Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Head to Head 53 vs 25 : 2




Note: This comparison is from someone who has heard the entire album 53. I will do my best to only refer to info in this specific episode. But remember there is a lot of info packed into these episode and I may mention something you may or may not have caught before.



Overview:

Small Fires, Little Pools:
Episode starts with a report of vandalism at the odyssey
first church. I like Pastor Barclay's statement: It just doesn't make
sense. Why vandalize the church? Jack has weird dreams, that cause him
not to sleep, followed by a phone call telling him to go to Whits End.
Upon arrival, he sees that Whits End was vandalized, and it somehow
has to do with his dream. His dream was about little fires popping up
and pools of water appearing to douse them out. Sam and Lucy see Whits
End in disaster, on their way to go fishing at trickle lake. Connie
talks with Jack about the vandalism and mentions Sam's input about
'Super Sam'. Jack replies with "not a super hero, but little pools of
water." A reference to his dream. Tom then answers several questions
at a conference bout the vandalism. Sam and Lucy when done fishing,
went to get their bikes and they weren't there.
Sam and Lucy go back to Whits End where Sam gets a mysterious call
telling him to go to Wonder World. He then meets someone who will lead
him to their bikes. Upon getting to the bikes, Sam manages to get the
ski mask off the stranger and finds out that it's Butch. Butch leaves
and Sam is intercepted by Jack and someone else. The episode ends with
Jack saying we have lots to discuss.

The GRC, Part 2:
This part opens with two new characters, Mr. Skint and Buck talking. And by their conversation, we can tie Monty and Dirk to Skint. But what were they meeting about? Also we learn that the mysterious person that Dirk called in Part 1 was Skint. Are they somehow tied to the counterfeit money? Also, I meant to mention in part 1, the plane was leaving Odyssey when it crashed. So apparently they were in Odyssey to meet Skint. The next scene goes on Whit and Dr. Graham at the Hospital. Monty working for the secret service? This makes perfect sense. First Whit and Jason work for the NSA, then Monty for the secret service. Monty gets to carry on the family workstyle: adventure. Nelson returns as the same jumpy Nelson we saw in part one. And Matthew tries tinkering with the appleberry to try to find it's owner. Which we can assume that it's Dirk's phone. Skint calls the number of the phone that dirk had, of course Matthew has the phone now. Eugene discovers that the money in the back pack is counterfeit. Eugene's statement: A lie is supposed to look as much like the truth as possible, is a good thing to keep in mind. Detective Polehaus interviews Haggler as if he's the bad guy. That's unprofessional of him. He shouldn't base his opinion of Wally based on what he did in the past. Polehaus' statement "Stay close Haggler. We're not finished with this. Not by a long shot." is similar to line's that Both Blackgaard and Glossman have used. After Polehaus' conversation with Haggler, we find out that Buck had listened to the whole thing. Buck makes the comment that Polehaus thinks the entire Haggler family is up to no good. In reply Skint says well he's half right. Who could Polehaus be referring to?
Gasp, Skint would stoop to using Haggler to their advantage? Buck seems to know too much about Odyssey. But I spose he could be around longer than we've known. Episode ends with security saying that Monty has disappeared from the hospital.

Comments/Thoughts:

Small Fires, Little Pools:
This episode really builds the beginning of the album. It gets us asking all sorts of questions that will be answered later on. It grabs our attention by cutting into our hearts with the fact that the town that we hold so dear to our hearts is under vandalism attacks by some unknown group.

The GRC, Part 2:
This episode isn't as heavy as Small Fires, Little Pools. It answers a bunch of questions asked in the first part, such as who Dirk was talking to, and part of what Monty is doing in Odyssey. But a secret service agent? Great add-in. The remark from Eugene about how a lie is supposed to look as much like the truth as possible is a good one.

Winner:

Small Fires, Little Pools.

It was a close call, but somehow I like the approach to Small Fires, Little Pools over GRC, Part 2. Small Fires, Little Pools seems more serious. With it being pretty much the opener for the escapade, it definitely provides a good start. In GRC , Part 2 Buck is a good potential character and I'm looking forward to seeing if they bring him back in future albums.

Score


Album 25: 01
Album 53: 01


They have revealed the cover art for album 54. I sorta like it, but I'm not convinced that it's the final. Some spots on it appear more rough-draft like than final. Hmmm...it's been a long while since I've done an Odyssey connection... Perhaps I'll have one for next time.

Well that's all for now. This is Freddy Jay saying "Come back to see how this battle turns out."

2 comments:

  1. Interesting thoughts. I haven't heard Small Fires, Little Pools in quite a while, but from what you said it definitely seems like it would have been a hard choice.

    I personally think I'd have picked The GRC Part II, but that's probably because I've listened to it more recently, and I really liked it.

    I look forward to more of these reviews, and to your next "Odyssey Connection." Keep up the great work!

    P.S. I think that when Mr. Skint said that the detective was half right about the Haggler family, he was talking about Uncle Archie, now that we've found out that he's Wally's brother. Wally does seem like a changed man, so I can't see him being a bad guy. But I'm more and more beginning to think that Detective Polehaus is hiding something. "A lie is supposed to look as much like the truth as possible."

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  2. The one thing I can't stand about Polehaus is that he's so biased against Wally. It's within Polehaus' nature definitely, but I guess it's because I'm pretty much the opposite of Polehaus. I don't necessarily judge by what a person did in the past, because it's not my place to judge. If a person seems to have changed than it's not my place to say he hasn't. Polehaus himself is an interesting and well developed character.

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