"Most Likely to Succeed"

A review by Jenni:

It's occurred to me that Andrew introduced me to the exciting world of frappuccinos.  Before he offered to treat Monica to one in "Random Acts," I'd never thought to try one.  After that, I did.  And I love them.  Thus, in his honor, I am watching this and drinking literally a pitcher of banana chocolate coconut frappuccino.  I have got to figure out how to make smaller amounts...  Or not.

What I love about this episode:
I like that Melissa handles everything with Dennis with a lot of grace.  And that she's not a ditsy cheerleader stereotype.  I also like what she says about how it's always nice to know someone likes you.  If John Dye ever visited this web site... I hope that's what he took from it.  He was definitely, absolutely liked.  Still is.

I like that this episode plays against expectations.  It's the sweet nerd who becomes the jerk who is stuck in the past.  And the mean jock becomes the selfless husband who is willing to give up his dream for love of his wife.  People do change, for better and for worse.

I can relate to what Ricky says about how when something happens that you can't change, you think of all the things you coulda. 

I love that shot of the trio on the balcony looking down on Gloria as she begins her revelation.

"God can redeem time.  God created time.  Just as He created you.  He loves you.  And He's given you all the time that you need, right now, to do the right thing.  Will you do it?"  Interesting quote from Gloria to Dennis.

I like how Melissa telling Dennis it's nice to know someone cares about you comes full circle at the end.  And I'm glad Dennis had the chance to tell her how much he loved her before it was too late.

Melissa and Ricky dancing is incredibly sweet and sad.

"Thank you, Father" is always a good way to end something.

What I didn't love about this episode:
Holy friggin cow.  This is about a 10 year high school reunion!?!  I remember it as like 20 or something.  I just had my 10 year and I am no where near as far along as these people!  This makes me feel bad...

This is way, way too Gloria-centric.  While I'm kinda liking her more now than I used to, I'm simply not invested enough in this character to want to see her exclusively in so many scenes.

I do not appreciate Tess' expression of near-disgust when Gloria mentions Andrew's presence...  Grr.

Dennis was a world-class jerk when he basically ordered Gloria to get him cheese.  Get your own darn cheese!  I wish Andrew had come up behind him and given him the evil eye.

Lingering questions:
Did anyone's high school actually have a bird watching club?  There are always all these clubs and classes on TV and in movies that I sure never experienced.

Parts that made me feel swoony:
Finally, Andrew!  And looking super handsome.  Sadly, this is the first scene in the episode I've cared about.

Poor Andrew doesn't look very happy...  Gloria's right...  If I were Monica, that woulda been my cue to leap up from the table and go check on him.  But, thankfully, I am not Monica.  If I were... I'm pretty sure that's the angelic version of an HR meeting waiting to happen.

Andrew's sudden interest in cheese is pointed and amusing.  ;-)

This is the one reason I'm starting to like Gloria: I think she really did like Andrew.  When she freaks out about doing a revelation with Dennis, he's the one she asks to do it instead.  And his response makes me think he should definitely have become a supervisor at some point.  He'd be a natural.

It's sweet how he smiles down on Gloria after Dennis assures her that she was the right angel.  Of course, it's sweet that Monica and Tess did, too.  But ya know... he's Andrew. 

It's interesting that Gloria kinda looks to Andrew, seemingly for approval, before dancing with Dennis.  Sometimes I think Gloria saw him as her supervisor as much as she did Monica.  Don't blame her... 

Aww...  That lil whatever it is between Andrew and Monica where he takes her hand is so sweet.  I'm all about people being affectionate with Andrew.  Yay for him.  Lucky for them.

I love his wistful smile... 

Random thoughts:
Music: There's the band music at the football game.  When everyone is arriving at the reunion, I think I hear Journey but I'm not sure.  There's something instrumental playing when everyone's getting name tags.  There's something soulful by a female singer playing during the first dance at the reunion.  A later song has a lyric like "and there's one thing that I'll tell you" or something like that.  Similar style to the previous one.  And, of course, Toby Keith sings "My List."

Dennis kinda looks like a darker haired Dwight Schrute when he's younger.

Ha!  The guy playing Dennis *is* Greg Brady from the Brady Bunch movies.  No wonder I kept thinking he should have a guitar and groovy, squeaky clean clothes.

Scenes Hallmark cut:
- Yuck.  Dennis is even worse in the full version.  Shortly after the scene at the name tag pick-up, one of Dennis' old friends from bird watching approaches.  The friend greets him happily and says he wouldn't recognize him if not for having seen him in Fortune 500.  The friend then compliments that Dennis is more like Fortune Five.  Dennis basically blows him off and proceeds into the ballroom.  Ouch.  That's when Monica tells Gloria to follow him.

That's all I got.  I really do think these episodes got shorter and so THC had less to cut.

Further on down the road...
This episode makes me appreciate Jennifer Morrison more.  I'd really never seen her in anything other than this when Once Upon a Time started and I had no recollection of her as being the girl in this episode.  So I just knew her as Emma.  But she seems like a completely different person with an almost totally different voice as Melissa.  Pretty impressive. 

Whatever Monica is drinking in the limo looks really yummy.  I need more tea...

Aren't reunions usually coordinated by a classmate?  Who would have hired Monica originally, I wonder?

I would so have went psycho on Dennis if he ordered me to go get him cheese. 

Geez.  I have Andrew on the brain.  At first I thought Melissa was clinging to his hand with her hubby right there and I was like "I love Andrew but that's a lil odd..."  Then I realized it was Ricky's hand.  The black sleeves confused me.  Later I mistook Ricky for Andrew again!

One thing that confuses me about Ricky planning to quit football: at that point would he have been wealthy enough to have paid all of Melissa's medical bills without insurance?  Given he'd never started, I would think maybe he wasn't getting paid the big bucks.  But I also have no clue about NFL salaries.  Hmm.  And, really, unless he absolutely knew the answer, Dennis shoulda hit the kill switch on his scheme as soon as he saw Melissa.  I don't care about his broken heart.  Risking taking health insurance from a gravely ill woman you proclaim to love is pretty villainous.  Although I suppose since Ricky told him he was going to quit, maybe Dennis could have taken that as proof that an unemployed Ricky could still support Melissa.  Still...

Actually... I think "A plus B always has to equal C" is the opposite of analytical, isn't it?  I always thought of analytical as thinking of things in different ways and digging for answers that may not be clear cut or even reachable.

Ha.  I was worried maybe they'd cut the Toby Keith song.  I forgot he actually appears.  Dubbing a different song over visuals of Mr. Keith singing woulda looked pretty terrible.

Thank God that it's okay to ask an angel to dance.  I'd have some characters in heaps of trouble if not!

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