Episode Description:
"After Buddy's fears get the best of him, a young daredevil gives him a pep talk from the Bible ... sort of." - AIO
Episode Review:
If you’ve been a devoted reader of my reviews over the past several years, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of episodes that revolve around a kid who hears a Bible verse and then spends the rest of the episode misinterpreting that verse. While this is certainly an easy way for us listeners to ultimately learn the meaning of a particular verse, it normally requires us to listen to characters acting dumber than they normally are. The examples of this happening previously on AIO is endless: The Washington kids once assumed that Whit couldn’t go to heaven after they read Matthew 19:24. Donna assumed she could get anything she wanted if she just prayed for it after she read Mark 11:24. From Erica Clark mistaking joy for happiness after hearing James 1: 2-3, to Tamika misunderstanding how to tell the truth after hearing “Proverbs 26:28”, and even, more recently, Declan misinterpreting Matthew 7:12 (the golden rule), the formula has gotten a little tiresome, hasn’t it?
“Lifted Out of Context” continues this tradition. However, ironically, this is one episode that chooses not to expand on the main verse by the time the episode ends. That’s a pretty gutsy decision. I, myself, was intrigued how the episode would explain the meaning -- and context -- of “I can do all things through Him who gives him strength”, and I felt a little bit cheated not getting a clear answer. One or two additional lines of dialogue about this verse probably would have sufficed. It feels as though the episode simply ran out of time. Given how Adventures in Odyssey has made it clear that they don’t want to spoon feed everything to the audience, I sort of understand why they made this choice, but, in the end, not having Whit actually provide further context to this verse ended up feeling a bit cheap.
Aside from the choice not to be clarify Phillipians 4:13, my biggest qualm with the episode is that it just felt too unfamiliar. Every so often there’s an episode that that comes along that makes one say to oneself “this doesn’t feel like Odyssey”. It involved a mixture of very uncommon locations -- from Buddy’s daydreams, the ski-resort scenes, the skate park scenes -- all involving too many new-ish characters (more on that a little later) and humor that felt a little overly contemporary and meta -- from mentions of real-life stuff like “The Revengers” and “Tony Falcon” (i.e. “The Avengers” and “Tony Hawk”) and characters’ commentary on storytelling tropes (“the jet is conveniently out of fuel”, “mcguffin” “and “that seems like a weak plot device”), none of it seemed to allign with the regular humor of the show.
“Lifted Out of Context” prompted me to ask: why are we hearing from certain characters so infrequently? Buddy Norman’s last appearance on Adventures in Odyssey was over a year ago and Beezee and Horus’s last appearance was nearly two years ago (not counting the latter’s short cameo in a recent B-TV episode). Funnily enough, it had been such a long time since we had heard from these characters that a fellow listener asked who some of them even were and why an entire episode was so-suddenly being devoted to them. I started to wonder: is the reason why we’re hearing from some characters so infrequently because there are simply too many characters? (which then led me to ask...) Are today’s AIO writers more interested in writing about their own favourite characters than writing about the same small, agreed-upon group of characters?
Looking back at the past few years of the show, it’s clear that the writers have favourite characters to write about. Phil Lollar seems to like episodes featuring Renee Carter, having written the majority of her episodes thus far. Marshal Younger, at the moment, seems preoccupied with writing stories about the Perkins family, while Sam Suksiri, as seen in today’s show, has given the most attention to characters such as Buddy, Beezee and Horus. Having writers focus on certain characters -- and, in turn, their arcs -- isn’t a bad thing (it gives each character some continuity/consistency, after all). But given that the show has just recently introduced us to Cooper Calhoon (in “Pages from the Playbook), Elise and Scarlett (in “Between Camp and a Hard Place”), Declan, Sarah, Mickey, and Lou (in “Rightly Dividing”) on top of the show’s already established youngsters, Camilla, Matthew, Olivia, Zoe, Emily, Jay, Valerie, and Buck, I wonder if the show is starting to feel a tad bit crowded.
