902-903: California Dreams, Parts 1-2

Discuss the album 69 finale!

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CarlR
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Post by CarlR »

Speaking of Buck, I really liked Robby Bruce’s acting in the episodes. For some reason I didn’t like him in Badges of Honor, but I think his acting really shined in these episodes, especially the scenes in California.
Buckles shipper, love Connie and Eugene. Visit my Odyssey website at http://odyssey-news.com/.


Trista: Isn't it great to be an indevidual now, not just someone who wears what society tells them to wear?
Jules: But your telling my what to wear.
Trista: Of course, I'm your publicist, it's my job.

~~#902 California Dreams, Part 1~~
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Monica Stone
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Post by Monica Stone »

The bonus feature didn't work for me and then was taken off the club. Now it's back up and I just heard it about an hour ago. I really liked the way the song was incorporated into the episodes so I have even more respect for the music. Can we appreciate how beautiful Shona Rodman and Robby Bruce's voices are? And they sound really good together.

I thought this episode had some writing problems. Jules's episode arc only got resolved by her waving her hand and saying, "yeah, I'm over it now." We didn't see her growth and watch her overcome her problem in placing her self-worth in the opinions of others. I'm gonna have to say, as fun as that concert scene was, I didn't really like Buck's coming out of nowhere. I can handle cheesiness (I was a Hallmark movie junkie as a tween, I'm used to it), but when done in regular media I like, it's gotta be done well. And this just felt kinda clunky. *ducks and hides* But hey, if you like it, enjoy it! Don't let me take away from your enjoyment.

I was surprised that I ended up liking Jan in a sympathetic way in the end. I feel bad at how empty her life must feel...I always feel really bad for characters/people who are aimless and feel empty. It makes me sad. :( But that got too real, moving on... I liked that she told Jules, "Yeah, Connie is the best person to raise you right now while I sort my life out." Respect.
Last edited by Monica Stone on Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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CarlR
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Post by CarlR »

Monica Stone wrote:The bonus feature didn't work for me and then was taken off the club. Now it's back up and I just heard it about an hour ago. I really liked the way the song was incorporated into the episodes so I have even more respect for the music. Can we appreciate how beautiful Shona Rodman and Robby Bruce's voices are? And they sound really good together.

I thought this episode had some writing problems. Jules's episode arc only got resolved by her waving her hand and saying, "yeah, I'm over it now." We didn't see her growth and watch her overcome her problem in placing her self-worth in the opinions of others. I'm gonna have to say, as fun as that concert scene was, I didn't really like Buck's coming out of nowhere. I can handle cheesiness (I was a Hallmark movie junkie as a tween, I'm used to it), but when done in regular media I like, it's gotta be done well. And this just felt kinda clunky. *ducks and hides* But hey, if you like it, enjoy it! Don't let me take away from your enjoyment.

I was surprised that I ended up liking Jan in a sympathetic way in the end. I feel bad at how empty her life must feel...I always feel really bad for characters/people who are aimless and feel empty. It makes me sad. :( But that got too real, moving on... I liked that she told Jules, "Yeah, Connie is the best person to raise you right now while I sort my life out." Respect.
Totally agree with everything you said!
Buckles shipper, love Connie and Eugene. Visit my Odyssey website at http://odyssey-news.com/.


Trista: Isn't it great to be an indevidual now, not just someone who wears what society tells them to wear?
Jules: But your telling my what to wear.
Trista: Of course, I'm your publicist, it's my job.

~~#902 California Dreams, Part 1~~
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MonkeyDude
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Post by MonkeyDude »

Ok, I'm a little late to the chaos on this one but wow, that was something that happened!
Monica Stone wrote:'Twas indeed very fluffy. I am really confused about mainly Buck in this episode... like WHAT ON EARTH? How? Why? Did Eugene and Katrina know that he hopped on a plane to crash the concert? Doubtful. And that doesn't make any sense whatsoever with his earlier worries and insecurities about his friendship with Jules. And he conned people into getting his way on stage. That contradicts his earlier comments in episodes like at the end of "Much Ado about Jealousy" where he makes it very clear although he was deceptive in making Jules the comic book, he doesn't want to be a liar.

