Episode Description:
"Eugene fears that the Trickle Lake dam is about collapse and flood Odyssey...including Whit's End." - AIOC
Episode Review:
In “Swept Away”, Eugene Meltsner reminds us that Odyssey was first settled upon “land that stinks like a swamp” and, until now, I hadn’t fully realized the effort the series has made to create episodes based on this simple historical fact.
Odyssey does have a rain problem, after all. Connie notices the abnormal amount of rain in “Stormy Weather” – “another day of rain,” she whines as she stares out the front window of Whit’s End. In “Flash Flood”, Whit, Eugene, Tom, and Bernard go camping during the flood season resulting in dramatic and life-threatening results. In “Pipe Dreams”, the heavy rain causes Odyssey’s water treatment facility to back-up, nearly unleashing gallons of untreated water into the town. In “Leap of Faith”, the Mulligans try to protect their home from an oncoming flood. And, in “Called on In Class”, we discover that Trent DeWhite’s great, great grandfather, Abel McAlister, tried to warn the whole town about an oncoming flood.
“Swept Away” takes the rainfall problem to greater heights, featuring a significantly bigger threat: the town’s dam is about to break, threatening to sweep away the whole town of Odyssey. The whole episode is a great idea. Much like “The Fifth House on the Left”, it has elements of a Roland Emmerich film (2012, the Day After Tomorrow), where we are given an assortment of unrelated scenes with various characters trying to deal with the natural disaster.
From a technical standpoint, it’s a remarkable episode. First, there’s the dramatic moment where Connie and Penny drive through the front door of Connie’s garage (although, did anyone else momentarily think that Whit and Wooton got run over)? Secondly, there’s the realistic-sounding scuba-diving scene, a wonderful mix of underwater sound effects and John Campbell’s self-proclaimed “ethereal” music. And how about that scene when the floods wipes away Odenton? More than once, the sound, score and performances came together to create some wonderfully palpable scenes.
The scenes between Spencer Hicks and Eugene, reminiscent of their interactions in “The Mystery of the Clock Tower”, were my favorite, as they created the greatest sense of urgency. Eugene sounds like he ought to, intelligent and in-control. It begs one question: with the amount that he’s contributed the town – designing the town’s computerized valves, for instance – why was he still struggling to become full-time faculty at Campbell County Community College in the episode “Old Tricks”?
Unfortunately, as exciting as the episode got, many of the terrific scenes in “Swept Away” begin and end, but build to very little. Connie and Penny’s dramatic ride through the garage door turns out to be pointless – the power comes back on seconds later. The dramatic scuba diving amounts to nothing as well; Wooton and Eugene discover that the car needs to be removed from the valve – a new obstacle! – but, moments later, the flood diverts to somewhere else.
The episode shows so much promise during the first half, building towards an epic conclusion, but any tension fizzles away during the second episode. As the waters divert onto Odenton, our characters suddenly become passive bystanders rather than active participants. I expected a bigger, more emotional ending – something edge-of-your-seat climactic like Eugene saving Tom from being swept away in “Flash Flood”, or Mike Mulligan saving Jessica in “Leap of Faith”.
To be fair, it seems like a less dramatic ending was done on purpose. The writer of the episode, Nathan Hoobler, explains some of the takeaways of this episode in a recent Official Adventures in Odyssey podcast:
“…when you have a big natural disaster like this, that’s when people want to help out […] but people need help in the small moments, too, when they’re dealing with something happening with their kids […] their car, their dog. […] Look for those moments when somebody, you know, is having a tough day – and that you could go on with a normal day, or you could do something little to help that out, even just a word of encouragement or a “how’re you doing?”
And I think that message comes across specifically in Eugene’s journey. After the flood hits Odenton, Eugene is momentarily depressed. He feels useless because he didn’t save the day. But when he encounters his wife’s friends, he finds an opportunity to help them out in a smaller, more personal level, asking to pray for them. This is something practical that listeners can easily do for others. So, in some ways, the hero of this episode, Eugene Meltsner, needed to fail to convey this message.
But because this moment isn’t nearly fleshed out enough, and because no floods ultimately strike Odyssey, and no real danger or harm occurs to characters we know or their property (like in “Tornado!”), “Swept Away” doesn’t quite end up resonating emotionally as much as it ought to. That said, there is certainly enough technically-impressive ear-candy, interesting new Odyssey trivia, and a perilous scene or two to keep listeners involved, if not entertained.
