55. Virtual Dilemma
Welcoming Renee to the mainstream albums.
By David Hilder | June 17, 2023
Welcoming Renee to the mainstream albums.
By David Hilder | June 17, 2023
The next stage in Buck and Jules’ relationship isn’t the only milestone in Album 74. The character of Renee D. Carter, after eight years, has officially made it out of the AIO Club and into the mainstream episodes. Up until now this mysterious Whit’s End intern had been working away in the shadows. She had successfully managed to stay out of much of the excitement going on in Odyssey recently, including the Rydell Revelations (Album 69) and Album 73: 28 Hours. You’d think Renee would have been well-suited to be involved in both of these adventures, but perhaps she was too busy working out the kinks in her Whitonia program. But we’ve just entered a new era. Renee, now Whit’s End’s newest employee, is here to stay.
More than that, now Renee has the chance to rise to prominence. When a character is kept as a club exclusive character, they necessarily get shut out from all the exciting plotlines and sagas that the mainstream albums include. That’s not good enough for someone like Renee. As writer Phil Lollar has said, Renee is supposed to become one of AIO’s top main characters, someone who can stand tall alongside Whit, Connie, and Eugene. There’s no way she can become that person if she’s confined to the club.
To be a main character, Renee needs to be present. She needs to be involved. Now that Renee has made it out of the club, the possibilities are endless. For whatever saga the writers have planned next, Renee can be there. I personally have high hopes for Renee being involved in the takedown of the Chairman in future episodes. Her technological skills could finally make a real impact.
And that brings me to an important point. My hope is that not only will Renee continue to appear in mainstream albums, but that her character will move towards being part of the real world of Odyssey, rather than simply living in computerized worlds and scenarios.
Renee has too often been in a controlled environment at Whit’s End, thinking about moral dilemmas through Whit’s inventions rather than engaging with real people and real events. As a result, even her club episodes can seem quite disconnected from the rest of Odyssey.
Renee’s first episode, Things Not Seen (Season 3), is a perfect example. This should have been the moment for Renee to meet Connie and Eugene and to become a part of the team at Whit’s End. It should have been the moment for Renee to meet some of the kids who frequent the shop. But instead of that, Whit tricks Renee using the Imagination Station, introducing her to fake versions of Connie and Eugene, all in order to introduce a dilemma in which she must exercise faith. Yes, it accomplished the goal of having an impact on Renee herself. But she was by herself. The real Connie and Eugene were nowhere to be seen. Rather than integrating Renee with the other characters on the show, this episode isolates her from them.
In later episodes Renee continues her isolation. She rarely ventures outside the walls of Whit’s End into the world of Odyssey. The Boat People, Parts 1-2 (Season 3), The Legend of Sperry McGerk (Season 5), and Charlotte (Season 5) all have Renee listening to interesting stories, but again she’s kept from being an active participant. She does get to participate in a story in Rumpelstiltskin: A Wee Little Tale (Season 6), but in this case she’s following a script. And the episode has little to do with the goings-on of the people of Odyssey. Out of her 13 club episodes, only three have Renee break out of her controlled environment: A Forgiving Heart (Season 3), Angels in Horsehair (Season 4), and Out of Her Element (Season 7). By the way, Angels in Horsehair was a fantastic episode and I wish we had more like it. But usually Renee is busy in her laboratory creating her own controlled environments in episodes like Always Do Your Best-ish (Season 5) and The World of Whitonia (Season 6). And then she’s back in Whit’s invented scenarios in Millstones (Season 7) and A Dickensian Dilemma (Season 9), through the help of the Room of Consequences and the Imagination Station respectively. I worry about Renee’s lack of fresh air and sunshine. But more than that, I want to see her interacting with characters in the outside world. That’s what main characters are supposed to do.
Even in Renee Renewed, her Album 74 debut, Renee tells Trey that she’s going to experiment on him in the “controlled environment here at Whit’s End.” It’s like Renee thinks this is another one of her Imagination Station programs. But thankfully Trey throws a wrench in Renee’s programming. And in the meantime, Renee makes an unethical decision which breaks Mr. Whittaker’s trust. Maybe that demonstrates that practicing ethics in the lab or the Imagination Station or the Room of Consequence isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be. At the end of the episode Mr. Whittaker says, “We can’t rely on ethics alone to do what’s right. They can only take us so far.” I love that line. To add onto that, virtual scenarios and ethical dilemmas in controlled environments can only take us so far. At some point we need to relinquish control over our lives and give that control to God.
Imagine, if you will, you’re the king of Judah. And you find out the northern kingdom of Israel is about to attack you in overwhelming numbers. If you lose this battle, untold numbers of your people will be slaughtered. You have a choice. You can fight, and probably lose, or you can take the silver and gold from the temple and give it to the king of Syria as payment for his defeating the invading army. What’s the ethical thing to do? Fight and lose countless lives, or give away God’s sacred treasures and save the lives of your people? King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16 chooses the latter. He pays off the king of Syria to save his people. Seems like the logical thing to do. But God says no. The prophet Hanani tells King Asa that there was a third option. He should have trusted in God to destroy his enemies, not the king of Syria, or the strength of his own army. The problem we often have in ethics is that we forget about this third option. We don’t allow for God to act, for miracles to happen.
