In this post I go over what of who I voted for in the Best Kept Secrets and Finding a Way Avery Awards. You can vote in the Avery Awards for yourself here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HBDPJHW.

1. Who was the Best Actress?

My choice: Keely Marshall as Bridget Perkins in “The Protector”

Why: I chose Keely Marshall because I felt like she portrayed Bridget very well in both Jumping Off, Jumping In and The Protector. Having more recently listened to Jumping Off, Jumping In I made the choice mostly based on that episode. It was a close tie with Christina Pucelli in The Rydell Revelations, though.

2. Who was the Best Surprise?

“Who was the Best Surprise?” doesn’t quite sound right to me, but I’ll just roll with it.

My choice: Tasha Forbes suddenly reappears in Odyssey (and with connections to Morrie and Suzu) in “The Rydell Revelations”

Why: The question seemed to be asking for the most surprising, and Tasha’s re-appearance was the most surprising to me. However, I really liked the twist where Brad/Spencer was in Connie’s house in Unrelatable.

3. Who was the Best Actor?

My choice: Atticus Shaffer as Morrie Rydell in “The Rydell Revelations”

Why: I just really like Atticus’s acting, he always does a really good job playing Morrie.

4. Which episode had the best Sound Design?

My choice (obviously): Unrelatable

Why: You can tell that Spencer has gone into a building even through the phone, and you can very obviously hear the smoke detector going off in the background. And that was done with it still sounding like realistic phone audio.

5. What was the Best Scene?

My choice: Whit challenges Morrie to tell the whole truth in “The Rydell Revelations”

Why: Before I get into the why, I must say that it was a really close race between the scene I ended up choosing from TRR and “Longfellow’s son regains use of his legs on Christmas morning in “The Christmas Bells””. For the why, it was nice to see Morrie getting the treatment he deserved (before it all went downhill in Part 3). Also, I think it was all-around a pretty good scene as pay-off for the whole Rydell Saga.

6. Which episode had the Best Script?

My choice: Unrelatable

Why: I think that this was a well-done episode. It almost perfectly balanced humour, suspense and the theme in an episode that kept you on the edge of your seat. If it were a book, I would call it “a real page-turner”. If they had separated the multi-part episodes, The Rydell Revelations, Part 1 would probably have won best script.

7. What was the Best Song?

My choice: Wilson sings “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” in “The Christmas Bells”

Why: I’d rather that Odyssey didn’t do songs at all, but since it advanced the story so much and went along with what was happening in Longfellow’s life, I chose this one.

8. What was the Best Overall Episode?

My choice: Unrelatable

Why: Since it won both best sound design and best script from me, it only made sense that this was the best episode. If I think about it, I would consider Unrelatable to be the best episode of those albums (at this point).

9. What did you like in Album 69: “Best Kept Secrets” and Album 70: “Finding a Way”?

My answer: I liked that the Rydell Saga was finally pretty much wrapped up in The Rydell Revelations. I also really liked the story lines that were started and advanced in Album 70: Finding a Way. In particular, I really enjoyed the episode Unrelatable.

10. What DIDN’T you like in Album 69: “Best Kept Secrets” and Album 70: “Finding a Way”?

My answer: In Album 69, I did NOT like the moral given in Part 3 of The Rydell Revelations. It seems to be suggesting that Morrie was right in what he did. If you want to know more about what I thought about it, I wrote a blog post here: https://aiopinions.home.blog/2020/10/21/the-raging-question/. It could give a glimpse into what the AIO community thinks about those episodes.

In Album 70, the only big thing I didn’t like was the musical episode “The Christmas Bells”. I’m not a big fan of musicals.

That’s what I voted for in The Avery Awards this year. You can let me know what you voted for, or how you think I should have voted differently (or how you’re glad I voted) in the comments! Interactions in the comments really lets me know that you enjoy my posts and encourages me to produce more of the kind of content that you like best.