"And a Nightingale Sang"



A review by Jenni:

I've been deliberately not really keeping count of how many episodes I have left.  But I think I'm under 10 now...  I know that shouldn't freak me out as much as it does.  And from here on out, I think I'm shutting down email and Facebook during these.  Don't want distractions.

What I love about this episode:
Ha.  Okay.  Gotta admit Gloria speed-reading a romance novel amuses me.  Maybe that's the way ya gotta do it.  I read one once.  Scarred for life.  ;-)  Maybe part of it is cause my initial response to "loincloth" is "Crucifixion."  It's no wonder I'm single...

Well, it's nice that the angels appear to be pro-Valentine's Day as I'm beginning to suspect I am the only single person who enjoys Valentine's.  I may still be the only nonfiction single person to feel that way but at least I have some fictional support from one really cool person and his friends.  Monica's right.  It is a wonderful day to celebrate love.  And also eat lots of sweets. 

I think it's so cute that William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett played a couple in this.  I'm kinda a sucker for real husbands and wives playing spouses.

"You can always find a lot more reasons not to do something than to do it.  Some things just take a leap of faith."  I love that quote from Monica cause it seems so true to my own life.  When I think on some of the best decisions I've ever made, they were leaps of faith.  And if I had taken the time to do a pro and con list, I probly woulda went the other way.  I'm so glad I didn't.

"What is the most loving thing to do?"  Tess asks this after Gloria asks what the right thing to do is.  And that really, really stuck with me.  I wish I could say I always pause to consider the question.  But I know I do now more than before this episode first aired. 

"Falling in love is about giving up control and surrendering to something higher," Tess says.  I think it actually applies not just to falling in love but beginning to love anyone in anyway. 

"Angels experience a different kind of love."  Shippers, listen to Andrew here.  He outright says that, no, angels cannot fall in love then follows up with that.

"Take me."  I love George there...  True, he completely misunderstands Andrew's role but to offer up his life like that... And then when he talks about how the grandkids confide in Loretta and he just pulls a quarter out of their ears... I started bawling.  I hope neither of my grandpas ever thought they were only that.  And then Loretta does the same and just to think it was real spouses saying all this...  Gosh...  And I love that Loretta set her hand on Andrew's.  He needed that, I think.

"At the end of their lives, I've never heard anyone say 'I wish I'd never fallen in love.'"  That Monica quote makes me happy.  I've never been in love but I can say that of the love I have felt, there's none of it I wish I hadn't felt even if it wound up causing pain.

I think it would be so cool to be in a restaurant and have someone stand up and give some inspiring speech.

I forgot that Ben knew about Charlotte's accident and prayed for her.  Wow...

And the dove at the windowsill...  Sigh...

The pacing of this episode, like that of "Here I Am," is very soothing to me.  Can't quite say why but this just progresses rather slowly without being dull.

What I didn't love about this episode:
George should not have been so snotty and bossy with our Andrew!

Lingering questions:
Andrew can have a drink, can't he?  He's had champagne.

Is Monica toasting with an empty glass?  Okay...  Well, at least she actually had a glass.  The others didn't!

Parts that made me feel swoony:
Not even started this episode but I remember that though I was a lil thrown by Andrew's disappearing and reappearing facial hair, I thought John looked phenomenal in this episode. 

Yeah, I'd hope Andrew were my blind date, too...  And he is more handsome than he lets on even if he's not the one who said it to Charlotte.

Aww.  Andrew's never been in a chat room.  Well, at least he hadn't been as of Feb. 14th, 2003.  I wonder what his screen name would be if he did go in one...  I would like to recommend StudlyAwesomeness.

He's so cute.  I love the way his eye brows move when he says it's good Ben got a call from an angel in a Cadillac.

Want to hug him when he's looking at Loretta and George with such wistfulness...

Andrew leaning against the fire place... he just looks so handsome and timeless.

It's hard not to think about what happened to John when Andrew, Gloria, and Tess are pondering whether the impending death of Loretta or George should be revealed or not.  I don't know.  I'm not sure I would want to know if I were going to die within a year.  And I'm really not sure I'd want to know if a loved one was going to.  But as for John, I am glad that for whatever reason during the last year and a half or so of his life, I felt an increasing tenderness and love for him.  That has comforted me in the past year.  So maybe I would want to know as it may inspire that sort of effusiveness.

George is being a jerk but Andrew remains classy and considerate.  I love him...