Deus ex machina.
Yeah, pretty spot on here! It would've been nice to at least hear a little bit about how Buck pulled all this off. But yeah like you said, Buck is kinnnda all over the place and it's really a shame that his adamant attempts to avoid conning people/character development had to take a backseat for this episode to work. At the moment, I don't personally feel like Buck and Jules have a healthy relationship. Like, if keeping Jules' friendship requires him to forgo some of the personal growth he has undergone, that isn't right (especially when he only really wanted to talk to her). Their relationship is sadly realistic in the aspect that sometimes people give more than they receive but I just really hope we continue to see more development or potentially acknowledgment on Jules' part.
Monica Stone wrote:Before I say anything else, I am strongly oposed to cancel culture, but I find it hilarious that the vegans cancelled Jules. This two-parter was #tooreal.


YES YES YES! The gags in these episodes were solid. GOLD. I don't know if Kathy was responsible for all the jokes but she always hits it out of the park where humor is concerned. She has my sense of humor's number!
Monica Stone wrote:I'm sad about Coyote. :cry: I liked him in part 1. They really didn't need to antagonize him. It didn't really change anything in the story.
Hey me too! I thought I was the only one! It was pretty obvious he was using Jules but I was really hoping for him to be an alright dude. I'm glad they didn't make him out to be awful but more just a guy trying to do his job in a slightly manipulative way.
ByeByeBrownie wrote: "Although I think Eugene and Katrina would have reservations about Buck hopping on a plane to California to go "rescue" Jules, I don't think it would really take that much convincing for them to let him go. And I can definitely see Connie being highly in favor of it.

I present to you the following hypothetical exchanges I saw on Tumblr:
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Dude that tumblr post was of high quality haha! Made me smile for a solid minute or two! But yeah, when I think about Buck convincing Eugene and Katrina to let him go I guess it does seem possible but maybe just unlikely? I do really love the idea of Connie being the biggest catalyst for it though. Like, maybe instead of or in addition to that scene where they talk about calling Jules again Connie and Buck scheme up this whole shindig. Eh, I don't really know just throwing stuff out there.
Bob wrote:Buck does seem like a bit of a deus ex machina here, but the reason why is a bit interesting. It's not because it's actually impossible for him to do it (based on the information available to us). It's not even because it's out of character*. I think it's really because we wouldn't dream of doing anything so drastic and daring ourselves. We would have stayed at home and wrung our hands hoping that something would change, whereas Buck goes out and gets things done.

If you think about it, that's inspiring. I'm not saying that Buck's means are always or even often right, but the great heroes of the Bible were people who took action. It's likely easier to convert someone who's actively wrong than somebody who doesn't do anything, whether good or bad.

* If we look at previous episodes, this is part of a trend: "Old Tricks", "Friend or Foe", "Crash Course", "Divided We Fall", "Page from the Playbook", and "For a Song", among others, all involve Buck responding quickly, decisively, and sometimes dubiously, to some situation, obstacle, and/or threat. When he's in, he's all-in.
.

This is actually super interesting! I hadn't picked that out!


But yeah, when all is said and done I definitely enjoyed listening to these episodes. I'm pretty excited to see Jules (and Buck) continue to develop as a character.
Last edited by MonkeyDude on Thu Aug 20, 2020 5:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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CarlR
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Post by CarlR »

On another note, this is the first album since album 65 to not feature Jillian, yay!!
Buckles shipper, love Connie and Eugene. Visit my Odyssey website at http://odyssey-news.com/.


Trista: Isn't it great to be an indevidual now, not just someone who wears what society tells them to wear?
Jules: But your telling my what to wear.
Trista: Of course, I'm your publicist, it's my job.

