4: The Very Best of Loose Ends
Connie's unresolved storylines.
By David Hilder | January 31, 2012
Connie's unresolved storylines.
By David Hilder | January 31, 2012
Except for John Avery Whittaker, Connie Kendall has appeared in more Adventures in Odyssey episodes than any other character. Clearly, she is both a favorite of the fans and the Odyssey team. Having been on for so long, you’d think the writers would have had time to bring resolution to some of the major story lines introduced early on with her character. But that may be just the problem. A few of the longest avoided loose ends in AIO history, which still haven’t been tied up, seem to be centered on Connie. Because Connie ages so slowly in the Odyssey universe, she’s still going to be hanging around for a while. And while I think we can all agree this is a good thing, it gives the appearance that there is no pressing need to wrap up these old questions right now because there seems to be all the time in the world to postpone taking action. At some distant, undecided point in the future these things are probably planned to be wrapped up. But is such a vague plan good enough? It can’t go on forever like this. Connie’s story has been put off for long enough and should be dealt with.
Ever since Connie appeared on the show, she has been working at Whit’s End. Other employees have come and gone during that time, but she remains, almost as if frozen in time. As her graduating class’s valedictorian, she hasn’t gone on to accomplish very much. It doesn’t seem like she’s doing anything differently with her life right now that she hadn’t already been doing during high school. Her only post-secondary education was recently in Album 53, when Paul McCusker let her take a summer art class. It would be nice if she were to begin working less at Whit’s End and exploring other interests and ambitions. And we wouldn’t necessarily have to be hearing significantly less from Connie if this happened. Following her to other locations and contexts would definitely be as enjoyable as any other episode, if not more. After all, this is Adventures in Odyssey, not Adventures in Whit’s End.
There have been times when Connie has tried to find another career outside of serving ice cream. She once tried to work at a department store, be Harlow Doyle’s secretary, and somewhat recently she tried to write a book about Odyssey. None of these attempts were successful in changing her career path, which still seems to resemble a closed-in roundabout. She did at least start Dreams by Constance, a wedding planning service. But living in a small town has the disadvantage of only a few people getting married at any given time.
Speaking of which, Connie being a wedding planner is a bit ironic because while she is planning other people’s weddings, she has never gotten to have her own. And the one time she found someone who was a Christian and seemed to be the perfect guy for her, Mitch, their relationship was abruptly broken off when he decided to move away to Budapest for six years. Suddenly they couldn’t get married because Connie wanted to live in an English-speaking area, not in some city she couldn’t even find on a map. Also, she didn’t think she could handle the stress of being an FBI agent’s wife. That’s the more understandable explanation. It took the Novacom Saga for Eugene to finally get married, about 17 albums after he first met Katrina. I wonder what future saga it will take to convince Connie to get married as well, and how many albums the lead-up to it will be. At this point, the sooner they start the storyline, the better.
From the beginning of AIO, Connie’s dad seems to have been caught in his same old cycle of mistakes that he can’t get out of. He’s obsessed with winning the hearts of women named after months, but afterwards he can’t figure out why his relationships fall apart because of his selfish nature. He clearly needs Christ in his life. Connie’s grandmother even said herself that him becoming a Christian was “the only way.” Until he does, he will be locked in the same dark place he’s always been. AIO needs to remind its audience again that God can rescue people from even those bad situations. And if it were to happen it would help to bring healing to Connie’s family and be a very important lesson for us all to hear. It could end up being one of the more memorable Odyssey story arcs if it’s done in the right way. It would of course need to be differently enough from Eugene’s father’s conversion process. You wouldn’t want Bill Kendall to get kidnapped in Africa or something like that, but I think we can trust the Odyssey team to tell a familiar story in a new and creative way.
