Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Road Less Traveled

A basic detective movie heavily flawed by stereotypes and political correctness. This is yet another movie stereotyping intelligent people "nerds" as unable to fix cars or have normal relations with women. The movie promotes political correctness by describing the adoption of a "rainbow family" against the capability of a couple having their own family. This is certainly a fantasy not based in reality. The movie uses stereotyping and political correctness to deflect from the lack of substance in the main story.

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.

The postables team receives an old disposable camera in the mail with what they think is evidence of a missing or abducted child. This sets them on a journey across Colorado in Rita's parents' RV following a photo trail left by a nine year old boy. Norman and Rita are engaged...and according to some fashion magazine they are way behind on the 100 things you should do before your wedding. On the journey, Rita and Norman with Shane and Oliver's help work to catch up.

There are a lot of big revelations in this episode of Signed, Sealed and Delivered...including that Norman does not have a driver's license (and consequently will not be able to drive the RV on their honeymoon). While on their road adventure Oliver gives Norman a driving lesson in the RV, the musical choice was spectacular! "Born to be wild"..."Get you motor running, head out on the highway..." IT was great. Shane had a little surprise of her own, which rattled Oliver...but ultimately lead to their relationship being stronger.

"In our line of work, this is what we call an Unattached item and we never give up"-Oliver.

"that child didn't just drop a camera in the mail, he mailed a piece of hope"-Shane.

"Norman, you are not that boy in High school, you just took a little longer to be appreciated."-Rita.

This was a sweet entry in the series with some relationship and pre-wedding fun with the entire postables group.

If you enjoy the series awkward characters and all, you will enjoy this entry as well.

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 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.