Chinmoku Hotei (Silent Court) begins with a young man named Hiroshi Takamizawa (Hayato Ichihara) looking for his lost love, Ayako Nakagawa (Hiromi Nagasaku). He fell in love with her some months back but when they were supposed to meet up in a new town, she had disappeared.It isn’t until a co-worker of his recognizes a landmark in the background of her last emailed photo that he has an idea of where she is.
Meanwhile, two appliance maintenance men who make regualr visits to elderly customers to check on their wares have made a grisly discovery when they come upon a 70 year old man named Kotaro Baba (Soichi Kitamura) seemingly strangled in his chair.
Detectives Shinji Imuro (Tetta Sugimoto) and Atsuko Nishimura (Asami Usuda) are dispatched to investigate and learn from neighbors that a “rather plain” woman has been visiting the elderly Baba.
They talk to the deceased man’s son Masaki (Hiroyuki Onoue) as well as his very suspicious real-estate agent Kaori Murayama (Nahana) but it’s only when they trace the man’s phone calls that they learn about the man’s former housecleaning woman, Miki Yamamoto.
They pay the woman a visit, and when she answers the door, we find that this “Miki Yamamoto” is the same “Ayako Nakagawa” that Takamizawa has been searching for.
They interview Yamamoto, , and though put off by her detached demeanor, temporarily rule her out as a suspect.
It’s only when a new head, Tatsuya Toriaki ( Koji Ookura) is put on the investigative team and they re-examine al the evidence that they reassess Miki Yamamoto as suspect Number One!
The Detectives make their way back to Yamamoto’s apartment where they discover that the Metropolitan branch of the Police is already there with a warrant of their own! The two teams are arguing about who holds the authority to make the arrest when Miki Yamamoto arrives home!
She is immediately placed under arrest, and it is here that a desperate Takamiyama, who has travelled across town to find Ayako, finally meets her…as she is being taken away my the authorities!!
The Akabane Police team has to wonder why the Metropolitan Police have involved themselves in their investigation…whne they find out Miki Yamaoto is already wanted for the death of ANOTHER elderly man! It seems she is a supect of an ongoing SERIAL KILLING!
This is a very sombre drama, and, as befitting a WOWOW drama, is very dark as well as shot through the same sickly greenish-blue color like HIPPOCRATES NO CHIKAI and COLD CASE. The drama is a rather slow-paced drama,but at only 5 episodes it already feels more like an extended full-length movie than a TV series.
As a long, long time fan of Pony Canyon Idol act Ribbon, I’ve always been a fervent supported of Hiromi Nagasaku, and with just the brief time she had onscreen in episode one, she reminds me just how darn awesome an actress she is!
