Episode Description:
"The Square One Club’s passion for inventing shifts into high gear when Matthew builds an impressive go-kart engine. Meanwhile, Eugene starts work with a nerdy intern." -AIO
Episode Review:
Back when it was first introduced in the appropriately-titled “Square One”, the Square One Club showed significant promise as a vehicle for all sorts of neat adventures. There are, after all, countless stories that can be told involving a group of tinkerers/inventors. To everyone’s surprise, however, the Square One Club was hardly mentioned on Adventures in Odyssey after “Square One” aired. Most listeners eventually thought the group would go the way of some of the show’s other introduced concepts – The Coolest Dogs, The Transmuter, Whit’s Treasure Room, Toni/Brianna, Amy/Josh, Solly Mendelson/Irving Greenfarb – all ideas introduced with the hope of launching a series of future episodes but ultimately never came to fruition.
But perhaps it took writer Sam Suksiri, who has some background in engineering, to finally put this concept to good use. Perhaps because of his background, however, the first half of the episode feels slightly more like an educational Saturday morning show on PBS than an Adventures in Odyssey episode – the characters pause to explain the ins and outs of machinery more intricately than we’re used to. That said, the level of detail was appreciated. “Failing To the Finish Line” does get more interesting as it goes on, as disagreements arise, personalities collide, newer characters such as Beezee are given their time to shine, and Matthew Parker’s nearly becomes a mad scientist through deception and theft – all culminating towards a genuinely exciting ending where Eugene hurries to save the club’s lives. Though, one must wonder, why did he not first call the police?
Much like “Square One”, your enjoyment of “Failing To the Finish Line” may rest on how much you buy that this group of kids are among the most brilliant, mechanically-proficient inventors in the world. Exciting though they are, the events in “Failing To the Finish Line” aren’t remotely similar to anything I experienced in my childhood; the closest I ever got to inventing something was when I decided to mix my set of Space-themed Legos with my set of Western-themed Legos. Remember when Odyssey just told stories about ordinary, dumb kids? When Jack and Oscar were too dumb to do their homework? Or Charles wrote poems about pants? Or Dwayne dressed up as a bush? But perhaps times have changed. Now the show has brilliant kid detectives, brilliant kid con-artists, and brilliant kid inventors. Characters now seem to be more inspirational than relatable.
That said, it’s a solid episode. Perhaps the highlight, however, are the scenes involving Eugene Meltsner. There is something ironically funny about Eugene being annoyed with someone “nerdier” than he is. Through the number times he lost his keys or displayed absentmindedness or social awkwardness, the show seemed to be trying to mold Horace into a replica of who Eugene was at the beginning of the series. Eugene has certainly changed in recent years; he’s been humanized a little, and he’s also adopted a lot of Whit’s wisdom – as seen with his recent episodes with Buck. But perhaps it’s time he adopted Tom and Bernard’s exasperation towards “nerds”, as well. While the inclusion of Horace worked well as a one-episode joke, I wouldn’t mind if they brought him back in future episodes to annoy Eugene more.
As a side note, despite reminding us how much Eugene has changed, “Failing to the Finish Line” is also a stark reminder of how other characters haven’t. Interestingly, nearly two hundred episodes – or ten years – after he was introduced, Nelson Swanson appears to be the exact same age as when we first met him. And over 150 episodes later since its introduction, the Square One Club appears to still be in existence, as though the show presumed that we wouldn’t have forgotten about it by now. Aside from, sadly, Ryan Cumming’s absence (it would have been nice if the show had addressed his absence), it is as though time is somehow frozen in Odyssey, nothing progresses at all, voices simply replace previous voices, and that, honestly, takes a little bit of fun out of Adventures in Odyssey. Every show needs to show the passing of time. Characters need to grow. Slowly, at least. The more the audience is allowed to grow with characters, the more real and relatable those characters feel, and the more involved the audience becomes with each passing episode.
But “Failing to the Finish Line” quickly makes us forget about Odyssey’s time discrepancies, which are really the only weaknesses that I was able to muster out of this simple and enjoyable slice-of life-episode. I hope to hear from the Square One Club again soon, since its episodes can only get better with each added use. At the end of the day, not every episode needs to advance an ongoing story arc or be part of a dramatic saga. Sometimes a simple story about a group of kids trying to make a Go Cart go super-fast will suffice. And, well, I guess a really cool explosion at the end doesn’t hurt.
