Julie's Review of Reality Bites

Dancing with The Celebrities star Mitch Duvall is killed during a reality road show rehearsal when a stack of speakers falls on him, and BPD and the morgue are charged with figuring out whether it's an accident or murder. Meanwhile, Jordan tries her hardest to get out of career day with fifth-grade students.

Strengths

Storyline: Both storylines were well written. Making the reality show "Dancing with the Celebrities" the focus of the episode was interesting, and since Dancing with the Stars often ends up first in weekly television ratings, it is likely to resonate with VS7 "viewers". Jordan's fear of career day was also amusing. Dialogue: The dialogue in this episode was very strong, quick, and filled with witty banter. Seely and Nigel's characters were particularly well written, and the line "Done-who-died", truly captured Seely's essence. Many of Nigel's lines accurately portrayed Nigel, especially with the line "Our own Matt Seely and the Delicious Dana Thornton". Artwork: The artwork was nearly flawless, and it was interesting to see pictures injecting humor. Seely covered with mud and the doodles on the newspaper were excellent, humorous additions to the episode. Additionally, the picture with Duvall's feet sticking out from under the speaker stack (along with the written cues) provided comic reference to the Wizard of Oz.  Music: Music selections were well planned well timed, and the Mission Impossible music playing during the introductory "chaos at BPD" scene was comical.  Personal development: While there was not a lot of relationship development there was a lot of personal growth. Jordan didn't want to participate in career day, but in the end, she was energized by the presentation (though school administrators had issues with the graphic nature of the content). Seely's emotional side was aired a bit, and it was good to see him reject a possible relationship renewal with former love Dana Thornton. Also, it was interesting that when Nigel called Kate "love" in front of others, she did not censor him, either on the spot or in private. Hmmm. Continuity: There were many references to past episodes from both the on-air series (particularly allusions to Seely's relationship with his father) and Virtual Season 7. The references were subtle enough that those who were not television series viewers could easily follow along. Favorite Quote: There were definitely some noteworthy lines in this episode, and Woody's line delivered to Seely "Agganis Arena …unless those are Boston U hockey tickets, to which I have to tell you: I don’t kiss on the first date" edged out Nigel's "I take back every nasty thing I've ever said about you. I'll start right on this".

Areas for Improvement

Storyline and Dialogue: There wasn't much from the storyline that detracted from the episode. I wasn't too sure about Jordan's reason for not wanting to present at career day, though I could see her not wanting to do it. "I don't do well with kids" didn't ring true. In television episodes like Under the Weather, Someone to Watch Over Me, and Save Me, she did very well with them. Artwork: There was only one small item of note in the artwork. Jordan would never have worn the suit she was in for the section of the episode that took place in the classroom (smile).

This Virtual Season 7 episode, brought to us by writer jkmw and artist Harbor Runner, was an outstanding effort. I'll give it 3.75 scalpels out of 4 for a creative, entertaining episode mixing in the reality television element.