While I Was Gone

As far as TV movies go, this is not a bad watch. It is very well made and the acting is very strong. Kirstie Alley has an excellent performance and so do the supporting actors. The movie is not perfect and is a bit unsatisfying in the end, but the movie has some nice themes and is worth a look if there is nothing great on at that time. I give the movie a 6.5. This is a 6.5 TV rating. At first watch, the movie seems like it might be a supernatural movie of some sort, but it is not. The characters seem quite real and you do start to care about them. The movie carries a very melancholic vibe throughout it, and there is a definite feeling of loss. This is not in a bad way, but I did hope there was more of a resolution in the plots main themes.

Jo is a veterinarian in the Boston area and the wife of Daniel, a minister. One of Jo's patients is a dog in such bad shape he may need to be put down. The dog's owner turns out to be Eli, one of the group Jo used to share a house with during her hippie days. Through flashbacks, we see the young people from their time in the house.

Jo is unhappy in her marriage and tempted to cheat. Not only that, but Eli has a deep dark secret. Jo is not particularly religious despite who her husband is, but she does have moral dilemmas to face.

This was probably a well-done movie, but I didn't like it that much. There was a violent incident which was probably necessary to the plot, but we didn't actually need to see the blood. One good thing about this movie: it didn't hide religious faith, though most of Jo's friends didn't practice 'mainstream' religion, if they were religious at all. The best thing was probably the moral struggle Jo had to go through.