Episode Description:
"After a long dry spell of cases, the Jones and Parker Detective Agency is back with what could be their biggest yet: an investigation into a manuscript that could be famous writer Mary Malloway’s long-lost final mystery." -AIO
Episode Review:
The majority “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse” follows a familiar trend seen in recent mystery episodes such as “Fathers and Sons”, “The Perfect Gift”, and “The Lost Riddle”. These mysteries usually begin with a character finding an object which hints of a mysterious character’s hidden and/or secret past, and they must decipher a trail of historical clues, leading them to a never-to-be-heard-from-again character that – usually – needs some sort of redemption for their past actions.
Following the path of “Buried Sin” or “The Painting” from a decade earlier (even, to a lesser extent, “Call me if you Care”), the bulk of these “historical mysteries” involve characters reading clues aloud from letters, newspaper clippings, and sometimes riddles, then deliberating on them. It’s a much easier way of crafting an audio mystery than, for instance, dramatizing a present-day mystery such as a murder or robbery, which depends too heavily on establishing people’s locations – a difficult task to do in an audio drama. These types of mysteries suit the audio drama medium more, though they aren’t necessarily easier to write.
As mentioned, “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse” initially feels familiar, but to judge it solely in contrast to those other episodes would be unfair. To its credit, the episode stands out on its own with its relatively intriguing premise: Emily Jones finds a book from her favorite author Mary Malloway, and she’s convinced that it’s a rare/lost copy. Why would this book exist? The duo follows a trail of clues, leading them to Mr. Whittaker, Eugene Meltsner, and, eventually, to a lady named Margaret – all the while learning about a suspicious story about a lost writer (echoing, perhaps, Agatha Christy’s 11-day disappearance in 1926), secret-identities and spies (echoing, perhaps, the Mrs. Emily Polifax series) along the way. It’s an unusually intricate and “wordy” episode for Odyssey, crucially reliant on the listener paying close attention to keep up with a plot. Admittedly, I lost track of some of the finer plot points.
Given the intricate story, I felt momentarily disappointed by the time the mystery was “solved”. I thought the episode was leading up to a real, emotionally-charged resolution (a la “Buried Sin”), but it pulled a “Train Ride” on us and had the whole thing turn out to be just a made-up mystery orchestrated by a team. Though it was nice for the show to distinguish itself from all the aforementioned mysteries it mirrors, it also felt like a cop-out because it showed that the preceding clues didn’t matter. But the episode distracted me from my disappointment when 1) I suddenly realized how cool it was for Mr. Whittaker to be up to his old tricks again, 2) find out Eugene was in on it and, then, 3) we discover that there’s something off about Morrie and, then, 4) we discover that Whit’s spidey-sense went off and he’s praying intensely, before the music crescendos dramatically to a close! Wow – so much happens in so little time!
Let’s discuss Morrie. A middle-school villain? It’s such a unique idea. He’s not a bully – he’s much more sinister and calculating than that. And, since his introduction in “Parker for President”, his presence has begged so many questions. Who is he? What does he want? What does his sister – introduced in “A Key Suspect” – have to do with anything? Will Morrie’s presence lead us to a larger saga, or will he remain their mini-Moriarty, continuously interfering or wreaking havoc on these bookended 25-minute Jones and Parker episodes?
I enjoyed “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse”, but it’s difficult to fully assess the quality of this episode without knowing what direction the show is going to go with these questions that have been raised. If future episodes don’t expand on this mystery well, then this episode will eventually be seen simply as an enjoyably intricate episode with a rather silly ending. But after “The Key Suspect”, and now with “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse”, they’ve been setting the ground (slowly) for a larger, more intriguing mystery. And the greater and more drawn-out the set-up, the greater the pay-off will need to be.
