And so this is the end of the "#silent" journey after 12 weeks (there was a week's break in between because of the World Cup broadcast).
Instead of discussing in great detail about the finale, I have chosen to summarise my thoughts about the entire drama in this post. For those who may be interested, you can check out my "long and detailed thoughts" about the previous 10 episodes through the following links:
Personally, my top 3 favourite episodes were no.5 (Tsumugi & Minato's break-up), no.6 (the story of Nana and Sou) and no.8 (the story of Nana and Haruo). They were simply so engaging, emotional and heart-wrenching and left a strong impression on me. That's not to say that I didn't care about the main couple's story...it's just that comparatively, these 3 episodes resonated with me a lot. And as I mentioned before, I found myself caring more for what happened to Nana and Haruo rather than Tsumugi and Sou because of Ep 8.
To begin with, I must admit that I had no expectations of this drama at first and adopted a wait-and-see attitude - meaning I was prepared to drop this anytime if it wasn't to my liking. Part of the reason was that stories like this about someone who is considered "normal" and part of the majority being in a relationship with someone who is faced with a considerable physical, financial, circumstantial challenge or disadvantage in life aren't that new. As such, there was no doubt that this would be compared to some of the more well-known same genre predecessors like 1995's "Aishiteru to itte kure" starring Tokiwa Takako and Toyokawa Etsushi or "Hoshi no kinka" in the same year starring Sakai Noriko, Oosawa Takao & Takenouchi Yutaka.
Of course, to be fair to "silent", the setting was somewhat different because the lead characters actually fell in love back in high school when they did not face this challenge of hearing loss and reunited years later to have a second go at being together whereas the titles I mentioned featured the main couples starting off with a romantic relationship while already coping with their challenges/differences.
Secondly, much as I think Kawaguchi Haruna is a decent actress, I can't really say that I am impressed or like her acting based on what I've seen from her so far. As for Meguro Ren, I had heard of Snow Man before but I didn't even know that he was part of the group. In addition, I hadn't seen any of Meguro's acting projects in the past so he was literally an unknown to me. Since then, I am much more familiar with him now, have watched "Kieta Hatsukoi" and even know the names of all the Snow Man members by now. It also helped to see that Kaho and Kazama Shunsuke were in the line-up as well so this gave me a little more faith in this drama.
Unexpectedly, this drama literally started with a bang and was such an overnight sensation right from the first episode. I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of detail, attention and effort put in and the script definitely played a big part in the drama's success. Considering that this was the debut work of a newbie scriptwriter, it was even more impressive because honestly speaking, brand name power is still a factor in this industry which determines how much faith people have in your works. Then again, even big name scriptwriters sometimes struggle to churn out hit after hit so being well-known sometimes doesn't guarantee success. As such, I thought that the producer and director really took a huge leap of faith with the scriptwriter in this case which thankfully worked out really well. Nonetheless, I think that even with a good script, there still needs to be good directing, cinematography, visuals, music, sound and acting as well so whatever the drama had achieved to date is definitely a team effort based on the synergies of its cast and crew.
I was still a bit apprehensive about this drama would go after Ep 1 because there have been many dramas which started off with a bang and simply fizzled out in no time. Last season's "Junai Dissonance" was just like this - I was so impressed with the first episode but everything just went haywire after that. Fortunately, "silent" had been very consistent with its quality and provided so much food for thought that it helped to keep viewers engaged and tuning in week after week. Seeing how my weekly reflections get longer and longer would be a tell-tale sign of how involved I was while watching this drama.
The characters were also very endearing - as in there wasn't any baddie that could turn viewers off - and everyone got a chance to shine and show the different sides of themselves. I believe that if the characters were not so lovable or the viewers couldn't care less about what happened to them, that would have reduced the level of engagement felt while watching this drama.
With regard to the finale, I think opinions may differ depending on your expectations. If you hope to see an happily-ever-after ending, it may not be entirely satisfactory though. Yet, it is not a bleak and hopeless situation.
I may be a bit pessimistic or too practical but I sort of expected that it won't be a 100% happy ending before I watched the finale. The issues that Sou and Tsumugi face are not things that can be solved in one episode and there is the gap of 8 years they need to bridge as well. It's true that they still love each other but it takes time to get used to being in a relationship as adults and trying to find a mutually acceptable way of being with each other that doesn't place undue stress or burden on one party. As such, the ending was kind of open-ended in the sense that we can see that they are still a work-in-progress i.e. they have made the commitment to try and find a way out but they are still far from the happy-ever-after stage. I thought that this was a logical and realistic way of portraying their relationship rather than being told that every issue is no issue just as long as they love each other. Likewise, much as I would like to see Nana and Haruo being together again, they too need time to bridge the distance between them. Of course, I am hopeful that there will come a day when they can be a couple but their open-ended status allows the viewers to imagine what may come so that's still not bad after all.
However, for those who come into the finale with the expectation of a happy ending, you may feel that the finale hasn't achieved much especially since the pace can be a tad draggy at times. I also feel that the earlier 10 episodes had raised the bar so high that the finale may seem a bit anti-climatic to some and may not come across as satisfying.
As for the cast, I think that everyone did a good job but my personal favourites are Kaho and Kazama. Even though there was only one episode which focused on Nana and Haruo, the two of them made the best of their airtime to produce some really memorable fine acting. E.g. when Haruo called out Nana's name even though her back was facing him and she couldn't have heard him, the amount of emotion in that moment was mind-blowing. Or the fallout they had when they just couldn't understand or chose not to understand each other's feelings and intentions.
As for Kawaguchi and Meguro, I thought that their best moment was in the first episode when Sou and Tsumugi finally met again outside the train station and they just couldn't communicate with each other because one was speaking and the other was using sign language. That frustration, sadness and helplessness which they displayed were very much unforgettable. In the finale, there were some cute moments then and now which I thought would be quite satisfying for fans of the main couple.
To sum things up, I would recommend this drama to those who are prepared to spend time savouring each moment and emotion in this story. This is definitely not the type of drama that you can just play in the background without looking at the screen because there were so many scenes where there was no dialogue and you have to rely on the subtitles to know what the sign language meant. As such, you really need to slow down and take in the story bit by bit. And because the drama is more than just about romance, it should also satisfy those who want to see more than just a love story since there are side plots about friendships and family as well.
