D.fter the resounding success of Squid Game it was inevitable that Netflix would strike the hot iron on other South Korean productions (see the notable Hellbound).
So today is the turn of The Silent Sea, hard sci-fi series in 8 episodes set on a moon base, in a future after environmental catastrophe that cannot be more dystopian. Also in the cast Gong Yoo (he was the businessman who hooked up with competitors in SG with the game of cards) e Heo Sung-tae (played gangster Jang Deok-su).
Besides Bae Doona (muse of the Wachowskis seen in Sense8, Cloud Atlas And Jupert – the power of the universe).
The strength of a productive hegemony will be able to do The Silence Sea a success equal to phenomenon of 2021? Given all the episodes, probably not.
The Silent Sea: the plot of the series
In 2075 the Earth became a desertified and waterless land, the only hope of salvation is the sample of an experiment that was performed on a now abandoned lunar base, called the Silent Sea.
A scientist, the astrobiologist Song Ji-an (Bae Doona) she is invited to participate in a mission right on the space station, whose occupants years earlier, including his sister, were killed. His job is to find out what caused the sudden abandonment of the Silent Sea.
A scene from “The Silent Sea”. (Netflix)
The leader of the expedition is Han Yoon-ja (Gong Yo), but limited information was given. With him was chief engineer of the defense ministry Ryoo Tae-seok, who volunteered to escape the stuffy bureaucratic world in which he lived.
The mission will have to last a maximum of 24 hours and the probability of survival is estimated at around 10 percent. It goes without saying that the astronauts will start dying one after the other. What is that base hiding? And what does that mysterious sample contain?
Between Alien And Ten little Indians
Stirring environmental catastrophes and terror in space, the series it does not seem, at least for now, to be able to replicate the phenomenon Squid Game. After a dazzling start that describes a planet Earth now collapsing due to lack of water resources, the narrative immediately focuses on the space mission which is entrusted to a handful of courageous people.
The focus is on Captain Han Yoon-ja, ma the real heroine of the space enterprise and of the series is the astrobiologist Song Ji-an, a lonely scientist with a dependent kitten (clear homage to Sigourney Weaver from Alien) and with his sister who tragically died years earlier on Silent Sea.
Actors Bae Doona and Gong Yoo. (Netflix)
From the very first scenes it is clear that the beautiful astronaut and the brave captain will fall in love, however, the “twist” is continually (and fortunately) postponed. The dedicated space is all for the thriller-horror shades of the risky shipment.
Great merit of the series is to hold eight episodes without hardly ever changing the setting, focusing solely on claustrophobic moon base, and the wastelands of the moon.
But who, or what, is responsible for the mysterious events that happen to the crew? Is there a saboteur among them or, as in the good tradition of 1960s b-movies, is the planet hiding a lethal enemy? Unfortunately the answer comes only after more than 7 hours of viewing.
That in addition to being an excessively dilated timing, it also has a lot to do with the predominant drift of contemporary science fiction: the preference for a motivation metaphysical / philosophizing (compared to an objective solution).
Although of a different kind, The Silent Sea therefore does not have the driving force of Squid Game, capable of continuously raising (and raising) the stakes. Without setbacks.
A success that is difficult to repeat therefore, despite the happy presence of Gong Yoo and of Heo Sung-tae.
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