O Mar da Tranquilidade (2021)

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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Interesting twists and well casted

This drama start off pretty mediocre having not much interesting happen during the first episode, not really reeling in the viewers, but as the story unfolds it becomes more and more interesting and less and less predictable leaving each episode with the feeling of wanting more, and not having the slightest idea of what is to come, ok some parts where a bit predictable, like pateley order of death but the rest seemed to literally jump out of nowhere. Keeping me on my toes from episode 2 and on.

The story is certainly interesting to watch and had my otherwise heard to get to watch dramas husband taking initiative to both start watching after we left off and keep going in to the night.

The cast here is plain brilliant, all do their job well, the characters are over all well written, no one is just there as comic annoying type comic relief. The main characters are complex beings allowed to show both a tough and soft side to them making them more human. There is a slight mix of issues, cuteness, ethics, politics, and dooms day feel to it mostly well balanced adding to the plot without making it too confusing (with a few side steps but they are forgivable) . The cinematography is also beautifully done. but I must warn you there are some pretty grose scenes as well...

So all in all this drama worth a watch for those who want to be kept on their toes while enjoying some pretty good acting and visuals.

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Good Sci Fi Drama

okay so when i started and within a jiffy first scene gone n we are in some meeting room where all characters are seated.. each epi gave me chills and yes every epi is worth watching.
but u need to watch epi 1 carefully because starting scene is literally important and if u gona miss it u wont understand the ending..!! this exactly happened with me n after ending i had to watch epi 1 again to understand what exactly i missed..
over all every actor performed so well

its a future based sci fi drama so u have to ignore any loopholes right?? it was totally a sci fi drama no needed romantic scenes either any bold scene...

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A big disappointment

What I liked:
*Music. I liked the minimalistic score and how silence was used. The silence fits well with the portrayal of the loneliness and isolation of the moon station.
*Cast.
*Visual effects and the set. I don't think this show had a huge budget but they did well with what they had. The effects are pretty good. The set looks pretty sturdy as well.

What I didn't like:
*Camera work. It was inconsistent. In the earlier episodes it was so shaky it was distracting and later in the show we got more creative techniques like the dolly zoom. I'm confused about why no one tried to fix it.
*Performances/script. The script was empty, it didn't build the character's backgrounds, we only get a vague idea of why every crew member is partaking in this mission. The dialogue felt unnatural. The performances suffered greatly due to how bad the script was. The writer didn't research at all that astronaut crews are trained to work under pressure but the crew in this show is all over the place.
*The story/worldbuilding. With the show's duration, we could have had a small world with its own logic and rules but we got an underdeveloped something. There were a lot of unanswered questions like what caused the water shortages, what did the people do to solve the problem, why was the original co-pilot switched at the last minute before departure, why did director Choi have that picture, why didn't the moon station fill up with water during the first incident, why did they introduce the spy storyline and gave no background on their mission, why did the sick people saw starfish?

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