Wow. That basically sums up my thoughts.
I think I might relisten to the episode being aired each week so I can comment in the weekly threads in detail, but overall, I loved this album!
I was intrigued by the mystery, and while I did call one of the head bad guys really early on, there were still lots of things that I was unsure about. I laughed, I yelled, I pondered, I pumped my fist in the air and cheered (while driving - come on, Jason's return is worth some slightly dangerous driving)
and just generally had a great time. I listened over three days in my car and had a great time. I got the early feeling that Eugene and Katrina might end up adopting/taking care of Buck at some point in the future when Katrina got so attached, but for some reason, I really didn't like the idea.
He was fine for his role in the album, but I really wouldn't mind if we don't hear from him again. Maybe a reference to his happiness at some other location - I'm not heartless.
I can see something in the future where Mr. Skint tries to get Buck pulled back into that lifestyle again. I am really interested in how long they plan to wait to take care of the "loose ends" with Mr. Skint and Mr. Groute (sp?) and so on. I really want to hear from Jason again! Like somebody else mentioned a while back in this thread, it was too bad that they didn't get the three generations of Whittakers together towards the end, but maybe that can happen at some point in the future.
This is just a little thing, but the book "Oliver Twist" was found in a backpack - that was Buck Oliver's, right? I thought the Oliver connection was amusing/interesting. Both orphans, both get involved with some sketchy people. I haven't read the book, so I really don't know enough to know if there are clever parallels or whatever between them beyond that. I also found myself trying to figure out who Buck's parents were - do we know one or both of them? There weren't enough clues. I wasn't sure if that was going to end up being important. He implies that his father dies ignobly, but he could just as easily be in jail or hiding.
Also, does anybody else have a CD set that does not seem to have the bonus feature mentioned on the back? Early in this thread somebody mentioned something about Paul McCusker saying something that they found confusing, but at the end of track 9 on the fourth CD, my copy just went back to track 1. I was expecting a short version of the Novacom set bonus disc - talking about ideas, background, etc. Did I miss something really obscure during the wrap-up, or did ordering from FOTF result from some kind of mix-up that left me without the bonus feature?