Three Storages
Episode 2 of The Silent Sea begins with Jian in her lab, trying to decrypt files. Thinking back to the moments with her sister, Song Wonkyung, Jian remembers how she referred to the dark spots on the moon as the Silent Sea. Inputting the correct password, she manages to decode the message, which reads “Find Luna.” Now, Luna is a codeword that Mr Hwang is aware of too, as we see from later flashbacks. This codeword is in reference to Balhae’s data storage. This is certainly worth remembering going into this chapter. Just like that, we return to the lunar base as our astronauts breathe heavily and make it aboard, replenishing their oxygen supply. With all the power off, they venture forward, having recovered for now, and intent on completing their mission. As they head through the hallway, they come across a strange deceased man on the ground. He appears to be a mercenary, potentially working for the resource mafia, a group infamously hated by many space organizations and a glorified scavenger. By the looks of it, the foam around his mouth and nose seem to indicate he’s drowned. But how? Well, Jian decides they should probably do an autopsy on the guy to find out. But for now, they venture further into the base. The gang discuss the deceased man while they walk, believing it wasn’t radiation that killed him. Nothing is as they first thought. Captain Han wants to press on and continue exploring but Jian disagrees. She thinks they need to examine the body and find out what the cause of death is. Unfortunately, her idea is overruled and quickly shut down. The gang do eventually make it into the main hub area and work together to turn on the power. One by one the hallways illuminate, leading to the entire base groaning to life. The communication system is still down though but more pressing is the fact the radiation levels are okay and there seems to be a solid amount of oxygen too. Removing her helmet, Jian questions Yoon-Jae’s rule but he’s determined to press ahead with their mission and not get sidetracked. The first step of this comes from activating the air filtration system, which helps make the rest of the base accessible. Pulling up the 3D schematics brings up another, more pressing issue. They need to avoid the contamination in order to reach the machine room. That includes going through 8 different gates. The safest route would be the main gate but Captain Han decides to split the group into three teams. Captain Han reaches one of the Storage Rooms and attempts to pry it open. While he does, Doctor Hong notices that something is blocking their path. And that something happens to be a whole stack of dead bodies, piled in. This time though, they’re the crew members. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that whatever happened here is not from radiation. The drowning mentioned earlier does seem to be a direct result of this. Jian perks up again over the radio, telling Han they should identify the bodies. However, he hits back, telling her they shouldn’t jeopardize their mission for her own personal curiosity. This links back to the past, and potentially with what happened to her sister, who seems to have passed away. Was she aboard the Balhae Station? Eventually the group venture into the different storage rooms. With the other two teams coming up short, it falls to Jian, Heesun and Soochan to find the sample. Unfortunately all the vials are completely empty. A strange biosignature then pops up on the periphery of the scanner. That’s certainly unnerving and it’s enough to push Gisu into covering for Jian while she heads off to the infirmary. And then it happens. Soochan leans over one of the deceased bodies to find another sample bottle. This one is empty too but in his hastiness, a strange spore lifts from the deceased body and hits his eye. It doesn’t take long before the virus starts to work its way through his body, with strange water droplets internally dropping down his neck.
The Episode Review
There’s a really nice and eerie atmosphere in this episode that feels very reminiscent of Event Horizon and Alien. That unnerving idea of exploring a desolate and abandoned space station holds up and it’s incredibly effective in shifting the focus of this chapter away from dramatic thrills to more of a slow-paced horror ride. The pacing is perfect too and there’s some wonderful moments in here that really help to set the scene. The flashbacks are great too while the idea of splitting he team into three groups works to get to know some of the supporting characters alongside Captain Han and Jian. The ending though certainly looks like we’re about to descend down this rollercoaster path of chills and thrills.
