Review: Childish Things

I didn't think much of "Childish Things" the first time I listened to it. At the time, I was too concerned with the premise, and wondered whether Penny's preoccupation with body language was a realistic, sensible storyline, and whether it even illustrated 1st Corinthians 13: 11 at all. Then, as I scribbled down notes for my review, it dawned on me that this episode was meant to be a comedy.


Duh, right?

Unfortunately, several Adventures in Odyssey episodes don't know whether to label themselves comedies or not. We know that "Do Or Diet", "Hidden in My Heart", and "Snow Day" fall so clearly within the comedic genre because they are all aware of their absurd premise, and aim for the funny bone for a full 25 minutes. In contrast, there are a whole lot of other episodes that wish to be funny ("A Penny Saved" is the closest, most recent example of this) but have no real reason to be labelled comedies at all. They add in several comedic bits—incessant punchlines, cartoonish characters—but really only to fill in dead air, and not because the show requires any additional humour. Adventures in Odyssey is a humorous show, sure, but sometimes it forgets that it can be—not should be—funny.

That, I'll admit, is part of the reason why you'll find me writing things such as "I mildly like" Wooton. People often describe Wooton as the show's "comic relief". I wouldn't. The definition of comic relief is "the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve the tension". Wooton does not help "relieve the tension" since he is often included within episodes already quite light which may not require his style of humour. In comparison, whenever Harlow Doyle is in an episode, we know automatically, for the most part, the whole show has to be somewhat absurd. In other words, Wooton sometimes confuses the genre, the essence, and tone of the show, but Harlow's presence—ironically enough—sometimes clarifies and contributes fittingly to the tone of an episode.

Luckily, Wooton's absurd personality contributes well to "Childish Things", one of funniest Adventures in Odyssey episodes I've heard in a long time. The episode utilizes an absurd premise and goes straight for the jugular, so to speak. It's an absurd, stupid comedy, but sometimes hilarious, nonetheless. It makes use of its talented cast and comedic characters such as Jacques Henri (even Whit gets in on the fun), within several well-crafted, comedic scenes.

One of these great, Avery-award worthy moments includes the diner scene. While I'll admit Kimmy Robertson sounds like she's reading her lines, Jess Harnell gives a solid performance. It's a tough one to pull off; after all,  he must deliver his lines in a manner subtle enough for Penny not to clue in, but obvious enough for the audience to clue in on his feelings for her. That moment, especially, really showed their chemistry while solidifying the audience's interest in their relationship. This great scene is followed up later with Penny, Whit, and Jacques Henri in an even better one—it was comedy gold, with Jacques Henri deserving an Avery award for his performance.

McCusker seems to share the blame for these hilarious moments: "How dare you to come back to me like this without allowing me the chance to grovel for your work [...] Zis' is a great art gallery tradition. The artist throws a little snit, and marches out, and the art gallery owner (moi) grovels a bit for the honour to show your work!" and later on "I may ask her to have an artistic temper tantrum. [...] That will increase sales"  A perfect example of good material being used, well, perfectly by the actors.

Bob Smithouser of the Adventures in Odyssey podcast included "Childish Things" in his list of favourite  episodes of the season. What good taste he has! I, too, liked "Childish Things", and significantly more than I liked "A Penny Saved" and "Penny Earned", the two other episodes in Album 54's Penny Trilogy. I'll make use of Connie's final line: "I think Penny will be alright"; yes, if this is the sort of fun that comes along with her, perhaps she will be. 


RATING: 

Review: Unbecoming Jay

The reason "Unbecoming Jay" seems to exist is to showcase Whit Hertford's pitch-perfect delivery and comedic timing. "Jay Smouse has become one of our favourite AIO characters", the Odyssey Team tweeted just the other day. Out of all the characters introduced since the show's hiatus, fans have reacted most enthusiastically towards Jay. He's gone from being Vance King's sidekick in "Target of the Week" to seemingly replacing Vance King altogether. Between appearing on the Odyssey Scoopcast and being one of the few characters to chit-chat with Chris, I wonder: does Jay Smouse deserve all this attention?

Many have said Jay is a much better character than Rodney ever was; however, after listening to "Unbecoming Jay", I wonder if there's a chance Jay might go down the same one-note road. What makes Jay such an attractive character is that he isn't restricted to being "that evil bully"; his actions aren't nearly as predictable as Rodneys' were. Jay is better fleshed out and more three-dimensional. As long as they keep rotating his role between evil sidekick ("How to Sink a Sub"), empathetic human ("The Green Ring Conspiracy"), cunning manipulator ("Unbecoming Jay"), and just one of the gang ("The Amazing Loser", "The Malted Milkball Falcon"), he'll be just fine. I felt like a lot of questions were raised about Jay and his relationship with Uncle Wally in "The Green Ring Conspiracy" that I hope the team doesn't continue to repeatedly create episodes like "Unbecoming Jay" that rely solely on Jay tickling our funny bone.

