583: "The Champ of the Camp"

[Taq]

I saw Eugene being Goggles as being a possibility early on, but I remained unsure. The thought firmed when the Eugene of the present entered.

[Chandler]

I never considered that Eugene was Goggles as Connie was telling her story because I've always imagined them with a larger age difference (actually, I hope to post more about that later). It just wasn't a possibility in my mind.

Then Eugene interrupted Connie. As soon as he did, I knew.

[Jonathan]

I saw Eugene being Goggles as being a possibility early on, but I remained unsure. The thought firmed when the Eugene of the present entered.

Even then I was fooled. Googles, when he was introduced, sounded very familiar to me, and I was spending a lot of time trying to figure out who he was (sounded like the actor for Trent at first); even when Eugene came in the room I still didn't have a clue.

[Aloha]

I liked that one,although I couldn't get to listen to the rest,cause I had to go to bed.I idn't wanna!!!lol!!

[Kenric]

I thought the same as Jimmy. I thought it might have been Eugene, but he would have been too old to be in camp (and his voice sounded as though it had recently changed) - a little too inconsistent.

As do I. I had a vague idea that it was him, but I didn't think so because it just didn't match him and, plus, he sounded older than Connie. However, all in all, it was a good episode and I gave it four stars.

[Argyle Ninja]

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I gave it 5 stars!

[One I Froggy]

This is one of the best new eps I've heard in a long time. I am usually kinda strict about giving full score...but I really feel that this time it deserves 5 stars. It felt like a classic ep and I really enjoyed the twist that Connie and Eugene knew eachother before without knowing it.

Awesome, wonderful, great, fantastic job AIO team!!

*****

[Jonathan]

As it's been an issue that's been brought up, I want to address the age issue.

Just because they were at the same camp doesn't necessarily mean they were the same age. The only inconsistency (if I remember correctly) was when Eugene talked of his parents. If this was true, he would've had to hvae been very young in this ep, and Connie even younger (and she didn't sound quite that young).

[Oba-rai]

Funtastic. 4/5, because of the Julie-sounding Connie, but absolutely AWESOME! I didn't even know that Goggles was Eugene, as he sounded more like Nicolas-sounding than a Eugene-sounding, but it was awesome!

[Bennett]

The only inconsistency (if I remember correctly) was when Eugene talked of his parents.

When did he mention his parents? His foster parents, right? And how is that an inconsistency?

BC

[Jonathan]

The only inconsistency (if I remember correctly) was when Eugene talked of his parents.

When did he mention his parents? His foster parents, right? And how is that an inconsistency?

BC

Ah, my mistake. I thought me mentioned his normal parents (which would've made him really young hence the inconsistency), but you're right; it was his foster.

Point is I was wrong; there is no age inconsistency.

[Evil Chick]

I loved that the young Connie said that "most girls probably tell him to get lost and throw mud on him."

[ajamj]

I really enjoyed this episode. It was great to see AIO touch on the topic of divorce. There are some of the less pleasant occurrences in life that members of the target age group do have to deal with and I don’t think these have been fully covered.

I’m asking because I never went to Camp but, how wide is the age range? Didn’t we just learn that Eugene’s parents had been missing 20+ years, disappearing when he was 7?
Well, it is fiction! I just suspended disbelief and enjoyed it.

[STRYPER]

This episode brings up a very interesting question about Connie and Eugene's ages.

I have always imagined both of them to be farely close in age but really we can't assume that. Eugene started college when he was 14 and Connie came to Odyssey when she was 15. Are we to believe that Eugene was about 15-16 when he came to work at Whit's end? I never believed that.

If I had to really stop and think about it, I would have said that Eugene is probably 4-5 years older than Connie. But at the same time, I sorta believed they were the same age. Confusing I know but does anyone else have similar thoughts?

[Catspaw]

I loved that the young Connie said that "most girls probably tell him to get lost and throw mud on him."

I loved that too! It's like the classic AIO response to boy/girl relationship issues!

I really enjoyed this episode! It was fun and interesting! Like Jonathan, The Parent Trap came to mind with the pranks!

