O Mar da Tranquilidade (2021)

The Silent Wash

Look, maybe I'm too harsh on this in the title but disappointment after a pretty good set up was just too much. So let me start with the good:

The drama is set in the future where water shortage is killing life on Earth. The hope for reversal may come from the top secret discovery - lunar water - but there's a really good twist. The lunar water infects and kills the host by overwhelming his body with water so that the host drowns from the inside. Scary eh? You either die of thirst (Earth) or of self-drowning cause even your blood turns into water. I really liked this dichotomy of drought and drowning, the presumed solution to the problem that turn just as deadly in a really ironic way.

Special effects and sets were good - Netflix money delivers - and cannot say anything negative about acting though characters were seriously lacking. More about that in a second.

The bad:

After the good twist, comes the bad twist or bad trope. Or both. To control the lunar water, heroes need a savior and she appears in the form of a hybrid human/lunar water girl who, like all Star Child cliches, is faster, stronger, smarter, has self-healing powers, can breathe in Moon (lack of) atmosphere, doesn't feel cold, is basically indestructible. Short version: Total B movie rubbish. Shorter version: hogwash. Shortest version: wash. So no, the title of this review wasn't too harsh after all.

Once this trope entered the fray, predictability ensued. Of course that she's a product of cruel and forbidden experiments on 70+ other girl clones. Of course that characters who shouldn't have died die to protect her. Of course that she creates mother/daughter bond with FL and becomes FL's top priority, etc. All that stretched in 8 episodes. The whole thing could have been a solid 2 hrs long movie. At 8 x 1 hr episode, it became a chore.

There's no one that you could call a character. Po-faced actors served only as plot-forwarders, moving from A to B to C. By the end, we didn't know these characters, just who did what, and some background information such as that so and so had a sick daughter which was info dump not a characterization.

Overall, Netflix money + cast boasting Gong Yoo and Bae Doo Na should've had a better, tighter, and most importantly, inventive script. Instead, we got prettily produced but lazy and lifeless B drama void of anything that makes B cinema entertaining.

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A novel space thriller with poor character portraits

I applaud Silent Sea for its story , its novelty and its production . I like productions that take a chance and this drama certainly took a chance.

The set premise is dramatically dystopian and was vividly portrayed . The water crisis was captured so vividly that I found myself thanking the powers that be that I have clean water to shower in and that water is indeed precious. When a drama can hone in on a simple but precious concept such as water and impress upon you all its complexities , beauty and ramifications then full points on story capture !

The thriller element and intrigue was plausibly engrossing to keep a captivated viewer tuning however as I watched this show , I came to the overwhelming feeling that though this drama is novel its not special . Usually , I can think of a drama when I am not watching it , musing on what a character is going to do or making up conspiracy theories in my head . However , with Silent Sea , I just dutifully tuned and amicably forgot about it throughout my day.

I believe this is due to the character portraits of the story . The characters were not full bodied nor fleshed out . They were presented rather shallowly that it was hard to get fully behind any of them. It kinda sucked the fun out of it and the drama lost its special factor.

The cast was okay . I can't critique too much as they did not have enough fleshing out for the actors to truly shine. However, I found Bae Doona extremely one dimensional and very annoying with her stares and frequent consternation looks. The director really directed her badly as I know she is quite a capable actress.

As for the music - quite sublime !

Overall- I would highly suggest this drama if you are a fan of sci fi and the like . You will have the patience to watch and be fascinated by this drama. If you have other compelling reasons to watch - then also go for it , your time will not be wasted. But I can tell you that this show is no special thing . Novel ? Yes . Special ? No .

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An Excellent Drama ...!

Wow i don't know how can i express this wonderful experience which i got after watching this excellent drama. Started with less expectations, but what i thought and what i got was completely different, first of all hat's off to the makers for not revealing anything in the trailer. When i saw the trailer i thought this probably travel with the usual path of a cliche space thriller with nothing much. But i was wrong, the things happening after episode one was totally blown my mind. From there all the mysterious things that happened in there was unbelievable.

Initial attraction was definitely the wonderful cast we got here. All the actors were familiar especially one of the dream combo gong yoo and Bae Doona together in a drama, Nations one of best actor and actress sharing screen space was really curious to watch. I don't want enter into the plot. Don't read anything, you can watch trailer because there is nothing revealing in there.

The main factor was the making quality it was top notch. You will feel that your on the board with them, wonderfully captured the Moon and It's very important to make it look so real and for many reasons they succeeded in that area without any negatives.

Nothing particular about the acting you know they all are well capable actors who can do anything. It's not easy to maintain that balance till the end. But they done absolutely brilliant job to kept the people curious till the end. Coming to the finale episodes, it's even more thrilling and exciting and ended up with a really good climax.

You must watch this, Highly recommended. Don't think this is an another usual cliche space thriller. There were many more things waiting for you. Try it

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What happened?

This was a drama I was so excited to see. I added it to my Netflix list as soon as I was able. I love sci-fi. With these actors, what could go wrong?

