Weekly Review: For Three Dollars More 10/27/12

     I will be writing Installment 10 today, as well as (finally) releasing the links page. But for now, here's my review of For Three Dollars More...

     Dave of Dave's AIO Blog once said, "I think by the end of this album (Album 56) I'll be quite machined-out. The IS and ROC are best used occasionally, and having around five episodes (three with the IS and two with the ROC) featuring these inventions will probably be too much, especially since recently taking trips in Whit's inventions has become a somewhat rare occurrence in comparison with when these inventions were newer."
      I'm not sure if I completely agree with this statement, or that I completely disagree with it. I just thought I'd start with it. I will say that having the first four episodes in an album be machine-related was not the smartest idea, but AIO still made these episodes interesting enough for me to not be too "machined out" by this fourth episode. I also think this episode exceeded "Great Expectations" (I'm sure Ben Warren would disagree. ;)) and came close to the greatness of "The Perfect Church".
     The episode begins with Matthew and Connie. Matthew has become the standard AIO kid, as Jimmy, Sam Johnson, and Mandy Strausberg were before him. He's appeared in 38 episodes, and while his siblings seem to be fading away, he and Jay are only getting more popular. And I like him. He has a sense of humor not seen in previous Odyssey kids, and his personality is likeable and energetic. He rivals Jay for best kid character, and his sense of humor shined in this episode.
     Barret walks in (with a seaseme seed stuck in his teeth) and explains his moral dilemma. I didn't realize that the Get in the Show! scene would actually be taking place in an episode, and I couldn't help but think of the kids when Barret was talking. And I have to say, some of the kids did it better than him! (And some, not so much...) I couldn't exactly sympathize with Barret's situation, but I was interested.
     Matthew's adventure was overall rather predictable. I knew almost exactly what would happen a couple minutes before it happened. But I suppose the point of his adventure wasn't to be shocking and unpredictable, the point was - wait, what was the point? After all, there was really no need to have two adventures that basically communicated the same thing. Connie's adventure was funnier and more interesting, so I felt they could have removed Matthew's and the episode would have had the same effect. And so, having three adventures came off as a filler, as if AIO didn't know what to do in the first half of the episode, so they concocted two unrealistic yet funny stories. But, considering neither of these adventures taught anything worthwhile, I thought one of them could have been omitted. But, oh well. They were still funny.
     Connie gives Barret the trip of his life! This line = priceless epicness-

     Robber: If only someone had given three more dollars! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!

     I was literally laughing about that for five minutes afterwards! And I love that Brandon Gilberstadt is back! I was just listening to a Jared episode (It's All About Me) last night, and I missed him. And though Matthew doesn't have Jared's humor, it was still great to hear Brandon's voice. He did a great job! And though it seemed to take Barret's older brother Jeremey a scene or two to get into the part, (His first scene seemed boring mostly because of his "Where am I? I'm old!" talking to himself bit.) I thought his performance in Whit's adventure was stellar.
     It's interesting that, during Barret's third and final adventure, AIO would take ROC and turn it into more of a movie. I liked the new format, and, though I don't think it should be used too often, it worked well for this episode. I think Whit's version of the adventure made a valid point about tithing, one that should be taken to heart. I'm noticing AIO is experimenting with new morals and themes, instead of going back to lying and salvation, themes that they've done many times before. I admire this and hope it continues for future albums.
     So overall, this was quite a great episode, with a few flaws. I enjoyed almost all of it, and look forward to more episodes like it. We'll just have to see if the remainder of the album lives up to the first four episodes...

     For Three Dollars More Rating: 7.7/10

     Hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for reading!