"Silent" has to be one of the best dramas I have recently watched. The story follows Sou and Tsumugi, two young people who dated in high school-only for Sou to break up with her over text and disappear. Years later, they meet by accident, and Tsumugi is shocked and heartbroken to see that Sou is not speaking, instead, he is signing to her. It turns out, Sou has ousted everyone because he was diagnosed with an illness that causes his hearing to deteriorate quickly. By the time they meet again, he is completely deaf.
I LOVED that the drama brought a topic of disability, and how they went about it. Sou is only new to his new condition, and he is struggling in many areas in life. I loved Ren Meguro's portrayal here, I was honestly impressed by his acting. He was so natural and I was able to understand Sou's actions sometimes even before they were explained, because Meguro somehow manages to be so on point. His performance alone is 10/10.
It is a bit slow and mellow, but it works for the topic and it makes sense in the context. I especially loved the instances where they play with sound and the absence of it. One scene, where Tsumugi hears the water drops hitting the sink and the meaningless hustle from the outdoors, just after finding out he can't hear- it's such a short scene but so impactful. Many times the scenes would go from quite loud to dead silent, and I loved how this was done.
I also enjoyed the friendships in the drama, especially the one between Sou and Minato. I was just entranced with the emotion that goes on between them, two men that are friends, and obviously care for eachother. It made me more emotional than the love story.
And there we come to the part I dislike. The love story was... well. I believed Sou loves Tsumugi. But I don't believe her for a second. I am not sure whether this is the actress or the plot, I just do not trust her. I do not see genuine romantic feelings in her for neither Sou nor Minato. I only actually believed she liked Sou as a teen. But later, despite learning sign language for him, the chemistry is not coming from her. And I see in other scenes that she can act, but it looks like she just can't portray love, at least to me. Sadness, she does it well.
Overall, I would say this is an important one to watch. Silent has reminded me to remain in tune with myself in so many ways- it is a slice of life, a bittersweet one, but there is a cherry on top.
