Spinal Tap. Mac and Veronica mention Fievel Mousekewitz, a character in the 1986 animated film An American Tail. Mac's blood sister is reading The Westing Game. Mac derides Madison's art appreciation by saying that she wouldn't recognize Claude Monet's Water Lilies unless Revlon created and named a nail polish after it. Keith and Sheriff Lamb decide whether or not to play "Good cop/bad cop" with their suspect. Mac's adoptive father references the 2000 memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Music Several songs are played in the episode: "Birthday" by The Beatles "Brilliant Sky" by Saybia "Fireflies" by Amy Cook "The Way You Are" by 46bliss Production Series regulars Jason Dohring and Teddy Dunn, who play Logan Echolls and Duncan Kane, respectively, do not appear in the episode, despite being credited. This episode is also the first to air in 2005 as opposed to 2004. However, this (and the previous episode) are the only episodes of the series to be aired out of production order. The previous episode, "An Echolls Family Christmas" was produced after this episode, but was aired before, due to "An Echolls Family Christmas" being a Christmas-themed episode which aired as season's final episode of the year in December 2004. In addition, UPN also aired this episode later because executives believed that the material was too dark for the holidays. The episode's title is a semi-joking reference to the 1991 horror thriller The Silence of the Lambs and the 1988 novel of the same name on which the film was based. The film, the novel, and the episode all deal with serial killers and the brave female detectives who hunt them down (in the case of The Silence of the Lambs, this character is Clarice Starling). Among this episode's guest stars include Tina Majorino, who makes her second appearance on the show (after "Like a Virgin") and Aaron Paul, who would later receive three Primetime Emmy Award wins for his performance as Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. Reception Ratings In its original broadcast, "Silence of the Lamb" received 2.84 million viewers, ranking 98 of 107 in the weekly rankings. This episode's rating marked an increase of almost 1 million viewers from the previous episode, "An Echolls Family Christmas. Reviews Price Peterson of TV.com wrote positively of the episode. In his episode verdict, the reviewer wrote, "that driveway scene between Mac and her birth mom was some great