Julie's Review of For Auld Acquaintance 

A character reminiscent of Scrooge enters the morgue, and none of his family wants to claim the body. Was Leonard Carmichael all that bad, or was their a reason for hin to cut ties with his family? And at holidays, family is first and foremost on people's minds. The crew in the morgue all seem to have family issues. Will the them be mending fences, or will it be "absence makes the heart grow fonder"?

Strengths

Storyline: This second (yes, second!) holiday episode featured a corpse whose family refused to claim him, and that combined with the holiday seemed to touch off a string of family issues for the Crossing Jordan characters. Would Jordan call her dad and go to her grandmother's Christmas party? Would Woody call his brother? Would Garret ever reach Abby? Would the holidays be rocky or Happy for all of Maddie's family? And would Nigel get through Kate's carefully constructed defenses?  

Dialogue: Madambeth handled dialogue wonderfully, providing entertaining one liners, but even more importantly, providing dialogue that spoke of each character's true inner self.

Artwork: BigCJFan gave viewers a visual present, particularly with her picture of Woody in holiday green and red, holding the ever-present snow globe. One particular stand out was the picture of Renee and Garret, where Renee's expression was so true to character.

Music: The music extremely well selected, and the timing could not have been more perfect. Especially enjoyable were the perfectly timed You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch and The Chipmunk Song.  

Personal development: This episode marked incredible personal growth for many of the characters. Jordan and Woody really spoke about the difficulties in their family lives during the past. In the present, Woody showed just how attuned he was with Jordan when he recognized her great discomfort when he presented the small jewelry box to her (and even more so when he wasn't hurt by that). Kate reveals more about herself to Nigel when he goes above and beyond to prod her about being stuck in the past. She further displays personal growth and restraint when she thanks him, rather than kills him, for decorating her apartment and dressing up Binky.  Lily, Bug, and Jeffrey all put their personal issues aside and realize that Maddie has to come first, and they all decide to share the Christmas experience. And Jordan continues on the right path by attending her grandmother's holiday party and apparently calling her dad, too.

Continuity: This episode alludes to past episodes through the reappearance of the snow globe and through numerous references to the past…Woody's brother Cal, Kate's wedding, Jordan's grandmother…further adding to the depth of Virtual Season 7.  

Miscellaneous: One element that truly added to this episode was strong descriptions—of things like facial expressions and actions that happened during the scenes. These descriptions, of even minor events like placing an item in a tray, rolling of eyes, etc., set a very vivid scene that made the scenes more visual. Additionally, the ending, with Alastair Sim voicing over the Crossing Jordan scenes, was brilliant.

Favorite Quote: there were a lot of amusing comments, but Jordan stole the show with According to the ex-Mrs. Carmichael, you may want to check for a ten foot pole up his ass.

Areas for Improvement

Artwork: There was only one slightly hinky piece of artwork. The picture that included Bug, Lily, Maddie, and Jeffrey seemed a bit off perspective-wise, but the detail in the holiday decorations was a truly nice touch.

This Virtual Season 7 episode, brought to us by writer Madambeth and artist BigCJFan, was a holiday treat, giving readers insight into their favorite characters, and a happy ending to the Scrooge-like character's storyline. I'll give it 4 scalpels out of 4 for a wonderful holiday episode.