52. Cause & Effect Review!
52. Cause & Effect Review!
Last night I finished listening to "52. Cause & Effect" and can finally provide my thoughts. As some of you know from my 51. Take it From the Top! review, I thought that album was a little weak and I was expecting more of the same with this album, so I procrastinated listening to it. And perhaps, had I not made a pledge to get caught up on all the latest Adventures in Odyssey episodes, I never would have tuned in. But, when I finally did start the album, I listened to the first 7 episodes in one sitting. Unlike "Take it From the Top!" which felt rooted in retreads of old episodes, most of "Cause & Effect" seemed to be inventive, original, and entertaining. Since I was thinking "after 600 episodes, how many new storylines can the AIO team explore?", this new development was a pleasant surprise.
I don't know if I loved every episode, but aside from "A Thankstaking Story" and "An Agreeable Nanny", which I thought were the two weakest episodes, every episode kept me intrigued. I'm also beginning to understand why people are so divided on Emily Jones. Her character doesn't bother me and I think she provides a good foil for the other characters as she isn't perfect and is actually heavily flawed. However, as far as characters go, she's interesting and as a big fan of mysteries, her "mystery of the week" episodes I find quite fun. It's also funny that half of the episodes were mysteries in this album, even ones not involving Emily, which might be why I liked it as much as I did. Though between the last two albums ("Game for A Mystery", "For the Birds", "Stage Fright", "Fast As I Can", "The Owlnapping", and "The Malted Milkball Falcon"), I am getting a little tired of animal references. But then again, I'm not really an animal person.
My favorite slice of life episode might actually have been "Fast As I Can", mainly because I thought it dealt with the topic of social media and "friending" in a nice, modern way. I also enjoyed Eugene attempting to be more succinct and Matthew trying to avoid using his computer, which is something many of us can related to. "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" was appropriately absurd, and I love how silly it was. Taken out of context, that episode probably highlights all of my biggest issues with Adventures in Odyssey in the modern era, but, as a self-contained episode, it works perfectly. Which is the exact reason I disliked "A Thankstaking Story" so much. Unlike "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" which was appropriately zany for a radio show within a radio show, "A Thankstaking Story" made me uncomfortable thinking of these five individuals (two of whom they just met) sitting around speaking in bizarre voices and coming up with a story on the spot. Maybe I'm just not extroverted enough to get it, but I didn't buy the realism of it, which is something I used to appreciate about AIO. B-TV and KYDS radio, those are when I think the silliness is justified, but when it's "real people" being "characters", it does remind me that this show is really targeted for kids.
"Grandma's Christmas Visit" was a nice treat though, as it's been a long time since I've heard an original holiday-themed episode. It was odd listening to those episode in June, but I appreciated the unique tradition that I've never heard about before and I'm glad AIO is attempting to reach out to their very diverse audience. (But where's the Canadian love?!?) I also liked the Grandmother's comment to Whit at the end of the episode about needing the chaos before you can enjoy the peace. Similiarly, sometimes I feel you need the AIO episodes you don't like, to further appreciate the ones you do!
And, while this isn't exactly a gripe, I did find it interesting that two episodes featured adults being dishonest with the children. "An Agreeable Nanny" featured the Parker parents hire an actress to be their nanny to teach them a lesson, and Whit actually stole candy from the kids to teach them a lesson. I'm not sure I disagree with either tactic as I might do the same thing, but I did find it a shift in a philosophy on the program that used to teach the exact opposite. It gives me hope they might one day feature Santa Claus on the program!
Which leads me to my favorite overall episode of the album, which I'm assuming is most people's favorite as well, the two-part "Mystery of the Clock Tower." It reminded me a lot of "The Perfect Witness" in its execution and I realized that if AIO released more episodes with that kind of quality, I might become a regular listener again. No, the "mystery" aspect wasn't all that mysterious, but the setup was great and I loved hearing Whit/Connie and Eugene/Matthew both investigating from different angles, ultimately tying the pieces together at the same time. It makes me excited for the 12-part "Green Ring Conspiracy", which, I have heard before (the only album I did hear in the last 5 years), but since I heard it in the background and didn't know any of the characters, I virtually have no memory of it.
Lastly, since it bears mentioning again, I really love the new Whit.