It's just plain sad that I started crying when Andrew said God told him about the dove.  I just always felt like the Andrew and God bond was maybe the least explored among the main angels.  But I like to believe they were in near-constant communication and that they had some really wonderful moments even if we didn't see them.

Poor love is really struggling with telling them there will be no 50th...

He's so beautiful by the firelight...

I agree with Andrew that it is nice to hear humans who are very much in love talk about that.  And he nods and smiles so sincerely.  I sometimes wonder if that was a big part of why he was my first real crush.  Cause I love hearing about people's love stories (NOT in explicit detail... that's an entirely different matter) but that doesn't really make me want one of my own.  And John just made that look so normal.

He's so sweet when he crouches down to meet Loretta's gaze.

 Random thoughts:
Music:  There's a choir singing "And a Nightingale Sang" at the start.  There's quiet piano music at the restaurant.  At the end, Della sings "Nightingale."

I'm thinking Charlotte is also Jean from "Midnight Clear."  Yep.  She is.

Trivia: Charlotte thought Andrew was Ben38.

I totally played up Charlotte's scar over the years.  I thought it was way worse than it actually is.

I keep wanting George to break into "Is Anybody There?" from 1776.

Scenes Hallmark cut:
- They cut some after Marty tells his wife she looks pasty.  She walks off a few paces.  Marty follows.  Tricia says that the minute Charlotte walked in she knew Andrew ("that guy") wasn't who she was looking for.  Marty doesn't believe her.  Tricia tells him that being out there every day she sees how people go together and don't.  Marty comments "So waiting tables makes you an expert, huh?"  Tricia says "Maybe it does.  Look at them.  They're like oil and water."  Cut to Charlotte and Andrew glancing at each other.  Andrew smiles.  Charlotte turns away abruptly.  Marty tells Tricia that there's nothing wrong with being opposites, it adds zing.  Tricia reiterates that Andrew and Charlotte have nothing in common.  Marty shrugs this off.  Tricia then wonders aloud how they're supposed to build a life together when they don't want the same things.   Then Tess enters which THC has.

Further on down the road...
So it's John's birthday and I was remembering how I used to marathon watch TBAA and his movies back in the good old days.  Well, I can't responsibly do that any more what with other commitments but... I can watch this!  Maybe even two since the next episode doesn't require too much capping time.  We'll see.  This one could take a good, long while.

Appropriate to watch before we get hit by a blizzard, too.  And I sure hope we get a snow day on Tuesday.

I'm a weird person...  "Someone in a loincloth" brings me to "Jesus?  Where?" more than anything romantic.  Well, Jesus is Romantic.  Really prefer the capital R version, anyhow.  That being said, I like that the angels, despite not being romantic themselves, were big fans of romance.  When built on real love, of course.  None of this second best stuff that some overly Pauline people get going on.  Just reread my earlier comments.  At least I've moved on from jumping right to the Crucifixion.  Yay...

I don't really see what good confirming reservations woulda done under these conditions.  People likely woulda said "Sure!  We'll be there!" only to abruptly change their minds when they got dumped on by the weather.  Wouldn't the swordfish have been ordered earlier than the evening of?

Also, as far as romantic gestures, jewelry in food is not my thing.  Germy. 

Do chat rooms still exist?  I know there are all sorts of messenger programs but I can't remember the last time I heard someone say they'd been in a chat room.  And wow...  Polaroid!  They were pretty cool. 

I love (not) how Tess asks "Angel Boy" what has happened and Gloria answers.  Poor guy can't even get all the lines expected from him.  That being said, Andrew really did get plenty of screen time here.  Unlike the next episode...

I think Andrew, and all the angels, probably have a good idea of how psychics feel.  I bet people react about the same to revelations from both when the angel isn't glowing and such.

Maybe I'm being an optimist but I have a hard time believing the majority of people are stunned speechless by Charlotte's scar.  Maybe it's the coloring on this puter but I had to lean forward to see it. 

It's kinda hard to root for the restauranteurs' success.  They're really unprofessional.  Your life stress shouldn't explode onto patrons/customers.

I'm not sure falling in love always means surrendering to something higher.  People can fall in love with people who treat them horribly or who they treat horribly.  I definitely don't think that particular love is in any way exalted but I also don't think we can say it's not "in love."

On a meta level, everything with George and Loretta seems bigger.  I know they're acting but you know it's not totally fake.  Also, Mr. Feeney needs to come back to Girl Meets World.

This show is probably at least 75% responsible for my knowledge of all popular music prior to the 60s.  Swing Kids gets some credit.

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