That said, I'll admit that the episode wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without Jay being a manipulative brat. Oh sure, Andy Pessoa and Abigail Revasch give fine performances, and the awkwardness between them worked well; however, it was really Jay who stole the show. Another fun part was seeing Barrett trying to juggle his friendships and repair misunderstandings. While part of me wonders whether the storyline could have been brought to a whole new level using adult characters, I think these kids carried the episode well on their own. 

Episodes about making new friends don't always work as a full episode. Who here really thinks that we will hear from Cindy again? Was she simply brought in to no longer be heard of again? Despite the fact I somewhat enjoyed her personality, my instincts say yes. However, we often don't really know the importance of introductory episode until much later. Jimmy's first episode with Lawrence Hodges, for instance, would've seemed awkward if Lawrence never showed up on the show again. In a way, since so much focus is on Barrett making Cindy feel welcomed, the episode's strength will depend on whether it was worth the audience's time to welcome her.

I'll come out and say that "Unbecoming Jay" is a perfectly fine episode. It's applicable and somewhat fun. I don't have much against it. If I needed to criticize something, I'd say the episode is, at times, a little cheesy and the storyline doesn't seem important enough to warrant being the focus of a full episode. Furthermore, I'll probably have to remind myself of this one in a few years; maybe, however, that's only because it has the misfortune of airing between the superior "How to Sink a Sub" and "Childish Things".

RATING: 

Review: Emily the Genius

"Emily the Genius" isn't genius...and when it works, it works for reasons I don't think were on purpose. At first, Emily Jones seems like an odd choice to play the lead role. In previous episodes, such as "Stage Fright" and "The Malted Milkball Falcon", she's been the bossy, know-it-all. I'm surprised she didn't flaunt her test results in front of everyone's faces or tell Matthew or Barrett they could be as smart as she was if only they worked a little harder. And yet, today's episode takes the stronger and more attractive sides of her personality--her dedication, her willingness to persevere--and combines it with a dash of much needed humility, giving someone I could easily empathize with for 25 minutes.

While I enjoyed Emily, the main problem is that this episode does a sloppy job with Mr. and Mrs. Jones' characters. All throughout, the parents are portrayed as out-of-touch, shallow dummies. Early in the episode, for instance, as they are about to announce the news about Emily's aptitude test to the family, Mrs. Jones, somewhat pathetically, says: "...I don't think I can say it without crying" while Mr. Jones rejoices "it seems our Emily is A GENIUS". This overblown reaction doesn't quite match up what Mr. Jones says in the next scene, "let's not get carried away about one set of test scores", which is, ironically followed a few seconds later by, "you'll get the edge on the upper level classes in high school and college scholarships! [...] I always suspected that our family would produce brilliance!" Didn't you just suggest to the others not to get carried away, Mr. Jones?

Furthermore, I don't know what was weirder: the parents saying "I always suspected that our family would produce brilliance" in front of Barrett or the fact that he remained so quiet the entire episode. It seemed like he was perfectly OK with the attention being given to Emil, and felt no jealousy whatsoever. You'd think he would have been a little upset considering Mr Jones later lectures him about wasting his time in front of video-games after spending several scenes "praising" his daughter. I was a little surprised the episode never addressed Barrett's feelings.

Would most families have a family meeting to announce such a thing? And would many parents even hold the aptitude test in such high regard? You'd think after 12 or so years, one wouldn't start treating their child any differently because of one set of test scores. Mr. and Mrs. Jones certainly didn't give a very good impressions of themselves after this episode. The episode might have worked better if one replaced the Jones with the Rathbone family, and if Bart and Doris Rathbone discovered that their son, Rodney, was a genius; that would have made the preposterous way the parent's reacted in today's episode make a little more sense.

Obviously Mr. Jones' level of enthusiasm was supposed to make the audience easily understand how Emily might feel pressured to do well. However, I found it all too much. In real life, parents just need to say one simple, slip of the tongue, or one slightly insensitive comment, and that's enough to make any child feel pressured. And that would have been enough in today's episode too. There were just too many insensitive moments that came out of Mr. Jones' mouth ("I figured that you'd think [the courthouse] was boring, but now that...well...") that his final "apology" seemed unfitting and underwhelming. Although he assures Emily that "I don't ever want you to feel that our love is bound up in some false expectations about what you'll be when you grow up. It isn't.", because of the way he behaved throughout the episode, I didn't believe him.