I don't know if I loved every episode, but aside from "A Thankstaking Story" and "An Agreeable Nanny", which I thought were the two weakest episodes, every episode kept me intrigued. I'm also beginning to understand why people are so divided on Emily Jones. Her character doesn't bother me and I think she provides a good foil for the other characters as she isn't perfect and is actually heavily flawed. However, as far as characters go, she's interesting and as a big fan of mysteries, her "mystery of the week" episodes I find quite fun. It's also funny that half of the episodes were mysteries in this album, even ones not involving Emily, which might be why I liked it as much as I did. Though between the last two albums ("Game for A Mystery", "For the Birds", "Stage Fright", "Fast As I Can", "The Owlnapping", and "The Malted Milkball Falcon"), I am getting a little tired of animal references. But then again, I'm not really an animal person.
My favorite slice of life episode might actually have been "Fast As I Can", mainly because I thought it dealt with the topic of social media and "friending" in a nice, modern way. I also enjoyed Eugene attempting to be more succinct and Matthew trying to avoid using his computer, which is something many of us can related to. "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" was appropriately absurd, and I love how silly it was. Taken out of context, that episode probably highlights all of my biggest issues with Adventures in Odyssey in the modern era, but, as a self-contained episode, it works perfectly. Which is the exact reason I disliked "A Thankstaking Story" so much. Unlike "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" which was appropriately zany for a radio show within a radio show, "A Thankstaking Story" made me uncomfortable thinking of these five individuals (two of whom they just met) sitting around speaking in bizarre voices and coming up with a story on the spot. Maybe I'm just not extroverted enough to get it, but I didn't buy the realism of it, which is something I used to appreciate about AIO. B-TV and KYDS radio, those are when I think the silliness is justified, but when it's "real people" being "characters", it does remind me that this show is really targeted for kids.
"Grandma's Christmas Visit" was a nice treat though, as it's been a long time since I've heard an original holiday-themed episode. It was odd listening to those episode in June, but I appreciated the unique tradition that I've never heard about before and I'm glad AIO is attempting to reach out to their very diverse audience. (But where's the Canadian love?!?) I also liked the Grandmother's comment to Whit at the end of the episode about needing the chaos before you can enjoy the peace. Similiarly, sometimes I feel you need the AIO episodes you don't like, to further appreciate the ones you do!
And, while this isn't exactly a gripe, I did find it interesting that two episodes featured adults being dishonest with the children. "An Agreeable Nanny" featured the Parker parents hire an actress to be their nanny to teach them a lesson, and Whit actually stole candy from the kids to teach them a lesson. I'm not sure I disagree with either tactic as I might do the same thing, but I did find it a shift in a philosophy on the program that used to teach the exact opposite. It gives me hope they might one day feature Santa Claus on the program!
Which leads me to my favorite overall episode of the album, which I'm assuming is most people's favorite as well, the two-part "Mystery of the Clock Tower." It reminded me a lot of "The Perfect Witness" in its execution and I realized that if AIO released more episodes with that kind of quality, I might become a regular listener again. No, the "mystery" aspect wasn't all that mysterious, but the setup was great and I loved hearing Whit/Connie and Eugene/Matthew both investigating from different angles, ultimately tying the pieces together at the same time. It makes me excited for the 12-part "Green Ring Conspiracy", which, I have heard before (the only album I did hear in the last 5 years), but since I heard it in the background and didn't know any of the characters, I virtually have no memory of it.
Lastly, since it bears mentioning again, I really love the new Whit.
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It's worth mentioning that the topic of social media was from "Opposite Day", not "Fast As I Can".
And yes, we're still seriously lacking Canadian love. I can count the number of AIO references to Canada on both hands. (Oscar Peterson had relatives there in Our Best Vacation Ever, the Merriweathers went to Vancouver on vacation in The Black Veil, escaping to Canada both in The Underground Railroad and Memories of Jerry, etc.)
And yes, Mystery of the Clock Tower is much better than I think many give it credit for. I was surprised that we had mention of stalking in it, the stuff about the roses I found interesting, the character interactions were great, and the music was amazing. I do find it a little odd, however, that every robbery or attempted robbery of the Odyssey Bank seems to be masterminded by the manager...
Anyways, I'm glad that you can sense the definite uptick in the quality of this album over the last, and I personally believe that things continue to get higher and higher from here.
And yes, we're still seriously lacking Canadian love. I can count the number of AIO references to Canada on both hands. (Oscar Peterson had relatives there in Our Best Vacation Ever, the Merriweathers went to Vancouver on vacation in The Black Veil, escaping to Canada both in The Underground Railroad and Memories of Jerry, etc.)
