580: "Tales of a Small Town Thug"

**SPOILERS**

Archived reviews of Adventures in Odyssey episodes!

How many Stars?

*5 Stars*
5
19%
*4 Stars*
14
52%
*3 Stars*
6
22%
*2 Stars*
1
4%
*1 Star*
1
4%
 
Total votes: 27

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Mr.Whit
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Post by Mr.Whit »

it was an interesting episode i realy liked how whit chnaged his pants episode was great 4/5
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J-man
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Post by J-man »

Did anyone notice the reference to Ernie Myers? When Whit was talking about the janitor position, it shoulded like he was talking about Him.
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Kanimoto
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Post by Kanimoto »

4 stars. I loved the storyline with Liz...it reminds me of a group I'm in. Eugene as a janitor cracked me up. Still, I was disappointed with Connie at the end, and I wish Rusty Gordon had actually SHOWED UP.

Other than that... :D
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Mandy Straussberg
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Post by Mandy Straussberg »

I really enjoyed this episode. Probably not a favorite, but definitely one of the best of the season.

And, after reading Nathan's post (How old was Eugene... etc.), I like the episode more (knowing that we will find out what has Mandy acting strange).

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Broadcast
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Post by Broadcast »

Greetings,

I've been checking in so often to see if their was going to be some sort of explanation to Mandy's apparent new storyline, which, in my opinion, is a stroke of genious from the Odyssey Team. Along with Connie's new book, that now, I'm having a better feeling about. I assume she'll be a narrator, of sorts, a little how Whit was in many previous episodes. As long as she isn't going around in an annoying manner, asking questions to people about their lifestyle, or spying, then I think it looks like a great move.

I enjoy how these two seasons seem to be going hand in hand. The amount of constant interest in the show, is enough to keep one's attention for a very long time. It seems like these Slice of Life shows have much more of a purpose--almost like a real TV show, where the storyline drifts into the next episode, and so on, and so forth.

It also means that the character of Mandy is presumed to be staying on the show for at least one or two seasons longer. Unless, however, the reason why she is moody is because she is leaving Odyssey. But even then, it wouldn't make much sense, since she and Trent remain together. It doesn't look like she's going anywhere, soon, however.

For those who don't want to search for Nathan's quote, and have it ready for your own purpose when writing future reviews in this topic, here it is;
Nathan Hoobler wrote:
Eugene Blackgaard wrote:The Odyssey blog dosen't seem very well put together, probably done by FOTF interns, so I wouldn't sweat it. Obviously a mistake.
Yeah...former FOTF interns. I wrote the blog and it was my mistake. I should have known better. I actually meant to say that Eugene STARTED high school at age nine. It made sense in my mind, but not on the page. I also referred to "Tales of a Small-Town Thug" as a book instead of a story in a collection of articles. This is because it originally was a book in the earlier drafts of the script. But we figured Rusty just wouldn't have the patience to write a whole book.

Oh, also, just FYI. Next season, we WILL find out why Mandy was acting so odd in this show. And count on a number of shows about Connie secretly working on her book...

Nathan
It WOULD explain why some in the episode were reffering to it as a book, while at other times it reffered to the section of a book. It does, however, make us wonder why Connie isn't deciding to simply write a small amount of text like Rusty did and simply submit that to a simmilar book of short stories. A book seems quite the upgrade...

However, I am pleased at this news....

I'll see you all next Saturday.
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Post by Catspaw »

I just listened yesterday (and no, I didn't read any reviews first!) and found it rather interesting. Eugene's attempt to keep a potential ego problem in check was nice to see! I never even thought of an issue between Trent and Mandy being the cause of her problem, which is odd, since I love listening to "The Present Long Ago."

I had read the quote by Nathan Hoobler that Broadcast posted before I listened to the ep, so I did have minor spoilers happening for me, and I was trying to guess what Mandy's problem will be. I won't even mention all the terrible suggestions my evil roommate came up with! :noway: I look forward to seeing future episodes that tie into this one, both with Connie and her book (hey, maybe it will help her in her endless search for a career! ;)) and Mandy and whatever is making her different, distant, tired, behave selfishly, and sound different, yet is passed off with an "I'm fine" and a claim to busy-ness. (Yes, I did write stuff down from Mandy and Liz's conversation in an attempt to figure her ailment out). ;)
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Post by Kris Doyle »

Pretty good episode, overall. I'd give it a 3 or 3 1/2 out of 5.
I'm surprised the janitor Eugene was replacing wasn't Bernard (as far as we know). That would have made an interesting twist in the plot. Maybe Rusty could have written something negative about Bernard (maybe accusing him of not being able to do anything except clean windows, run a local TV show for kids, and argue with his cousin). When that's already eating at Mr. Walton, he hears the kids talking about how great Eugene is, and maybe he is ready to 'let Eugene have it'--but the part about him arguing makes him decide to be more agreeable.
I'm glad to read that we'll be hearing what's bothering Mandy. This was a very rare occasion when I didn't like her character at all. She's almost always been nice, other than when she and Liz fought over Seth. I think their fight helped us relate to Mandy as being imperfect and sometimes needing to apologize (kind of like Lucy in the "Daring Deeds, Sinister Schemes" album), but I was concerned that this time the writers were making Mandy be a bad person without even giving her a reason (not that a reason would make it all right to be bad, but if we had a reason, then there would be better hope for it to be resolved than if she suddenly became like this without an explanation).
One other thing I didn't like was Eugene's lie about the janitor who saved the school kids and faculty by discovering the gas leak. He didn't have to say he knew the janitor, and the man was a great guy, etc. He did know the guy (since it was him), but he implied that the guy's name was really what the paper said it was, and thus that it was a different person from him. It would be one thing if he just said, "I've made his acquaintance before," and just left it at that.
But with all that said, I still liked the way Eugene kept trying not to hog the spotlight and was constantly thrust back into it. Pretty funny! :lol:
Also, I like the fact that Odyssey decided to make Rusty grow up, because age progression makes for a sense of believability.
I think it's cool that the characters were able to take Rusty's criticism, evaluate it, and learn a lesson if there was some truth in what he said, yet in the end they also learned when not to listen to him (like Whit deciding to keep wearing the type of pants he liked, etc.).
Liz was pretty funny, btw, in the scene where she tells Mandy to get on the job. I'm glad Liz isn't rude and mean like she used to be, but her ability to be agressive when the situation requires it helps us remember that she's still the same character and just uses her sometimes tough personality for good nowadays! :D
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Post by Catspaw »

Those looking for the discussion occurring here about the changes in Mandy's behaviour will find them here in its own thread. \:D/
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