Early Access Extras: The Silent Sea E1-2 (Patreon)

So here's the thing, everyone.

I'd mentioned in my May Patreon update post on the main blog, that I might be introducing The Silent Sea as a bonus show, here on Patreon.

The thing is, upon actually watching the show, I'm finding that it doesn't really lend itself to episode notes. 

Also, I find that the first 3 episodes feel quite slow, and it's only now, when I'm at the E4 mark, that I find myself more interested in the story.

So.. instead of attempting to write episode notes for a show that I conclude doesn't really need them, here are my E1 and E2 notes, as an Early Access Extra, for everyone.

I hope you guys find these a little bit useful, at least. 😅

KFG ❤️

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E1. So.. full disclosure that I am in no way a connoisseur of space-themed dramas. In fact, I do think that this is the first space-themed kdrama I've seen, to date.

I'm mainly checking this out, out of curiosity, and also, because Show boasts a strong cast. Plus, Gong Yoo looks cool in the promo material. It's not a lot to go on, sure, but Show is only 8 episodes, so I feel like this is relatively low-stakes?

After watching this first episode, I have.. some thoughts.

On a more serious note, I do appreciate how Show paints a picture of a future world, that feels both confronting and thought-provoking.

A world where water and food is scarce, and people have to tap special cards in order to get water, and where a gold card that gives you unlimited access to water, is so special, that it can be given as compensation to a family member, when a crew member dies on the job?

It's different enough from our world to make it all appear very fascinating. But it's not so different, that I can't imagine that in our future, at some point. That in itself is quite sobering.

It makes me think of how humankind needs to do better on taking care of the earth, if we want to avoid making such a future our reality.

In a way, it reminds me of TW drama Rainless in a Godless Land, which also shone the spotlight on environmental issues, without getting preachy about it.

The Silent Sea is very different from Rainless in just about every other way, but the way it shines the spotlight on environmental issues, where the world that they paint, could very well be in our future, not so many years from now, is pretty similar in spirit, I feel like.

That said, we don't actually spend all that much time in this world that Show paints, because that's all contextual, and just about everything else this episode, is spent either in space, on the moon, or on the journey to get there.

..Which is where I start to have irreverent, problematic thoughts. 😅

I apologize in advance; I didn't set out to be irreverent. It's just that, while watching, I couldn't help but notice all these production issues, with trying to make our space-related stuff believable, and in noticing the fails, I couldn't help but laugh. Eep. 🙊

The entire mission getting thrown together in what feels like a rush, everyone getting on that space craft without seeming to have needed any preparation, I can rationalize away by telling myself that all this training and preparation happened off-screen.

The actual journey to the moon seeming way too fast to be real, I can also rationalize away, by telling myself that they probably only showed us the important bits, and therefore, off-screen, there was a longer journey that happened.

But when it comes to the space-related logic stretches, I just.. couldn't rationalize them away, and it really proved quite distracting for me, oops.

For example, I know that it's really hard to make it look like our crew is in a low gravity environment. I get that.

But the fact that our crew so clearly has gravity on their side, is so distracting to me.

Like, sure, Gong Yoo's character Yu Jae is floating around the cabin, but his hair looks too good, y'know? His hair should be floating too - as should everyone else's hair that's not bound out of the way by those cloth skull cap things.

Kim Sun Young's character's hair should be floating too, as she sits in her seat, all buckled up.

Speaking of which, you can just tell, that these people sitting in their seats, all buckled in, have gravity pulling them into their seats. It's not the straps that have them strapped in, preventing them from floating away.

And it gets more pronounced when they're supposedly space-walking around the moon. They try to mimic the moon-jump type of walk, but because they're having to create that bounce with gravity instead of without, they steps are so heavy, as they bounce.

It doesn't look real at all, and I find myself giggling at how silly it looks, when Show's trying to be serious, and telling me that things are very dire and dangerous. 😅

Also, I couldn't help but think that the aircraft that they're on, wasn't properly inspected and tested, before they embarked on the mission. I mean, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, and nothing seems to be working as it should.

It practically feels like they took a junk piece of aircraft equipment out into space with them, and - oops - now they're stuck.