Perhaps it’s time for the team to “clean house” so to speak. Perhaps it’s time that they decide who has the most interesting characters/personalities and gather the team together to regularly write stories around, and develop, those characters. After all, it shouldn’t take over a year to hear from a character before the show chooses to revolve an entire episode around them. That’s not how most shows work. Characters should be appearing somewhat regularly in diverse ways -- sometimes as leads, and other times as supporting characters. At the moment, the show, it seems, is trying to juggle so many characters that the show’s most principal grownups (Whit, Connie, Eugene) are now appearing in fewer than 8-9 episodes are year. That’s a big difference from the days of old. Sure, many of you may argue that a large cast keeps the show interesting and colorful, but it is also inadvertently keeping Adventures in Odyssey from feeling sleek and focused. At the end of the day, the math is simple: the more characters there are, the less we hear from each of them.
That said, if the show ever needs to “clean house”, I don’t think that they should get rid of Buddy. Buddy's a neat character -- I enjoy his interactions with Jay, and I find him to be someone audiences can easily root for. The problem with his character, as this episode shows, is his daydreams have gotten rather old rather quickly. These daydreams really added nothing to today’s episode, and the story, frankly, came to a screeching halt whenever they occurred... which provided me with a moment to daydream, myself. And while I wouldn’t mind if they used these daydreams in new and creative ways (like they did in “Sir Buddy’s Snowy Day”), I hope the writers don’t feel required to include them in every Buddy-centric episode.
“Lifted Out of Context” ultimately feels a little too messy and peculiar for Adventures in Odyssey. That said, even though the episode doesn’t end the decade on the highest note, fans might still enjoy the timely reminder to read verses in context, a few amusing jokes here and there, and the amusing fact that Whit can add “ski instructor” to his already lengthy resume. It may not be much, but it’s something, I guess.
"After Buddy's fears get the best of him, a young daredevil gives him a pep talk from the Bible ... sort of." - AIO
Episode Review:
If you’ve been a devoted reader of my reviews over the past several years, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of episodes that revolve around a kid who hears a Bible verse and then spends the rest of the episode misinterpreting that verse. While this is certainly an easy way for us listeners to ultimately learn the meaning of a particular verse, it normally requires us to listen to characters acting dumber than they normally are. The examples of this happening previously on AIO is endless: The Washington kids once assumed that Whit couldn’t go to heaven after they read Matthew 19:24. Donna assumed she could get anything she wanted if she just prayed for it after she read Mark 11:24. From Erica Clark mistaking joy for happiness after hearing James 1: 2-3, to Tamika misunderstanding how to tell the truth after hearing “Proverbs 26:28”, and even, more recently, Declan misinterpreting Matthew 7:12 (the golden rule), the formula has gotten a little tiresome, hasn’t it?
“Lifted Out of Context” continues this tradition. However, ironically, this is one episode that chooses not to expand on the main verse by the time the episode ends. That’s a pretty gutsy decision. I, myself, was intrigued how the episode would explain the meaning -- and context -- of “I can do all things through Him who gives him strength”, and I felt a little bit cheated not getting a clear answer. One or two additional lines of dialogue about this verse probably would have sufficed. It feels as though the episode simply ran out of time. Given how Adventures in Odyssey has made it clear that they don’t want to spoon feed everything to the audience, I sort of understand why they made this choice, but, in the end, not having Whit actually provide further context to this verse ended up feeling a bit cheap.
Aside from the choice not to be clarify Phillipians 4:13, my biggest qualm with the episode is that it just felt too unfamiliar. Every so often there’s an episode that that comes along that makes one say to oneself “this doesn’t feel like Odyssey”. It involved a mixture of very uncommon locations -- from Buddy’s daydreams, the ski-resort scenes, the skate park scenes -- all involving too many new-ish characters (more on that a little later) and humor that felt a little overly contemporary and meta -- from mentions of real-life stuff like “The Revengers” and “Tony Falcon” (i.e. “The Avengers” and “Tony Hawk”) and characters’ commentary on storytelling tropes (“the jet is conveniently out of fuel”, “mcguffin” “and “that seems like a weak plot device”), none of it seemed to allign with the regular humor of the show.