"After a long dry spell of cases, the Jones and Parker Detective Agency is back with what could be their biggest yet: an investigation into a manuscript that could be famous writer Mary Malloway’s long-lost final mystery." -AIO
Episode Review:
The majority “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse” follows a familiar trend seen in recent mystery episodes such as “Fathers and Sons”, “The Perfect Gift”, and “The Lost Riddle”. These mysteries usually begin with a character finding an object which hints of a mysterious character’s hidden and/or secret past, and they must decipher a trail of historical clues, leading them to a never-to-be-heard-from-again character that – usually – needs some sort of redemption for their past actions.
Following the path of “Buried Sin” or “The Painting” from a decade earlier (even, to a lesser extent, “Call me if you Care”), the bulk of these “historical mysteries” involve characters reading clues aloud from letters, newspaper clippings, and sometimes riddles, then deliberating on them. It’s a much easier way of crafting an audio mystery than, for instance, dramatizing a present-day mystery such as a murder or robbery, which depends too heavily on establishing people’s locations – a difficult task to do in an audio drama. These types of mysteries suit the audio drama medium more, though they aren’t necessarily easier to write.
As mentioned, “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse” initially feels familiar, but to judge it solely in contrast to those other episodes would be unfair. To its credit, the episode stands out on its own with its relatively intriguing premise: Emily Jones finds a book from her favorite author Mary Malloway, and she’s convinced that it’s a rare/lost copy. Why would this book exist? The duo follows a trail of clues, leading them to Mr. Whittaker, Eugene Meltsner, and, eventually, to a lady named Margaret – all the while learning about a suspicious story about a lost writer (echoing, perhaps, Agatha Christy’s 11-day disappearance in 1926), secret-identities and spies (echoing, perhaps, the Mrs. Emily Polifax series) along the way. It’s an unusually intricate and “wordy” episode for Odyssey, crucially reliant on the listener paying close attention to keep up with a plot. Admittedly, I lost track of some of the finer plot points.
Given the intricate story, I felt momentarily disappointed by the time the mystery was “solved”. I thought the episode was leading up to a real, emotionally-charged resolution (a la “Buried Sin”), but it pulled a “Train Ride” on us and had the whole thing turn out to be just a made-up mystery orchestrated by a team. Though it was nice for the show to distinguish itself from all the aforementioned mysteries it mirrors, it also felt like a cop-out because it showed that the preceding clues didn’t matter. But the episode distracted me from my disappointment when 1) I suddenly realized how cool it was for Mr. Whittaker to be up to his old tricks again, 2) find out Eugene was in on it and, then, 3) we discover that there’s something off about Morrie and, then, 4) we discover that Whit’s spidey-sense went off and he’s praying intensely, before the music crescendos dramatically to a close! Wow – so much happens in so little time!
Let’s discuss Morrie. A middle-school villain? It’s such a unique idea. He’s not a bully – he’s much more sinister and calculating than that. And, since his introduction in “Parker for President”, his presence has begged so many questions. Who is he? What does he want? What does his sister – introduced in “A Key Suspect” – have to do with anything? Will Morrie’s presence lead us to a larger saga, or will he remain their mini-Moriarty, continuously interfering or wreaking havoc on these bookended 25-minute Jones and Parker episodes?
I enjoyed “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse”, but it’s difficult to fully assess the quality of this episode without knowing what direction the show is going to go with these questions that have been raised. If future episodes don’t expand on this mystery well, then this episode will eventually be seen simply as an enjoyably intricate episode with a rather silly ending. But after “The Key Suspect”, and now with “The Secret of the Writer’s Ruse”, they’ve been setting the ground (slowly) for a larger, more intriguing mystery. And the greater and more drawn-out the set-up, the greater the pay-off will need to be.
Writers: Bob Hoose, Nathan Hoobler, Phil Lollar
Director: Nathan Hoobler
Executive Producer: Dave Arnold
Sound Design: Jonathan Crowe
Music: John Campbell
Theme: Secrets
Original Air-date: 01/14/18
Review Published: 1/13/18