"Eugene fears that the Trickle Lake dam is about collapse and flood Odyssey...including Whit's End." - AIOC
Episode Review:
In “Swept Away”, Eugene Meltsner reminds us that Odyssey was first settled upon “land that stinks like a swamp” and, until now, I hadn’t fully realized the effort the series has made to create episodes based on this simple historical fact.
Odyssey does have a rain problem, after all. Connie notices the abnormal amount of rain in “Stormy Weather” – “another day of rain,” she whines as she stares out the front window of Whit’s End. In “Flash Flood”, Whit, Eugene, Tom, and Bernard go camping during the flood season resulting in dramatic and life-threatening results. In “Pipe Dreams”, the heavy rain causes Odyssey’s water treatment facility to back-up, nearly unleashing gallons of untreated water into the town. In “Leap of Faith”, the Mulligans try to protect their home from an oncoming flood. And, in “Called on In Class”, we discover that Trent DeWhite’s great, great grandfather, Abel McAlister, tried to warn the whole town about an oncoming flood.
“Swept Away” takes the rainfall problem to greater heights, featuring a significantly bigger threat: the town’s dam is about to break, threatening to sweep away the whole town of Odyssey. The whole episode is a great idea. Much like “The Fifth House on the Left”, it has elements of a Roland Emmerich film (2012, the Day After Tomorrow), where we are given an assortment of unrelated scenes with various characters trying to deal with the natural disaster.
From a technical standpoint, it’s a remarkable episode. First, there’s the dramatic moment where Connie and Penny drive through the front door of Connie’s garage (although, did anyone else momentarily think that Whit and Wooton got run over)? Secondly, there’s the realistic-sounding scuba-diving scene, a wonderful mix of underwater sound effects and John Campbell’s self-proclaimed “ethereal” music. And how about that scene when the floods wipes away Odenton? More than once, the sound, score and performances came together to create some wonderfully palpable scenes.
The scenes between Spencer Hicks and Eugene, reminiscent of their interactions in “The Mystery of the Clock Tower”, were my favorite, as they created the greatest sense of urgency. Eugene sounds like he ought to, intelligent and in-control. It begs one question: with the amount that he’s contributed the town – designing the town’s computerized valves, for instance – why was he still struggling to become full-time faculty at Campbell County Community College in the episode “Old Tricks”?
Unfortunately, as exciting as the episode got, many of the terrific scenes in “Swept Away” begin and end, but build to very little. Connie and Penny’s dramatic ride through the garage door turns out to be pointless – the power comes back on seconds later. The dramatic scuba diving amounts to nothing as well; Wooton and Eugene discover that the car needs to be removed from the valve – a new obstacle! – but, moments later, the flood diverts to somewhere else.
The episode shows so much promise during the first half, building towards an epic conclusion, but any tension fizzles away during the second episode. As the waters divert onto Odenton, our characters suddenly become passive bystanders rather than active participants. I expected a bigger, more emotional ending – something edge-of-your-seat climactic like Eugene saving Tom from being swept away in “Flash Flood”, or Mike Mulligan saving Jessica in “Leap of Faith”.
To be fair, it seems like a less dramatic ending was done on purpose. The writer of the episode, Nathan Hoobler, explains some of the takeaways of this episode in a recent Official Adventures in Odyssey podcast:
“…when you have a big natural disaster like this, that’s when people want to help out […] but people need help in the small moments, too, when they’re dealing with something happening with their kids […] their car, their dog. […] Look for those moments when somebody, you know, is having a tough day – and that you could go on with a normal day, or you could do something little to help that out, even just a word of encouragement or a “how’re you doing?”
And I think that message comes across specifically in Eugene’s journey. After the flood hits Odenton, Eugene is momentarily depressed. He feels useless because he didn’t save the day. But when he encounters his wife’s friends, he finds an opportunity to help them out in a smaller, more personal level, asking to pray for them. This is something practical that listeners can easily do for others. So, in some ways, the hero of this episode, Eugene Meltsner, needed to fail to convey this message.
But because this moment isn’t nearly fleshed out enough, and because no floods ultimately strike Odyssey, and no real danger or harm occurs to characters we know or their property (like in “Tornado!”), “Swept Away” doesn’t quite end up resonating emotionally as much as it ought to. That said, there is certainly enough technically-impressive ear-candy, interesting new Odyssey trivia, and a perilous scene or two to keep listeners involved, if not entertained.
Writer: Nathan Hoobler
Director: Nathan Hoobler
Sound Design: Jonathan Crowe
Music: John Campbell
Scripture: Philippians 2:3
Episode Air-Date: 06/01/17-07/01/17