A Nail in Mitch's Coffin

On May 19th, 2012, "Something Old, Something New" aired. In all my days listening to Adventures in Odyssey, I had never witnessed such fan outrage. Their anger ignited a necessary response from the Adventures in Odyssey team. And so, On June 13, Dave Arnold and Paul McCusker spent a considerable amount of time tackling the big question "Will Connie ever marry Mitch?". Then, on June 27th, during the Avery Awards podcast, the Adventures in Odyssey team dramatized a faux-protest. This dramatization had two effects: 1) it showed fans how ridiculously they'd been behaving, and 2) it showed us that a Connie/Mitch relationship would have disastrous results. 

While no one, as far as I know, actually stood outside Focus on the Family with picket signs, the Avery Awards podcast reminded fans that we must respect the AIO creators and their decision making regardless of whether we may, from time to time, disagree with it. I imagine they spent hours discussing the ramifications, weighing the pros and cons, of a Connie and Mitch marriage. They know the heart and soul of each character; they'd know if a Mitch/Connie union would work. 

"We don't always make these changes quickly, we don't do them in a very haphazard way; generally, whenever we talk about a major change to a character, we have to think ahead to what it means to a character. That's just part of that dynamic. We don't just say, "hey that would be a cool idea"; too often when we've done that we paint ourselves in dramatic corners, where we'll do something impulsively without thinking through the extensive reason for it, and then suddenly we're in trouble. We really have to think through into the future about what it's going to do to the characters and what it will do to the show." (McCusker, June 13)

That said, fans act as a mirror. The decisions the writers make are, more often than not, validated by fan response. Unless you're Steinbeck, writing is usually done with the audience in mind; writers manipulate scenes for the greatest emotional affect, construct dialogue for the greatest impact, and beat out story-lines to create greatest amount of surprise and the least amount of predictability. So when fans unanimously disagree with a decision, it's quite normal to wonder if the writers made a mistake.

So did they? If I were a judge in a court, which way would I side? The defence (i.e. the writers) or prosecution (i.e. the protesters)? You all know from my last review, Something Old, Something New", that although I was never an advocate for Connie and Mitch getting together, I still believed enough time had been spent on their relationship that it wouldn't have been fair to suddenly say they couldn't be together at all. 

Some fans felt cheated. Some felt tricked. Robert Mitchell caused Connie a lot of emotional turmoil for there to suddenly be nothing. Romances are well-known for this back-and-forth, "will they/won't they", method of entertaining audiences. For instance, Corey and Topanga in "Boy Meets World" teased us with the "will they/won't they?" question for six or seven years. After so much time, the decision not to put them together would have felt wrong. We would have felt cheated. It just had to be. The trick is to keep the boy and girl apart for as long as possible, but not in order to tell to the audience that they can't be together, but to create tension, suspense, and to make their eventual union all the more wonderful. Right?

I think that's what Adventures in Odyssey did without meaning to. They built things up. They created suspense. This is a relationship that's been on fans' minds ever since episode 463. That's 251 episodes worth of build-up in the minds of pre-adolescent fans. And when fans don't get what they want, expect something that resembles Noah's flood. 


Looking back, we see that Adventures in Odyssey tried to end the relationship once and for all in "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?" and again in "Something Blue"; but, unfortunately, every time the writers said "no they won't", fans interpreted those words as just another hurdle Connie and Mitch had to get across to be together. Every-time they tried to squelch Connie and Mitch's relationship, their chemistry became stronger. The deeper the writers tried to end it, the more they made fans want them to "happen" all the more. 

So, according to Paul McCusker and Dave Arnold, why couldn't Connie and Mitch end up together? What exactly was preventing from Connie and Mitch from going the way of Eugene and Katrina?

"Because we still write to 8-12 year olds. We know we have younger listeners, and we know we have older listeners, but our core writing effort is from 8-12 year olds, and as soon as you move into a lot of these grown-up situations-- apart from us using them as dramatic flourishes, which is what we would call them-- those flourishes have to stay flourishes, because there's a point where 8-12 year olds are thinking "how is this relevant for me?". And even if they're not thinking it, we want the show to be relevant for them". 

And Dave Arnold adds:

 "The flips-side of that is...we also get quite a few letters from people who say, 'Why are you dealing with so many romantic relationships in Odyssey? That's not what we want to hear.' [...] I don't know if the same people are writing those questions or not, but there's that tension between the two."

