42. Another Woman's Shoes
How the character of Katrina is underutilized.
By David Hilder | May 18, 2022
How the character of Katrina is underutilized.
By David Hilder | May 18, 2022
Katrina is getting married, but not to Eugene. At least that’s what her roommate tells a sleep-deprived Eugene, just recently returned from a Middle East excursion. Flummoxed and unsure or what to do, Eugene gets some impassioned advice from his friend and travel companion Jason, who tells him that the only thing to do is fight for the woman he loves. And so Eugene races to Lake Shore Lodge to put a stop to Katrina’s supposed wedding to Brandon, leading to his accidentally crashing Armitage and Millie Shanks’ ceremony to renew their vows. The drama continues as Brandon actually does take the step to ask Katrina to marry him, and Eugene resorts to some unseemly tactics as he hacks the hotel’s computer system. The Right Choice (Album 28) is a wild ride. The scene with Eugene and Katrina passive-aggressively arguing during their prayer group is priceless. The episode’s plot sounds pretty crazy, because it is, but it’s so entertaining to listen to. And none of it would have happened if the AIO team hadn’t introduced Katrina into Eugene’s life.
Katrina Shanks, or Katrina Meltsner as we know her today, is an unforgettable character. She takes part in some thrilling adventures, from the trip to Africa on the trail of Eugene’s missing father, to her investigation of Buck’s situation in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Though Katrina has disappeared from the show at times, she always comes back to remind us why we love her character so much. Her appearance alongside Eugene when they discover they can’t have children in Album 55 is truly touching. So much of the drama, excitement, adventure, and yes, heartbreak, on Adventures in Odyssey would not have been possible without Katrina.
But is Katrina a main character? Though she has been a vital part of the show over the years, she usually only fulfills a supporting role. She’s introduced in Truth, Trivia and ‘Trina (Album 19) as Eugene’s love interest. Subsequent Katrina episodes feature Eugene and deal with their developing romantic relationship. But the shows are from Eugene’s point of view. When Katrina breaks off the relationship in The Turning Point (Album 24), she leaves the show. Katrina acts as a plot device to help Eugene on his faith journey. When she returns, she serves to introduce more relationship drama into Eugene’s life. That drama only gets resolved with their marriage when actor Will Ryan became unavailable and Eugene and Katrina were temporarily written out of the show.
Katrina returns to support Eugene after his flight from Novacom, which leaves him without his memory. She continues in that supportive role as Eugene searches for his missing father, Leonard Meltsner. With the resolution of that saga in Album 49, Katrina disappears. There’s nothing major to support Eugene in, so she isn’t needed. It isn’t until Album 53 that she reappears.
Now, in my opinion the Green Ring Conspiracy is Katrina’s big debut. This is her first real opportunity to go beyond being just a supporting character and stand out on her own. In a symbolic move, Katrina gets her own office at Whit’s End to use for tutoring, and from there she launches her own Green Ring Conspiracy investigation. After interviewing Buck, she sets up a meeting with his guardian, Mr. Skint. Their talk at the carnival only leaves Katrina more suspicious. While Eugene wants to drop the issue and just have fun on the carnival rides, Katrina says no and takes Eugene to visit Buck’s house. As Katrina’s investigation continues, Eugene plays a supporting role. In fact, Eugene is very much a supportive character overall in Album 53. While he’s helping Katrina, he’s also helping Detective Polehaus by getting a sample of Buck’s DNA and helping Emily and Matthew with the Appleberry phone. Eugene sits more in the background while other characters, such as Katrina, take the lead.
Katrina then tracks down Buck during the auction and tries to convince him to change his ways. She wants to save him from his criminal life and from the influence of Mr. Skint. Even as Buck ties her up, Katrina is an incredible example of a Christian witness. She tries to get Buck to realize that it’s never too late to turn to God. These conversations are some of the most powerful moments in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Katrina sees the good in Buck and tells him that he still has the choice to do what’s right, no matter his past mistakes. She promises him that she’ll pray for him every day. It’s Katrina’s intervention that challenges Buck’s assumptions and puts him on the right path.
