Reviews
for
"Never for Nothing"
[#698]
*All
ratings are based on a 5 star scale unless otherwise noted.
Review by Josh
Coombes
Rating:
Never For Nothing is definitely one of the
best episodes that actually carried a very thoughtful
message effectively throughout all of AIO history. Never For
Nothing takes place with Grandma Lucia telling a childhood
story to her granddaughter, Olivia. In the story, Lucia
explains how her best friend was always looking for ways to
show love to everybody no matter if they love you in return,
even her biggest enemy, Juan. AIO shares with listeners the
message that always share love with others, even the
unlovable, because who knows how much that love will impact
the individual's life.
Overall, this is was a very good episode that
carried a very powerful message! :)
Review by
HappyGirl
Rating:
This was very good. I was surprised that
Esperanza died. I also wish that Lucia and Juan would meet
each other and talk about there past and what changed them.
Review by Shennifer
(Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
I thought this episode was
amazing. An exemplary episode since the 'new' Odyssey began,
and thought it was profound and simple and good without
being cheesy or over the top. I liked that Whit started a
Bible study at the halfway house. I look forward to hearing
more about it. I also liked the story Grandma Lucia told and
how it connected with Whit's story.
Review by American
Eagle (Town of Odyssey)
The best episode of album 54,
hands down. It actually made me tear up.
Review by Peachey
Keen (Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
I was looking forward to this
ep a lot and had high expectations for it. And it didn't
disappoint! It was fantastic! I half-way guessed about Juan
near the end, by the way. It almost made me cry. I didn't
expect Lucia's friend to die. Maybe just beak an arm or
something.
Another great story from Kathy Buchanan! I say this is up to
par with Something
Significant. Best show from Album 54 and one of the
best of all time!
Review by Jesus'
Princess (Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
That episode had to be the
best of album 54. It was powerful, I didn't expect Esperanza
to die, may just be seriously injured or something, about a
minute before he said it, I figured out that Juan was the
halfway house person, but for me, it wasn't an extremely
predictable episode. I give it 5 stars.
Review by jennifertwt
(Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
I liked it, I think it was the
first "serious" episode with Abuelita Lucia, the others have
been good but more "fun". Though I think I liked it better
when the kids called her Abuelita rather than Nanna.
Review by Bren (Town
of Odyssey)
I think this episode needed a
parental warning. The part about Esperanza dying and the
funeral might be too much for younger listeners.
Review by Bob (Town
of Odyssey)
It took me a while to get
around to listening to this episode, but I'm glad I finally
did. It teaches a unique and valuable lesson in a clear and
effective way.
One thing that struck me about Matthew's side of the story
-- in his discussion with Mr. Whittaker after the half-way
house scene, he makes a comment about Jay that I find
interesting and kind of sad.
Matthew Parker (talking about
the half-way house) wrote: "Bet you see Jay here in a few
years."
If he had been talking about,
say, Rodney Rathbone, I think I probably would have blown it
off. Maybe it's because the
Green Ring Conspiracy
was released before this album instead of the other way
around, but I've come to view Jay as almost a protagonist --
and imagining that he could end up coming to such a bad end
kind of sticks with me. I don't like thinking about the
future, and the possibility of me and my friends or
acquaintances eventually parting ways (even on good terms),
and that kind of reminded me of that.
In any case: I would rate this 5 out of 5 stars, or possibly
90/99.
Edit: After further consideration and listening, I would be
fine with bumping up my later rating a bit, to 93 or 94, or
even higher. It really has an amazing message and I don't
think it would be unfair to give that extra consideration.
Review by Sapphire
(Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
This is probably my favorite
episode of this album! I loved every single thing about it.
It was very powerful and inspiring. It almost made me cry.
(I have said this before, but for those do don't know, it
takes a lot for me to cry.)
Review by Lee (Town
of Odyssey)
Rating:
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.
Review by Lee (Town
of Odyssey)
Rating:
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.
Review by Lee (Town
of Odyssey)
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).
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