I love dramas and movies that are either exciting or, if they are slow burn, have sufficient story to justify their length. I enjoy the tension building, anticipating what is going to happen in the scene I am watching, and the excruciating can’t wait for the next episode dramas that make k-dramas so much better than the majority of similar Western shows. Unfortunately, for me, this drama lacked much of that.

I want to say that ALL of the actors bring their A game. This is some of the best acting I have seen. I have also seen comments about how the CGI is not up to the highest standard, but I feel that unless you have a $100M to spend, the CGI was just fine.

But I felt this series had two major faults that are contradictory.

Firstly, when I finished the final episode my though was “is that it? Did I miss something? What happened to the survivors?” I am still wondering what happened to the ending. It seems to be missing. Did the writers not know how to end the drama so they just stopped dead? I still have so many questions and a massively frustrating lack of answers. After all the time I spent watching this, how can the drama leave me hanging? Its as if this drama needed an extra episode to wrap everything up.

But here’s the contradiction with my last statement. The drama is also too long. With a proper ending, this would have made a truly fantastic 4hr movie. There are so many unnecessary scenes that, if they had been cut out, would have made the pace much faster, more exciting and engrossing. There were scenes in the drama that just dragged the whole pace down to a crawl, but lacked the tension to justify them. If they had been important scenes to propel the plot, answer questions or show motivations then I could understand. One character even comments that the others do not know the whole story, and then never explains what that story is. I know how that feels.

Again, the actors are not to blame. Every bit of body language, facial expression or delivery of their lines tells you that these actors are really the greatest and deserving of their status.

I understand I may be in the minority but this is just my personal feelings.

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I was floating

I finished "The Silent Sea" and I cried so badly. BEST KOREAN DRAMA OF 2021. Must watch! Humans have ruined earth and now have set to ruin the moon too. Episodes 1 to 8, will keep you floating. The Silent Sea. Long ago, Galileo thought it was all water. That's what he decided to name it the Silent Sea. But once we go to the moon, there was no water. Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, and the whole cast did a great job. The music is amazing. The directing and writing are so good. The whole concept of finding water on Moon, Earth running out of water, Capitalizing water and etc, Is just so realistic as years are passing!

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Interesting plot, amazing CG as ever but it's kind of a bit of a let down.

I feel like this series has an interesting story. The situation that led the characters to space is quite convincing and at the same time it makes you wonder how will the whole thing turn out. However, throughout the series I felt like this could've been better if it was just a movie rather than a series. In most episodes, I felt like there were a lot of things that didn't really matter and felt like a futile attempt to add depth to the story. Another thing is that there's not much of a 'chemistry' among the crews. It definitely felt like they will start killing each other from the start.

Rants aside, there were several things that I liked about this series though such as:
- The premise of the story about scarcity of water that led people to make researches to find an alternative. I really find it interesting because I love anything science. (I am not a producer/writer but I feel like the whole story would've been a lot better if they focused on finding the solution rather than focusing on digging the past, attempt to monopolize the solution, betrayals, etc.)
- The amazing CGIs. I cannot imagine how long does the editing for each episode was done and how meticulous the set was made. It is definitely worth commending.

It might just be me because I had high expectations after watching Space Sweepers so I was kind of expecting the same 'wow' factor however The Silent Sea falls a little short on that. I still recommend this if you're fan of space sci-fi or Gong Yoo Ahjussi.

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Moon has it's own darker side

The Silent Sea may not be the most prolific korean series of the year, but it does something different by jumping into an altogether different genre, diverse from regular korean dramas.

The cast, especially Gong Yoo, did a splendid job. The writing was solid and the initial couple of episodes were tightly balanced, however it got a bit sloppy at the end. I felt that there was no satisfactory conclusion to the series, leaving behind many questions which were supposed to be answered whatsoever.

That being said, I must also acknowledge that the series does not reinvent the wheel. In fact, it’s essentially a variation on the plot of a certain other space tale. Even with the weak ending, The Silent Sea is worth watching. It’s a chilling look at a future that could be closer than we think, as well as a scary story with a monster at the end of it.


My Rating : 7.5/10

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Good Enough

Korean Drama "The Silent Sea" is a decent attempt to create a post-apocalyptic drama with loads of suspense and thriller factors.

And for sure, the drama keeps things edgy and suspenseful till the very last minute. The viewer is thrown straight away into the action, with the earth struggling to find water to support the needs of the population, and a scientist is forced to leave the planet. And there is a nudging feeling that something is off right up when the team lands on the moon and goes into the base. That feeling is maintained all throughout the story. In addition, the mystery that is formed and solved is well constructed, well presented, and perfectly paced. It gives small cheese bites throughout the episodes, and it concludes everything nicely in the final one.

However, the drama leaves a lot of things out. The condition of the earth and the dystopian current situation is not well explained and just given as a fact rather than something that needs more exploration. The characters are also the losers of the mystery-thriller focused story. There are some flashbacks that indicate some short of past and personalities, but other than those, the characters are left as blank ones that were acting on based on their initial introductions. The CGI, moreover, were bad and almost ruined the atmosphere of the drama at times.