Close to the end, I started thinking, "Hey, didn't Nathan Hoobler help write this episode? Goggles has to be somebody that we know!" My first thought was Larry Melwood, since we all know that he's a geek but then I starting wondering if it was Eugene, and then the second that he said something, I knew that it had to be him. I liked that connection. It seems almost too "easy" to put them both back at summer camp together, but it's far from impossible, and I liked the way that it was done. I think this ep will stand the test of time and be loved for many years to come! It's one of those eps that feels like it could be listened to over and over again and still be fun and enjoyable!

[STRYPER]

Actually Larry Melwood would have been REALLY cool

[Shadowpaw]

After doing the math, Connie is 25+ years old. There's just no other way of explaining it. We know that Eugene is at least 28 years old (remember, "Prisoners of Fear" reflected on the time Eugene/Katrina were on the run, so the age he gave of 27 would be outdated by now) and Connie would have to have been a minimum of 13 years old at camp. Why? She had been to at least one previous (she was older by 51 and a half weeks) and it was implied that she had been to several but this one was "different." It was also stated several times that it was cheerleading camp, and most schools don't have cheerleaders until middle school... maybe she wasn't in "most schools", but her voice certainly wouldn't let me believe she's 12 years old or younger.

So if we make the age gap any larger than 3 years, we put Eugene at the same age as a camp councellor. We know the "kid" they call goggles isn't a councellor, and the actor who plays him certainly sounds far too young to be 17 or 18, so using the fact Eugene is in his late twenties, Connie too must be in her mid to late twenties.

So I guess the episode could still work, but we have to adapt to a much older Connie than we've given her credit for. If she was 18 at the time of her graduation and has aged appropriately ever since that episode aired, she would be exactly 25... so yes, this strange encounter could be possible, but it's a stretch for us to think she's that old. This episode also begs the question... "What on earth was Eugene doing at cheerleading camp???"

Though, and this is just a general comment, it seems there have been several error-filled efforts in the past season to tie modern AIO into the past. A couple of examples would be Bill Jenkins, the one who sues Tom, is too old to be Ashley's father (in "Tom For Mayor", his announcement to the city was that he was stepping down to spend more time with his family, "particularly [his] grandchildren"). We also have that awful connection between Liz Horton and Rusty Gordon in "Tales of a Small-town Thug"... Rusty and Liz weren't even in the same era, Rusty would have been in prison and moved away long before Liz ever arrived on the scene, and even if Rusty had the same age problem as Rodney, Rusty was always too cool to mention a nobody such as Liz in a book. Lucy maybe, but not Liz. I definitely like the occasional nods to Odyssey's history, but we don't need to hear about it every other episode... especially when many of the connections in recent months are impossible to have happened or at the very least, a large stretch of the imagination.

[Me]

There is a possible explanation for the Eugene at cheerleading camp thing. While Connie was certainly at cheerleading camp, Eugene stated at the end of the ep, that he was at Nature camp. Is it possible that the girls were doing cheerleading stuff, and the boys nature stuff? Of course, this wouldn't explain why they were under the same directors, and then had a bonfire together on the last night.

[Shadowpaw]

While listening, I thought it might make sense if Eugene was in a completely different camp... the one on the opposite side of the lake, but since both of them refer to the camp by the same name, it had to be the same camp. Your explanation works if we assume the camp itself is divided into multiple different subsections (as opposed to just nature/cheerleading)... though the way the show was written, they made it sound like there were only a couple of cabins (I don't have reference to the episode right now, but I think they referred to the Novahoe cabin as "the guy's cabin" and not "one of the guy's cabins.")

I don't want to over analyze this episode and find things to not like about it (overall, it was pretty good), but it's always frustrating when there are inconsistancies within an episode itself that leave the audience guessing what the explanation for it is... I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but it's something that should be explained in the episode and not left to the audience to explain it for themselves.

[Flyah]

I definitely like the occasional nods to Odyssey's history, but we don't need to hear about it every other episode... especially when many of the connections in recent months are impossible to have happened or at the very least, a large stretch of the imagination.

Excellent quote SP and exactly what I was trying to say in an earlier post. It seems they're trying to ignite the fan base by returning to past stories too much. (Nathan Hoobler's influence??) It's fun once in a while as you mentioned, but this story was a stretch. Why not let Connie's nemesis just be Connie's nemesis. The 'moral' is lost as we giggle over goggles. (Boy, that was cutesy, wasn't it?)