Episode Description:
"Connie Kendall makes it her mission to get Jillian Marshall the perfect job in town. The journey takes them from Triple J Antiques, to Whit's End, to the hospital, and even to Odyssey Channel 10. Meanwhile, Trey Calhoun struggles to overcome his failures in school and step out of his older brother's shadow." - AIO
Episode Review:
The character of Jillian Marshall feels like a manufactured product -- a corporate creation, so to speak -- who, so far, exists only to get Jason hitched. There appears to be no other purpose for her to be on the show other than this reason. Does Connie really need an eccentric female friend? Not since she met Penny. Does Connie need someone to mentor and look after? Not since she met Jules. Is the show significantly lacking in new goofy characters to develop and explore? Again, nope. So what other purpose does Jillian serve? What hole on this show does she fill? The answer, for now, is none whatsoever -- no other purpose, that is, except to be moved a little closer and closer, in physical space, to Jason.
Look, I personally don’t think there’s anything terribly wrong with Jillian herself. She was fun in “Nightmares by Constance” and I actually think she’s a little more interesting to listen to than both Penny and Jules. The problem is that she hasn’t been able to be judged by her own merits. Ever since the writers “hinted” in an Official Podcast that this character was going to serve as some sort of love-interest for Jason, every appearance of hers has been judged as an audition tape for Jason. “She’s too silly for Jason”, some would say after an episode of hers aired. “Bring Tasha back!” others would say. Honestly, telling audiences about the romance before she even appeared on the show put Jillian Marshall -- and its actress -- in an unfair position.
As a result, we can see, all too clearly, the gears moving -- the inside of this cupid machine. It wasn’t surprising that Jillian wanted to set-up shop in front of Jason’s store in “Not What I Expected”. Or that, in “Nightmares by Constance'', she and Jason were forced into a situation where they had to act like husband and wife to solve a mystery (still funny, though). Or that, in “Good Job!”, after going to other interviews, she would end up working closely alongside Jason by the end of the episode. Every episode feels like a contrived way to have them end up together. After “Good Job” begun, we knew instantly that the whole episode existed to have Jillian move from point A to point B: from far from Jason, to close to Jason.
With romantic storylines, you sorta need to keep audiences in the dark. You need the audience to feel the natural chemistry between two characters before we know what the show has planned for those characters. For years, a vocal group of fans have wanted Jason and Connie to get married precisely because the show didn’t set out to create a romance between them. A similar phenomenon occurred with Jason and Amy in “Best Laid Plans” due to the natural chemistry between its stars. And the same thing also happened with Monica Stone, a character who was introduced first as a villain instead of a love-interest. The most exciting romances are when the audiences think it’s their idea -- when they see two characters and realize, without the show’s explicit prompting, that they would make a great pair.
Ironically, while “Good Job” displays the unsubtle ways they’ve been setting up Jason and Jillian as a romantic pair, it also shows off AIO’s subtle methods in introducing the Calhoons as the next Odyssey family. They introduced the father, Joseph, all the way back in “In a Sun Scorched Land”, then introduced Cooper in “Page from the Playbook”, then introduced the final two members, Trey and Kayla, in this episode. I like it when the show introduces a family as a slow roll-out -- instead of giving them a full-blown introductory episode. It keeps the pressure off of them being unfairly scrutinized and evaluated as “the next Barclays”. But I wish Jillian’s introduction was a little more like the Calhouns’; I wish we didn’t know their plans for this character until she had made several, smaller appearances on the show.
But, hey, perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps the writers have ulterior motives, and there won’t be a romance between Jillian and Jason. Perhaps it’s all one big misdirection. Perhaps she’s The Chairman’s daughter, and she’s playing dumb to secretly try to get closer to Jason just to, then, get closer to Whit’s Imagination Station. There’s still plenty of time to surprise us. But if there needs to be a romance between these two, I hope they can write it in such a way where fans start wanting it to happen. Because, right now, it’s all just feeling like an arranged marriage.
