To the moon 🌚

My love for Korean film continues to expand. I have got to thank @flowerbaby for putting me on to these awesome tv shows on Netflix. The first Korean show that I watched was Squid Game. I really enjoyed that one and even have a couple of the songs from it stuck in my head still. The quality of that show alerted me to the fact that Koreans put out some really awesome stuff. I am surprised at how well the English dubs work for me. I'm sure a lot of people just watch the show in Korean and then read subtitles, but I like to watch and have the option to read. Sometimes certain scenes require my full attention and I don't want to get caught reading and miss out.

This post isn't about Squid Game, but it is going to be about a Korean show on Netflix that features a few cast members from Squid Game. The show that I want to discuss today is called The Silent Sea. It just came out on Christmas Eve and has 8 episodes available for the first season.

I had no idea what this show was, but @flowerbaby threw it on the other night and I was intrigued right away. For once it is set in space and secondly, I recognized a few faces from Squid Game right away. Gong Yoo and Heo Sund-tae were two of my favorite characters in Squid Game. They play totally different roles in The Silent Sea, but I trust their skills to lead me through an enjoyable story.

The cast of The Silent Sea is packed with memorable characters. So far my favorite is Choi Yong-Woo as Lee Gi-su (on the far right in the group photo below). He is absolutely hilarious and doesn't seem to ever take anything seriously. I'm only 3 episodes in, so I can't say if he will still be my favorite by the end. There is just something about Korean jokes being translated into English that makes them even funnier to me. Sometimes they are clever and other times they are so dry that it just makes me chuckle.

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The dynamic between Bae Doona's character Doctor Song Ji-an and Gong Yoo's team leader role of Han Yoon-jae is pretty tense. They are always butting heads. Han Yoon-jae refuses to take orders from anybody unless they are his superiors, he is not good with advice. While Dr. Song Ji-an is highly intelligent and seems to have some hidden knowledge that she is yet to share fully.

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Like I briefly mentioned before, this show is set on the moon. You can probably tell that all of the characters are wearing spacesuits. You may be thinking, this must be a cool science/fantasy film. However, it is also pretty creepy and filled with thrilling moments that keep you on the edge of your seat. The giant moon base called Balhae Lunar Research Station is filled with mystery. There is so little to no information about the mission given to the team members and this unknown quickly becomes something unsettling.

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Of course, the team's travel from Earth to Space doesn't go exactly as planned. It was supposed to be a quick in and out mission to retrieve a sample from an irradiated base. There is so much more to it once they get there and the team is left to figure things out the hard way. I don't want to spoil anything for you. Just know that the plot is pretty deep and you will be figuring things out as the characters do.

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If you are a fan of outer space, this show is definitely worth your time. I have a feeling that it is only going to get better the further that I progress through the first season. I am not saying it is going to be as popular as Squid Game, but it is another high-quality Korean show.

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I love the ambiance that the setting provides. There is plenty of emptiness that you may expect to find on the moon. There are also portions of the base that have interesting lighting to adapt the mood to a different feeling. I love the style of cinematography used to tell this mysterious story.

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I have a feeling that many of these characters are going to start disappearing or dying off soon. Hard to say which ones will live and which ones will end up as space dust. One thing is for certain, I plan to finish this show and look forward to finding out what other people think of it.

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I'll leave you with the trailer below. Take a look at it and see what you think. If you've already watched this, let me know your opinion of The Silent Sea. If you just found out that this show exists, have fun if you decide to start it soon.