Weekly Review: Great Expectations 10/20/12

     Alright. Today I shall be reviewing the episode Great Expectations. I'll be releasing Installment 10 and working on JAAIOP tomorrow, so expect more from this site in the near future. I will also try to get my links page going today. But for now, here's my review...

     Young Whit episodes are always fascinating. Giving a peek into a character's past is something these writers, particularly Nathan Hoobler, do best. And I can let go of my bias for Emily quite quickly to sit down and listen to a truly good episode exploring the past of Whit further.
     The episode begins with Whit and Connie at Whit's End, discussing Whit's list of things that he wanted to do as an adult that he compiled as a child. This was a good opening scene; I really have no thoughts on it. The episode progresses to Emily Jones and her relate-able predicament.
     My first thoughts are: Joanne is back! Simon is back! Jim Custer is back! Following the trend there seems to be in this album, this episode seemed reminiscent of other episodes. And that's a good thing.
     Emily's voice seems different to me. Almost... (dare I say it) less annoying. It seems higher-pitched. There was some discussion on SS (The Soda Shop) on whether or not this episode would show us Emily's true character. However, it did almost the opposite: it made us more confused about her. She is now unsure of what she wants to do. This is unsettling, and it makes me wonder where Emily's character will end up 3 or 4 years from now. Will she go back to solving mysteries and following her father's footsteps, or will she follow a different path? Or will she be dropped altogether by then? We don't know. Emily is quite possibly the most  confusing character AIO has currently. I only hope she will become less confusing as time goes on.
     But I'm ranting. The episode goes along nicely, with appearances by Joanne and Simon. I almost laughed at the scene in J & J Antiques. It was almost pointless to the story. I think AIO just wanted us to hear Joanne's voice, or to clarify she and Jack were leaving. But that's fine with me. I wanted to hear Joanne's voice, even if she had no incredibly significant role in either the episodes she was in.
     Then, Emily gets into the IS to experience, though she doesn't know it when she steps in, Whit's past. I must say, I'm loving the new IS! The sound effect they use to transport the character from place to place is mindblowingly epic! And the doors are a very cool new feature, (pardon my use of the elementary word 'cool') as they allow characters to go places they could have never gone before, making the IS seems more like a time machine than ever.
     I don't have very many thoughts on the young Whit scenes, except: they were pretty good. A couple tiny flaws, though... I'm wondering why the writers are showing us this. It seems as if we really didn't learn anything about Whit that we didn't already know, aside from that he wanted to write for National Geographic and went to a University in California. But these are minor details. I didn't get to see any experiences that Whit had; the whole episode was talking about what he did with his life, while not really showing what he did with his life, only mentioning various things. If that makes any sense.
     But though that may seem like a big problem, it's really very minor. I loved Jim Custer's performance. When he was coming out of the Junior High School, he had a hint to his voice that made him really sound like a 50-year old. He sounded old yet young. And that was brilliant on Mr. Custer's part.
     And at the end of the episode, we have yet another great moral that AIO hasn't exactly covered yet. I actually never really thought about this either. I suppose we all think as children that we will do exactly what we are dreaming of when we are an adult. But the truth is, in most cases, none of us end up doing what we thought we wanted to do. It's interesting to think about, and it's important. So I give an extra star for the great moral.
     In conclusion, (it seems as if that's always the way I wrap up my reviews) this is a good episode, though not flawless. It gives a peek into Whit's past, which is always great, but I don't think it is even close to The Triangle in greatness. But that doesn't mean it isn't good...

     Great Expectations Rating: 7/10

     I hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for reading!