Episode Reviewed:
Black
Clouds (527)
Writer: Bob
Hoose
Director: Bob
Hoose
Production
Engineer: Allen
Hurley
Music
Composer: John
Campbell
Original
Airdate: 10/04/03
Rating
(Out of 5 cones): 
|
Black
Clouds
[Episode
Info]
Episode
Summary:
As the road trip
continues, a raging storm forces Connie to stop at a roadside diner.
Things gets interesting when a young girl comes through the
door...just before lightning strikes!
Theme:
God's presence in tough
times (Romans 8:28)
|
“You
may have permanent fingernail marks in your dashboard, but I'm okay.”
[Connie
Kendall]
The
Review
Episode
2 of the Fall 2003 Season hits the airwaves and radio stations across the
country experience massive amounts of listeners, Eugene-lovers, and treasure
seekers. A flood of excitement strikes across the country as listeners turn
up their volumes. But when those twenty-five minutes of radio drama are
over, the audience slumps down in its chairs.
Why
do I get the overriding impression that we're all in a competitive battle to
see who can degrade a show the best when it comes out? Why does it seem as
if the only reason we've been tuning in recently is for the sole desire of
winning with the war of the words? I had the opportunity to glance through
the reviews for Black
Clouds the day it aired, and almost every single review took a negative
turn. It's as if we've all zoned out of our "Imagination Stations"
and turned on our buttons for criticism. Why? Why is it that we're so quick
to criticize a Christian radio program and call it "not good
enough?" If I was one of the producers for the episodes being
criticized by the majority of listeners, I'm not so sure I would be
interested in keeping my job any longer. I'm not so sure I would be
interested in standing in a spotlight that no one welcomes. Why are we doing
this?
"Usually the episodes everyone likes I
don't enjoy as much, and the episodes everyone hates... I like. Very
odd."
In
my opinion, this episode had a very good plot and was beneficial to the
series. It's a very odd occurrence. Usually the episodes everyone likes I
don't enjoy as much, and the episodes everyone hates... I like. Very odd.
True, this episode was one of the more slow-going episodes in recent days,
but isn't that kind of what everyone was wanting? After all, the town of
Odyssey is a quiet place, and an adventure out of town with two of
Odyssey's citizens is bound to be a quiet story. This episode pulled me back
to the earlier days of Odyssey in which Whit could get away with five minute
moral "lectures" and 30 second deals were unheard of. Only this
time it was Connie doing the dishing of morals. Shows like this help to show
how much the characters have grown, and Connie sure has grown. With the
introduction of a girl named Lindy, Connie has the opportunity to help
others through what she's learned.
When
I first heard Ethel's voice, I laughed. In my head at least. She has such a
diner-sounding voice, so it was no surprise to hear a diner-sounding voice.
Her repetitious references to former presidents added a witty comedy while
remaining serious to get the message across. I enjoyed Ethel's personality.
Anyone who listens can sense a definite cranky attitude in this woman, and
the location of a woman such as herself, in a diner, was perfect.
A
lot of people complained about the use of the story of Noah in the episode.
Unlike them, I found the approach Connie took to be very satisfactory. Even
though I've heard the story of Noah over and over, I don't have to get sick
of it because it never gets old. I was pleased with the "Imagination
Station" scenes in each of our characters' heads. That type of thing
has never been attempted before on AIO... with the Imagination Station at
least. The location available for the characters to experience the story of
Noah's Ark (not necessarily descriptively) reminded me of a place called
Whit's End back in Odyssey. Connie's references to where the shop is, what's
inside, and what makes it Whit's End brought back memories of previous
adventures there and previous lessons learned.
The
only thing that nags me in this episode is the acting right before the first
commercial break (Yes, I too have a complaint, though not as harsh as some
of the complaints I've seen). When Ethel goes back to check on her box full
of quarters to see if Lindy has a stealing streak in her, she shouts
"The girl is gone!" That entire scene was a bit predictable, not
to mention that the acting could have been better. The way by which Ethel
sang her notes out to the characters in the front of the diner gave me the
impression that the scene was dorky. I had no sense of "Oh no... what
is going to happen next?"
Overall,
the acting was very well done, especially on the part of Connie. The sound
effects done for the storm were wonderful and I got a surge of "Wow, a
storm episode!" in my head. We have only had a few shows with major
storm stories, so it's always interesting to see how AIO will go about
things when a storm arises.
So
let's stop storming our brains to strike the biggest lightning. Just let the
raindrops fall one at a time, otherwise we'll be in for a flood.
The
Rating
As
the first episode on Connie and Joanne's road trip, it made for an
interesting listen.
I
give Black
Clouds
4 out of 5 cones.
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