Renee Carter has a bright future ahead of her on Adventures in Odyssey. I’m sure studying ethical questions has helped her. But in the real world we don’t always create the situations we are thrust into. We don’t control every variable with the press of a button. In the real world we have to put our trust in God—that he will lead us through every situation we encounter. Made-up situations don't allow for God to defy our expectations, to bring about his will in miraculous ways. If AIO was just about teaching you to be a good person, then maybe keeping Renee with her virtual dilemmas would be fine. But AIO is about teaching you to rely on God for everything, for our daily bread, for hope and comfort, for wisdom and guidance to make the right choice in whatever circumstance we face. That’s only something Renee is going to learn if, once in a while, she leaves the laboratory and steps out into the sunshine where the rest of our characters already live.
More than that, now Renee has the chance to rise to prominence. When a character is kept as a club exclusive character, they necessarily get shut out from all the exciting plotlines and sagas that the mainstream albums include. That’s not good enough for someone like Renee. As writer Phil Lollar has said, Renee is supposed to become one of AIO’s top main characters, someone who can stand tall alongside Whit, Connie, and Eugene. There’s no way she can become that person if she’s confined to the club.
To be a main character, Renee needs to be present. She needs to be involved. Now that Renee has made it out of the club, the possibilities are endless. For whatever saga the writers have planned next, Renee can be there. I personally have high hopes for Renee being involved in the takedown of the Chairman in future episodes. Her technological skills could finally make a real impact.
And that brings me to an important point. My hope is that not only will Renee continue to appear in mainstream albums, but that her character will move towards being part of the real world of Odyssey, rather than simply living in computerized worlds and scenarios.
Renee has too often been in a controlled environment at Whit’s End, thinking about moral dilemmas through Whit’s inventions rather than engaging with real people and real events. As a result, even her club episodes can seem quite disconnected from the rest of Odyssey.
Renee’s first episode, Things Not Seen (Season 3), is a perfect example. This should have been the moment for Renee to meet Connie and Eugene and to become a part of the team at Whit’s End. It should have been the moment for Renee to meet some of the kids who frequent the shop. But instead of that, Whit tricks Renee using the Imagination Station, introducing her to fake versions of Connie and Eugene, all in order to introduce a dilemma in which she must exercise faith. Yes, it accomplished the goal of having an impact on Renee herself. But she was by herself. The real Connie and Eugene were nowhere to be seen. Rather than integrating Renee with the other characters on the show, this episode isolates her from them.
In later episodes Renee continues her isolation. She rarely ventures outside the walls of Whit’s End into the world of Odyssey. The Boat People, Parts 1-2 (Season 3), The Legend of Sperry McGerk (Season 5), and Charlotte (Season 5) all have Renee listening to interesting stories, but again she’s kept from being an active participant. She does get to participate in a story in Rumpelstiltskin: A Wee Little Tale (Season 6), but in this case she’s following a script. And the episode has little to do with the goings-on of the people of Odyssey. Out of her 13 club episodes, only three have Renee break out of her controlled environment: A Forgiving Heart (Season 3), Angels in Horsehair (Season 4), and Out of Her Element (Season 7). By the way, Angels in Horsehair was a fantastic episode and I wish we had more like it. But usually Renee is busy in her laboratory creating her own controlled environments in episodes like Always Do Your Best-ish (Season 5) and The World of Whitonia (Season 6). And then she’s back in Whit’s invented scenarios in Millstones (Season 7) and A Dickensian Dilemma (Season 9), through the help of the Room of Consequences and the Imagination Station respectively. I worry about Renee’s lack of fresh air and sunshine. But more than that, I want to see her interacting with characters in the outside world. That’s what main characters are supposed to do.
Even in Renee Renewed, her Album 74 debut, Renee tells Trey that she’s going to experiment on him in the “controlled environment here at Whit’s End.” It’s like Renee thinks this is another one of her Imagination Station programs. But thankfully Trey throws a wrench in Renee’s programming. And in the meantime, Renee makes an unethical decision which breaks Mr. Whittaker’s trust. Maybe that demonstrates that practicing ethics in the lab or the Imagination Station or the Room of Consequence isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be. At the end of the episode Mr. Whittaker says, “We can’t rely on ethics alone to do what’s right. They can only take us so far.” I love that line. To add onto that, virtual scenarios and ethical dilemmas in controlled environments can only take us so far. At some point we need to relinquish control over our lives and give that control to God.
Imagine, if you will, you’re the king of Judah. And you find out the northern kingdom of Israel is about to attack you in overwhelming numbers. If you lose this battle, untold numbers of your people will be slaughtered. You have a choice. You can fight, and probably lose, or you can take the silver and gold from the temple and give it to the king of Syria as payment for his defeating the invading army. What’s the ethical thing to do? Fight and lose countless lives, or give away God’s sacred treasures and save the lives of your people? King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16 chooses the latter. He pays off the king of Syria to save his people. Seems like the logical thing to do. But God says no. The prophet Hanani tells King Asa that there was a third option. He should have trusted in God to destroy his enemies, not the king of Syria, or the strength of his own army. The problem we often have in ethics is that we forget about this third option. We don’t allow for God to act, for miracles to happen.
Renee Carter has a bright future ahead of her on Adventures in Odyssey. I’m sure studying ethical questions has helped her. But in the real world we don’t always create the situations we are thrust into. We don’t control every variable with the press of a button. In the real world we have to put our trust in God—that he will lead us through every situation we encounter. Made-up situations don't allow for God to defy our expectations, to bring about his will in miraculous ways. If AIO was just about teaching you to be a good person, then maybe keeping Renee with her virtual dilemmas would be fine. But AIO is about teaching you to rely on God for everything, for our daily bread, for hope and comfort, for wisdom and guidance to make the right choice in whatever circumstance we face. That’s only something Renee is going to learn if, once in a while, she leaves the laboratory and steps out into the sunshine where the rest of our characters already live.
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