Making An Honest Buck parts 1 and 2

[Justine Baker]

Whoa! I’ll start with that! I knew it guys! It wasn’t the father! I called it early! XD
Also why do you think Brayden was so hard on Buck? I mean I get it kind of but so sad. I felt for Buck during the whole thing. Making decisions and knowing you could lose a good friend is so hard. *cries*
I was shocked about the real villain. Mind blown.
Jules and Buck really need to break up. She’s a terrible influence on him. I hope that happens in album 77.

[Polehaus53]

I find it interesting that Jason is the one who is running this case throughout the episode. I guess it would make the most sense for him to be the one to recruit Buck, since Jillian can’t reveal to him that she’s an agent. Plus, he probably knows Buck better than Jillian does. No complaints here; I am in favor of Jason doing random government activities in Odyssey every once in a while!

So, this episode runs concurrently with “Right Notes, Wrong Key”. I like how the connection that was made here, with the conversations Buck and Jules have over the phone playing roles in the episodes’ plots. Very well-done, it reminds me of how the AIO Team did something similar earlier with the 4-part snow series episodes in Season 8 of the Adventures in Odyssey Club exclusive episodes.

I did not expect Gina McKellen to be the criminal. I thought that Buck actually had given Jason a sample that wasn’t Malcom’s. So, I was actually surprised that I had been focusing on the wrong character when the reveal came in part 2.

The conclusion of part 2 was pretty good. Very clever of Buck to use epoxy glue (established in part 1) to catch Gina. But my question is, what happened to Gina’s gun? She had it earlier when she sent Brayden and Malcom outside. I think that if she was holding the gun the whole time in the model room, she still could have still held Buck there. Hmm, unless her hands were stuck on the wall, too. That’s probably more likely what happened.

It looks like Buck will be visiting Odyssey! I’ll be interested in hearing how he works out his differing ideology with Jules about doing right. I look forward to the upcoming episodes in Album 77 about it.

Overall, I think “Making An Honest Buck, Parts 1-2” was a fine episode. I’ll probably listen to it again.

[chadagonye]

I loved it. My family and I laughed so hard about Jason recruiting Buck...but maybe high-school-student-turned-undercover-informant is less unrealistic than I'd like to think. Not that I would ever begrudge the incandescent Kathy Buchanan my delighted suspension of disbelief, anyway.

I agree with all of Polehaus53's points, and I especially got a kick out of the overlapping and connecting episodes. I found the morals of this one to be not entirely straightforward (i.e. an actual moral dilemma is involved), and I appreciate that.

Agree with Justine that Jules does not deserve Buck (what earthly woman does?), but I have hope for their individual futures, and a possible healthy relationship some day.