"Connie Kendall makes it her mission to get Jillian Marshall the perfect job in town. The journey takes them from Triple J Antiques, to Whit's End, to the hospital, and even to Odyssey Channel 10. Meanwhile, Trey Calhoun struggles to overcome his failures in school and step out of his older brother's shadow." - AIO
Episode Review:
The character of Jillian Marshall feels like a manufactured product -- a corporate creation, so to speak -- who, so far, exists only to get Jason hitched. There appears to be no other purpose for her to be on the show other than this reason. Does Connie really need an eccentric female friend? Not since she met Penny. Does Connie need someone to mentor and look after? Not since she met Jules. Is the show significantly lacking in new goofy characters to develop and explore? Again, nope. So what other purpose does Jillian serve? What hole on this show does she fill? The answer, for now, is none whatsoever -- no other purpose, that is, except to be moved a little closer and closer, in physical space, to Jason.
Look, I personally don’t think there’s anything terribly wrong with Jillian herself. She was fun in “Nightmares by Constance” and I actually think she’s a little more interesting to listen to than both Penny and Jules. The problem is that she hasn’t been able to be judged by her own merits. Ever since the writers “hinted” in an Official Podcast that this character was going to serve as some sort of love-interest for Jason, every appearance of hers has been judged as an audition tape for Jason. “She’s too silly for Jason”, some would say after an episode of hers aired. “Bring Tasha back!” others would say. Honestly, telling audiences about the romance before she even appeared on the show put Jillian Marshall -- and its actress -- in an unfair position.
As a result, we can see, all too clearly, the gears moving -- the inside of this cupid machine. It wasn’t surprising that Jillian wanted to set-up shop in front of Jason’s store in “Not What I Expected”. Or that, in “Nightmares by Constance'', she and Jason were forced into a situation where they had to act like husband and wife to solve a mystery (still funny, though). Or that, in “Good Job!”, after going to other interviews, she would end up working closely alongside Jason by the end of the episode. Every episode feels like a contrived way to have them end up together. After “Good Job” begun, we knew instantly that the whole episode existed to have Jillian move from point A to point B: from far from Jason, to close to Jason.
With romantic storylines, you sorta need to keep audiences in the dark. You need the audience to feel the natural chemistry between two characters before we know what the show has planned for those characters. For years, a vocal group of fans have wanted Jason and Connie to get married precisely because the show didn’t set out to create a romance between them. A similar phenomenon occurred with Jason and Amy in “Best Laid Plans” due to the natural chemistry between its stars. And the same thing also happened with Monica Stone, a character who was introduced first as a villain instead of a love-interest. The most exciting romances are when the audiences think it’s their idea -- when they see two characters and realize, without the show’s explicit prompting, that they would make a great pair.
Ironically, while “Good Job” displays the unsubtle ways they’ve been setting up Jason and Jillian as a romantic pair, it also shows off AIO’s subtle methods in introducing the Calhoons as the next Odyssey family. They introduced the father, Joseph, all the way back in “In a Sun Scorched Land”, then introduced Cooper in “Page from the Playbook”, then introduced the final two members, Trey and Kayla, in this episode. I like it when the show introduces a family as a slow roll-out -- instead of giving them a full-blown introductory episode. It keeps the pressure off of them being unfairly scrutinized and evaluated as “the next Barclays”. But I wish Jillian’s introduction was a little more like the Calhouns’; I wish we didn’t know their plans for this character until she had made several, smaller appearances on the show.
But, hey, perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps the writers have ulterior motives, and there won’t be a romance between Jillian and Jason. Perhaps it’s all one big misdirection. Perhaps she’s The Chairman’s daughter, and she’s playing dumb to secretly try to get closer to Jason just to, then, get closer to Whit’s Imagination Station. There’s still plenty of time to surprise us. But if there needs to be a romance between these two, I hope they can write it in such a way where fans start wanting it to happen. Because, right now, it’s all just feeling like an arranged marriage.
Writer: Kathy Buchanan
Director: Kathy Buchanan
Executive Producer: Christopher Diehl
Music: John Campbell
Theme: Learning from Failure
Scripture: Job 14:1
Original Air-date: 03/07/2020
Review Published: 03/22/2020