595: "A Time for Action Part II"

Archived reviews of Adventures in Odyssey episodes!

How would you rate this show?

5 *****
20
53%
4 ****
16
42%
3 ***
1
3%
2 **
1
3%
1 *
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 38

Chandler

595: "A Time for Action Part II"

Post by Chandler »

Please lock until Saturday! :pray:
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Post by Arwen »

Wow. I'm really not sure. In some ways it was a bit too predictable, and it seemed to move too fast. And that part with "Joel" running away didn't seem to fit somehow. I did like the overall storyline, though, and especially the "Pete's Gas and Chow" scenes. Not sure what I'd rate this.
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Post by Frank »

What a wonderfully sweet ep! I loved all the Eugene and PJ (Was it PJ?) dialogues, and the ending was really good. I'd really really like to know why Leonard Meltsner has dreadlocks and is going by the pseudonym "Joel"... :-k And I think that all of these Grady episodes are leading to the finding of their dad (For a few minutes while listening to the show, I thought that "Joel" would turn out to be both Grady and Eugene's dad...long lost brothers!)...perhaps they'll find him and we'll discover Leonard's story next season. :D (more painfully sweet eps! :sniff:)

4.3 out of 5 stars for this one! \:D/
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Post by Oba-rai »

This was a very tense ep, even if it was corny after a while. I found myself hoping Leonard would show up, all the while knowing he would. ^_^;

Anyway, I gave it 4/5 for the reason the outcome seemed just a tad bit forced. The emotions were real - Eugene's panic/excitement/despair was genuine, but it was easy to know who that the homeless guy had something to do with Leonard Meltsner. :shrugs: Why else would they include him?

But it was a good episode, nonetheless. :yes:
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Post by Old Brad »

I gave it 5 stars. It's so nice thar Eugene found his father. I can't wait for fall.
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Post by lindawn »

It was a good story, although I thought the ending was rather abrupt.

The only reason that I could think of as to why Leonard was in dreadlocks, was because he had been in a foreign culture, and that was a way he could be like them. Just a guess.
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Post by NatetheGreat »

I, too, thought the "Joel Chase" was a bit misplaced, and the ending a tad abrupt. But other than that, it was a very nice ep! 4.5 stars! *goes to vote 5 since he can't vote what he wants to on this overly-biased poll* :noway:
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Post by Applesauce »

Yeah, this was incredibly predictable. The instant Grady mentioned the guy in the park in part one, I knew it was Leonard, and I was just waiting until they revealed that it was. So, I wished there had been a few more twists in the plot, and this had been a three-parter! :D I also predicted that Leonard thought Eugene was dead, but I loved how Eugene figured this out by seeing his name on a tombstone (very similar to Last in a Long Line, when Eugene first searched for his father).

One of my main concerns this entire series was how would they handle the scene where Eugene finally found his father. I knew that, if not handled perfectly, that scene could be incredibly cheesy or disappointing. I was worried that the entire story arc could be hinged on that single scene, and if it wasn't done right, it could ruin the whole arc for me. Well, the scene was predictable (and a little bit cheesy due to it's predictability factor), but I think it's perfect that Joel said "I'm your father," and the episode ended that way. It leaves a wonderful ending, yet doesn't try to finish the story, which will be great for leading into the Fall season. But I still have no idea how the spy agency fits into things...did anybody else catch it?

Anyway, my two main questions: why did "Joel" run away when Whit first mentioned Leonard Meltsner? And who is Everett Meltsner? Do you think Eugene could have had a brother? I'm guessing (and hoping) that those are some of the "questions" that Chris said would be answered next season.

Well, there was a time last week when I was thinking this two-parter might end up being one of my least favorite episodes, but...that's not the case. Five stars! And if I could change my vote for last weeks ep, I would! \:D/

Now, the only thing that's bothering me: will Leonard become a main character on the show? Or will he just show up on occasion...I can't quite see him as a "regular." And how will Eugene's life be different now? Maybe Eugene having his father back in his life will be a perfect set up for Eugene becoming a father himself! ;) Time will tell, I guess...
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Post by Jeremy »

Leonard obviously thinks he is in danger. He would not give much information about himself the first time we heard him.

