The Town of Odyssey

It works now!

I was hoping and praying that someone would post this before me because everyone knows how I feel about Emily Jones. But I'll do it anyway. It appears that the file location and the FOTF player isn't working. One Place only has yesterday's show. So for those of you who've heard the episode, post your thoughts!

Well, it was an okay episode, I felt like there wasn't much to it though, and the whole first Corinthians theme didn't tie in that well in my opinion. I'd probably give it a 2.5 out of 5

I thought it was kind of symbolic of God's love for us. He doesn't care if we are really smart or of average intelligence. He loves us no matter what.

^ true, but that's not the point that was made in the episode, I think Emily loved her parents enough to do it. . .but like JP said, I don't think it was the best moral possible. In fact, I didn't realize it until Chris talked about it. Emily was much better than she's been in other episodes, and the episode was better than some, but it still missed something. I'm rating it 7/10.

This episode could have been written for me. I could identify with Emily so well. This is my last year of Secondary School, and I've been struggling with what path to choose in college. I've somtimes felt that whatever I do, or whatever result I get in my Leaving Cert., might not be good enough for my parents and for God. This episode really reminded me that those fears are groundless. Thank you Odyssey team.

I enjoyed this episode! Emily was finally written in a way that made me like and identify with her. Keep it up AIO!

I was extremely annoyed at the end of the episode. Not at Emily. But at Focus on the Family. If any of you there at Focus reads this please listen. The main problems I had were huge issues. 1 They made her lying out to be no big deal. 2 They took Scripture out of context. Both of those are wrong and must be stopped.

Knight Fisher wrote:I was extremely annoyed at the end of the episode. Not at Emily. But at Focus on the Family. If any of you there at Focus reads this please listen. The main problems I had were huge issues. 1 They made her lying out to be no big deal. 2 They took Scripture out of context. Both of those are wrong and must be stopped.

I agree that those things are wrong, however, if I remember correctly, Mr. Jones told Emily that she shouldn't have kept what she was doing from her parents. They made it clear that she should not have done what she did.

I don't see how it was taken out of context. Was it because it made Emily's actions seem like a good thing? Because her dad does point out that they're not. Love does persevere--or, in my translation, it "endures all things". Why can't those things include what was going on in the episode?

I have to say that I expected a significantly different episode from what we got here, and that the way this turned out was a pleasant surprise, all things considered.

To put it succinctly, Em got burned in this story, and I can't help but sympathize with her. Basically, the plot goes like this: She did lie, in that she didn't go to any special effort to admit the truth, but the point of the episode isn't that she lied, and that lying is evil (as everyone who's listening to the episode already knows), the point is that she fell into a tragic circumstance that her parents (initially) did nothing to help, all based on a misunderstanding of her situation.

I have a feeling that most listeners wouldn't want to readily admit it if they were in that kind of circumstance. Denial is a natural part of the grieving process, and I know that if someone told me that I didn't really have some talent or ability I believed I possessed, my first instinct would be to try to prove them wrong. I think that probably played some role in Emily's decision, and I can't honestly say that I would certainly handle it entirely differently from her if I was in the same situation.

Finally, it's important to remember that forgiveness and mercy are critical parts of this equation. The episode should acknowledge and convict her wrongdoing, but not condemn her as a person for making a bad decision. It reminds me of "A Prodigal Jimmy" -- that episode doesn't spend much time talking about why Jimmy was wrong, either. Why not? Because there was no need to. Everyone knows he's wrong. The story isn't just about his fall, it's about him getting back up again from the fall. With all this in mind, I don't think that taking five minutes to beat Em over the head for her wrongdoing would have improved the episode.

I admit the verse at the end seems kind of tacked on, and that the AIO team probably could have done a better job of connecting the moral with the episode, but that doesn't change the quality of the story itself. I rated it 4/5; I don't think 83/99 would be a bad rating either.

I'm finally caught up with this season's episodes! Whew, I have been trying to listen in between all that I've had going, but it's just been too busy.

I was expecting another Emily episode that I cringed through the entire time, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was a decent episode - I felt sorry for Emily...getting her hopes up, only to be dashed. I think the theme of love worked for her parents, unconditionally loving her no matter what her test scores were. However, I didn't think love really fit what she was doing. I would say she was working hard out of fear of losing her parents' approval, not necessarily out of love for them. Just a small quibble.

I loved this episode especially because Emily got bashed and put in her place.

CD33 wrote:I loved this episode especially because Emily got bashed and put in her place.

Ok that's just cruel

No it is not it's true.

Laura Ingalls wrote: I was expecting another Emily episode that I cringed through the entire time, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was a decent episode - I felt sorry for Emily...getting her hopes up, only to be dashed. I think the theme of love worked for her parents, unconditionally loving her no matter what her test scores were. However, I didn't think love really fit what she was doing. I would say she was working hard out of fear of losing her parents' approval, not necessarily out of love for them. Just a small quibble.

I listened to this episode today and has the same thoughts! Her parents definitely could have done a better job of showing that their love and approval is not conditional on her brilliance or the lack thereof, but I guess that wouldn't have made much of an episode. I thought the ending was weak because I did agree with Laura that Emily was acting out of the fear of losing her parents' love, which is not the same thing as acting out of a genuine love for them. I guess the case could be made otherwise, but I thought that part could have been better. Overall, it was a decent episode. I liked Matthew's role in the episode as the voice of reason.

Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing. I'm not really sure that enjoying attention and approval is the same as love.

Why would Mrs. Jones wonder if it was Emily at the door when the doorbell rang? Why would she be ringing the doorbell at her own house?

Anyway, on to my review:

Wow, this was actually a good episode! What a pleasant surprise. It's nice to finally hear from Mrs. Jones (other than her line or two in "Game for a Mystery") and have a bona fide Jones family episode. It was also nice hearing a humbler, more human side of Emily (which is kind of ironic, given the episode title). Definitely my favorite Emily Jones episode so far. I did really like Emily's talk with her dad at the end (but why is it that there are so many more touching father-child talks than mother-child talks in Odyssey?), and I'm glad Emily still took the test -- I would've always wondered if she hadn't.

When Emily talked about wanting to take the test anyway as a gift for her parents, it reminded me of things I've done as gifts for my parents. However, it sounded to me like she crossed the line between doing something out of love, and doing something to earn someone's love. Kind of like Michaela in "Pink is Not My Color." While she may have been partially motivated by her love for her parents, from what I could tell her dominant motivation was to earn their approval. That fact didn't come through as loud and clear as it probably should've, particularly in Chris's wrap-up. We don't want people emulating Emily's actions and mistakenly thinking that they're doing the right thing (though I'm sure there are some people who would do this kind of thing for the right reasons; Emily just wasn't one of them). So I agree with Laura Ingalls and Catspaw in this respect.