Reviews
for
"Anger Mismanagement"
[#694]
*All
ratings are based on a 5 star scale unless otherwise noted.
Review by LizzieG (Town of
Odyssey)
A couple observations:
When I first heard the promo and realized
that this was (in part) a Parker family episode, I was
really excited for it. Parker family episodes are great,
particularly those with a David/Eva/Lucia dynamic. Episodes
with that dynamic are a real delight to listen to. I
particularly liked the hair-salon-in-the-living-room scene
and the Taco Barn bit. While I liked that storyline more
than Olivia's, hers was pretty good too, and avoided being
cheesy or over-the-top (particularly in the scenes with
Wooton, where "over-the-top" often lives). I liked Whit's
over-the-counter-adviser role too.
I'm so glad they replaced the actress who played Valerie in
"Kidsboro"; now, the character sounds much more like a real
person that age (and kind of like Courtney Vincent, but
snottier and a drama queen). I'm also glad that Amber (from
"Opposite Day") was mentioned, and that Olivia's still her
friend -- good character continuity.
I've really enjoyed the character of Lucia, and I'm glad
that she's moving to Odyssey and that the writers are giving
her more to do with this hair salon business (a door-to-door
hair salon business really is a clever idea).
On another note, I'm glad that the next episode features
Camilla. Especially considering that we've had two Parker
family episodes this season, it's been entirely too long
since we've heard from her.
Probably my favorite episode of the season so far, though
most of this season so far has been a pleasant surprise. I
think I've finally adjusted to the new Odyssey!
Review by
CreativeThinker101 (Town of Odyssey)
Odyssey has always done their
A-plots and B-plots well, with the exception of a few. This
episode is also done well, but not spectacular. Let's start
at the beginning. Valerie. Her voice is exasperating. Does
anyone else notice how annoying the new girl voices are?
Hope Levy's version of Olivia, Emily, even Amber, and now,
Valerie. Olivia's anger at Valerie is actually quite
well-acted. I think Kelly Stables does a much better job of
Olivia, even if she were 39 years old too. Ted Humpreys and
Amber the science geek are both mentioned in the first
scene, which excited me. I don't know why, I just like
hearing about current characters. I think Grandma Lucia is
and engaging character, clashing well with both David and
Eva, though not having chemistry with any of the Parker
children. Olivia is obsessed. It was okay at the beginning,
but later in the episode it becomes very annoying. I've
never really favored rants by kid characters. Heather did
them all the time (Poor Loser) and I disliked them. Olivia
does them a lot too. I find myself relating to the woman who
wanted to change from football to cooking. That's totally
me. Not that I would demand something of somebody else in a
public place, but I constantly ask my dad to change from
baseball to Food Network. Mrs. Creamer is kind of too much
like those cranky old ladies who befriend the characters.
Valerie sounds like a supermodel. These random transitions
are due to the fact that I am listening to the episode now,
and reviewing it as I go. Also, I think the moral is a
little misleading. 'Love is not easily angered' is not what
this episode is really all about. It's about controlling
your anger and using it. That's what it's supposed to be
about. Odyssey has done a good job since Album 51 of Whit or
Eugene displaying the moral, but unfortunately they haven't
done a good job of the new characters acting out the moral.
Review by Steve (Town of
Odyssey)
This episode was well...dumb.
The entire thing was annoying. The idea of a hair salon in a
living room was just...bad. The whole float thing barely
made sense. As you have figured out, I will not be listening
to this episode again for a long long long long long and
long time.
Review by Smaug the Dragon
(Town of Odyssey)
The best part of this episode:
David Parker. He is such an awesome character! I love the
chemistry between Eva, Lucia and David, and some of Mr.
Parker's one-liners had me laughing out loud.
Er... the rest of the episode... wasn't my cup of tea. I got
bored listening to Olivia's constant ranting. And no offence
intended to any Wooton lovers, but can we please have a
break from the zaniness?! I didn't mind Wooton initially,
once every few episodes is manageable, but he's been in
almost every episode recently and I really am getting sick
of him. Sorry, I'll stop now before I get really angry.
*shuffles off huffing and growling and muttering under
breath about how unfair it is that we listeners have to
listen to such silliness. "I'm so ANGRY! Hrrrghhh!" *
Review by
JesusFreak777 (Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
 
Actually, I thought Wooton was
VERY balanced in this episode. He offered good advice while
being a little silly AND getting into very real situations.
