Literally almost cried during this episode. I felt my eyes well up.
I'm not even going to give an out-of-ten rating; this episode gets a resounding Thumbs Up!!
Monty, please don't reply about how much you hated it! I don't think I could handle that.

This was one of those episodes that was really good, but the acting was quite at where it should have been. There were a couple lines here and there that I just wish would've been said differently. Overall it was amazing though.

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"Let me get this straight. I bet all those non-friends of yours try to embarrass you about your love for that stuff, right? So, you almost feel like you have to hide your treasures away and can only take them out in secret on rainy days when your mom goes to the store to get more liver and nobody is around to berate your sensitive spirit. Is that what you’re saying?" -Jay Smouse

How dare you.

Whoooooooooooo doggies! I'm crying! How dare you Odyssey! This episode was so freagin gooooooooood!

Renee was a little unconvincing at times. And the best scene was Whit and Jenny talking after Jerry has gone to sleep, although the entire episode was super rich.

I have to pirate this episode now lol it doesn't just belong in the AIOClub. Everyone should hear it.

How about 2 thumbs up? I like the development of Whit. Even at 100+ years old he still struggles with things. However, I'm saddened by what happened to Charlotte. Yet, I enjoyed a return for Jenny. A mix of good and bad. This episode reminded me of Clara. We even got mentoin of Laslow.

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Hey Bren!
All these Whit's History episodes make me want a "Whit's Past" 18-episode album or something. You listening, Focus??

They could develop so much more based on what we learned here. Whit and Wilson could go to North Carolina on a road trip.

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And find Ned Tatch!

This was so good. I loved it so much. It's the only show that's made me cry.

Its deployment to the AIOC is probably an unfortunate result of it being a Renee episode, given that she has been described by the writers as a AIOC-only character. I do hope that at some point in the future we'll see these episodes get released to the general public, especially in this case since you can fairly make the claim that she is not a central character in this story.

This is the natural "Clara" parallel in the Whit/Wilson relationship. The writers were likely mindful of the resemblance, given that the name of this new episode itself follows a similar pattern to the old one. It's interesting to see Whit actually get genuinely upset about something that a friend (not a kid character) did again. The last time I can remember present-day Whit having to apologize for something was also in Clara.

Youngish Whit can be fairly described as becoming furious in this episode, repeatedly, in what is something of new ground for him. It's a reminder that he wasn't always the wise grandfatherly figure that people have associated him with for the past 20+ years. We now know enough about his character from this episode and others to guess that Whit was known in the past for getting estranged and holding grudges. Jack's reluctance in the present-day in "Clara" is much easier to understand in light of this; he knew the Whit of old better than we did at that point. Besides the incidents with Charlotte and Wilson, we see that Whit and his father probably had a falling out. All this puts Whit's attempts to help Tom reconcile with P.D. Barnes and Richard Maxwell in a new light, when you consider that this is an area that we now know he struggled with in the past.

On a lighter note, Whit apparently prefers traditional English Chess notation, as opposed to the more modern algebraic, a quirk shared by Eugene. Considering that the only part of the game we hear is a bloodbath with a series of exchanges, it'd be interesting to see what the starting position of the board was at that point. I think it's fair to speculate that Whit plays an aggressive tactical style and isn't afraid to sacrifice material to achieve his objectives -- reflective of his and Jason's personality, and tying in with Wilson's characterization of Whit in this episode as particularly ambitious in his younger years.

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A classic never goes out of style.

I hated it. Just kidding, I loved this episode.

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I'm Monty Whittaker's greatest fan. member of the K.R.E

Triggered.

Wow, you all REALLY loved it I thought it was pretty good...guess I should listen to it again

I LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I ditto what everyone just said, except for the violinist... Both my mom and I were crying when we listened to it.

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Jo March
"There is no such thing as impossible. The word itself says I'm possible."-Audrey Hepburn
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” –C.S. Lewis
“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” P.T. Barnum

You realize the hating was a troll move to annoy you. I loved this episode. It was very sad and I think this should have been in 64 instead of (ugh) The Secret Of The Writer's Ruse.

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I'm Monty Whittaker's greatest fan. member of the K.R.E

Oh, sure; I'm kidding too. Perhaps Charlotte could have been swapped with "The Sandwich Initiative" or "The Toy."

The Sandwich Initiative. Ed Washington is in The Toy. (And I might cry when I hear his voice again.)

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"Let me get this straight. I bet all those non-friends of yours try to embarrass you about your love for that stuff, right? So, you almost feel like you have to hide your treasures away and can only take them out in secret on rainy days when your mom goes to the store to get more liver and nobody is around to berate your sensitive spirit. Is that what you’re saying?" -Jay Smouse

It was probably one of the best episodes ever! I really wish I could get these club episodes on a cd. Everyone else is really missing out if they're not in the Club. Oh and I'm now on here, Lee.

Hey there! I was disappointed to hear what Bob said about that in the last meeting, but I have an idea. Maybe a package could be created and each Club household is only allowed to purchase one copy, to make sure they have limited circulation.

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YOU LISTENING BOB???

This episode was . . . Good, I guess. I mean, it was a good episode and all. But it wasn't astounding. The episode where Connie's mom died was way more sad. I didn't cry. I don't know if I'm just an unemotional critic, but I wasn't astounded.

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“We all change. When you think about it, we’re all different people, all through our lives. And that’s okay, that’s good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.” - Matt Smith