Reviews
for
"How to Sink a Sub"
[#700]
*All
ratings are based on a 5 star scale unless otherwise noted.
Review by
doglover
Rating:
 
I really liked this episode!! One of
the things I liked was Katrina. Most of the time you have to
guess where she is. Eugene kinda hides her almost. I think
the AIO team did an awesome job bringing her back. Love
Olivia also! Her new voice is great. They did a good job
replacing her voice.
Review by
TigerintheShadows (Town of Odyssey)
I think this was more of a
"don't jump to conclusions" ep than a "love" ep, but I
suppose it does work.
I loved Olivia in this episode. She really did learn quite a
bit. I think she's shaping up to be a lot like new! Liz--a
good speaker and leader, and a well-developed character at
that. Jay was hilarious, and Valerie was...well, Valerie.
She and Olivia do sound a bit too similar, though, even
though I love Olivia's new voice--less nasally.
Eugene's pet names win forever.
Review by Jesus'
Princess (Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
The relaunch's new cast of characters shines
brighter and brighter with each new episode released.
I'm not going to say that Album 54 is perfect -- some
episodes have a somewhat iffy connection to the moral
provided at the end of the story. However, considering that
I don't listen to what Chris has to say most of the time
anyway, I don't think this should drag any of the episodes'
ratings down too much.
The fact is that with the last few episodes, this one
included, the Odyssey team has gotten plenty of bang for
their buck. Reusing the same characters in most episodes is
paying off for them in spades, with increased character
development and interactions, and I think their writing has
improved since the low hit in #50. Sure, there were a few
rough patches in the relaunch, but I've found that I've
warmed up to some of those episodes (like "A Thankstaking
Story"), and I'm overall satisfied with the course they're
on right now. Sure, it could be better, but I think they're
more or less going in the right direction, and besides: it
could be much, much worse.
There was a "sneak peek" recently released on the Odyssey
Scoop about album 55, and I think it should please just
about everyone, maybe even some of the relaunch detractors.
I don't think my family's bought an Odyssey album since
"Signed, Sealed, and Committed", but I'm putting a little
bit of thought into putting money where my mouth is and
maybe buying some of the relaunch episodes this Christmas.
I'm not going to comment too much on the story, but instead
on the characters in the story, as I've become accustomed to
doing. Jay, as usual, was very well-written in this episode;
while I was afraid the writers would make him an outright
villain in this episode, he has a more balanced role and
still comes out very likable by the end of it. Olivia has a
nice bit of character conflict and Valerie gets to do what
she does best, stir up trouble. I also think Principal
Vogler is a pretty good new character.
The one writing decision that's kind of interesting is how
the scenes with Eugene and Katrina are placed between each
of the classroom scenes. This has the effect of humanizing
her character: if we just had the classroom scenes alone, up
until the end, I think the audience might think Katrina was
being a little bit cold at times, but because we get to see
the full picture, I think people are inclined to give her a
more positive evaluation.
That greatly contrasts with how they handled Dr. Hawthorne
(who was probably the most fleshed-out teacher character in
the series, besides, of course, Mrs. Hodges). We never saw
him in any context except for school, where he appeared to
be a harsh, astringent man. He probably is not much like
that in "real life", but the listeners never get to see that
side of him, because he's always dealing with problems in
the episodes he's in. I think it's interesting how seeing
the teacher's perspective changes the episode and the
listener's feelings about their character.
The whole thing does play into a theme, although, like Tiger
mentioned, I think that theme is more like "don't jump to
conclusions about people" than necessarily love.
Review by Sapphire
(Town of Odyssey)
Rating:
It wasn't the greatest
episode, but it was still a good one. It was wonderful to
have Katrina back. It was also kind of cute how Eugene was
trying to be romantic with the pet names.
Review by Catspaw
(Town of Odyssey)
I've thought about this
episode quite a bit since I've listened to it, but I haven't
posted yet. I got a little mentally bogged down by wondering
if American schools really fill maternity leave positions
when the baby is born, as opposed to a month or so ahead of
time, and how the contract situation would have worked with
Katrina quitting so soon when (at least in the situations
that I am familiar with) she would have a signed contract
stating the amount of time she is obligated to work at the
school. I know several good principals, and I was trying to
decide whether I think any of them would ask a student about
a teacher the way that Olivia gets asked. I liked what he
had to say at the end of the class, but I'm not sure that
asking a student would necessarily be appropriate, at least
not in a direct way where she could tell he was trying to
find out if there were serious issues. That could be an
opinion thing. I know I need to let all that stuff go
because the story works better with things the way they are,
but it took away from feeling like this could really happen,
in my opinion. Having said that, I don't know what the
education system is like in whatever state Odyssey's schools
are in, so maybe this is normal for them.
I did really enjoy the episode overall. I liked Eugene and
Katrina's interactions, as others have mentioned. I will
save myself time by saying that I liked Bob's review, and
leaving it at that.
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