Buck and Katrina have a special relationship. Without Katrina, Eugene wouldn’t have softened towards Buck. And Buck himself wouldn’t have been put on the straight and narrow. But in subsequent episodes Katrina’s storyline gets submerged into the Meltsner family story arc, and at times this story arc is more about Buck and Eugene than about Buck and Katrina. Buck and Eugene are in 36 episodes together, whereas Buck and Katrina only appear alongside each other in 22. Episodes like Playing the Predictable and Out of the Woods (Album 59) are crucial to Buck adjusting to his new life after The Ties that Bind. You’d think Katrina would be there for him. But it’s Eugene who helps Buck through his struggles. Unfortunately, Katrina is noticeably absent.
The Green Ring Conspiracy was also a debut for another character. Penny Wise enters the scene just as Katrina is making her comeback. Penny polarized listeners in the beginning, with some objecting to her zany ways and arguing that she was too similar to Wooton. But the AIO team seemed keen to give her plenty of airtime nonetheless. In Album 54 she was given three whole episodes to find herself as she reacted to the events of the Green Ring. As I’ve said in a previous editorial, I’m a big fan of aftermath episodes where characters have time to react to and process their thoughts after major events in the plot. We shouldn’t skip over those moments. But where were Katrina’s reaction episodes? She went through some pretty traumatic times, what with getting gagged and kidnapped and everything. But she got nothing. And then Penny was given basically all of Album 59 to think about and respond to the events of The Ties that Bind. Again, that’s somewhat understandable considering Wooton asked for her hand in marriage with no context whatsoever. But what about Katrina? After the Meltsners agree to foster Buck in Album 58, you’d think Katrina would be given more airtime alongside Buck in Album 59.
Katrina has been a supporting character for a long time. And that’s fine for a lot of our friends in Odyssey. Not everyone needs to be a major character. But I think Katrina has really proven herself as a compelling character. In recent sagas we’ve seen her do some heavy lifting, story-wise. Throughout her adventures in Album 53 and beyond, Katrina has made a comeback we didn’t know she was capable of. She’s taken stories in new directions through her own initiative, and I’d hate to see that go by the wayside just because she isn’t taking part in a big saga or story arc.
We need to see more of Katrina the teacher, Katrina the friend. What is she teaching her students? There’s a lot of opportunity for Katrina to interact with the kid characters of Odyssey. Is she still good friends with Connie? It was Connie who helped lead Katrina to Christ after all. Their friendship would be a wonderful dynamic to explore, especially since they’re in a similar boat dealing with Buck and Jules. And what about Katrina the intellectual? She was able to verbally joust with Eugene just fine, but we haven’t seen much of that on display lately. Katrina has a lot of unused potential and she’s too good of a character to ignore. We need Katrina to play a bigger role in AIO.
That starts with appearing in more episodes. In terms of appearances, Katrina doesn’t have the best track record. Katrina, who first appeared in 1994, has been featured in 75 episodes to date. In contrast, Penny, who first appeared in 2011, has already appeared in 68 episodes. This is a little surprising because fans tend to like Katrina as much as Penny, if not more. Penny has certainly been more divisive as a character in recent years.
Since Penny’s introduction, over a quarter of new episodes have featured Penny. It’s 26.4% to be precise. Meanwhile, Katrina has been in only 10.9% of the episodes made since her introduction. That’s an imbalance that can be partially explained by Eugene and Katrina’s disappearance during Novacom, but not completely. In the last 100 episodes, which includes the three-parter As Buck Would Have It (Album 72), Katrina has been in only eight episodes. Penny was in thirteen. That means both characters are down below their average with recent shows, with Penny actually taking the biggest plunge, so to speak. But how is Katrina so low? With her Novacom gap bringing down her overall average, you’d expect her to have made a comeback in recent shows, especially with the Buck saga. But Katrina’s appearances are somehow still below her average, and her average wasn’t very high to begin with.
