Why does Whit own the land around Whit's End in "Recollections," but only owns the building in later episodes? -Submitted by Grace, Goggles, Jonathan

Let's clear up this madness once and for all. It seems like there's a big continuity issue surrounding Whit's End and the property around it. Years ago, Focus on the Family published the first Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey. Pages 189-190 give a brief account of a few of the bloopers on Adventures in Odyssey. Among them is the inconsistency surrounding Whit's End. Let's take a look at the words of the original Complete Guide, for those of you who never got to experience the excitement of that release!

"...In "Recollections," Tom tells Connie how Whit burst into a city council meeting and saved the building that eventually became Whit's End by buying it -- "and its adjoining land" -- for 3.5 million dollars. But in "Moving Targets," Phillip Glossman tells Connie and Jason that "the land Whit's End sits on is owned by the city. The building belongs to you, that's all.

"Of course, it could be argued that Glossman was lying, and that in the eight years between the two incidents, Connie and Tom just forgot. But the truth is... we goofed."

Oops! is right. But is it really an Oops! moment now? The AIO team decided to make their wrong right with the release of The Forgotten Deed. In this episode, Whit and the gang are worried that Whit's End will never be able to open again based on Christian principles. Here we find that Mr. Whittaker purchased Whit's End and thought he was obtaining the land as well. Unfortunately, he wasn't and believed he owned it for years. Our first clue that Whit knows about the city's ownership of the land is stated in Hold-Up! Fortunately, the property around Whit's End is discovered to be on a conditional loan to the city of Odyssey. In other words, the city owned the land just as long as it met one big requirement: to glorify God. If the city went back on the terms of the loan, then the property would revert back to the ownership of the McAllister family. Whit's End glorified God all those years by providence. Now that it faced a crisis in The Forgotten Deed, Whit had to locate the original deed to the land and make sure the city knew what it said. Ultimately, Whit is given the opportunity to officially purchase the land from the McAllister family once and for all. Whit's End and McAllister Park are no longer an issue.

Now if that's not enough to confuse you about real estate, I don't know what is! Let's just be glad that Whit finally owns Whit's End and the adjoining land.

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