Episode
Reviewed:
Finish What You...
(663)
Writers: Tim Hodge, Paul McCusker
Director: Bob Hoose
Sound Designer:
Christopher Diehl
Music:
John Campbell
Theme: Responsibility
Original
Airdate: 5/01/10
Rating (out of 5):
Episode
Summary
Doors are
opening up for Olivia Parker—too many doors, actually! After
signing up for guitar lessons with Eugene, she also agrees to
star in Connie's play. How can she possibly juggle her
schedule...and play a special birthday song for her grandma?
The Review
I'm still trying to
figure out how a 39 year-old actress got stuck inside an 11 year-old's body.
Or am I the only who wonders this? A voice should match a character as a
hand fits inside a glove, but Hope Levy lacks the voice needed to fill
Olivia Parker's shoes. And knowing that Hope is 39 doesn't help things
either. Come on now, people. Let's face it. An 11 year-old sounds like an 11
year-old. A 39 year-old sounds like a 39 year-old (in most cases, with the
exception of Katie Leigh, voice of Connie Kendall). And when you mix a 39
year-old actress who doesn't quite fit the part into the context of an
episode like
Finish What You...,
you set yourself up for a frustrating episode. It's the Cinderella slippers
concept. Cinderella's stepsisters had really big feet. You can't fit size 13 feet
into a size 6 glass slipper. And casting clearly an adult actress into
Olivia's role doesn't make a perfect fit.
With all
due respect to actress Hope Levy, she doesn't quite pull off a convincing 11
year-old. I can see her as a successful teenager role without the annoying
"whiny kid" fluctuating pitch. In fact, her voice sounds much like what you
would hear if you turned on the Saturday morning cartoons. Most
companies try to cast adult voiceovers into the cartoon roles to avoid the
inevitable voice shift over the years. I get the feeling that by casting Hope
Levy as Olivia, AIO hopes (no pun intended) to keep a consistent character voice
as long as they can. But we're missing something very valuable here. When a real
11 year-old kid is cast into an 11 year-old role, you get to hear the
progression and maturation of the actor's voice. This shapes the character and
gives it a unique realistic-ness… something we're going to miss completely with
Levy.
That
being said, it hurts me to say that Olivia comes across as very whiny in
Finish What You...
Not only that, due to my said reasons above, I hear an adult trying to change
her voice to sound like a kid. Because of that, we have an unbelievable little
twerp who feels like a failure because she can't multi-task. And all along I
keep picturing an adult crying her heart out to an open-eared Mr.
Whittaker. The episode seems to go downhill the most after Olivia finds out that
Connie removes her from the cast in her play. The incessant fake whiny kid sound
plays on the nerves.
At one
point, Olivia says "Thanks, Dad" to her, well, dad. And strangely enough, the
way it was said reminded me of the voice of Junior Asparagus on the hit
children's series VeggieTales. And oddly enough, this episode was
co-written by Tim Hodge, who was involved with VeggieTales for years. I
think a little bit of the VeggieTales age level is evident in
Finish What You...
with the scenes of Olivia feeling sorry for herself when she can't quite balance her
time. And then we're expected to feel sorry for her when she storms off crying.
Well, at least Whit felt sorry for her and ran after her to make her day better.
All of
this isn't to say the episode was a total flop. We have some positive elements
in the episode, with the revealing of Eugene's knowledge of guitars. And who's
to say it's wrong to reveal a fact like this after over 20 years of his playing
the ukulele? A lot of people play more than one stringed instrument. It's also
good to see that Connie and Eugene aren't just basking in their Whit's End
careers. New aspects to their lives were introduced in this show, with Connie's
play directing and Eugene's teaching children to play stringed instruments. And
his naming his guitar Henrietta is exactly something Eugene would do, especially
since the name is in honor of one of his favorite mathematicians… or something.
Yes, the
plot was a little weak, mainly since it is somewhat reminiscent of the episode
The 'No' Factor.
I think the two shows are written in such a way that each has its own unique
spin. For instance, Connie learns how to say "no" to projects when she has too
many on her plate already. And in
Finish What You...,
it is more of a learning experience for Olivia to balance her time on the
projects she has taken on. Connie took on a lot of projects, which is
understandable at her age. And Olivia needed to learn to handle two projects at
her tender age of 11. It's all about how you approach the two episodes. No, my
friends, I don't think that
Finish What You...
is a direct copycat of anything.
Of
course, the music and sound design factors rarely disappoint me. With a track
record as the Adventures in Odyssey's sound designers and composers have,
we can only expect good things from them.
Can I
park on one more thing? I've noticed an attempt to let host Chris Anthony
express her personality in many of the recent shows. These have been a highlight
of my experience with Odyssey because they are great tips-of-the-hat to the
show's earliest episodes. Chris often interacted with Odyssian characters and
even the production team. It is refreshing to hear her interact with producer
Dave Arnold. I have fun memories of her interaction with Dave in
Promises, Promises.
Rating
Finish What You...
is a less-than-satisfactory experience and appears to be geared
for younger listeners. Old-timers like me won't appreciate the show as much
as the target age group will, but I guess that's what we all get for growing
up. I give
Finish What You...
2 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.
More Information
Back to Reviews