I enjoyed the episode overall, and really love the Parkers.
Valerie was annoying, but since I know people like her in
real life, she was written well.
Review by Christian
A. (Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
(out of 10)
This was a really great
episode. It truly felt slice-of-life, even though it had the
slightly extreme situation with the salon in the family
room. Probably the main reason it felt that way was because
it had a strong moral, and a very applicable moral at that.
I don't think I know anyone who doesn't struggle with anger
mismanagement. And I feel like I'm the "chief of sinners" in
that regard. I feel like I'm always working on it, but
always falling back into temptation and sinning. Thankfully,
I think this episode had a permeable enough message that it
will stick in my head and maybe help me in some situations.
I think the reason many of the episodes in this season so
far have such great morals and takeaway values is that,
because the writers decided to base the album on 1
Corinthians 13, they had to start with the moral and then
work out the episode--rather than working the other way
around, starting with an entertaining episode idea and then
fitting the moral into it. I believe that's also the reason
that I didn't like A Penny Saved as much. If I remember
correctly, it, along with A Penny Earned, was added into the
album at a later date than the rest of the episodes. So I
assume the writers had already come up with the storyline
and had to fit it into one of the "love is" or "love is/does
not" morals. That's probably why the aspect of love was
harder to catch in A Penny Saved. It was very obvious in
Wooton Knows Best, The Amazing Loser, and this episode,
Anger Mismanagement. With the way this season is going, I'm
starting to really look forward to the rest of this album
(except A Penny Earned, but maybe Mr. McCusker will surprise
me).
The first specific thing I wanted to mention about the
episode is that I actually really liked Wooton this time!
All of his humor felt like old times, and it was all
laugh-out-loud funny. Plus, I noticed that none of it
disrupted any serious moments. Sometimes, it even added to
the seriousness of the point he was trying to bring across
to Mrs. Kramer or Olivia. A couple of times during the
episode, I was reminded of Grady, because of the teaching
mode that Wooton was in with Olivia.
All three of the situations where the characters' patience
were tried were very true-to-life circumstances. With Mrs.
Kramer, it was an example of when someone gets angry at you
for something you didn't have anything to do with. With Mr.
Parker, he got angry because others kept him from doing what
he wanted to do. And with Olivia, she got angry because
someone else had stolen the spotlight for something they
didn't do. Each one of those is something that most people
have to deal with on a regular basis, so I thought it was
great that the writers made the episode so applicable to
everyday life.
Olivia's voice continues to really please me. Kelly Stables
gives her a voice that expresses her tendency to change
emotions and over-express herself. Although it does get
annoying and uncomfortable sometimes when she expresses
herself a bit too much, it still fits her character really
well. And this episode was the perfect way for her to show
those qualities, since she shifted up and down from angry to
happy to annoyed to patient.
I noticed that Valerie's voice was changed, and I'm glad.
Whenever I listened to the Kidsboro episodes I always got
her and Jill mixed up. There were literally times where my
whole understanding of the episode was messed up because I
thought Jill was Valerie. And since Olivia and Valerie had a
couple exchanges, it was good that the actress was switched
to avoid more confusion. In addition, I think the voice
change was good for Valerie; she now sounds more like the
popular "chick" girl that she is described as being. In my
opinion, she sounds more obnoxious and full of herself than
she did before.
I loved Mr. Parker's character in this episode. As usual,
the actor pulled off the perfect husband and father voice,
and as a result, I really felt for him the entire episode.
His reactions and emotions were so genuine, and I was
annoyed together with him when he missed "one of the best
games in professional football history." I thought he
handled his anger quite well, though--better than I would
have in his situation. And I liked how he still maintained
his role of leadership in the home by making all the
decisions.
I didn't know that running a salon would be particularly of
interest to a European grandmother, but go figure. It
certainly made for an entertaining side of the show. I
thought Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Ortega were really in character
throughout the whole thing. All of the actors and actresses
did amazing jobs.
So I really, really liked this episode, as you can see.
Unlike Wooton Knows Best, I didn't even have a single
complaint (unless you count Olivia's over-expressiveness). I
don't think this one had as strong of a moral as Wooton
Knows Best did, but it definitely surpassed it in
entertainment and cleverness value. I learned from the
episode, which is not a very common occurrence in Odyssey
episodes, so I don't think I can give the episode any lower
of a rating than I gave Wooton Knows Best. I really feel
like this episode deserves a 9.5/10 just like its
predecessor.
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