“Lifted Out of Context” prompted me to ask: why are we hearing from certain characters so infrequently? Buddy Norman’s last appearance on Adventures in Odyssey was over a year ago and Beezee and Horus’s last appearance was nearly two years ago (not counting the latter’s short cameo in a recent B-TV episode). Funnily enough, it had been such a long time since we had heard from these characters that a fellow listener asked who some of them even were and why an entire episode was so-suddenly being devoted to them. I started to wonder: is the reason why we’re hearing from some characters so infrequently because there are simply too many characters? (which then led me to ask...) Are today’s AIO writers more interested in writing about their own favourite characters than writing about the same small, agreed-upon group of characters?
Looking back at the past few years of the show, it’s clear that the writers have favourite characters to write about. Phil Lollar seems to like episodes featuring Renee Carter, having written the majority of her episodes thus far. Marshal Younger, at the moment, seems preoccupied with writing stories about the Perkins family, while Sam Suksiri, as seen in today’s show, has given the most attention to characters such as Buddy, Beezee and Horus. Having writers focus on certain characters -- and, in turn, their arcs -- isn’t a bad thing (it gives each character some continuity/consistency, after all). But given that the show has just recently introduced us to Cooper Calhoon (in “Pages from the Playbook), Elise and Scarlett (in “Between Camp and a Hard Place”), Declan, Sarah, Mickey, and Lou (in “Rightly Dividing”) on top of the show’s already established youngsters, Camilla, Matthew, Olivia, Zoe, Emily, Jay, Valerie, and Buck, I wonder if the show is starting to feel a tad bit crowded.
Perhaps it’s time for the team to “clean house” so to speak. Perhaps it’s time that they decide who has the most interesting characters/personalities and gather the team together to regularly write stories around, and develop, those characters. After all, it shouldn’t take over a year to hear from a character before the show chooses to revolve an entire episode around them. That’s not how most shows work. Characters should be appearing somewhat regularly in diverse ways -- sometimes as leads, and other times as supporting characters. At the moment, the show, it seems, is trying to juggle so many characters that the show’s most principal grownups (Whit, Connie, Eugene) are now appearing in fewer than 8-9 episodes are year. That’s a big difference from the days of old. Sure, many of you may argue that a large cast keeps the show interesting and colorful, but it is also inadvertently keeping Adventures in Odyssey from feeling sleek and focused. At the end of the day, the math is simple: the more characters there are, the less we hear from each of them.
That said, if the show ever needs to “clean house”, I don’t think that they should get rid of Buddy. Buddy's a neat character -- I enjoy his interactions with Jay, and I find him to be someone audiences can easily root for. The problem with his character, as this episode shows, is his daydreams have gotten rather old rather quickly. These daydreams really added nothing to today’s episode, and the story, frankly, came to a screeching halt whenever they occurred... which provided me with a moment to daydream, myself. And while I wouldn’t mind if they used these daydreams in new and creative ways (like they did in “Sir Buddy’s Snowy Day”), I hope the writers don’t feel required to include them in every Buddy-centric episode.
“Lifted Out of Context” ultimately feels a little too messy and peculiar for Adventures in Odyssey. That said, even though the episode doesn’t end the decade on the highest note, fans might still enjoy the timely reminder to read verses in context, a few amusing jokes here and there, and the amusing fact that Whit can add “ski instructor” to his already lengthy resume. It may not be much, but it’s something, I guess.
Writer: Sam Suksiri
Director: Phil Lollar
Executive Producer: Dave Arnold
Music: John Campbell
Theme: Reading in Context
Scripture: Philippians 4:13
Original Air-Date: 01.12.19
Review Published: 31.01.19