"The Square One Club’s passion for inventing shifts into high gear when Matthew builds an impressive go-kart engine. Meanwhile, Eugene starts work with a nerdy intern." -AIO
Episode Review:
Back when it was first introduced in the appropriately-titled “Square One”, the Square One Club showed significant promise as a vehicle for all sorts of neat adventures. There are, after all, countless stories that can be told involving a group of tinkerers/inventors. To everyone’s surprise, however, the Square One Club was hardly mentioned on Adventures in Odyssey after “Square One” aired. Most listeners eventually thought the group would go the way of some of the show’s other introduced concepts – The Coolest Dogs, The Transmuter, Whit’s Treasure Room, Toni/Brianna, Amy/Josh, Solly Mendelson/Irving Greenfarb – all ideas introduced with the hope of launching a series of future episodes but ultimately never came to fruition.
But perhaps it took writer Sam Suksiri, who has some background in engineering, to finally put this concept to good use. Perhaps because of his background, however, the first half of the episode feels slightly more like an educational Saturday morning show on PBS than an Adventures in Odyssey episode – the characters pause to explain the ins and outs of machinery more intricately than we’re used to. That said, the level of detail was appreciated. “Failing To the Finish Line” does get more interesting as it goes on, as disagreements arise, personalities collide, newer characters such as Beezee are given their time to shine, and Matthew Parker’s nearly becomes a mad scientist through deception and theft – all culminating towards a genuinely exciting ending where Eugene hurries to save the club’s lives. Though, one must wonder, why did he not first call the police?
Much like “Square One”, your enjoyment of “Failing To the Finish Line” may rest on how much you buy that this group of kids are among the most brilliant, mechanically-proficient inventors in the world. Exciting though they are, the events in “Failing To the Finish Line” aren’t remotely similar to anything I experienced in my childhood; the closest I ever got to inventing something was when I decided to mix my set of Space-themed Legos with my set of Western-themed Legos. Remember when Odyssey just told stories about ordinary, dumb kids? When Jack and Oscar were too dumb to do their homework? Or Charles wrote poems about pants? Or Dwayne dressed up as a bush? But perhaps times have changed. Now the show has brilliant kid detectives, brilliant kid con-artists, and brilliant kid inventors. Characters now seem to be more inspirational than relatable.
That said, it’s a solid episode. Perhaps the highlight, however, are the scenes involving Eugene Meltsner. There is something ironically funny about Eugene being annoyed with someone “nerdier” than he is. Through the number times he lost his keys or displayed absentmindedness or social awkwardness, the show seemed to be trying to mold Horace into a replica of who Eugene was at the beginning of the series. Eugene has certainly changed in recent years; he’s been humanized a little, and he’s also adopted a lot of Whit’s wisdom – as seen with his recent episodes with Buck. But perhaps it’s time he adopted Tom and Bernard’s exasperation towards “nerds”, as well. While the inclusion of Horace worked well as a one-episode joke, I wouldn’t mind if they brought him back in future episodes to annoy Eugene more.
As a side note, despite reminding us how much Eugene has changed, “Failing to the Finish Line” is also a stark reminder of how other characters haven’t. Interestingly, nearly two hundred episodes – or ten years – after he was introduced, Nelson Swanson appears to be the exact same age as when we first met him. And over 150 episodes later since its introduction, the Square One Club appears to still be in existence, as though the show presumed that we wouldn’t have forgotten about it by now. Aside from, sadly, Ryan Cumming’s absence (it would have been nice if the show had addressed his absence), it is as though time is somehow frozen in Odyssey, nothing progresses at all, voices simply replace previous voices, and that, honestly, takes a little bit of fun out of Adventures in Odyssey. Every show needs to show the passing of time. Characters need to grow. Slowly, at least. The more the audience is allowed to grow with characters, the more real and relatable those characters feel, and the more involved the audience becomes with each passing episode.
But “Failing to the Finish Line” quickly makes us forget about Odyssey’s time discrepancies, which are really the only weaknesses that I was able to muster out of this simple and enjoyable slice-of life-episode. I hope to hear from the Square One Club again soon, since its episodes can only get better with each added use. At the end of the day, not every episode needs to advance an ongoing story arc or be part of a dramatic saga. Sometimes a simple story about a group of kids trying to make a Go Cart go super-fast will suffice. And, well, I guess a really cool explosion at the end doesn’t hurt.
Writer: Sam Suksiri
Director: Phil Lollar
Post-Production: Jonathan Crowe
Music: John Campbell
Theme: Holiness
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:15
Original Air-date: March 1st, 2018
Review Published: 03.18.18