The Town of Odyssey

Lee wrote:I must say, I am so glad I finally listened to this today.

Up till now, I wasn't real fond of Abuelita (sp.?), but I like her a lot better now. This episode for me is most likely my favorite since the relaunch. Absolutely wonderful. I never made the connection with Juan until it was really spelled out. It had a great message and it was extremely well-written. 5 stars all the way.

I do not think we were supposed to make the connection to Juan until the end. I hope they do not just drop that storyline. I look forward to seeing how it plays out. Future romance for Abuelita maybe??? or at least a reunion of friends.

I was impressed. While not one of my favorites of ALL time, it is one of my favorites in the past few years. Finally an episode that was serious and stayed serious all the way through instead of brushing off the seriousness after a few minutes. Had a really good lesson that sticks in your mind. Really sad, I thought they'd kill her off, but I was hoping they wouldn't. I don't think there needed to be a parental warning--it was much easier to listen to than "Karen"--it was a story of something that happened long ago in the past, there were really only a few minutes where the episode was truly sad, and it didn't deal with all of the tough emotions that surround the death of a close friend like Donna had. You can't completely shelter kids from all death and pain. I thought it was cool how they connected Juan and all to the story and message--helped us not to be left hanging and see that successes DO happen. I'd say 4.5/5 is my vote.

A powerful episode, and without a doubt this era's "Greater Love." At the beginning, I was wondering what the connection between Lucia's story and the halfway house would be (because of course there had to be one). As soon as Lucia said she didn't know what had happened to Juan, I knew he was connected with the halfway house, and then realized that, of course, he was Mr. Reyes.

I thought it was neat that the audience got to find out what happened to Juan, but Lucia didn't. And she might never find out. That's like real life, where we often don't get to see the effect we have on people's lives. Love is "never for nothing." I long to love like that. Anyway, I doubt we'll hear from Juan again ... though, I wouldn't mind if this halfway house ministry appeared in future episodes.

Matthew's thinking that Jay will someday wind up as a convict were quite surprising to hear. Jay just doesn't seem the type, especially after album 53. He has an "adversarial friendship" with a lot of the other kids, but he's not mean-spirited. I suppose, though, that if the albums had been switched, that thinking would serve as great foreshadowing, what with Polehaus's grudge against the Haggler family, and their prior criminal record.

I was surprised to hear Olivia refer to Esperanza's necklace as cheap, particularly since she only saw it in a photograph. That seems like such a rude, thoughtless thing to say -- especially to one's grandma.

I really liked the new actors who voiced the characters in Lucia's story. To my (untrained) ears, they sounded pretty authentic, and, regardless, they captured the essence of their characters quite well. I particularly liked that last scene between Juan and young Lucia. What with all the scenes in the present-day, though, it made it a little harder to get into the story (not to mention there was less time in which to develop the characters and the plot).

jennifertwt wrote:

Lee wrote:I must say, I am so glad I finally listened to this today.

Up till now, I wasn't real fond of Abuelita (sp.?), but I like her a lot better now. This episode for me is most likely my favorite since the relaunch. Absolutely wonderful. I never made the connection with Juan until it was really spelled out. It had a great message and it was extremely well-written. 5 stars all the way.

I do not think we were supposed to make the connection to Juan until the end. I hope they do not just drop that storyline. I look forward to seeing how it plays out. Future romance for Abuelita maybe??? or at least a reunion of friends.

As for the Future romance thing, was it just me, or did the older Juan not sound Abuelita's age?

I think Juan will almost have to find out. Matthew was going to be told the story by Olivia when he got home, so he'd know about Juan. Next week, he'd go to the Bible study, Juan would tell his story, and I hardly think that Matthew will be able to resist saying something. At the least, he'll tell Olivia, and one of them will tell Juan or Lucia, and they will have to meet.

Definitely not one of my favorites.