The Silent Sea – Episode 3 “Cause Of Death” Recap & Review

Cause Of Death

Episode 3 of The Silent Sea picks up back on Balhae Lunar Station with Jian hurrying down to recover the body. En-route though, Jian receives a radio transmission. Gisu isn’t responding and something is seriously wrong. Soohyuk is concerned and implores her not to act independently.

Jian races back to her starting point where she finds Gisu alive and well. He pries open the storage room doors holding a vial of water. Only, he’s suddenly pulled back into the room by something, which pulls him up to the ceiling and chokes him out. The sample he had is slowly pulled away under a fallen shelving unit.

Something has been stalking the crew and as this shadowy figure slips away, Soohyuk appears just in time and sees Jian crouched down on the floor.

Jian inevitably comes under fire for leaving Gisu alone, with a furious Captain Han demanding she hand over her bodycam to figure out what’s really going on. Checking her footage, Soohyuk, Han and Jian all watch as Gisu is strung up again, realizing this isn’t as simple as they once thought.

While this is going on, Soochan’s infection continues to spread. He profusely vomits water all over the floor, unable to stop, as the remaining crew not hunting for the strange creature are lost for words. Dr Hong comes racing into the main hub area, grabbing towels and hazmat suits to try and stop the flow of water.

Despite puncturing the lung and attempting to clear out the water, it’s no good and it soon spurts frantically into the air like a fountain. As Soochan looks over at the glass, he loses consciousness and dies. Just like all the others, he finds himself drowning.

When Jian finds out, she speaks in confident to Dr Hong about the hidden files that are located somewhere in the station. When Captain Han shows up, she immediately straightens and decides to do an autopsy after all. They need to figure out what killed Soochan and the others before it’s too late.

Part of that investigation comes from sifting through the Balhae medical records but they all seem to be locked. It looks like they need to handle this the old fashioned way, and that includes gathering tissue samples from as many deceased bodies as possible to work out when the infection started.

Captain Han meanwhile heads into the vents and begins searching for the creature. In a scene that feels ripped right from Alien, Han and a few of his colleagues check the scanner and notice the reading fast approaching. However, it appears to be in another part of the facility as it passes right over them.

When Jian returns to the main group, she confirms that all the other bodies have the same cause of death. This, coupled with Dr Hong’s autopsy, confirm that the infection occurred from the inside out. Only, strangely all the crew were in perfect health when they died, with no virus or bacteria to speak of. Soochan’s blood is also completely discolored but appears to hold a separate layer of something unrecognizable.

Jian reflects back on the creature she encountered and realizes that this thing may well be more complicated than they first thought. Could it be a surviving crew member? She certainly thinks so and believes if this man or woman rationed their food and water, it’s possible they survived.

Captain Han remains determined to lead by example, deciding to track down the survivor and complete their mission.

The Episode Review

Episode 3 starts to deepen the plot now as more survivors start to succumb to the viral infection. Seeing how Soochan died, drowning from the inside out, was pretty horrific to watch and really helps to add to the horror of this show.

Jian’s flashbacks help to flesh out more of her past too, while the tensions between Captain Han and Jian add an extra layer of drama to the fold.

The Silent Sea has been a really solid horror/mystery hybrid and the ending leaves a tantalizing prospect of diving into the unknown going forward.