The Town of Odyssey

I guess since there isn't a topic about this episode yet, I'd create one.
At least just to share this meme I've made: Anyone who's seen Frosty the Snowman and heard that line from Your Honest Opinion, Please should know what I mean. If you don't... Your thoughts on this meme... or more importantly, the episode?
_________________
Who got time for 'dat?

I find a little odd that the theme of the episode is so similar to the B-plot in "You're Two Kind", which also featured the core cast and wasn't that long ago. It's inevitable after 25 years or so that some of your episodes are going to have the same message, but the other episode is recent history -- Eugene, Connie, Katrina and even Ryan and Valerie are all still current characters, and of course Wooton and Penny were both active in album 54 as well. Shuffling the same cast around to 'remake' an episode that was written in the past five or six years is unusual and makes me wonder (without looking it up) if the writer is new and not aware of what's previously been done.

That being the case, it's very much written in the style of a Wooton/Penny episode. Whether that's good or bad depends on your taste, I guess, but it has the same kind of energy and atmosphere that I've come to expect from that genre (ironically, best exemplified in the Wooton/Penny episodes that were in the same album as "You're Two Kind").

Two pretty significant unanswered questions I perceive in the episode -- first, why couldn't Penny put her paintings in Mr. Henri's gallery? Given that she works there and he is apparently both a huge fan of creepy clown paintings and invested in her work and professional success, it seems a natural fit. Second, even if that's not possible for some reason, Whit set up an exact duplicate of Wooton's old office in Whit's End at some point. It seems like he could hide away there to do his work, if he really couldn't keep his focus with the paintings in his home office (although knowing Wooton, I wouldn't be surprised to hear him say something like that he's still distracted because he remembers the clown paintings in his identical office at home and expects to see one there).

The Connie B-plot is okay. It fills up time and reinforces the main message. I don't have much to say about it, except that it's understandable Connie might be intimidated by someone with such a distinguished record, enough not to mention her true feelings earlier. The ending was a pleasant surprise (although the 'post-ending' was a little silly).

Can someone explain how in the world this episode fits in with "Like Father, Like Wooton"? Wooton /LOVES/ clowns. He had a Aunt who was a clown. Probably was the wife to his uncle that scarred him for life.

Well, there is an (admittedly slight) difference between a clown and a terrifying clown.

The story is coherent and interesting. The moral is good. There are zero kids, but kids can afford to hear a story about adults every once in a while. I guess I hadn't realized Connie was getting into art. She "shares a studio" with some artsy-fartsy tryptych. I wonder what rent for a studio is like.
Poor Wooton with the scary clowns. "Melty faces"?! That does sound scary.
3/5