I just realized who PJ is--the same PJ that worked for Jack. I thought he sounded familiar.

Great episode, even though I did think at times that Joel was Leonard.

5 stars.

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Post by Aelwyn »

I gave it five stars! I loved it! I'm so glad that Eugene found his father! It was so sad in the cemetary with all the graves and the one that was for Eugene.
I hope they make more with Eugene and his father! \:D/
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Post by Evil Chick »

I was a little disappointed with this episode. It was too predictable that the homeless guy mentioned in part one would end up being Eugene's dad. In fact, it was so predictable that I was almost positive that it wouldn't be the case! I was seriously hoping that Eugene wouldn't find his dad till next season.

I guess that my mind was just working overtime while I listened to this episode. While I heard part one, I thought that someone might have been trying to wipe out the Meltsners. That thought came when Eugene's foster mom told how his uncle had wanted to take him along to Africa. I even had a culprit, Leonard's archeoligist friends (although I don't know why they would do it...) When Eugene saw his grave in part two, I thought that the people who had tried to kill him probably thought that they had succeded. (I had forgotten about the fact that it was a fresh grave.) Joel was some guy who knew the murderers, and might have even been in on it. That's why he ran away at first.

So, yeah, that was the version of the story I came up with. Not too great, when I think about it now. I am still a little disappointed that Joel is really Leonard. And, my first thought when I heard Joel/Leonard's line of "I am your father" was that Eugene should scream "NOOOOO!" Yeah, that would have been pretty funny... Anway, I do see the potential for a lot of interesting shows with Eugene and his dad, as they get to know each other again. So, all in all, I gave this episode 4 stars.
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Post by Applesauce »

Yeah, I also would have liked it if Eugene didn't find his father until next season...

Heh... I just listened to the episode again, and there was a line after Whit and Eugene chased Joel that I missed the first time. Whit said "I need to get back on Connie's diet again," which has got to be a reference to "Do or Diet." I love that episode! :lol:
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Post by Elgian »

So... Eugene is the spitting image of his father. Eugene (according to the artists) has red hair. Red dreadlocks... ?

Anyway, I agree with most of what has been said so far about predictability and abruptness. Until Chris assured me that I was supposed to still have a hundred questions, I felt kind of let down. I guess I'll have to wait until next season, but this episode itself seemed like it had the potential to have a much larger scope, and to be more exciting. This whole arc has been about looking through filing cabinets. (Well, except for Africa, of course.)
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Post by Elrohir »

Elgian wrote:So... Eugene is the spitting image of his father. Eugene (according to the artists) has red hair. Red dreadlocks... ?
His father's hair is probably dyed black.
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Post by Catspaw »

I enjoyed this episode. That is in part because I called it that PJ was the Pete's Gas and Chow guy. \:D/ As soon as I heard his voice, I said to my brother, "It sounds just like the guy who worked for Jack!" I was very happy to be proven right. :yes:

I assumed that we would probably be left with a summer cliffhanger, but it was nice to get at least one piece of the puzzle in - the homeless guy was Eugene's father. I thought that he might not be only because it seemed too stereotypically obvious that it should be him. I liked the way that Grady was part of the storyline. There are obviously still a lot of unanswered questions, but I'm sure that those will be answered with time. Come on, would we really be happy if they told us everything all at once? ;)
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Post by STRYPER »

I agree with much of what Happysmiler said. I thought the episode felt a little corny and I really wish they had waited a little longer before we found out. Actually, was sort of hoping that Joel had some pretty bad news regarding Leonard and this ep would simply be one of many on the road to Eugene finding his father.

Oh well, now it's done and Eugene's father will probably move in with Eugene and Katrina (anybody else notice she hasn't been in an episode for a long time now), and Whit, of course, will offer him a job at Whit's End.