We need more of Katrina. And that isn’t to say we need less of Penny. She’s probably been reduced in reaction to fan feedback. Lately she’s more likely to feature in club episodes. The last time Penny was in an album was A Wise Surprise (Album 68), which is long enough ago to have been aired prior to the global spread of COVID-19. That’s definitely too long. But at least the club episodes have kept the character alive.
Katrina, however, has been unable to break out into the AIO Club. She was in Part 1 of Pinocchio (Season 2) and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6), but that’s it. That’s probably because club episodes aren’t meant to advance the plot of the main show very much. Katrina can’t seem to raise her episode average because, despite being so important to the Buck saga, she can’t seem to break out beyond it to more normal, slice-of-life episodes. When you think about it, for most of Katrina’s time on the show she has been confined to sagas and clearly defined story arcs. Slice-of-life is not her thing. But maybe it needs to be. She’ll need to appear in more slice-of-life stories if she’s going to stand alongside our other prominent characters. Episodes like How to Sink a Sub (Album 54) and For Three Dollars More (Album 56) are steps in the right direction, but neither story is told from Katrina’s perspective.
What does a day in the life of Katrina look like? What would an episode from her perspective look like, if we were to walk a day in her shoes, so to speak? We saw a little bit of that in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Having more episodes where Katrina is the main character would be a great development. And it could be a vehicle for Katrina to grow more as a character.
For Katrina to truly become a major character who can stand on her own two feet, she needs to show some growth beyond her character’s limited origin. What is Katrina’s origin? Katrina was introduced from the beginning as Eugene’s love interest. In this supporting role, Katrina was a plot device to introduce drama into Eugene’s life. This helps explain why Katrina has rarely appeared in an episode without Eugene. Out of her 75 episodes, I only found four where Eugene does not appear: For Three Dollars More (Album 56), The Ties That Bind, Part 9 (Album 58), Have a Heart (Album 63), and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6). These were all produced within the last ten years, so maybe that’s a positive sign for the future.
Penny still comes ahead of Katrina here. The origin of her character was as a friend to Connie and then a love interest for Wooton. Out of her 68 episodes, Penny is in 11 without Wooton and 13 without Connie. Interestingly, Penny took a further step in Album 66 when she appeared in The Long End, Parts 1 and 2, her first episodes which do not feature either Connie or Wooton. Katrina made similar strides in Have a Heart (Album 63) and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6), neither of which feature Eugene or Connie.
Katrina has most often been in the background, supporting Eugene on his various story arcs. But she may need to step up soon due to recent events. However the AIO team decides to move forward with the character of Eugene following actor Will Ryan’s death, whether Eugene passes away or gets a new voice actor, Katrina will need to become a more prominent character. If Eugene dies, Katrina will be the only parent in Buck’s life. Their relationship will be more important than ever. If Eugene gets a new voice, Katrina will need to carry the weight of the Meltsner story arc as the audience adjusts to the new Eugene voice actor. In either situation, Katrina will be the glue that holds the Meltsner family together.
Whatever happens, Katrina has a big task ahead of her. She needs to become a more major character. The time has come. Let’s take the adventure and explore the world of Odyssey from the perspective of someone who has surely earned the right to be a main character—our own Katrina Meltsner.
Katrina Shanks, or Katrina Meltsner as we know her today, is an unforgettable character. She takes part in some thrilling adventures, from the trip to Africa on the trail of Eugene’s missing father, to her investigation of Buck’s situation in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Though Katrina has disappeared from the show at times, she always comes back to remind us why we love her character so much. Her appearance alongside Eugene when they discover they can’t have children in Album 55 is truly touching. So much of the drama, excitement, adventure, and yes, heartbreak, on Adventures in Odyssey would not have been possible without Katrina.