The problem I have is with this reasoning is that, if you think about, the decision to split Connie and Mitch apart has no effect whatsoever in diminishing the number of romantic entanglements in Odyssey. Between the moment we last heard about Mitch in "Eggshells" and his reintroduction in "Something Old, Something New", we've been curious about Trent and Mandy's relationship, Priscilla's crush on Barrett Jones, and, more prominently, Wooton Bassett's crush on Penny Wise. Why end a relationship between Connie and Mitch because of a fear that the audience is to young when it is only getting replaced with yet another relationship?

In fact, allowing Connie and Mitch to marry would have satisfied the two so-called groups Dave Arnold references; the anti-romantics and the pro-unionists (and not as in anti-Romanticism and pro-Unions). Those who'd like them to get married all along would have been satisfied, while those who are concerned that Odyssey was "dealing with so many romantic relationships" wouldn't have anything to complain about because Mitch and Connie would be yet another married couple. To be quite honest, claiming that Connie and Mitch shouldn't be together because of a desire to keep the show relevant to 8-12 years olds is puzzling to me. 

So, to answer the earlier question, who is in the right? Well, both parties are. Fans interpreted the writer's desire to squelch the relationship simply as interesting, dramatic conflict. On the other hand, the writers/creators are in the right because, as we saw in the Avery Awards podcast, Connie and Mitch were two very different people. The show just took a little too long to make fans arrive at that same conclusion. 

My biggest fear, at this point, is that Adventures in Odyssey may make the same mistake in the future. Doesn't the reasoning behind ending Connie's relationship mean that Wooton's relationship with Penny, or other beloved characters' romantic relationships, such as Jasons', are also doomed? Are relationships on Adventures in Odyssey just a façade, simply a light distraction with no intended result? Or, if other relationships are possible, will Adventures in Odyssey be able to build the same dramatic tension around them, or has this experience frightened us away from investing in a good ol' fashioned romance ever again?

Whatever the answer, we should remember what Paul McCusker says:

"We're trying to respect the audience. The core audience. And then all of the listeners in terms of what they want. But we don't always give them what they want by way of things they think might be good ideas because it's our jobs to look out ahead and further than that." 

This is an important thing to remember as we keep listening throughout upcoming seasons. Fans should learn that, with stuff like Mitch and Connie, they won't always get what they want. But, part of me hopes that, sometime soon, they can.

For additional thoughts on the Connie and Mitch relationship, visit my review of Something Old, Something New . Let me know what you think in the comment section below. 

Celebrating 10 Years Since Novacom

On July 6th 2002, Adventures in Odyssey came to the end of an era. An episode aired that would conclude one of the greatest adventures the show has ever had. That episode was "Exit".

The Novacom Saga arrived when the show was in deep trouble. After the arrival of the unpopular Mulligan family, a divisive response to the Shepherd family, the awkwardness of having a new Whit (played by Paul Herlinger) and two critically-panned albums, "Virtual Realities" and "In Your Wildest Dreams", the Novacom Saga shaped and added purpose to the series. It even managed to go back and make its preceding albums, such as "Days to Remember" and "Through Thick and Thin", become widely seen as classics.

Believe it or not, that was ten years ago...

I know we just celebrated a 25th anniversary, but I think it's about time we celebrate a 10th anniversary, as well. The Novacom Saga was really responsible for turning the show around in a big way, and even, I think, single-handedly alluring people online to create the huge internet fan-base that we know today.

A lot of older fans seem to skip over the past ten years when it comes to talking about their all time favourite episodes, but I think it's about time we gave this past decade its due. So what were your  favourite episodes since the Novacom Saga? And, in your opinion, has the past ten years the best decade of Adventures in Odyssey, or the worst? Or, neither?

The following is a list of my top ten favourite episodes from the past ten years (in no particular order!).

1. (TIE) The Green Ring Conspiracy - In 2011, I wrote that this episode "is a taut, engaging, and refreshingly complex audio-dramatization. The story drops us into a world that is always spiralling out of control; a world with seemingly more questions than answers; one in which the more answers given, the less we, and its characters, seem to know." Like Novacom before it, this saga managed to make us care more about characters we really didn't know much about. Simply put, it was a unique and interesting story that built towards an exciting conclusion. Written by Paul McCusker.

1. (TIE) Silent Night/ A Lamb's Tale - Although these are no Barclay Christmas episodes, the past decade provided us with two very strong episodes that celebrated the holidays. I remember thinking that Silent Night did more for Paul Herlinger's Whit than any episode since "Clara". It reminded us that there were still interesting aspects of Whit's character out there yet to be discovered. As for "A Lamb's Tale", it was probably one of the most emotionally moving Adventures in Odyssey episode this past decade, providing interlocking stories that made us cry with every scene. Written, respectively, by John Fornof and Marshall Younger.