Many fans evaluate the strength of an episode by the strength of its theme. Personally, I just want to be entertained by a good story. However, for a season that is intentionally attempting to illustrate different aspects of "love", one of two things should have been done with "Emily the Genius". First, this "love always perseveres" theme did not fit the episode at all. Chris makes it sound like Emily did what she did because of some selfless love she had for her parents. However, her "perseverance" was motivated by an insecurity that she had. This isn't exactly the best metaphor for "love always perseveres". Laura Ingalls, from the Town of Odyssey phrases it perfectly:

"I think the theme of love worked for her parents, unconditionally loving her no matter what her test scores were. However, I didn't think love really fit what she was doing. I would say she was working hard of fear of losing her parents' approval, not nessecarily out of love for them." 

Nicely put. That's the problem with this episode; it veers from its logical destination and tries to cram in the idea that Emily did what she did without selfish motivations at all, which is certainly a different conclusion the listener would arrive at. Taking it a step further, I'll disagree with Laura and say that I don't even think the episode worked well her parents, who, as I've mentioned, never practised "loving her no matter what her test scores were". They might have loved her, yes, but they obviously treated her differently the whole time regardless of what Mr. Jones says or tries to assure her of at the end.

That said, I don't expect parents to be perfect on Adventures in Odyssey; however, the episode barely acknowledges their imperfections. What is North America's preoccupation with brilliance? Do today's parent's have too high expectations of their children? What are some of the dangers of tests that measure children's intelligence? Overall, while it is well paced and provides a good role for Emily, "Emily the Genius" raises important questions but never explores them as well as it could have.

RATING:

Review: How to Sink a Sub

A few months ago I watched "Warrior", a mixed-martial arts film featuring two protagonists destined to fight each other at the end of the film. And when that moment finally arrives, as they stand on opposite ends of the ring, you aren't sure whose side you're on. Today's show, "How to Sink a Sub" reminded me that film; the episode's two main characters, Katrina Meltsner and Olivia Parker, are both sympathetic characters and, in their own ways, both in the right, but must face each other on opposite ends of the classroom.

At first, I found myself on Olivia Parker's side. All students have experienced "bad" substitutes or teachers. Just a year ago, my new literature professor gave me grades I didn't think I deserved. All my other professors, in all my other classes, consistently gave me the same grade in every literature essay I handed in to them. Not this one, however. Like Olivia, I approached him and showed him how his grades were so different from the other professors, but he wouldn't budge. It was frustrating.

Not only was Olivia's situation easy to identify with because I had a similar experience, but because the students themselves were given legitimate frustrations. Although Jay and Valerie complained simply because they seemed to enjoy it, I rarely felt like the episode automatically made the complaints of the students invalid simply because they were children and Katrina was an adult. When writing this episode, it would have been easy to have made the student's complaints unreasonable; however, Buchanan ensures we notice how detached and unfair Katrina is on her first day to help us empathize with Olivia and the other students.

After all, how dare she, as a substitute, extend the length of Mrs. Gomez's papers! How dare she make them submit "properly formatted reference page"!  How dare she give Olivia a lower grade on an assignment already graded by Ms. Gomez.  Five minutes into the episode, the listener is quickly on the student's side, plotting with them, and yelling "this is unjust!".

And then the listener's perspective changes. Halfway through the episode, we slowly begin to sympathize with Katrina. As she wins Olivia over, she wins us over, too. Helping this transition are the quieter, domestic exchanges between Eugene and Katrina interspersed throughout the classroom scenes. Hearing them discuss the problem at school humanized her. What is also unique about "How To Sink a Sub" is the fact that Katrina usually plays second fiddle to Eugene Meltsner's character...but not today. The roles have reversed. The less Eugene hides Katrina away in his home like Mr. Rochester's hid his mad wife, the better.

Including the strong addition of Principal Vogler and a significant improvement on Olivia's personality, careful attention to character helped to carry the episode just as much as the story did. Those who listened to this episode on CD or Digital Download probably noticed a bonus feature in which Bob Hoose directs Rochelle Greenwood on how to capture the right attitude and personality of Valerie. While I don't know whether this episode was recorded before "Anger Mismanagement" or "You're Two Kind", she certainly seems to have settled more comfortably into her role, staying away from the cruel, "mean girl" stereotype. Jay, too, was noticeably at the top of his game. The recurring joke that he really did know everything Katrina taught despite his complaints was hysterical. He and Valerie certainly make a strong, antagonistic pair.

Some of my favourite episodes have taken place inside a classroom or school-yard, such as "Faster Than a Speeding Ticket" and "Another Man's Shoes". Episodes such as these work so well because they focus on the injustices of the student, exploring them without trivializing the seriousness of their situation. For this reason, I was amazed how involved I was in "How to Sink a Sub". Its characters are well-utilized and fully realized, the story is well-plotted and nicely paced. This may not be the show's 700th good episode, but it is certainly a good 700th episode. This also is one of my personal favourites since the hiatus and one of Kathy Buchanan's best episodes to date, too.



NOTE: There were several references made to famous works of literature throughout this episode: Robert Frost's poems, Moby Dick, Uncle Tom's Cabin, A Tale of Two Cities. Just how many works of literature are these kids studying?