~~#902 California Dreams, Part 1~~
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Monica Stone
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Post by Monica Stone »

MonkeyDude wrote:Yeah, pretty spot on here! It would've been nice to at least hear a little bit about how Buck pulled all this off. But yeah like you said, Buck is kinnnda all over the place and it's really a shame that his adamant attempts to avoid conning people/character development had to take a backseat for this episode to work. At the moment, I don't personally feel like Buck and Jules have a healthy relationship. Like, if keeping Jules' friendship requires him to forgo some of the personal growth he has undergone, that isn't right (especially when he only really wanted to talk to her). Their relationship is sadly realistic in the aspect that sometimes people give more than they receive but I just really hope we continue to see more development or potentially acknowledgment on Jules' part.


I agree. Their friendship, at least in these episodes, isn't quite healthy. The blame is pretty much squarely on Jules. She's selfish and generally puts her needs before the needs of others (For a Song being a nice exception). Y'know how Emily & Matthew had Square One as the main episode to address the toxicity with their friendship in their earlier episodes? We need that for Buck and Jules. Album 70 says it continues storylines from this album.... :-k I actually really like Buck and Jules, so I would cheer for such an episode.
CarlR wrote:On another note, this is the first album since album 65 to not feature Jillian, yay!!
I didn't realize that, wow! I am neither an anti-Jillian nor an extremely pro-Jillian person, but I'm glad they put her to the side to focus on the arcs & stories that have been on everybody's minds.
Last edited by Monica Stone on Thu Aug 20, 2020 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CarlR
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Post by CarlR »

I’m not anti-Jillian either, but I feel like whenever Connie appears a main character Jillian always is there, so I’m glad that they are doing some episodes with mainly Connie as the main character.
Buckles shipper, love Connie and Eugene. Visit my Odyssey website at http://odyssey-news.com/.


Trista: Isn't it great to be an indevidual now, not just someone who wears what society tells them to wear?
Jules: But your telling my what to wear.
Trista: Of course, I'm your publicist, it's my job.

~~#902 California Dreams, Part 1~~
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ByeByeBrownie
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Post by ByeByeBrownie »

Monica Stone wrote:
MonkeyDude wrote:Yeah, pretty spot on here! It would've been nice to at least hear a little bit about how Buck pulled all this off. But yeah like you said, Buck is kinnnda all over the place and it's really a shame that his adamant attempts to avoid conning people/character development had to take a backseat for this episode to work. At the moment, I don't personally feel like Buck and Jules have a healthy relationship. Like, if keeping Jules' friendship requires him to forgo some of the personal growth he has undergone, that isn't right (especially when he only really wanted to talk to her). Their relationship is sadly realistic in the aspect that sometimes people give more than they receive but I just really hope we continue to see more development or potentially acknowledgment on Jules' part.


I agree. Their friendship, at least in these episodes, isn't quite healthy. The blame is pretty much squarely on Jules. She's selfish and generally puts her needs before the needs of others (For a Song being a nice exception). Y'know how Emily & Matthew had Square One as the main episode to address the toxicity with their friendship in their earlier episodes? We need that for Buck and Jules. Album 70 says it continues storylines from this album.... :-k I actually really like Buck and Jules, so I would cheer for such an episode.
This would be a really interesting theme to explore with Jules.* In particular, I would love to see her realize how she's taken Buck's friendship for granted. One thing I noticed is that she never really apologized to Buck for what she did to him in For a Song. It would be really nice to see her realize that and give him a real, heartfelt apology and thank him for everything he's done for her as her best friend.

*Do keep in mind, though, that Jules has been taught all her life to be arrogant and selfish, and old habits die hard. I wouldn't expect an instant transformation, but I would like to see her grow in this area.

Now, if I may gush about Buck for a minute. He would do literally anything for Jules (like flying away to California at a moment's notice), but he's also willing to challenge and stand up to her. He's so loyal and unselfish, and let me tell you, what I wouldn't do to have a friend like that. :inlove:
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Post by KODY 105 »

My thoughts for part 1, which broadcast on 2022-02-07:

Jules Kendall is experiencing the "Brady Bunch"-ification of her music in the same way the oldest Brady boy did in that one episode: the producers came up with an image for him and he didn't like it.

Jules's mom Jan (ha) comes to take her back to California.

Meh. I don't really care about Jules or her music, but I realize she wanted to do her own thing and not be molded by the record companies. 2/5
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