2. Two Friends and a Truck - Aside from being the last episode showcasing Will Ryan and Dave Madden's fantastic chemistry (although they both appear in "The Forgotten Deed" later on), this episode shows us how such a simple premise can build towards interesting conflict. This was quintessential Odyssey and, if I remember correctly, was regarded as an instant classic when it aired. Written by Nathan Hoobler.

3. Do or Diet - This will forever remain one of the greatest comedies Adventures in Odyssey has ever produced due to its sheer originality and how it managed to capture the quirkiness and weaknesses of our favourite characters. If the idea of Whit, Bernard and Wooton dieting together was not as funny back then, it definitely is today. This remains one of Kathy Buchanan's finest shows, and, along with "Secrets", proved that there was a place on the show for her distinguishing style. Written by Kathy Buchanan.

4. The Pact 1, 2 - Believe it or not, there was a point on Adventures in Odyssey where not every surprise or "reveal" turned out to be that the "mysterious someone" was actually someone we already knew who lived across the street in Odyssey.  But "The Pact", at the time, was utterly original and had an ending no one saw coming. This remains one of the coolest mysteries of all time while shedding some much needed light on Tom Riley's history. Written by Nathan Hoobler.

5. Prisoners of Fear 1, 2, 3- Unlike "The Pact", the events in "Prisoners of Fear" kick-started a long saga involving Eugene's search for his father. Although such a discovery doesn't make an ounce of difference to today's listeners (since we haven't heard a thing about his brother and father in a while), it was, in itself, remarkably exciting and well put together. This episode also features one of the greatest climaxes in Adventures in Odyssey, when Gobir is forced to save his son's life on the bridge by admitting his lies. Written by Marshall Younger. 


6. Living in The Gray 1, 2 - Although having an old Adventures in Odyssey character return from that "dark, hall" isn't as thrilling as it was back then (Monty Whittaker, Dale Jacobs), hearing from Jimmy Barclay after such a long time was certainly a treat when the episode first aired. The episode stayed true to Jimmy's character while teaching an important lesson--that even characters who have been brought up in Christ their whole lives can leave the "straight and narrow" when they're older. Written by Marshall Younger. 


7. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow  1, 2, 3- Although the ending--Mitch waving his hand out of the tail-light of his car--was somewhat anticlimactic, the entire episode has a well-constructed and quite thrilling. It managed to be yet another story about hacking, but did it in its original way that didn't feel too familiar. It also perfectly balanced Connie's storyline with Whit and Mitch's "Batman and Robin" adventure. And when you hear from Bennett Charles again, how can you go wrong? Written by Kathy Buchanan. 

8. The Taming of the Two - A perfect example of how an episode can succeed based on a perfectly-cast guest star (James Bray as Malcom Lear). There's also some awfully good writing here and a great performance by Earl Boen, too. We also see the only glimpse of the Xavier Washington and Nick Mulligan friendship, which was probably one of the first interesting young adult friendship to come along on the show in a long time. Alas, nothing came of it. Written by Nathan Hoobler.

9. A Most Intriguing Question - Here is an episode where the answer was as exciting as the question. Discovering Eugene had returned to Odyssey was certainly wonderful, even though the bit about Eugene's amnesia felt a bit cliched. However, due to the sheer hype surrounding the episode, through online clues and fan speculation, as well as the overall tone of the show, this remains a great example of how to re-introduce an old, fan-favourite character. Written by Paul McCusker.

10. The Highest Stakes 1, 2 - My favourite part of "The Highest Stakes" is when Whit confronts Carson McKay, helping him to pay off his debts and ordering him to seek help for his addiction. Sometimes it's the little moments that make you love an episode. Like "Life in the Third person", this episode portrayed a touchy, real problem that some families have to deal with, but it did so in but exciting, realistic, way. Written by Nathan Hoobler and Marshall Younger.

Runners up: To Mend or Repair, How to Sink a Sub, No Way Out, The Girl in the Sink, The Owlnapping, The Forgotten Deed, The Triangled Web, Rights Wrongs and Winners, A New Era 123, Life in the Third Person, Always, Sunday Morning Scramble

So, readers, what are your favourite Adventures in Odyssey episodes since Novacom? Are my picks way off? What am I forgetting? Tell me in the comment section below.