My hopes were quite high for this episode. I predicted that it would be a "sure-fire winner," based primarily on the characters that were to be featured in "Grandma's Christmas Visit." Abuelita was a very entertaining character in "Grandma's Visit," interacting well with the Parker family, and hearing all of the Whit's End gang doing stuff for Christmas sounded promising. But sometimes the writers of an episode just can't make their ideas work, as is pretty evident in "Grandma's Christmas Visit."
I wonder if the stale dialog and the uninteresting characters are most at fault for the rather forgettable nature of this show. The Parker's grandma seems to have lost her comedic appeal, and Whit, Connie, and Eugene just seem to be going through the motions. And then there's all the different elements of the show that don't run smoothly together. Eva wanting to relax, Grandma's Las Posadas, and the Whit's End Christmas party actually don't fit together well at all, although perhaps with more skillful writing these different storylines could have. By the time we got to the "Let's Make a White Elephant Deal" game show I was very much overwhelmed. It's one thing after another that doesn't really connect or matter, and only a few moments are actually well-written.
I also wasn't happy about hearing Emily in this episode (enough of her already for one season!). Her annoying voice definitely stands out among characters like Whit and Eugene. And talking of characters that I find annoying, I'm sad to say that I didn't really enjoy Connie in this episode either. She seemed over-the-top. Maybe she's been spending too much time with Emily. :-P
Despite all that, the show does end on a nice note with a simple but well-written conversation between Whit and Lucia. It doesn't really justify all of the "chaos" that went before it, but it hints at what this show could've been like if one experienced writer, such as Paul McCusker, had written it.
So, it's not an AIO Christmas classic. A lot of failed jokes (if they could even be qualified as jokes) and a general lackluster feel make this show one of the worst Christmas audio dramas I've ever heard. It was all-over-the-place, meaning that I as the listener cared little about what was happening or who was doing it. A very disappointing episode.
5/10
3 comments:
I didn't like this at all it was kinda boring lol my fav one in the whole album is Agreeable nanny lol and I can't wait till # 53
I didn't mean ur review was boring I meant the episode
Yes, I did think you were referring to the episode as being boring, not my review! :-D I would have to disagree with you on what's the best episode of #52, but that's a topic for another blog post. :-)
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