Julie's Review of Homecoming

When Woody realizes the incessant calls to his cell phone are from Cal, he ignores them, knowing they must be trouble. But when he finally takes a call from home, he ends up heading back to Kewaunee to help his brother, and Jordan isn't far behind. Meanwhile at the morgue, Kate is up to her elbows in trouble when short staffing makes for chaos.

Strengths

Storyline: For those who thought there was at least one more chapter in the Cal Hoyt story, tonight, they got one. This story seemed to keep true to the Cal persona. He's still basically a good guy who manages to have trouble happen all around him. Dialogue: Cal and Kate were pretty true to character. It was easy to picture them speaking the lines as I read them. Artwork: The pictures provided a nice break in the text, and they definitely added comic relief to the scenes at the morgue. With every "interview" photo, I could just picture Kate getting more and more frustrated by the shallow talent pool. Music: Good selections in music added to the scenes, providing a nice backdrop to the story.  Relationship development: The relationship with Woody and Jordan appears to be moving along quite well…it was interesting to see Jordan so comfortable in Woody's apartment, even without him in it. Continuity: There were several instances of shades of "Crossing Jordan past" brought through to this episode…characters like Mary Alice and Annie and references to many quotes from the past Cal episodes were scattered throughout nicely. Favorite Quote: But we’re…together. And not like brother and sister, okay?

Areas for Improvement

Storyline: while the Calvin story in Kewaunee was interesting and a nice tie-in to episodes past, the story was wrapped up rather quickly...we were embroiled in mystery, then, BAM!...it was solved. Also, there was no secondary mystery…only comedic happenings at the morgue. Dialogue: There were several occasions where I read lines and thought they didn't sound like their character, especially with regard to Jordan. When Jordan said "we're working on the process", I thought that sounded like a line Nigel would deliver. Artwork: Some of the artwork was rather off, in concept as well as execution. At a county jail, it's unlikely that an inmate would be in a jumpsuit and irons. And the perspective of the first shot of Cal in a Jail cell was all off…the hands didn't match the size of Cal's body. Also, that shot cut off a word from the script. The picture of Woody and Cal at the end looked a bit off, too.  Miscellaneous: Editing—there were repeated lines. At one point, an exchange between Jordan and Woody was repeated. Later in the episode, one of Jordan's lines was repeated. And the "Jor" and "Woods" thing kind of bothered me. I'm not sure why. Jordan might call Woody "Woods" every once in a while in a teasing manner, but I cringed at the number of times the nickname appeared in the episode (and not just at Jordan's use). And Woody calling Jordan "Jor"? It seems out of character. And speaking of out of character, wouldn't Jordan have just gone to Kewaunee without waiting for an engraved invitation from Woody?

I'll give Homecoming 2 scalpels out of 4. While the primary story was interesting, it wasn't weighty enough to carry the weight of an entire episode without a strong secondary mystery.