I sent ShadowPaw my review for the entirety of this episode for posting on The Soda Fountain. Starting next season, you can read all of my reviews for new episodes on there!
Here is the portion of the review discussing Part 3:
Finally, we reach the finale. Part 3 can essentially be divided into four parts: the story from the bad guy, the decision from the good guys, the climax/resolution, and the post-resolution scenes. It seemed a bit short, and it wasn’t perfect, but it worked well, and the character development was at its peak during the climax of the episode.
When I first tuned in to hear Part 3, the cheerful music played at the beginning during the scenes of the previous episodes was done away with, and more serious music was used instead. Bravo on that choice! This part of the episode lasts a bit longer than usual, as there has been so much information revealed and events that transpired in Part 2. Finally, we go directly to Wooton’s “detainment.” Maybe it’s just me, but the whole thing ended up being somewhat of an anticlimax – instead of being threatened by Mr. Corelli and company, we only hear a conversation between Corelli and Wooton, in which we discover that there’s no “Freddy C.” What a disappointment; no excitement there. I suppose excitement wasn’t necessary, but that scene was a bit of a letdown after all the buildup from the previous week’s cliffhanger. It’s some great information, and I suppose it’s the only way the situation would have been handled within the realm of reason, but it just didn’t seem to fit.
By the time the beginning is finished, the episode quickly moves on, and we are taken to a “decision” scene with Whit, Bernard, and Wooton. (This entire time, I couldn’t help but think of “Do or Diet,” especially when they ate donuts in Part 2.) I didn’t quite understand Bernard’s distaste for nostril hair in this section, but oh well. Not too long after that, we are taken to the climax, an extremely fun scene with some excellent dialogue between Bernard, Wooton, Whit, and even Agent Hayworth – probably some of the best dialogue in the entire three-parter. I wondered if Paul McCusker was thinking about “The Final Conflict” when he wrote that scene – the two have many similarities (good guys attempting to get the bad guys out of a building, a hero rushing in to stop the villain(s), more good guys watching the action from a car, etc.). It’s almost as if this served as a subtle parody of that entire scene, but maybe I’m just over-observing everything. Whatever was intended, it played out extremely well for the most part.
I say “the most part” because the scene had one minor problem: the action. One of the marks of a quality audio drama is its ability to stimulate the listener’s imagination, which is one of the things AIO sets out to do. But there are some instances where there is so much excitement going on that the writers end up using a character to explain everything that’s happening. In the factory scene, we hear Wooton giving a blow-by-blow description of everything going on. At moments, there were no other characters talking for a little while. But it was handled pretty well, contained some fun lines, and wasn’t quite as groan-inducing as the “explanation scene” with Maude in “A Most Surprising Answer.”
Then, after some conversations between the bad guys, we get to that crazy scene where Wooton attempts to foil Mr. Henderson and Mr. Corelli in the van. Yes, it’s extremely silly, but somehow it fits in an episode like this – yet another example of Mr. McCusker’s knack for merging a serious situation with some humorous elements. I was somewhat disappointed, though, to find that once again, the villains simply get caught by the police in their car. It happened in “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” and “The Top Floor,” and now it’s happened yet again. Maybe there’s something going on with all the suspenseful three-parters lately. But honestly, I didn’t really care all that much because the scene had enough Wooton uniqueness to make it stand out above those others.
At the very end, Wooton visits Joseph. I loved this scene. For some reason, I was half-expecting Wooton to reveal to Joseph that he draws Power Boy, but thankfully he didn’t. We get an explanation about the real Freddy C. and how Joseph chose to stand up for his principles. It’s a simple moral, but it’s expressed in a fun way and manages to be different from the themes of many of the exciting action or mystery shows on AIO. Then, at the very end, we hear Wooton and Joseph “riding off into the sunset” by doing something fun. Or, rather, clucking off into the sunset.
Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better ending.
You’re probably getting tired of reading all of this, so I’ll start wrapping it up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Whenever I hear a suspenseful or multi-part show on AIO, normally I leave excited or “in awe” of the listening experience. But this show is different. It didn’t set out to completely blow the listener away. It’s not trying to be something incredibly exciting. It’s simply meant to capture an incident in a small town through the eyes of a humorous character. Its “feel” and atmosphere hit all the right notes. It’s not perfect, but it simply works, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing it. Like many of Paul’s episodes, it has great replay value, and I’ll gladly listen to it for many more times to come.
So I tip my hat to you, Paul McCusker. Well done on a fantastic, memorable episode.
“The Other Side of the Glass” rating (all three parts):
(4.5 out of 5)
)
well it's Saturday in Japan. 
