Episode Description:
After Connie's driving lessons don't go as planned, Jules turns to Buck to teach her.
Episode Review:
“Crash Course” has all the trappings of a classic Adventures in Odyssey episode; the pacing is pleasant, the scenes are involving, the dialogue is interesting, the characters are true-to-themselves, and we witness the continuation of storylines that most listeners – myself included – enjoy a lot. But “Crash Course” reminds us, sadly, that an episode cannot succeed if it does not have a clear point.
A story must establish the characters’ goals from the beginning – it helps keep the audience interested and empathizing the whole way through. In “Find a Penny”, Wooton’s goal is, obviously, to find Penny. In “Have a Heart”, Buddy and Zoe’s goal is to find out why Dion’s personality has changed. And in “License to Drive”, the classic Adventures in Odyssey episode that “Crash Course” wants to desperately remind us of, the episode establishes from the beginning that Eugene’s goal is to get his driver’s license, while Connie’s goal is to become a better teacher. Their motivations are clear, and each scene advances or deters these characters from achieving their goal. Because I never knew what the characters in “Crash Course” wanted, I could never determine what the episode was about. As a result, I felt mostly indifferent and unsympathetic the whole way through.
In the early scenes of “Crash Course”, it’s hinted that the story might be about Jules Kendall wanting to get her driver’s license and needing to work out her differences with Connie. The scene, however, changes and hints that the story might also be about Buck Oliver working out his differences with Eugene while he too attempts to get his driver’s license. Then, I wondered: Was the episode going to be about both competing to see who would get their license first? But, surprisingly, Buck gets his driver’s license in the following scene, and 5 minutes have dragged by, and I still didn’t know what this episode is about, or where it was going.
Then, Buck confesses to Jule that he already knew how to drive before Eugene tried to teach him, and for a split second, it looks like the episode would center on the guilt he feels, but this too does not seem to be the focus of the episode, since, two scenes later, in a moment of anger, Buck confesses to Eugene that he already knew how to drive. Amidst all of this, other storylines sprout up, disorienting the listener; Eugene and Katrina plan a surprise birthday party for Buck – is this episode about hiding a surprise party from Buck? – Katrina wishes that she had a puppy, and Eugene wishes Buck communicated with him more, but these are all merely interesting distractions, raising more questions about what on earth this episode is about.
Chris, too, seems to be confused about what “Crash Course” was about. In the closing wrap-up, she discusses the importance of Buck and Jules needing to face their consequences, even though, after they get scolded, Jules only walked off into another room for about a scene, and Buck, it turns out, only ran off to Connellsville to grab a puppy for Katrina. So how exactly was the episode about “facing consequences”? When exactly did they try to hide? What was the lesson here? By the end, “Crash Course” felt as though it was written by five different writers with five-different ideas of what the focus should be.
But, thankfully, amidst the disorienting story, there are some highlights. What I enjoyed the most about the episode was simply seeing Connie and Eugene – in parallel situations – being in a place to instruct and discipline. It’s amazing, almost bittersweet, how far their characters have progressed on Adventures in Odyssey – how much the writers have allowed them to mature, and grow over the years. Back in “Eugene’s Dilemma” and “A Bite of Applesauce”, the duo were fired from Whit’s End until they learned the value of taking responsibility for their actions. And now they’re in a place to instruct others regarding this same lesson. How far they’ve come.
“Crash Course”, as whole, was perhaps better at building onto previous episodes than building onto its own scenes. As we’ve seen in “Old Tricks”, Buck doesn’t feel like he fits in with his new family, and he struggles to merge his past-life of independence and unstructured frivolity harmoniously with the confines of his new family unit. The fact that he finds simpler – more ethical ways – of assisting and feeling like a more valuable part of his family, like giving Katrina a puppy, is quite nice. And, as for Jules, for several episodes she’s only wanted to escape Connie’s overbearing clutches, so the moment where she willingly returns to Connie, to the episode’s credit, is a nice moment as well.
On a separate note, the way the show has been able to produce such a large quantity of solid stories about Connie and Eugene raising “foster children” is impressive, and I’m excited to hear more episodes following either Connie/Jules or Eugene/Buck. To be honest, introducing foster children hasn’t had a great track-record on Adventures in Odyssey. In the case of the Mulligans or the Washingtons, the show quickly ran out of stories to tell as soon as soon as the adoptee was brought into their home. But in the case of Connie and Eugene, the show has not only managed to introduce new stories for a longer-than-expected period, but create a surprisingly number of good stories, as seen recently with “Friend or Foe” or “Old Tricks”. Despite “Crash Course”’s inadequacies, my hope is that the show can create even stronger and more interesting episodes going forward.
Let me be clear: “Crash Course” is not an unenjoyable episode to listen to. If I wasn’t an “Odyssey critic” and I had simply heard it on the radio, I honestly would not have thought twice about logic and story-structure, since the episode features a bounty of compelling moments involving our favorite characters. But it’s a shame that the story never got hammered out properly in the outlining stage, since there was potential for much more, here. As it is, “Crash Course” is like taking a country drive on an Autumn’s day…without a map…or a destination…and one or two too many roundabouts; the ride is enjoyable, but it would much more enjoyable if I knew what the point of the trip was.
After Connie's driving lessons don't go as planned, Jules turns to Buck to teach her.