Unfortunately we have to wait until August :(
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Post by Dr. Watson »

It's Stryper! :shock:


I agree with most of the people here; the episode was a little too predictable. Still, it had an okay plot and I'm glad Eugene found his father.
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Post by Shadowpaw »

I just listened to parts one and two back to back (I learned my lesson after "No Way Out" and now listen to multiple part episodes in a row, since the shows are generally quite predictable). Though this episode was pretty predictable regardless of hearing it a week apart or not ;). I was really disappointed that Leonard was so found easy and figured they would drag this story out for a longer period of time (or at least do it in a more dramatic way where the character isn't simply introduced and then revealed to be Eugene's father).

And what's all the talk about a spy agency? The description mentions a spy agency but I don't think a spy agency was ever mentioned in any of the episodes and the only thing that was mentioned in Chicago was the Department of States Office. Unless the "you know what" that Diane (the Department of States employee) kept referring to Whit about is related to that and we will find out more when Whit is supposed to return to Chicago in June. It has to be important, otherwise it shouldn't have been mentioned so many times in the first part, so I guess we'll find out.

I also thought it was odd that the first part ended with Eugene saying "My father was nearby!" but the second part begins with Eugene saying "My father is nearby!" with Whit correcting him. I'm not really sure why it was necessary to use two different versions when it's pretty insignificant. :shrugs: I imagine the CD version will use the latter because there won't be a break in between shows.

I rated both shows 4, but was disappointed in a lot of it. As Elgian mentioned, a lot of this search from the beginning has been about reading through data and coming to conclusions. I suppose if Leonard is a homeless man, there wouldn't be too much information to be found otherwise, but having Leonard posing as a homeless man (or actually being a homeless man) isn't very exciting. When the story line was first suggested I imagined secretive meetings with informats, a big conspiracy, people trying to silence other people and a clever Leonard Meltsner coming up with ways to throw people off his tracks. Something along the lines of Leonard coming across an important artifact in his final days of captivity and needing to go "underground" to escape people who are a lot more powerful than him. With the preview mentiong a spy agency, I think I overhyped the storyline in my head and turned the search for Leonard into a far more epic tale than we ended up getting.

Of course come next season maybe we will be thrown for a loop and there's much, much more to this story than we are lead to believe. Maybe Leonard is trying to hide from something and will need to disappear again. I can see them going this route to get Leonard off the show because they're already not using Katrina to her full potential and having another new character makes things a little crowded. So I'm not going to jump to conclusions too quickly, but I do hope this is just one more step in a long spanning storyline rather than the climax.
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Post by Carrie Ingalls »

Everett Meltsner :inlove:

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Post by Jonathan »

I have the day off and came to the library to listen to both of these eps, and figured hey, as long as I'm here, I was going to look around. And as long as I was doing that I might as well write a review.

I'll agree with everyone who has said that some of it was predictable. It was painfully obvious that Leornard was the homeless guy. And I wish Leonard hadn't been found, so I'll echo Shadowpaw in saying that this had better be part of the arc and not the climax.

I did like the emotions and how the plot fit together. For example in the graveyard scene (which made my head hurt) we found out why Leornard said he had no kids. I also really liked Whit; he's been much better in recent days.

And Grady is, despite the bias I've had regarding him, growing on me. Speaking of Grady, it was also kind of nice that the two stories wound up being related (though what the resulting conclusion was going to be was also predictable) If they hadn't I would be writing about how I didn't like that this storyline was interrupted during this episode to follow Grady.

The final thing I want to talk about is Katrina. Where is she?!? Are they not using her much b/c of the new actress? That's the only thing I can possibly think of. And if that's the case, bring Pam back. They cannot tell us that the reason they didn't revert the role to Pam is b/c Audrey had already acted in the Eugene Returns eps. They bumped the original actor for the older Straussberg kid (who's name currently escapes me) after they promised him the role and recorded those eps, they can bring Pam back. But if they don't, please, for our sanity, have her show up as often as she should, regardless of whether it's Pam or Audrey playing her. I can't begin to fathom why she wasn't in this two-part episode. [/endrant]

But as that was the only thing I really didn't like, and couple that with the predictiality of this story, and I'll give it a four/out of five. I only hope that this is only a part of this storyline, and not the climax.
Last edited by Jonathan on Mon May 22, 2006 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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