976-978: The Rydell Realizations

[Polehaus53]

Summary:

“Morrie Rydell, you’re under arrest.”

When Odyssey’s resident hacker is accused of a serious computer crime, Suzu, Cooper, and Mr. Whittaker race to investigate what really happened.

The first episodes of Album 76: Keep It Together are releasing on the Adventures in Odyssey Club. Let the discussion begin!

[chadagonye]

Thoughts halfway through part 1:

Carrie is definitely shady.

Emily still holds a major grudge (maybe not unfairly) but is also immediately persuadable?

Does Morrie not know that Whit is super wealthy? Or has Whit frittered away his savings on failed inventions/Whit's End's clearly untenable business plan?

---Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:39 am---

Now I've heard all three parts (yes, we listened to part three basically the minute it was available, having purchased one month of the club for Christmas) and...I loved it.

Especially as a Sherlock fan, I was so into the Morrie arc in the early episodes, and then so not into it when it got all weird (I believe I recall the writers saying they had one story arc in mind and then changed directions, and I think it showed in a negative, discontinuous way, and I REALLY wonder what the original arc would have been) but I feel like this redeems it somewhat for me.

I only wish there had been more of Cooper in the third part. I love the Calhouns so much.

Maybe one more episode would have allowed for even more story development (Suzu and Cooper, Polehaus and Whit), although I also find it frustrating when 3- or 4-parters take up practically the whole of the now maddeningly short albums.

Is it a little weird to say "a very wise man" (or whatever Whit said) instead of "Aslan in C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian"? Is Emily not familiar with Narnia? Would it take too much airtime to explain the reference? What proportion of kids listening to Odyssey are unfamiliar with C.S. Lewis? I guess it's a fun little Easter Egg for kids who get the allusion, but it's also like Whit is plagiarising.

I also couldn't help but think about how differently Sending Kids To Confront Actual Criminals plays in 2023. I'm not sure how I feel about that (sending kids OR the fact that it plays differently now). But our oldest kid – who is 10 – is 100% all in, so maybe it's my grown-up perspective as much as changing times?

[baysimp]

Quick thoughts (I may edit this later with a full review):

Before this episode I was not okay with where the Rydell saga was. Now, somehow, I am.
Whit joking about shipping Morrie with Carly is completely inappropriate.

[Don Iowa]

I wasn't the biggest fan of him initially, but after hearing these episodes I'll admit that Morrie's definitely growing on me as a character.

Initial thoughts:

The part with Whit acting as Morrie's conscience brought me right back to the episode "Into Temptation." It hit home when the voice of Odyssey Jesus (Dave Arnold) broke in with those couple lines. Hoping we see a continuation of this redemption arc for both Morrie and Suzu in the future.

I think Carly's a promising character, so it'll be interesting to see the direction the AIO team takes with her. We still haven't heard much about the aftermath of Album 73, so I'm secretly hoping for her to be a Monica Stone type character.

[Catspaw]

I think it would have been more interesting if I was invested in any of the characters, which I'm not really. There was a bit of an interesting story and mystery, and it definitely sounds like there will be more to come. It wasn't bad, just not characters that I really care about or like that much.

Is it a little weird to say "a very wise man" (or whatever Whit said) instead of "Aslan in C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian"? Is Emily not familiar with Narnia? Would it take too much airtime to explain the reference? What proportion of kids listening to Odyssey are unfamiliar with C.S. Lewis? I guess it's a fun little Easter Egg for kids who get the allusion, but it's also like Whit is plagiarising.

I also couldn't help but think about how differently Sending Kids To Confront Actual Criminals plays in 2023. I'm not sure how I feel about that (sending kids OR the fact that it plays differently now). But our oldest kid – who is 10 – is 100% all in, so maybe it's my grown-up perspective as much as changing times?

Thank you for the first paragraph! I meant to Google it so I could figure out why it was familiar because I couldn't quote place it. It is definitely odd wording - either credit C.S. Lewis if crediting a fictional character seems too awkward or requiring too much explanation, or just don't use it then. It's not really plagiarizing because Whit is clear that he is quoting the line, he just doesn't clearly credit the source.

The second paragraph is exactly what I was thinking too. Old people unite!

[Justine Baker]

*Stifled groan* I’m sorry to be so negative but I don’t really buy into Morrie’s apology. I just don’t understand… they really can’t fix the Rydell Saga at this point. I’m probably harder on them than most but I just didn’t like it. I really couldn’t get into it.
It feels a little too late for him to apologize and Emily’s just like, okay let’s be friends now. No! *rubs face and moans* okay I know she said it would take work but if he had done to me what he did to Emily, I wouldn’t be his friend. I would forgive him but I wouldn’t be his friend. To quote Emily: Friends don’t make friends think they’re going to die. And they (him in particular) ruined hers and Matthew’s relationship according to her. They had been awesome together and the Rydell come in, destroy everything and think that saying sorry is going to make it all better. It won’t… at least it shouldn’t. So anyway, rant over. I want to hear your thoughts. Feel free to debate me on this. I honestly don’t care about the plot because the Rydell Revelations has ruined me forever. I’m going to listen to see how it ends but I really don’t care anymore. *long sigh*