But is Katrina a main character? Though she has been a vital part of the show over the years, she usually only fulfills a supporting role. She’s introduced in Truth, Trivia and ‘Trina (Album 19) as Eugene’s love interest. Subsequent Katrina episodes feature Eugene and deal with their developing romantic relationship. But the shows are from Eugene’s point of view. When Katrina breaks off the relationship in The Turning Point (Album 24), she leaves the show. Katrina acts as a plot device to help Eugene on his faith journey. When she returns, she serves to introduce more relationship drama into Eugene’s life. That drama only gets resolved with their marriage when actor Will Ryan became unavailable and Eugene and Katrina were temporarily written out of the show.
Katrina returns to support Eugene after his flight from Novacom, which leaves him without his memory. She continues in that supportive role as Eugene searches for his missing father, Leonard Meltsner. With the resolution of that saga in Album 49, Katrina disappears. There’s nothing major to support Eugene in, so she isn’t needed. It isn’t until Album 53 that she reappears.
Now, in my opinion the Green Ring Conspiracy is Katrina’s big debut. This is her first real opportunity to go beyond being just a supporting character and stand out on her own. In a symbolic move, Katrina gets her own office at Whit’s End to use for tutoring, and from there she launches her own Green Ring Conspiracy investigation. After interviewing Buck, she sets up a meeting with his guardian, Mr. Skint. Their talk at the carnival only leaves Katrina more suspicious. While Eugene wants to drop the issue and just have fun on the carnival rides, Katrina says no and takes Eugene to visit Buck’s house. As Katrina’s investigation continues, Eugene plays a supporting role. In fact, Eugene is very much a supportive character overall in Album 53. While he’s helping Katrina, he’s also helping Detective Polehaus by getting a sample of Buck’s DNA and helping Emily and Matthew with the Appleberry phone. Eugene sits more in the background while other characters, such as Katrina, take the lead.
Katrina then tracks down Buck during the auction and tries to convince him to change his ways. She wants to save him from his criminal life and from the influence of Mr. Skint. Even as Buck ties her up, Katrina is an incredible example of a Christian witness. She tries to get Buck to realize that it’s never too late to turn to God. These conversations are some of the most powerful moments in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Katrina sees the good in Buck and tells him that he still has the choice to do what’s right, no matter his past mistakes. She promises him that she’ll pray for him every day. It’s Katrina’s intervention that challenges Buck’s assumptions and puts him on the right path.
Buck and Katrina have a special relationship. Without Katrina, Eugene wouldn’t have softened towards Buck. And Buck himself wouldn’t have been put on the straight and narrow. But in subsequent episodes Katrina’s storyline gets submerged into the Meltsner family story arc, and at times this story arc is more about Buck and Eugene than about Buck and Katrina. Buck and Eugene are in 36 episodes together, whereas Buck and Katrina only appear alongside each other in 22. Episodes like Playing the Predictable and Out of the Woods (Album 59) are crucial to Buck adjusting to his new life after The Ties that Bind. You’d think Katrina would be there for him. But it’s Eugene who helps Buck through his struggles. Unfortunately, Katrina is noticeably absent.
The Green Ring Conspiracy was also a debut for another character. Penny Wise enters the scene just as Katrina is making her comeback. Penny polarized listeners in the beginning, with some objecting to her zany ways and arguing that she was too similar to Wooton. But the AIO team seemed keen to give her plenty of airtime nonetheless. In Album 54 she was given three whole episodes to find herself as she reacted to the events of the Green Ring. As I’ve said in a previous editorial, I’m a big fan of aftermath episodes where characters have time to react to and process their thoughts after major events in the plot. We shouldn’t skip over those moments. But where were Katrina’s reaction episodes? She went through some pretty traumatic times, what with getting gagged and kidnapped and everything. But she got nothing. And then Penny was given basically all of Album 59 to think about and respond to the events of The Ties that Bind. Again, that’s somewhat understandable considering Wooton asked for her hand in marriage with no context whatsoever. But what about Katrina? After the Meltsners agree to foster Buck in Album 58, you’d think Katrina would be given more airtime alongside Buck in Album 59.
