"At Risk"

A review by Jenni:

What I love about this episode:
I don't know why but I'm really fond of the moment when Tess asks for volunteers and Andrew and Monica both raises their hands, at first not taking their eyes off Jason.  Angels are awesome.

I really like Monica in this episode.  Yes, it happens.  It's absolutely adorable when she calls Kelly "little one."  Monica is really wonderful with children.  That's something I have never questioned.

I thought it was great that Jason ends up reaching out to Gerard.  It demonstrates that getting the kids to move is no longer a contest for him.  He legitimately wants better for the kids and I sincerely hope he took Andrew's advice, went to college, and went into PT full-time.

While at first worrisome, I was happy to see the mothers meet.  Kelly's mom is understandably upset by Jason's desertion but I think it's wonderful that she comes to see that she and Jason's mom have concern and love for their children in common.

I think it's very sweet that Tess has her arm through Andrew's at the end.  I love it when they seem to have a happy, close mother-son sorta relationship.

In closing, I think this episode has a wonderful theme of how greatly we can impact each other and how reaching out to others can better not only them but ourselves. 

What I didn't love about this episode:
Please note that two of my gripes are with only the DVD presentation of this episode, not the episode itself which I really like.

Why do the DVDs keep cutting the intros to episodes?  Richard Gere's removed from "The Spirit of Liberty Moon" and here Colin Powell is absent.  It's annoying cause it makes me wonder if I was imagining things.  Here it really doesn't make sense since General Powell's charity is still up and running.  Not only do I miss seeing these but it also makes the episodes really short (a mere 42 minutes here).

I'm a lil troubled by Andrew remaining silent on the bus when the guys are talking so disrespectfully about the kids and calling them bean bags.  I also wonder why Monica wasn't on the bus going back so she coulda kept them in line.  Cause maybe the bus driver getting involved on the road isn't the brightest idea.  But it woulda been nice for an angel to pipe up and tell them to show some respect.  On the other hand, in a later scene it's Jason that pipes up and defends the kids so maybe he was supposed to all along and Andrew or Monica doing it would have denied him that opportunity to grow.  So this is maybe something I'm more ambivalent about.  However...

I hate, hate, hate that Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" is taken out of the DVD version and replaced by lame, goofy muzak.  It ruins the entire montage for me because that song was just so perfect in its original placement.  Plus it makes me paranoid that a lot else could have been changed.

Lingering questions:
Is that rising when a lady enters a room thing for real?  I'd never heard that prior to this episode although I guess, thinking back, I have seen it in period films.  At what point does one knock that off?  I mean would Adam and Andrew rise when Tess or Monica entered a room they were in?  Cause, as a lady, I'd be first startled and then kinda bothered by my guy friends doing that.  So is it just upon meeting?

Parts that made me feel swoony:
Is it just me or does Andrew's accent seem to come through a bit more than usual during his first spiel on the bus?  It's way cute.  And he's also kinda tough-sounding which is a nice occasional mode for Andrew.  Very attractive.

I just wanna say kudos to the guy for handling bathroom duty and not complaining about it.  I know from personal experience that escorting lil kids to the bathroom is no picnic.  I imagine having to do the same for bitter teenagers is super annoying.  But Andrew does it without question or complaint.  He just stands around shouting "two minutes" cause it's what's needed. 

When Andrew smiles upon entering the room with the kids...  It's lovely.  And makes me a little sad.  I think the fact that Andrew can't have kids actually bothers me more than the potentiality of my not having kids.  Nice...

Andrew has very cuddly looking clothes in this episode.  I think it's all the layering.  Whatever it is he looks cuddly and I wanna hug him.  Lovely, lovely angel. 

Speaking of lovely... I adore the smile on Andrew's face when he sees Jason and Kelly getting along so well.  It's just unfortunate that right afterwards he has to chastise Jason for smoking and making Kelly cough.  But for a moment... adorableness all around.

So the montage is pretty much sunk for me cause of the missing Argent song but Andrew's little faux football stance is still really goofily cute.  I love playful Andrew. 

The angels are just really very nice with lil nicknames in this episode.  I get the warm fuzzies when Andrew refers to Kelly as "our girl."  Awww.  Can he just adopt and put me outta my misery?

Random thoughts:
The mother in this episode really reminds me of the mom in "Sins of the Father" in that she allows her child to face the consequences of his actions because she knows it's his only hope of breaking outta a bad cycle.  I would have liked to have seen the two meet.  I bet they could really comfort each other.

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(The photographs used on this page are from "Touched by an Angel" and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not being used to seek profit.)