Fresh and exciting storylines are being created for Adventures in Odyssey all the time. You never know where the writers will take the characters next because there are almost endless possibilities. Almost, but there are some limits. It’s not like you can bring back villains from the dead or anything. My advice for the writers, when trying to think of new ideas for the show, is to listen to previous episodes, even ones from the very beginning. Countless things that were mentioned or touched on in the past could be used now to create fascinating episodes. Last in a Long Line is just one example of an episode that eventually led to a captivating series of shows, and there are many more out there. Personally, I would like to hear an episode where Whit demonstrates his skydiving ability because it’s been mentioned before that he took skydiving lessons. And as the writers look back on Odyssey, I hope they can tie up loose ends that perhaps have been left untied for a little too long. Among other things, the fans have wanted Connie to get married for quite a while, and I think it’s about time to revisit the idea.
Ever since Connie appeared on the show, she has been working at Whit’s End. Other employees have come and gone during that time, but she remains, almost as if frozen in time. As her graduating class’s valedictorian, she hasn’t gone on to accomplish very much. It doesn’t seem like she’s doing anything differently with her life right now that she hadn’t already been doing during high school. Her only post-secondary education was recently in Album 53, when Paul McCusker let her take a summer art class. It would be nice if she were to begin working less at Whit’s End and exploring other interests and ambitions. And we wouldn’t necessarily have to be hearing significantly less from Connie if this happened. Following her to other locations and contexts would definitely be as enjoyable as any other episode, if not more. After all, this is Adventures in Odyssey, not Adventures in Whit’s End.
There have been times when Connie has tried to find another career outside of serving ice cream. She once tried to work at a department store, be Harlow Doyle’s secretary, and somewhat recently she tried to write a book about Odyssey. None of these attempts were successful in changing her career path, which still seems to resemble a closed-in roundabout. She did at least start Dreams by Constance, a wedding planning service. But living in a small town has the disadvantage of only a few people getting married at any given time.
Speaking of which, Connie being a wedding planner is a bit ironic because while she is planning other people’s weddings, she has never gotten to have her own. And the one time she found someone who was a Christian and seemed to be the perfect guy for her, Mitch, their relationship was abruptly broken off when he decided to move away to Budapest for six years. Suddenly they couldn’t get married because Connie wanted to live in an English-speaking area, not in some city she couldn’t even find on a map. Also, she didn’t think she could handle the stress of being an FBI agent’s wife. That’s the more understandable explanation. It took the Novacom Saga for Eugene to finally get married, about 17 albums after he first met Katrina. I wonder what future saga it will take to convince Connie to get married as well, and how many albums the lead-up to it will be. At this point, the sooner they start the storyline, the better.
From the beginning of AIO, Connie’s dad seems to have been caught in his same old cycle of mistakes that he can’t get out of. He’s obsessed with winning the hearts of women named after months, but afterwards he can’t figure out why his relationships fall apart because of his selfish nature. He clearly needs Christ in his life. Connie’s grandmother even said herself that him becoming a Christian was “the only way.” Until he does, he will be locked in the same dark place he’s always been. AIO needs to remind its audience again that God can rescue people from even those bad situations. And if it were to happen it would help to bring healing to Connie’s family and be a very important lesson for us all to hear. It could end up being one of the more memorable Odyssey story arcs if it’s done in the right way. It would of course need to be differently enough from Eugene’s father’s conversion process. You wouldn’t want Bill Kendall to get kidnapped in Africa or something like that, but I think we can trust the Odyssey team to tell a familiar story in a new and creative way.
Fresh and exciting storylines are being created for Adventures in Odyssey all the time. You never know where the writers will take the characters next because there are almost endless possibilities. Almost, but there are some limits. It’s not like you can bring back villains from the dead or anything. My advice for the writers, when trying to think of new ideas for the show, is to listen to previous episodes, even ones from the very beginning. Countless things that were mentioned or touched on in the past could be used now to create fascinating episodes. Last in a Long Line is just one example of an episode that eventually led to a captivating series of shows, and there are many more out there. Personally, I would like to hear an episode where Whit demonstrates his skydiving ability because it’s been mentioned before that he took skydiving lessons. And as the writers look back on Odyssey, I hope they can tie up loose ends that perhaps have been left untied for a little too long. Among other things, the fans have wanted Connie to get married for quite a while, and I think it’s about time to revisit the idea.
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