Forever and Ever
Written by:
Andrew Brenner
First off, I just wanna say that I'm happy to see Brenner back writing episodes again. After not writing any in Season 21, and only writing the 2017 and 2018 specials, I was wondering if maybe he wouldn't write episodes anymore. I'm glad to see that isn't the case as his stories are usually pretty good.
The premise of this episode is pretty simple. Gordon is upset that Edward has moved out of the sheds and Nia moved in, and then gets more upset when he finds out Henry is leaving too. Leading to him sort of "going on strike" essentially and sulking in his shed. But the way it's pulled off makes it really shine.
This isn't new for Gordon, as some say he acted out of character in this episode. But in all reality, I think he was perfectly in character. I mean even in the Railway Series and Classic Series Gordon did this. He even did this for less dramatic reasons, such as simply because he was told to shunt his own coaches. Also let's not forget in Season 20 how he went on strike after Henry took the Express for one day. The reasons portrayed in this episode are much more heavy, as two of his good friends are leaving the place they've lived with him for a long time, and new engines moving in. It's all based around the theme of change. This episode definitely teaches a great moral, and is probably very relatable to young children who will have friends or loved ones move away in their lives.
Nia also points out how much her life has changed. Granted she chose to stay on the Island of Sodor with Thomas and the others, but she probably didn't really want to. At least from how I took it, she loved Africa and her friends there, shown by how much she got along with them and how much she talked about her country in the Big World Big Adventures movie. But her old shed is gone, she has no home to go back to really, so she moved in here. She makes a very good point though: her old friends are still her friends. Another great lesson for children, no matter if they move or how far, your friends will still be friends.
Henry's reason for leaving the sheds is pretty much non-existent here unfortunately. Sure we get where he moves to, that being Vicarstown, but I really wish we had been given a reason as to why. My theory is since he seems to be running trains to the Mainland and back, it'd make sense to have him closer to it. That could've easily been fit in somewhere, though with the shorter run time, it may have been thought not super necessary. It doesn't detract really that much to me overall, but it would've been nice. Perhaps in the future we'll get the reason stated fully.
This episode along with having a great moral and emotional feel to it, also has a great deal of comedy placed throughout it as well. There is of course the scene of Gordon's "tantrum", the scene at Brendam with Edward, and of course the fantasy sequence, which fit very well into this episode, in my opinion. This episode is one where it fits right in and if you removed it, the episode would lose so much weight. It shows just how silly Gordon thinks things are and could get, showing just how attached he is to how things were. Which that alone is some nice character development for Gordon, and still stays in line with his original persona from the books. All of the above scenes made me chuckle and laugh, so it did something right for me.
Also another point of note is the final scene with Gordon and Nia's conversation. I think it's done wonderfully, great background music, great dialogue and just how they showcased it on the turntable and all. It's also very subtle, but I think the moment after Nia saves him from backing into the turntable well, that Gordon starts on the road to acceptance. He thinks that even after the way he treated Nia, she still offered him advice and now saved him from having an accident. He sees how much she cares and wants to help him, even though she is part of the reason he feels the way he does. It's actually kind of beautiful really.
It is kind of interrupted by Nia's mentioning of the other new engine (Rebecca), he seems to revert back to the beginning of the episode, though it doesn't bother me. It still shows that he has a way to go with acceptance, after all people in real life don't accept changes just like that. This shows the writers wanted it to take time and develop, it would be odd if it only took one episode and then he was fine with it all. And it is shown throughout the rest of Season 22, he is on better terms with both Nia and Rebecca, so the progression is there. So yeah how the episode ended with that isn't really that big of an issue to me, though maybe Thomas' comment could've been changed a bit.
So overall I really like this episode. I think it is a great way of portraying and dealing with the changes for both older fans, younger fans and their parents. It gets across what it's trying to portray and it's morals without leaning too heavy towards the adult fans or to the children. Sure some could say this is a horrible jab at the adult fandom, but I don't think it is really. It was written before we even got rumor of the changes, so I feel they wanted to do their best to assure us that all would be okay. So in the end, this episode was awesome, and a great addition to Season 22.
Rating: 9/10 - Awesome
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