OAC Episode Discussion

[Shadow]

So thoughts on Always Do Your Best-ish? I thought it was a pretty good episode.

[Bob]

It was certainly interesting.

It seems that the Imagination Station has changed again. In "The American Revelation" and some time after, Whit talked about the IS' new 'scanning' technology. I wonder if it turned out to have some problems in the long run, though, as in this episode (along with some other recent ones) they're back to programming them by hand.

[PennyBassett]

Yeah, I was thinking about that myself. I don't mind it though, considering we haven't heard anything about it since Whit's last redo of the Imagination Station. I liked the Renee and Whit side of things but hated the Olivia and Zoe thing. I can't tell their VA's apart and it got confusing. Also, Olivia should be much older than Zoe, and it seems like she should be more mature than Zoe. It would have made more sense for Olivia to direct and Zoe to write since she is a writer. This would also open up a window for better development for Zoe. I haven't given up hope for her!

[Shadow]

Renee was programming the people, the scanner just scans in the info you see the book so the programming wouldn't include the minor details which was what Renee was programming!!!

[Kungfunaomi]

I listened to this episode today... I basically forgot everything but three things:
Renee
The sound design
Valerie.

The sound design was amazing people. Amazing. But I feel like it was kind of forgettable, I don't even remember how it ends. I am very tired, though, that's a contributing factor.

[Scientific Guy]

I listened to this episode today... I basically forgot everything but three things:
Renee
The sound design
Valerie.

The sound design was amazing people. Amazing. But I feel like it was kind of forgettable, I don't even remember how it ends. I am very tired, though, that's a contributing factor.

I feel bad for you, multitasker. Sam's dual storyline writing has been very good in "Always Do Your Best-ish" and "Your Honest Opinion, Please" and the scene with Whit at the end was very good.

[Shadow]

So Walk Worthy dropped today. I actually thought it was good due to them limiting Buddy's imaginings and keeping them restricted to one theme. Also Buddy and Jay are an amazing character combination. So 4 out of 5 for Walk Worthy.

[PennyBassett]

Yeah, I agree! It was definitely Buddy's best episode so far! Also, Eugene is such a dad in this episode and it's amazing. He became outdoorsie really fast. I mean, in album 63, Katrina literally said, "Eugene's not much of an outdoorsman," and now he's a scout leader!

[MonkeyDude]

Why have they been pushing so much Olivia on us recently? I'm having an Olivia overload.

[Scientific Guy]

Why have they been pushing so much Olivia on us recently? I'm having an Olivia overload.

It's just you.

[Bob]

I looked at the frequency of her appearances and it doesn't seem to be any different now than the trend it's been on historically; a loop of spurts where she's available for several episodes in a row, then periods where she only is in every third episode or so, and actually we're in a 'every third' period now.

If anything, I thought she hadn't showed up as often as she might have; I thought it was a little odd hearing Zoe without Olivia in "Not What I Expected" since they're usually together (off the top of my head, I actually couldn't remember a time that Zoe was in an episode that Olivia wasn't, although AIOWiki claims it did happen before in "Have a Heart").

[PennyBassett]

I'm honestly just tired of Olivia. It seems like she was growing up at one point, and she's become less mature as time's gone on. It's a little strange. She feels forced because she's a filler character with little development.

[Scientific Guy]

I'm honestly just tired of Olivia. It seems like she was growing up at one point, and she's become less mature as time's gone on. It's a little strange. She feels forced because she's a filler character with little development.

Funny you should mention that. I heard the latest episode, "The Last Straw," and there was something different about it. I couldn't put my finger on it until I realized that Camilla already went through this in "Forgiving More...or Less." I personally love the Parker family, but not when their episodes are released without context from previous episodes. That's why I like "The Sandwich Initiative," but not the Parker storyline of "The Last Straw."
Now, with the Connie storyline... GUFFAW GUFFAWWW !!! I'M GONNA GO GARGLE WITH SOME CHLORISON!!

[MonkeyDude]

Now, with the Connie storyline... GUFFAW GUFFAWWW !!! I'M GONNA GO GARGLE WITH SOME CHLORISON!!

This. ^

[Tarol]

Hi. I've decided to come back to have a rant. Or two. Not sure why, but why not? If I listen to AIO still almost every day, I might as well see if I'm the only one who has these opinions. ANYHOW. I have a bone to pick about two AIOC episodes, and want to know what you think.

First off, Season Five episode October: Beyond Repair. This is an old episode by now (lol), but it still rubs the wrong way. Part of it is just that we've done this plot a bunch of times before, with Connie, with Call Me If You Care, it just feels old. But it's also Wilson's calculator lesson. It makes no sense. This woman is confessing deep troubles and problems to him, and he goes "but the math doesn't work out wah wah." Maybe it's clever from a writing standpoint, but from a pastoral and human perspective, it's obnoxious and unhelpful. To be honest, I'm still not that impressed with Wilson, but maybe its because he represents a type of Protestant pastor and I am by now far more used to a Priest. Maybe that's why this scene bugs me, a lot. But the episode also ends with us judging the lady because she wouldn't forgive her father. Yes, I love that it shows that forgiveness is difficult, but did they have to add in the "her dad has cancer, so she better forgive him soon or she'll regret it all her life" part? Yes, this is also clearly human and representative of real life as well, but I feel like it's overly judgmental and breaks down it's notion that forgiveness is difficult. I don't know, for some reason this still bugs me, and I just wanted to complain about it.