And, with how the moon's gravity is 1/6th as powerful as the gravity on earth, it just doesn't make sense that the aircraft would have such a fast and hard landing on the moon, even with its controls failing?

I honestly think that the best way to enjoy this show, is not to think too much. I mean, clearly, I need to switch off my brain when it comes to the realism portion of this space mission. 😅

In that sense, I feel like the viewing lens that would be most helpful, is possibly the cowboy movie one, that I used for the movie "The Swordsman."

As in, you know it's all about the action, and therefore, nothing really needs to make a lot of sense, and also, no real character development is necessary or to be expected.

Just buckle in for the ride, and close your eyes to logic stretches - or laugh at them, if that works better for you. 😁

E2. On the upside, I liked this episode more than I did the first one.

On the slightly not-so-upside, it looks like I was right about this show being more about the action, and the mystery at the center of the space station, than anything else. I don't mind that, so much, it just seems like there isn't a whole lot to talk about, regarding characters.

At the same time, for a show that's supposedly centered more on the mission at hand - ie, the action - it oddly feels like not a lot happens. This episode, our crew is exploring and walking around, and intermittently getting on one another's nerves.

It's not high impact type of action, is what I'm trying to say.

Clearly, there's a lot of secret-keeping around the incident at the space station that had killed Dr. Song's sister. Everyone's being so evasive; it feels a honking red flag, that Dr. Song should be running away from, rather than running towards.

But I can see why she'd want to go on this mission. She has questions about her sister's death, and this is her chance to see the scene of the incident for herself, to try to find some answers for herself.

It is such a bizarre thought, though, that there's a good chance Dr. Song might actually stumble on her sister's body, at some point during this mission. That's a rather disturbing thought.

It's also bizarre that they'd ask her to join this mission, knowing that she's a bereaved family member, and it makes it even more questionable, that they'd ask her to keep this a secret from the rest of the crew.

On that note, it does seem like Captain Han knows something, from the way he tells Dr. Song to reconsider her acceptance of the mission, and from the way he refers to her personal curiosity, during the mission.

His answers to Dr. Song sound perfectly reasonable, but there's an edge to his voice that makes me think that he's not being completely neutral.

And there's that nugget of information that co-pilot Lee Gi Su drops, about Captain Han having lost a daughter because of the water shortage. That's sad. I can see how that might make him much more jaded and cynical than the average person.

I think both he and Dr. Song have a point, in that Dr. Song says that they should do an autopsy on the dead bodies, because of the oddities in what they've observed in the readings of the environment, as well as the dead bodies, but at the same time, Captain Han has a point, that this isn't their mission.

But there's definitely something weird that's gone on, in this space station.

First, the radiation levels are all fine, despite the reports insisting that the previous crew had died of radiation. Well, where's all that supposed radiation now?

Second, those bodies which looked like they'd drowned. It's hard to fathom how people might have drowned, in a space station.

Third, those weird drawings on the beams near the ceiling. Were people drowning, and were those their last messages, scrawled on the ceiling, when the water levels had been high, and they'd been nearly out of time, oxygen and room to breathe?

Co-pilot Gi Su is definitely up to no good; it feels like he's acting as a mercenary, trying to get a sample of the mystery substance, on the sly.

That biosignal was likely faked by him, in order to get Chief Gong out of the way, so that he could then gain secret access to the storage area, after egging Dr. Song to check out the infirmary like she'd mentioned.

Gotta wonder what that mystery substance is, and why those green-lit canisters still look empty.

And, is this an alien show, coz the way his torch seemingly gets snatched away from his reach, makes me feel like there could someone or something, in there with him. Eep. That's an unsettling thought. 😬

That water molecule getting from the dead body, into Soo Chan's eye, definitely seems to be the start of something.

Judging from how water appears to leak out of his ear later, this could well be the start of a wave of infection. And if he's infected, wouldn't it be easy to infect everyone else around him?

That doesn't bode well for the rest of the crew, but it does seem to indicate that our next episode will be quite a bit more action-packed than this one?

*Early Access Extras is a look at shows that I'm watching outside of Patreon.*

It's typically a feature that's available only to the Ultimate Tier, but because I'd had plans to run this as a bonus show for all tiers, I thought it made sense to share these notes with all tiers.