Episode Review:
“Crash Course” has all the trappings of a classic Adventures in Odyssey episode; the pacing is pleasant, the scenes are involving, the dialogue is interesting, the characters are true-to-themselves, and we witness the continuation of storylines that most listeners – myself included – enjoy a lot. But “Crash Course” reminds us, sadly, that an episode cannot succeed if it does not have a clear point.
A story must establish the characters’ goals from the beginning – it helps keep the audience interested and empathizing the whole way through. In “Find a Penny”, Wooton’s goal is, obviously, to find Penny. In “Have a Heart”, Buddy and Zoe’s goal is to find out why Dion’s personality has changed. And in “License to Drive”, the classic Adventures in Odyssey episode that “Crash Course” wants to desperately remind us of, the episode establishes from the beginning that Eugene’s goal is to get his driver’s license, while Connie’s goal is to become a better teacher. Their motivations are clear, and each scene advances or deters these characters from achieving their goal. Because I never knew what the characters in “Crash Course” wanted, I could never determine what the episode was about. As a result, I felt mostly indifferent and unsympathetic the whole way through.
In the early scenes of “Crash Course”, it’s hinted that the story might be about Jules Kendall wanting to get her driver’s license and needing to work out her differences with Connie. The scene, however, changes and hints that the story might also be about Buck Oliver working out his differences with Eugene while he too attempts to get his driver’s license. Then, I wondered: Was the episode going to be about both competing to see who would get their license first? But, surprisingly, Buck gets his driver’s license in the following scene, and 5 minutes have dragged by, and I still didn’t know what this episode is about, or where it was going.
Then, Buck confesses to Jule that he already knew how to drive before Eugene tried to teach him, and for a split second, it looks like the episode would center on the guilt he feels, but this too does not seem to be the focus of the episode, since, two scenes later, in a moment of anger, Buck confesses to Eugene that he already knew how to drive. Amidst all of this, other storylines sprout up, disorienting the listener; Eugene and Katrina plan a surprise birthday party for Buck – is this episode about hiding a surprise party from Buck? – Katrina wishes that she had a puppy, and Eugene wishes Buck communicated with him more, but these are all merely interesting distractions, raising more questions about what on earth this episode is about.
Chris, too, seems to be confused about what “Crash Course” was about. In the closing wrap-up, she discusses the importance of Buck and Jules needing to face their consequences, even though, after they get scolded, Jules only walked off into another room for about a scene, and Buck, it turns out, only ran off to Connellsville to grab a puppy for Katrina. So how exactly was the episode about “facing consequences”? When exactly did they try to hide? What was the lesson here? By the end, “Crash Course” felt as though it was written by five different writers with five-different ideas of what the focus should be.
But, thankfully, amidst the disorienting story, there are some highlights. What I enjoyed the most about the episode was simply seeing Connie and Eugene – in parallel situations – being in a place to instruct and discipline. It’s amazing, almost bittersweet, how far their characters have progressed on Adventures in Odyssey – how much the writers have allowed them to mature, and grow over the years. Back in “Eugene’s Dilemma” and “A Bite of Applesauce”, the duo were fired from Whit’s End until they learned the value of taking responsibility for their actions. And now they’re in a place to instruct others regarding this same lesson. How far they’ve come.
“Crash Course”, as whole, was perhaps better at building onto previous episodes than building onto its own scenes. As we’ve seen in “Old Tricks”, Buck doesn’t feel like he fits in with his new family, and he struggles to merge his past-life of independence and unstructured frivolity harmoniously with the confines of his new family unit. The fact that he finds simpler – more ethical ways – of assisting and feeling like a more valuable part of his family, like giving Katrina a puppy, is quite nice. And, as for Jules, for several episodes she’s only wanted to escape Connie’s overbearing clutches, so the moment where she willingly returns to Connie, to the episode’s credit, is a nice moment as well.
On a separate note, the way the show has been able to produce such a large quantity of solid stories about Connie and Eugene raising “foster children” is impressive, and I’m excited to hear more episodes following either Connie/Jules or Eugene/Buck. To be honest, introducing foster children hasn’t had a great track-record on Adventures in Odyssey. In the case of the Mulligans or the Washingtons, the show quickly ran out of stories to tell as soon as soon as the adoptee was brought into their home. But in the case of Connie and Eugene, the show has not only managed to introduce new stories for a longer-than-expected period, but create a surprisingly number of good stories, as seen recently with “Friend or Foe” or “Old Tricks”. Despite “Crash Course”’s inadequacies, my hope is that the show can create even stronger and more interesting episodes going forward.
Let me be clear: “Crash Course” is not an unenjoyable episode to listen to. If I wasn’t an “Odyssey critic” and I had simply heard it on the radio, I honestly would not have thought twice about logic and story-structure, since the episode features a bounty of compelling moments involving our favorite characters. But it’s a shame that the story never got hammered out properly in the outlining stage, since there was potential for much more, here. As it is, “Crash Course” is like taking a country drive on an Autumn’s day…without a map…or a destination…and one or two too many roundabouts; the ride is enjoyable, but it would much more enjoyable if I knew what the point of the trip was.
Writer: Kathy Buchanan
Director: Kathy Buchanan
Sound Design: Rob Jorgensen
Music: John Campbell
Scripture: Psalm 139 7-10
Theme: Facing your Problems
Original Air-date: 11.11.17
Review Published: 12.17.17
Director: Kathy Buchanan
Sound Design: Rob Jorgensen
Music: John Campbell
Scripture: Psalm 139 7-10
Theme: Facing your Problems
Original Air-date: 11.11.17
Review Published: 12.17.17