Secondly, WHAT THE HEY HAPPENED IN YOUNG WHIT AND THE REVOLUTIONARY SECRET?? I am beyond words when I think about this episode and how confused and angry (?) it makes me. This is Season 7, episode April. (Also, why has no one talked about this episode yet??) OK, SO. SO. Ugh, I can't even get started. They title the episode after a "revolutionary secret" that slowly becomes revealed about 20 mins into the episode. The secret is that history was sexist and erased a female heroine. Idk, this seems very timely and interesting and I would love to see what AIO has to say about this. SO, this secret comes out and the town again tries to male-wash history, and Whit becomes the bad guy because he tells the truth and promotes the respect of women who deserve recognition? Ok, but that's fine, I'm waiting to see what tales and morals of sexism we get. Instead, we have Whit's freaking baptism? AND THE REVOLUTIONARY SECRET IS COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN? I just don't even know about this episode. I have only listened to it a few times, and maybe that is why I am so confused. But what just happened here? Why in the world did the writers decided to put these two lessons together in the same episode? Either have a Baptism episode, or have a sexism episode. Don't combine both and leave so many loose ends hanging.

What do you all think of these two episodes? I especially would love some insight into the Revolutionary Secret if anyone can explain it to me.

[Monica Stone]

I need to relisten to "Beyond Repair" because I wasn't blown away and never felt the need to hear it twice. I'll relisten to it then get back to you.

What do you all think of these two episodes? I especially would love some insight into the Revolutionary Secret if anyone can explain it to me.

I think the reason no one has really talked about this episode is because it's just extremely unmemorable. The story is nothing special, the characters generic, nothing truly interesting. The presentation of the morals was weird and self-contradictory. The theme of this episode is "speak the truth in love." I thought the episode aimed to show that Whit's actions, although good & honest, had bad intentions. At first, the theme seemed to be that Whit told the truth (which was good), but not in love, instead using the truth as a tool for revenge (which was bad). But then, Whit issues an apology to the whole town for revealing the truth he learned and upsetting so many. In doing that, the episode maybe unintentionally seems to say that not only were his intentions bad, but also his actions?? It's convoluted. PICK A SIDE.

I think adding the misogyny element only makes the episode messier. The mayor wants Whit to hide the truth and celebrate a lie so others will have a fun time. Obviously, the mayor was wrong, but the episode raises the question only to never answer it. Instead of dealing with this, the episode shifts its focus and becomes about Whit using the truth as a tool for revenge.

THEN, Emmy gets angry at Whit because her merchant father lost business due to the celebration being canceled. This anger is misplaced and the episode portrays Emmy as justified?? Whenever truth is revealed about a historical event or otherwise, there will be a ripple effect. Unfortunately, Emmy's dad losing a bit of business was one of the ripples. It's not even Whit's fault the celebration was canceled; it was canceled because I guess the town can't stomach celebrating a female heroine?

I haven't even mentioned the Baptismal element. It was so out-of-place and insanely useless narratively. I think having an episode about Baptism would be awesome; Baptism is important and many (not all!) Protestants seem to forget the importance of it and instead find the spoken "sinner's prayer" to be the principal part of salvation. I'd totally be down for a well-executed episode about Baptism, but this episode pulled that element out of thin air, thus making it feel forced.

[Peachey Keen]

I think having an episode about Baptism would be awesome;

Actually, AIO has done this before. Drake the Cosmic Copper, despite its sci-fi nature, gives a good look at baptism and what it's symbolizing.

Also, Hidden Gems has a good portion of the first story about baptism and the act of it.

[djchatswithu]

I know this is a little off topic, but since we sometimes get confused about which episodes will be OAC episodes and which will be mainstream, I was wondering, which non OAC episodes do you guys think would work as OAC episodes.

[Polehaus53]

I did not give Young Whit and the Revolutionary Secret a very high rating. One of those reasons being that because so many things in the episode reference and tie in to the Young Whit book series, it confuses the chronology of how this episode would fit into the series. I didn’t have many problems with Beyond Repair.

I think having an episode about Baptism would be awesome;

I highly doubt that there will ever be an episode about baptism. As Peachy Keen mentioned, there are a few episodes that slightly touch on the topic, but I don’t think they will do a whole episode about it. Considering all the different interpretations about baptism, AIO has seemed to avoid the subject. This question was actually asked in 2013 on Official Podcast 164 (https://www.adventuresinodyssey.com/pod ... episode-1/). Paul McCusker's response was that they intentionally don’t show the characters taking this step in their faith because they don’t want to upset anyone about how it should be done, due to the contentiousness surrounding the topic around different church denominations.

which non OAC episodes do you guys think would work as OAC episodes.

In my opinion, album episodes that would work as Club episodes would have to be episodes that don’t continue a storyline. For example, “The Rydell Revelations” or “A Very Bassett Wedding” would definitely not work as Club exclusive episodes because they continue very significant storylines. The problem with Club episodes, as I’ve seen other fans mention, is that nothing significant can happen in them because it would take away from the people who are not subscribed to the Club. Episodes in the Club that do have big character developments, like “Take Every Thought Captive”, don’t seem to even have noticeable impacts on the characters.
Therefore, the only album episodes that I think would work as Club episodes would be the ones without any big storyline or major event, such as Kids’ Radio or B-TV episodes.