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So, the future episode, "No Friend Like an Old Friend" looks like an episode where Connie goes to visit an "old friend." There's also a picture of the script and on it it says that Connie is in a Chicago bus station. I've been thinking about this for awhile and thought maybe Trent and Mandy or Liz or something. But one person that I couldn't get my mind off was Richard. I knew it was possible before but now I'm sure of it. Richard Maxwell is coming back in Album 62. How do I know for sure? (Ok so I'm not really super sure but I'm pretty sure.) They recently had Nathan Carlson on the official podcast. But they had him there. Live. It wasn't over the phone. Now why would they have him there live when they could just interview him via phone? Unless he was already there. Isn't it possible if not likely that they interviewed him at an album 62 recording session? But idk, I'm just sharing info and I'm totally open to other theories about this episode. So what do y'all think?

I was wondering that myself. See, the fact that Marvin appears with Ryan in the OAC episode "Unfair Game" indicates to me that they're pretty close in age, maybe within a year or two of each other, so Marvin's probably still in high school, so that puts people in his age bracket out—why would Connie be meeting someone who goes to Odyssey High School at a Chicago bus station?

I think it's going to be Richard Maxwell largely because of how ridiculously popular he is. He never really got a proper send-off after DBD (last we hear from him officially, he's recovering in a hospital bed), and they wanted to bring him back for Novacom but couldn't because Nathan Carlson was unavailable. I don't know what the big impetus would be for him to return if it is him, but fans have been clamoring to know what happened to him for years, and the staff knows how crazy most people are about him. Your point about that interview sort of seals it as my personal theory.

If Richard comes back then him and Connie will probably get married or something. I know it. I just know it. Ameraka and I and everyone else who ships Connie/Jason will have to sit there listening to them fall in love and get married and have adorable kids and we'll have no power over it. No. no. no. Please. It'll kill us.

I'll erect a Connie/Jason monument above your graves since I'm awesome like that.

But, why would Richard and Connie automatically be a thing?

If Richard is coming back, I'd really appreciate it if he wasn't a Christian yet. Jeff's sudden revelation of a conversion makes sense, considering how minor of a character he is and the fact that his entire role in his establishing episode was "guy who Connie can't date because he isn't a Christian"—in other words, his not being a Christian was the main thrust of his role on the show and in Connie's life. But Richard was a major protagonist and major character, and his redemption story never really "ended"—whether or not he ever comes to Jesus, the way Whit suggests he should, is never addressed, and it's only part of the larger story about him. So if he's to become a Christian, that should be a story that is to be told as it happens, not a second-hand retelling. The audience is too heavily invested in the character for that.

I have a question. Why couldn't Richard appear in Novacom? Because he appeared in I Slap Floor, which was right before Novacom. P.S. Did you know that Richard wasn't even the original character planned for I Slap Floor. The original character planned was Tasha Forbes.

Richard couldn't appear because Nathan Carlson wasn't available for recording at the time (I'm not sure if we were ever told why; we weren't ever told why Will Ryan left, either). Remember, Nathan also played Mandy's father Stephen in "Tornado!" (and in all the episodes surrounding the Straussberg parents' separation), and yet he was replaced by Randy Newman in "Slumber Party", which came out at the same time that the Novacom saga began. Since Nathan couldn't record the voice, Robert Mitchell was created instead.

I never knew that about "I Slap Floor"; where'd you hear that?

Ya that is an interestingly creepy fact. Considering that would mean Doctor Regis Blagaard kissed Jason. And Eugene. What the heck?!

Wait a minute, what?

yeah, huh?

What is she talking about?

PennyBassett wrote:Ya that is an interestingly creepy fact. Considering that would mean Doctor Regis Blagaard kissed Jason. And Eugene. What the heck?!

Spoilers...

In the episode, Richard Maxwell turns out to be a mask that Dr. Blagaard is wearing. If it were Tasha instead of Richard, that would have meant that Tasha were just a mask that Blagaard had been wearing, and thus kissed Jason and Eugene? in..

O_o

Okay, you're right, Penny; that would be yikes-worthy.

literally screaming oh myg osh

Which part? Richard possibly coming back, or the Tasha thing?

Tasha thing

PennyBassett wrote: Richard Maxwell is coming back in Album 62. How do I know for sure? (Ok so I'm not really super sure but I'm pretty sure.) They recently had Nathan Carlson on the official podcast. But they had him there. Live. It wasn't over the phone. Now why would they have him there live when they could just interview him via phone? Unless he was already there. Isn't it possible if not likely that they interviewed him at an album 62 recording session?

I'm almost 100% certain that they did not record Nathan Carlson's interview during the #62 recording session. The AIO Twitter page posted that they were going to interview him soon and asked for fan questions. This was sometime after #62's recording. The interview was released a week or two after that. When I interviewed Nathan a little before the Official Podcast interview, his audio from his part of the conversation was really clear. Most of the time the Official Podcast record the interviews over the phone, but if the person interviewed has their own recording equipment, they use that. You can hear this in the appearances Phil Lollar has made on the OAIOP. It sounds like they're there with Bob & Jesse.

I, too, thought that Richard Maxwell might be the old friend in Chicago. I hope it's true. Of all the episodes in Album 62, that recording has been the most secretive. It is possible that Nathan recorded lines for Richard separate from the main recording dates. Who knows? We'll have to wait to find out!

Hmm, good point. I hadn't thought about that. I do still think it's possible and even highly likely that he's coming back in 62 still. Cause doesn't he live in Chicago! I really don't remember...

He does live in Chicago.

Ok that's what I thought. I'm really excited for this album!