Great Expectations Review

I couldn't wait for album 56 so I bought three episodes at the beginning of August. I bought "Great Expectations" and "Home Again 1&2".

"Great Expectations" really surprised me. I knew that it was gonna feature some stuff from Whit's past but I wasn't expecting much.

Here's how it starts out: Emily Jones' world has been upset because after a day of doing legal paperwork with her Dad, she realized that she doesn't want to follow in her dad's footsteps and be a judge. She mentions this to Whit because she's now quite confused. You see, she's always thought that she'd be a judge and now she has no idea of how her life's gonna go.

Why Emily Jones, I believe that you and I were/are in the proverbial boat.

                                       I call it the SS Don't Have a Clue                             

When I was 9 or so, I thought that it'd be a good idea to eventually become a lawyer. They make good money, they get to argue for a living, and they get to help innocent people. Then when I was about 14, I realized that there were a lot of downsides to being a lawyer. You had to go to college for several more years, you had to pass the bar, and I found that the majority of sucessful lawyers were unscrupulous. All of a sudden, I found myself in Emily's position. I was lost! I had no idea where my life was going! And my teachers made me feel like I had to have a career picked out before I graduated 8th grade.

I wish that this episode had been around during this crisis of mine.

To help Emily, Whit sends her on an Imagination Station program about his life. She first talks to ten year old John Avery who has a list of things he'd like to: do-fly fishing, flying lessons, writing for National Geographic, ect. Fast forward a few years and Whit is about 18. He tells Emily that he has an opprotunity to write for National Geographic and have an internship there. Then, the mailman comes to the door and serves Whit his draft notice. Whit's plans are goning to have to wait. A few more years pass. The war has ended and Emily is on the University of Southern California campus. Whit has written a screenplay for a movie and some people are interested in it. Whit puts the screenplay on hold when he finds out that he was accepted to USC. Skip a couple of years. Whit, newly married to Jenny, relays to Emily that he's planning on taking flying lessons and getting his pilot's licence. Jenny suddenly bursts into the apartment and excitedly tells Whit that she's pregnant. Whit is obviously overjoyed but his plans, yet again, are placed on the back burner. Skip ahead about 20 years (that's what I guessed at least), Emily meets up with Whit in McAllister Park. He had just resigned from the school. Emily asks him if it bothers him that he hasn't accomplished his original plans. Whit replies that he's only concerned with living his life how God called him to live.

I really liked the episode for a number of reasons. It flowed nicely, it featured things from Whit's past (I love those kinds of episodes), Emily Jones was an enjoyable character to listen to, and the sound effects for the Imagination Station were unusual but good. 

I love how Jim Custer has been the voice of young Whit since 1989. Let's just take a moment and appreciate how awesome that man is. He has been the distinct, young voice of the most important character on Adventures in Odyssey for 23 years.

                         

This man deserves an award

                                          

At first, I did NOT like Emily Jones. I thought she was pushy and irritating. A few episodes like "Green Ring Conspiracy" and "Emily the Genius" have redeemed Emily in my eyes. This episode further changed my opinion of her. Good work, writers. 

We hear from Joanne in this episodes but it's not for a good reason. She and Jack are retiring, closing down the antique shop, and going to be traveling.  

I have so many feelings right now

                                     

I don't know if I've said this before but Whit, Jason, and Jack are my favorite characters. To have Jack (and Joanne) leave the show is one of the saddest things to ever happen to Odyssey. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise since Janet Waldo is 88 and Allen Young is 93. The actors deserve a retirement. It is well deserved but still very sad. 

Getting back to the episode, the message is what I loved the most. In this day and age, kids in both middle school and high school are told that they gotta shape up and figure out what to do with their lives. Granted, it's not a bad idea to start thinking about that stuff but teenagers feel a certain pressure on them when it comes to college and careers. Whit said that our plans don't often work out because our circumstances change or because our relationship with God set our lives on different courses. 

I eventually relaxed about the idea of my future. It took my parents and Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" to calm me down. I hope that kids who are stressed about their futures can listen to this episode and realize that, to us, the future is unpredictable but God is the one who does the planning and it's always the best way.