AIO returns for a new season of small-town fun with "The Mystery of the Clock Tower." Or small-town mystery, as it turns out.
This show almost felt like a Father Gilbert mystery, except it was set in America and there were no British accents. It felt awkward at first--I found it hard to get in to--, but as the pace picked up a bit and the mystery grew deeper I started to get interested. Probably the best part of the episode was the two scenes which went back and forth: Alicia Jennings telling Eugene and Matthew about her role as a courier twenty years earlier, while Michael gave his side of the story. That was written very well and made the presentation of the back story stay interesting without resorting to flashbacks. We also get different perspectives on the same event, although we miss out on hearing the voice of Wendy, the third character in the twenty-year old tale.
We meet a new mayor in this show, whom we can assume has replaced Mayor Faye. How this has transpired is left up to our imaginations, as it mustn't have been exciting enough to make it in to an AIO episode. I'm not sad to see Margaret go--thirteen years as a liberal mayor of a conservative town was a good run for her, although I'm not sure who voted for her all those elections--, but Mayor Spencer Hicks doesn't have much of a character in part one of "Clock Tower." Nothing connected me to him as a person, and unlike with Tom Riley and Margaret Faye we haven't gotten to know him before he became mayor. I'm sure he could become more interesting with future appearances, but right now he's one of those stock characters (but he did only get one scene in part one...).
Whit, Connie, and Eugene are our main investigators here, which makes the story move smoothly. When you have old and beloved characters in every scene, it's just got to make the episode better. And Matthew's occasional comments let us know that he's still there, but not trying to take the spotlight away from AIO characters that we like better. It turns out Dreams by Constance has made it past the hiatus and actually gets events to cater for! Why a 16-year old who's never had a good boyfriend or healthy romantic relationship is running a wedding planning service is anybody's guess, but at least the writers have let Connie keep helping those who do manage to find true love in Odyssey. It's a reassurance that the main AIO characters haven't changed much since before the hiatus. On the topic of Connie, I thought her moment of inquiry at the flower store was a nice scene--some gentle humor with Connie getting out and about.
The music was notably different from what we usually hear on AIO. Sounded more like what you would hear on Left Behind, but it worked for this episode. And they actually used the new 30-second theme to start off the episode--I appreciated that.
Not being able to listen to part two of this show right away was not a problem for me--I felt the denouement could easily wait. Somebody's trying to re-create the events from 20 years ago--my guess is the mysterious Wendy--, but it wasn't a show which really left my head spinning with questions. Yes, questions were left unanswered, but the answers can wait. I'll have to wait to reserve my verdict on this episode until part two has aired, but so far it's been well done and easy to listen to. Connie hasn't gotten addicted to anything and Whit hasn't invented an incomprehensible new invention, nor has Mortimer made an appearance (or was that Finnian? ;-) ). So far so good!
Those "Jilted" flowers sound seriously sick, by the way. :-D
2 comments:
Actually Mayor Hicks was in two scenes: the second and last scene.
You're right that he was in two scenes. He didn't have a lot to say in the last scene, so that's why I forgot about it. :-)
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