Shh... Do you hear that? No, it's not the winds of change, but it's the Sounds of Silence.
This review contains spoilers; viewer discretion is advised.
Sounds of Silence
Written by Gregory Bonsignore
To be honest, compared to most other episodes that feature a guest star (Stranger Than Fan Fiction, Pinkie Pride, The Perfect Pear, for example), Sounds of Silence isn't really that interesting. Not to say that the episode is bad - far from it, in fact! - but my biggest issue with the episode comes down to the story. It's pretty thin on the ground and it's down to the characters and theme to give it more structure.
Luckily, however, the characters do shine. Although Applejack has had her "off" moments during season eight, her character was done justice here. It's pretty obvious she wants to help the Kirin overcome their silence, and for once, doesn't act irrationally and stupid. After speaking with Autumn Blaze, Applejack understands how to fix the issue with the Kirin's silence.
For Fluttershy, some may see her being frightened of going to the Kirin's village a step back in character development, but I don't agree if that's the case. It's an area she and Applejack have never gone before, so it's understandable that Fluttershy would be scared. No matter how brave you are when it comes to an unfamiliar environment, chances are you will feel scared.
Autumn Blaze was... fine, I suppose. Not a character I'd put in my personal Top 10, but she was well written and voiced brilliantly by Rachel Bloom (I'd never heard of her prior to the fact she was voicing in ML). And yeah, her backstory, though not entirely original, was pretty good, but the song was great.
Something I'd like to see in season nine is one of the Kirin showing up at the School of Friendship. Because the species is largely unknown to many, it would be interesting to see how the Young Six react to seeing a Kirin for the first time. There's a lot of story telling potential with that!
The ending itself was also fine, as was the theme about dealing with arguments rationally, and hopefully that's as far as they go with the theme. But with the Kirin realizing anger is a part of them, what would happen if things were to escalate? What if they are unable to deal with a disagreement and end up taking it out on others, eventually leading to those they lashed out towards lashing out on others, leading to war? Yes, I'm taking it to an extreme level, but the writers need to be careful when it comes to messages about dealing with personal anger.
Luckily, however, the characters do shine. Although Applejack has had her "off" moments during season eight, her character was done justice here. It's pretty obvious she wants to help the Kirin overcome their silence, and for once, doesn't act irrationally and stupid. After speaking with Autumn Blaze, Applejack understands how to fix the issue with the Kirin's silence.
For Fluttershy, some may see her being frightened of going to the Kirin's village a step back in character development, but I don't agree if that's the case. It's an area she and Applejack have never gone before, so it's understandable that Fluttershy would be scared. No matter how brave you are when it comes to an unfamiliar environment, chances are you will feel scared.
Autumn Blaze was... fine, I suppose. Not a character I'd put in my personal Top 10, but she was well written and voiced brilliantly by Rachel Bloom (I'd never heard of her prior to the fact she was voicing in ML). And yeah, her backstory, though not entirely original, was pretty good, but the song was great.
Something I'd like to see in season nine is one of the Kirin showing up at the School of Friendship. Because the species is largely unknown to many, it would be interesting to see how the Young Six react to seeing a Kirin for the first time. There's a lot of story telling potential with that!
The ending itself was also fine, as was the theme about dealing with arguments rationally, and hopefully that's as far as they go with the theme. But with the Kirin realizing anger is a part of them, what would happen if things were to escalate? What if they are unable to deal with a disagreement and end up taking it out on others, eventually leading to those they lashed out towards lashing out on others, leading to war? Yes, I'm taking it to an extreme level, but the writers need to be careful when it comes to messages about dealing with personal anger.
Final Thoughts
Although the plot is very thin on the ground, the characters and theme do their best to make up for that, but there's only so far you can take a slow-paced story with characters and themes as a crutch. Sounds of Silence is watchable and enjoyable at its best, but nothing really special; I do think there are better episodes with stronger and better-paced stories in this season.
Rating: Okay
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