertification. The Silent Sea is the story of a special team sent to secure a mysterious sample from an abandoned research facility on the moon.

Continue reading our The Silent Sea series review below. All eight episodes in season 1 are out on Netflix now.

Character-driven intensity

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.

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Our recommendation of other brilliant South Korean genre productions here >

Of course, with series, you get even more time to delve into the characters and the dynamic between them.

From that opening episode, you’ll already know quite a few things. For one that the doctor on the mission is a very straightforward and honest badass. Also, you’ll get some favorites and see someone as villainous from the get-go. Whether this holds true in the long run is another thing.

The Silent Sea – Review | Netflix Sci-fi Thriller Series

Powerhouse casting of The Silent Sea 

If you’re gonna do a Netflix series, you might as well call in all the internationally famous South Korean actors, you can. Maybe that’s why the cast of The Silent Sea is quite the powerhouse of this series.

Bae Doona is leading the cast, which is one hell of a name to have attached. You may know Bae Doona from international productions such as the Netflix series Sense8 or the movie Cloud Atlas (both by The Wachowskis). Or maybe the South Korean Netflix series Kingdom.

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Check out The Host on our list of Best South Korean genre movies >

In The Silent Sea, Bae Doona portrays the astrobiologist Doctor Song Ji-an who is determined to uncover the truth behind an accident at the now-abandoned Balhae Base research station on the moon.

The other very familiar face in this South Korean Netflix series is that of Gong Yoo. He first shot to international recognition with his starring role in Train to Busan. More recently, he had a small – but very important – role in the Netflix series Squid Game which broke all kinds of records.

Gong Yoo plays Han Yun-jae, the exploration team leader. He must carry out a crucial mission with limited information and Yun-jae always puts the safety of his team members above all else. This also means he isn’t shy about putting himself in jeopardy to do so.

Another famous South Korean actor, who might not be as familiar to international audiences, is Lee Joon (Father is Strange). He plays the role of head engineer Captain Ryu Tae-seok. An elite member of the Ministry of National Defense, who volunteered for this mission to get away from behind a desk.

Watch The Silent Sea on Netflix!

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.

The Silent Sea is out on Netflix from December 24, 2021.

Details

Director: Choi Hang-yong
Writer: Eunkyo Park
Stars: Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, Lee Joon

Plot

During a perilous 24-hour mission on the moon, space explorers try to retrieve samples from an abandoned research facility steeped in classified secrets.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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