Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Road Less Traveled (2018)

I normally enjoy the SSD movies. I couldn't believe that Canon City was continually mispronounced as 'Cannon' City rather than the correct pronunciation, 'Canyon' City. It's a Spanish word. That could have been easily fact-checked. One would think that highly intelligent, Denver based postal workers would know the correct pronunciation of another city relatively close to Denver. That detail ruined the whole movie for me. A little fact check next time, please.

If you're familiar with any of the other Signed Sealed Delivered recent movies, you know these have seen their share of ups and downs. From annoying characters, to cheesy story lines, it seemed hard to hold this together and still keep the plot moving forward. The Road Less Traveled took us on a very laid back journey, giving us the characters we know and love, yet portraying them out of their comfort zone and still true to themselves. Full of multi-layered conversations (which kept us chuckling quietly to ourselves), to the subtleties of every scene, we gained a deeper insight into how important truly listening matters. Was it a little sappy? Yes. But over here, that's to be expected--- and a welcome relief from the darkness we usually receive in most TV shows. I think that's why I'm glad this isn't a series any more. It helped to avoid cheapening the story and kept the characters real when SSD switched to separate movies...and this could be one of the best decisions HM ever made.

I don't think that I've been able to watch any of the six SSD movies I've seen so far without having to frequently wipe my eyes. Yes it's sappy, but it's lovely too. Even the mysteries they take on in the form of undeliverable mail have tender moments. This one was no different.There is still the quirky and nerdy nature of at least three of them, although Oliver has come a long way. He is still incredibly formal. Norman and Rita are planning a wedding but they are still a little bit different. I keep thinking that Oliver and Shane should be getting married also. The look that Shane has in her eyes when she looks at him is definitely love. The story gives us plenty of chance to assume what the hidden secret will be. Maybe you will guess right, but maybe not.

There wasn't little continuity of this movie with Norman from other movies of the series. Norman drove in the previous movie SSD: Lost without you. When him and Rita were driving to New Mexico. Sad to see a character developed and showing true growth as Norman get stunted in this one because 1) Afraid to drive and 2) Doesn't want to have his own children. To me, someone truly dropped the ball on plot and character continuity of the series and just did the writing to 'just get something done to meet a deadline'. This is definitely the lowest of the recent movies with the best being Higher Ground.