Episode
Reviewed: Clutter (657)
Writers: Bob Hoose
Director: Dave Arnold
Sound Designer: Christopher Diehl
Music: John Campbell
Theme: Storing up treasures in heaven
Original
Airdate: 3/20/10
Rating (out of 5):
Episode
Summary
After nearly
being mauled by the junk in his own garage, David Parker declares that his
family is going to have a yard sale. Will the entire Parker family survive
parting with their treasures?
The Review
I consider myself to be a person who
likes to connect with radio drama. It makes a great stress relief, a sort of
escape from the problems of real life... and yet it connects with them at
the same time. The main aspect of a majority of
Adventures in Odyssey episodes that keep me going is the true-to-life
factor. There's always a believability factor that must be connected in my
mind in order for me to accept an episode. Growing up, I listened to the
show with a childlike, almost oblivious viewpoint to the quality of the
plot, acting, sound design, etc. And now, as an adult, it is more difficult
to listen to a show I grew up with and completely accept new shows. Many
would probably argue that AIO's "golden days" were somewhere between albums
10-30, while others would say that the more recent episodes are the highlight
of the series. Regardless, I think that AIO has a responsibility to maintain
a level of continuity and loyalty to meet the listener where he is.
As a whole,
Clutter is that
connection with every family's experience. I mean, who actually enjoys going
through rooms full of junk to sell in a yard sale? I will admit that the
actual yard sale is what ultimately makes the house cleaning-out ritual
worth it. But I must say that a show in which half of the episode—maybe
even over half—
involves listening to the characters discuss what they want to keep and what
they want to pitch, can become a little bit frustrating. Come on now, I think
we get the idea that Olivia, Camilla, and their Spanish-speaking mother
don't want to part with their possessions. Why stretch out an uneventful
story when you can successfully tell it in a shorter amount of time? I get
the feeling that if we strip
Clutter down its very basics, we don't have much of a plot to begin
with. Perhaps another monkey wrench should have been thrown into the works
and they could have added a side story that takes place at the same time.
This would drive the plot and maintain listener interest as well.
Consequently, I believe the characters have
more to do with the slow pacing of the episode than the actual plot does.
Olivia Parker, voiced by Hope Levy, sounds like an adult manipulating her
voice to sound like a kid, which she is. This type of character loses its
believability and listeners can see through and notice that this isn't an
authentic kid voice. I understand that casting adults in child roles can
help the longevity of a character's time on the series, but an element of
child-to-adult growth process is lost. If you listen back to the character of Robyn
Jacobs, for example, she started out as a young kid with clearly a young
child's voice. As the series progressed, actress
Sage Bolte grew up and her voiced
progressed as well. She even sounded like a teenager when that point in her
life arrived. I don't think much of a change is going to happen with
the voice of Olivia Parker. And her interaction with the Parker parents and
her extremely whiny sister Camilla (she gets better in later episodes)
doesn't seem realistic when placed alongside them. Camilla sounds like a kid
talking to a grownup in a child's body. I can see through it and so can
other listeners.
But perhaps my biggest concern with
Clutter is the
introduction of the Parker family. I've noticed that in more recent years,
there seems to be a push for more "political correctness" on the show.
While I don't have a problem with this, I feel that if there is a need to
add more characters with variety in nationality, the writers don't have to
make it so obvious that that's what they're trying to do. It shouldn't an
in-your-face announcement of "Hey, we're politically correct just like the
rest of the world" announcement. For example,
instead of creating a character who loves her Spanish language and heritage and likes to
translate random phrases for her family and friends (for example, Eva Parker
telling her husband what "muy bueno" means, which I'm sure any man married
to a Hispanic woman would already know), why not simply allow the
personality and dialect or accent of the actor to do all the communicating?
Listeners will pick up on different nationalities and they don't need to be
directly told through mother characters educating listeners on the Spanish
language and how to say certain things. If a story is told well enough and
actors are just that good, the nationalities will be an unspoken success for
the program. Besides, there sure were a lot of Caucasian characters on the
series in the 1980's and 1990's and few had a problem with it. In fact, the
show was very successful and listener-supported. Why is it
such an issue now?
I was, however, pleased with the pacing and
development of each character. For a re-launch of Adventures in Odyssey
with so many new characters, it is necessary to connect the listeners with
the people of Odyssey. The somewhat uneventful pacing allowed the writers to
explore who the characters are a little bit more. We are able to find out a
little bit about Red Hollard. I don't necessarily like him as his dialect
doesn't sound completely real as compared with Tom Riley's). The music and
sound design were up to par and we are able to see something that happens
that most of us would dread. Yes, I could hear and feel the cold water rushing
from the sprinklers as they released their distressing spray during the yard
sale. Who wouldn't connect with that type of situation and frantically try
to cover everything up?
Rating
In conclusion, a good slice-of-life episode. The events
somewhat resemble a previous AIO episode,
Treasures of the Heart,
but are unique enough to be different and provide a new experience for
listeners at the same time. I give
Clutter
3 out of five cones.
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