And yes, Mystery of the Clock Tower is much better than I think many give it credit for. I was surprised that we had mention of stalking in it, the stuff about the roses I found interesting, the character interactions were great, and the music was amazing. I do find it a little odd, however, that every robbery or attempted robbery of the Odyssey Bank seems to be masterminded by the manager...
Anyways, I'm glad that you can sense the definite uptick in the quality of this album over the last, and I personally believe that things continue to get higher and higher from here.
Good catch! That's what happens when you marathon the episodes and they all start to run together!Leonard Meltsner wrote:It's worth mentioning that the topic of social media was from "Opposite Day", not "Fast As I Can".
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So glad you enjoyed this one, and by the way, thank you for being so understanding of my disagreements with you earlier.
It's good to com across a reviewer who liked Grandma's Christmas visit, that one got more rebuttal than it at all deserved.
I would like to call just one point you made, if I may: Whit didn't steal the candy. He did fool the kids, (without ever actually lying) but he can't steal the candy when it's his own candy! (Or were you using hyperbole?)
It's good to com across a reviewer who liked Grandma's Christmas visit, that one got more rebuttal than it at all deserved.
I would like to call just one point you made, if I may: Whit didn't steal the candy. He did fool the kids, (without ever actually lying) but he can't steal the candy when it's his own candy! (Or were you using hyperbole?)
Of course! We all got caught up when someone says something we don't like about something we love, so I totally understand where you were coming from.Pound Foolish wrote:So glad you enjoyed this one, and by the way, thank you for being so understanding of my disagreements with you earlier.
The way I interpreted is that Whit's Pastor donated the Piñata filled with candy, which Whit clearly tells the kids the Pastor gave to them. Then, when the kids are asleep, Whit takes the candy, because Whit assumed the children were going to lie about being asleep come the morning. Sure, he was correct, but he didn't give the kids the credit they deserved (and poor Nelson, who not only WAS awake, but went and bought more malt balls). So no, I don't think I was being hyperbolic... I do feel that Whit stole the candy that the Pastor had donated to them to teach them a lesson.Pound Foolish wrote:I would like to call just one point you made, if I may: Whit didn't steal the candy. He did fool the kids, (without ever actually lying) but he can't steal the candy when it's his own candy! (Or were you using hyperbole?)
I'm not saying what he did was wrong (I think it was a valuable lesson), but it is slightly out of character for Whit. I guess he did something similar in Broken Window, which this episode was quite similar to, but in that case he didn't break the window to teach anyone a lesson, he just let the lesson play out after the window had already been broken.
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He gave it to them.Mr. Whit's End wrote:Yeah, I can't see Whit doing something like that. What happened to the candy that Whit stole, anyway? It's been a while since I heard that episode.
Actually, that IS how the episode ends. Nelson says he can't wait to have the malt balls, and Whit says "you bought them, do you think everyone deserves them?" And Nelson says no, but he's willing to share anyway.Mr. Whit's End wrote:Ok. For some reason I thought that the original candy was gone for some reason and they ate Nelson's candy. I need to get my head checked...
So not only did Whit steal the malt balls the Pastor gave him to give to the kids, he keeps them, AND then lets everyone eat the replacements that Nelson bought!
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"NO, a thousand times, NO!"
Nelson boughtthose malt balls because he felt sorry for everyone. They weren't the malt balls from the falcon. Listen to the end episode again!
Nelson boughtthose malt balls because he felt sorry for everyone. They weren't the malt balls from the falcon. Listen to the end episode again!
That's the point we're trying to make. We still don't know what Whit did with original malt balls from the Falcon. He just let everyone eat the ones Nelson bought.
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Grrr, the malt balls were provided by the pastor to motivate them and be given to them on the condition (which the kids agreed to) they rocked the night through. When Whit came, they had already forfeited the malt balls by being asleep.
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I just re-listened to check, and you're right. They ate Nelson's malt balls, and Whit never says what he did with the originals. Maybe he returned them to the pastor.
Album 52 is my least-favorite album since the relaunch. It's mostly forgettable >.>
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Here's hoping Whit didn't relapse from his diet - with a pinãta full of malted milk balls.
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Wa haha. Yeah, Josh, it would go straight to his wrists.