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| 194: A License to Drive |
A License to drive has some very good lines between two
of my favorite characters: Connie and Eugene.
Though they don’t think they have anything in common with
each other, both Connie and Eugene get a real test in this ep as Connie attempts
to teach Eugene how to drive. The comedy goes on and on in this ep from the
time Whit tells Connie that she’s going to teach Eugene how to drive to Eugene
telling about his road test, to the scene where Connie and Eugene find a woman
about to give birth to her baby.
Filled with laughs this ep shows the very important lesson that anyone can learn from anyone else, despite intelligence, age, or what not.
Rating: 4 stars (out of five)
Connie teaching Eugene to drive.. this one had the potential to be very funny, but only reaches moderately funny. That said, it's a good episode. Can you imagine Eugene's, who is a "recognized genius", embarrassment? The part at the end where Eugene had to drive a pregnant woman to the hospital was a fairly good twist, but this episode could have been better.
Rating: 3 out of 5
| 198: Treasure Hunt |
SPOILER WARNING! While billed as a comedy episode, one scene will always stick in my mind about this episode—perhaps it’s really just an image I have in my mind. I see Isaac pointing a gun at Hank Murray and demanding the clue. Murray is pointing a gun back at Isaac. Isaac’s gun, of course, is simply a water pistol, but how is Murray to know that? Murray’s gun is real, but how is Isaac to know that? Murray says, "I’m not playing around." Isaac quickly replies, "Neither am I." Murray begins to count to three before he will shoot Isaac, but Isaac cuts him off and shoots him with ink, saying "I eliminated you." This ranks up there in the most powerful and disturbing scenes in AIO for me. While some may see it as a simple part of a fun episode, the implications are large. It is clear what holding that gun has done to both Murray and Isaac. It is also just a bit scary to have someone actually pointing a real gun at someone else. Is the scene really meant to affect me this much? AIO didn’t slap a parental warning on this one, so they must not have considered this scene too major. The episode is mainly about the dangers of "war games" and fake guns, although the theme of God’s protection also plays in it.
There are various scenes toward the beginning of the episode where Whit and Tom are together fixing Tom’s car. They hear that Hank Murray has escaped from prison. Will he return to Odyssey for revenge? Do birds fly? All the scenes between Tom and Whit simply play as "suspense" for the audience to wonder when Murray will strike. They go on too long and have too many silly lines like, "That coming back for revenge stuff only happens in the movies," when it’s obvious that Murray is coming back; the lines are just too ironic. When Hank Murray does strike it’s a bit of a letdown after all that build up.
The rest of the episode involves a treasure hunt which serves mainly to hang the plot around. There are some other excellent scenes, such as the one where Isaac and Eugene are "attacked" as they look for clues, the one where Eugene is intoxicated by the "power" of his newfound weapon, and the one where Eugene finally confronts the villain.
In the end, it’s still a powerful episode and it all goes back to that one disturbing scene between Isaac and Hank Murray.
Rating: 3 stars
| 209: Columbus: The Grand Voyage |
Columbus: The Grand Voyage is pretty good, except for a few flaws:
Other than that the episode is very good. Juan Rodrigo de la Vega, was really great.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5