The Silent Sea Scientist Detail That Has Fans Scratching Their Heads

Warning: Spoilers below for "The Silent Sea"

South Korean TV shows have really made an impact in the West during the last year thanks to Netflix, as "Squid Game" quickly became one of the streaming service's most watched shows of all time. The popularity of Hwang Dong-hyuk's dark thriller series persuaded audiences to check out other South Korean shows, including the supernatural horror series, "Hellbound," as well as the legal mafia drama, "Vincenzo." But now, another K-drama is quickly taking the world by storm: "The Silent Sea."

The science-fiction series is set in a dystopian future where resources are scarce across the world, and a team of scientists are sent to the moon to recover a mysterious sample from an abandoned base which could help stop humanity from destroying itself. When "The Silent Sea" picks up, the base has been empty for five years thanks to a devastating accident — although clearly there is more to what happened than meets the eye.

The show mainly follows Han Yun-jae (Gong Yoo), a soldier who is selected for the mission to the moon along with a crew of scientists. "The Silent Sea" hides some surprising, inventive twists along the way that need to be seen to be believed. However, there's a detail about one of the scientists on the lunar mission that has fans scratching their heads.

When Han and his team get to the abandoned base in "The Silent Sea" Episode 2, they find a number of dead scientists that look like they've drowned. But viewers are confused as to why the dead bodies haven't decomposed since they've been in the base for five years. Some fans took to Reddit to discuss the detail about the scientists, with u/toquilla writing, "So the initial accident killing all the scientists happened 5 years prior to our cast's mission? And all the scientists' bodies laying around for 5 years have not decomposed???", going on to ask, "Am i missing something?"

Redditor u/toquilla's observation about the bodies sparked a debate with other users, as u/ericntd suggested, "Besides oxygen, there's also an absence of bacterias and worms so no decomposition makes sense." While other viewers noted that a human's body is filled with bacteria on its own, u/tired_kibitzer later added that with "No air and extreme temperature fluctuations, no bacteria would survive it for long," proposing one reason why decomposition might not occur in this situation. Another fan suggested it's maybe something "extraterrestrial." 

There are also plenty of comments suggesting that the decomposition rate isn't the most pressing science-fiction idea in the series, noting that the spoilery elements of the series are much more interesting. Maybe it's best to dive into "The Silent Sea" on Netflix to find out for yourself.