On the other hand, the performances were top notch, as expected by top tier actors and actresses.

So, overall, 7.5 out of 10.

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Probably the most boring character Gong Yoo ever played

This series caught my attention because of the "sci-fi" setting and Gong Yoo. This man had done a lot of genres so I had quite high expectation for his performance in this. However, the characterization was disappointing, not just him but the entire characters in the show. Not like it was the actors fault. I just feel like it's a waste to have these amazing casts in the same show and not giving their characters an interesting personality & depth to make the audience feel attach.
Plot wise, I genuinely love the idea of making "our everyday needs" as dangerous substance that can't even be touched. It was interesting. The mysteries surrounding the accident in the station, how human bodies react to the substance. But then, it started to get boring when LUNA 073 appeared and they suddenly focused more on being a parent figure for her. Instead of LUNA origin and her "antibody" card. I want an explanation regarding the lunar water and what would happen if they did bring it to earth. Would it react the same under different circumstance?
Overall, I enjoy this but I feel like things would have been better if they give more details.

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Close, but not quite...

This limited series had an interesting premise and I appreciated the strong performances, but I felt that not enough attention was paid to the characters. There wasn't any kind of relationship building. Everyone was closed off from each other and the backstories didn't go far enough to establish any kind of emotional connection to the leads.

The show started off promisingly. I loved the suspense and it kept me watching, waiting to see what secrets the team would uncover, but it doesn't go far enough to be the kind of series I would recommend to others. I feel the good performances are lost on a show that should have gone more in depth to tell the full story. Squid Game was superior in writing to this.

I like the Sci-fi genre, especially ones about abandoned space stations with dark corridors, waiting to give up their secrets. This drew me in, but sadly, didn't deliver. Now if there is a second season promising more backstory then maybe I might give it another chance, but not if they give me more of the same superficial story.

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Saving the human race at the cost of humanity.

Rather than a destination, The Silent Sea served me a direction with countless possibilities and roads to follow. The questions have been asked, and it’s on me to answer them for myself.

Personally speaking, I like the shows that do not tell me everything, so I can dwell on the issues myself. Which decisions were correct, which were selfish, which showed humanity and which made the character greedy - The Silent Sea leaves enough room for me to decide on my own.

The dire reality of Earth’s water supply slowly ending was quite a nice and more realistic take on a potential dystopian scenario we might face. Showing us some details on how the nations work around the problem, the inequality in water distribution - both in the case of the quantity, but also quality of water, all that created a cohesive setting that made the mission seem justified, and the risk worth taking. The more I believe the setting, the less I question life-risking decisions the characters are making.

The Silent Sea tackles the topics of social inequality, distribution of necessary resources, corporate greed and misguided decisions that were made in hopes of bettering the lives of others. How far can we go to save the human race? Are we willing to give up humanity in the process? Should we focus on the struggles of individuals when we need to save the collective? But what is collective if not a group of individuals?

Another aspect that I greatly appreciated was the contrast between the individual goals and needs of the crew and the worsening situation on the Earth. On one hand, the contrast might make the personal issues trivial, on the other hand, it showed how important it is to consider these small, seemingly insignificant issues, as they might help us make morally sound decisions.

Moving to the cast and the performances - could we ask for me? Probably not. Bae Doona and Gong Yoo truly aced their roles, presenting all the emotions and dilemmas in the most realistic and subtle way possible. All the supporting cast did their best in bringing these characters to life, and they succeeded. Big props to Lee Joon who moved on from the meme English line “you shouldn’t do that” to the whole English dialogues (obscure references only A+ would know). His performance was for sure one that surprised me the most.

Adding to the value of the show, we’ve got some aesthetic feast. The color contrast between the warm yellow tones on Earth, and cold blue shades on the moon, the space shots, the use of light and shadows - all creating a number of beautiful pictures.

While the scenes taking place on either Earth or artificial gravity were amazing, all the physics in the rest, at times felt… oof. The movement of actors in zero gravity was an obvious wire work that took away from the realism. Some CGI could have either been improved, or the scene completely removed (was that fake lion truly necessary?).

Talking about science… just try not to think about it too hard, especially closer to the ending.

Overall, I appreciated how they did not slam me in the face with the answers, but left enough info in for me to puzzle it all together. Some twists were easier to predict than others (some could have been seen from miles away), but I was highly entertained from the beginning till the end. It’s slow at times, not action packed, but that’s the type of shows I appreciate the most.

There is also one aspect of the plot that made me quite “happy”, but since it is a spoiler, I will talk about it in the comment under the review.

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I will watch anything Bae Doo Na comes up with.
The Silent Sea was definitely worth it.
I'm telling you I binge-watched the last four episodes, something I NEVER do because I'm a lazy slow watcher.
Acting was on point and so was the budget! Like, I couldn't believe it. I wonder how much money was spent on this production. Truly impressive, as a fan of anything Sci-Fi-ish.
The only reason I'm giving this a 9.5 is because WTF with that ending. It could have been better. Netflix's obsessed with those open & meaningless endings... but anyways. Still a good watch.

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