The Ending to 'The Silent Sea' Is Bittersweet — How Does the New Netflix Series Sign Off? (SPOILERS)

Spoiler Alert! This article contains spoilers for The Silent Sea on Netflix.

After recent K-drama hits like Squid Game and Hellbound, The Silent Sea follows in their footsteps as another political sci-fi thriller on Netflix. The eight-episode series features South Korean stars like Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, and Heo Sung-tae. It's a quick and exciting series that you can easily binge over a long weekend, and the ending might require a little explanation.

In the midst of a global drought that drives the world to a nigh waterless dystopia, Doctor Song Ji-an (Bae Doona) is recruited to be part of a space exploration team. Their mission is to travel to an abandoned space station on the Moon to retrieve samples of a mysterious experiment that was once conducted there. But once they reach the Moon, the crew discovers the true nature of the horrible experiments. As they dig deeper into the truth, their very lives are put at stake.

If you're as shocked by that ending as the rest of us, then let's recap the events together.

The crew is already in dire straits in the first episode. After their shuttle begins to break apart mid-flight, they crash land on the Moon. By the time they arrive, they've already lost one crew member before even entering the space station. Of course, things only get worse from there. While all reports state that the team of researchers who once resided there died from a radiation leak, the team detects no radiation within. However, they do discover bodies that appear to have drowned.

They press on amidst these mysterious circumstances, but the situation continues to escalate. In searching for the samples, one crew member becomes infected by a strange virus that causes his body to produce so much water that it effectively drowns him. Crew members are also attacked by a strange creature supposedly living in the station.

As they dig deeper and discover a hidden bevy of the water samples they were sent to retrieve, the crew discovers the truth.

Five years prior, the former researchers were conducting experiments with water found on the Moon — aptly named lunar water. While it has the ability to multiply and potentially refill the Earth's water supply, it wasn't fit for human consumption. The researchers then resorted to controversial cloning experiments, farm-growing several dozen humans to conduct often-fatal tests of lunar water.

Their experiments resulted in Luna 073, a young mutated child with immunity to the lunar water's adverse effects. After the South Korean government pulled the plug on the experiment, they left several researchers trapped in the station to die at the hands of a lunar water outbreak. As the sole survivor, Luna lived in the station until the new crew arrived.

After discovering that Luna's genes could be passed on, Doctor Song and the remaining crew resolve to bring her back safely. The crew fights through a sudden flood of lunar water and a traitor among their ranks in Lieutenant Ryoo Tae-seok (Lee Joon) to make it back outside in time to be picked up by a rescue ship. Luna escapes with them and is even able to survive in the Moon's atmosphere without a spacesuit as the shuttle comes down to pick them up.

The initial crew of 11 was whittled down to just three survivors throughout the events of the show, including Luna who leaves the only home she's ever known as an unwitting savior for humanity. The ultimate fate of Earth is left unknown as the first season ends. As of writing, a second season has not been announced.