Katrina has been a supporting character for a long time. And that’s fine for a lot of our friends in Odyssey. Not everyone needs to be a major character. But I think Katrina has really proven herself as a compelling character. In recent sagas we’ve seen her do some heavy lifting, story-wise. Throughout her adventures in Album 53 and beyond, Katrina has made a comeback we didn’t know she was capable of. She’s taken stories in new directions through her own initiative, and I’d hate to see that go by the wayside just because she isn’t taking part in a big saga or story arc.
We need to see more of Katrina the teacher, Katrina the friend. What is she teaching her students? There’s a lot of opportunity for Katrina to interact with the kid characters of Odyssey. Is she still good friends with Connie? It was Connie who helped lead Katrina to Christ after all. Their friendship would be a wonderful dynamic to explore, especially since they’re in a similar boat dealing with Buck and Jules. And what about Katrina the intellectual? She was able to verbally joust with Eugene just fine, but we haven’t seen much of that on display lately. Katrina has a lot of unused potential and she’s too good of a character to ignore. We need Katrina to play a bigger role in AIO.
That starts with appearing in more episodes. In terms of appearances, Katrina doesn’t have the best track record. Katrina, who first appeared in 1994, has been featured in 75 episodes to date. In contrast, Penny, who first appeared in 2011, has already appeared in 68 episodes. This is a little surprising because fans tend to like Katrina as much as Penny, if not more. Penny has certainly been more divisive as a character in recent years.
Since Penny’s introduction, over a quarter of new episodes have featured Penny. It’s 26.4% to be precise. Meanwhile, Katrina has been in only 10.9% of the episodes made since her introduction. That’s an imbalance that can be partially explained by Eugene and Katrina’s disappearance during Novacom, but not completely. In the last 100 episodes, which includes the three-parter As Buck Would Have It (Album 72), Katrina has been in only eight episodes. Penny was in thirteen. That means both characters are down below their average with recent shows, with Penny actually taking the biggest plunge, so to speak. But how is Katrina so low? With her Novacom gap bringing down her overall average, you’d expect her to have made a comeback in recent shows, especially with the Buck saga. But Katrina’s appearances are somehow still below her average, and her average wasn’t very high to begin with.
We need more of Katrina. And that isn’t to say we need less of Penny. She’s probably been reduced in reaction to fan feedback. Lately she’s more likely to feature in club episodes. The last time Penny was in an album was A Wise Surprise (Album 68), which is long enough ago to have been aired prior to the global spread of COVID-19. That’s definitely too long. But at least the club episodes have kept the character alive.
Katrina, however, has been unable to break out into the AIO Club. She was in Part 1 of Pinocchio (Season 2) and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6), but that’s it. That’s probably because club episodes aren’t meant to advance the plot of the main show very much. Katrina can’t seem to raise her episode average because, despite being so important to the Buck saga, she can’t seem to break out beyond it to more normal, slice-of-life episodes. When you think about it, for most of Katrina’s time on the show she has been confined to sagas and clearly defined story arcs. Slice-of-life is not her thing. But maybe it needs to be. She’ll need to appear in more slice-of-life stories if she’s going to stand alongside our other prominent characters. Episodes like How to Sink a Sub (Album 54) and For Three Dollars More (Album 56) are steps in the right direction, but neither story is told from Katrina’s perspective.
What does a day in the life of Katrina look like? What would an episode from her perspective look like, if we were to walk a day in her shoes, so to speak? We saw a little bit of that in the Green Ring Conspiracy. Having more episodes where Katrina is the main character would be a great development. And it could be a vehicle for Katrina to grow more as a character.
For Katrina to truly become a major character who can stand on her own two feet, she needs to show some growth beyond her character’s limited origin. What is Katrina’s origin? Katrina was introduced from the beginning as Eugene’s love interest. In this supporting role, Katrina was a plot device to introduce drama into Eugene’s life. This helps explain why Katrina has rarely appeared in an episode without Eugene. Out of her 75 episodes, I only found four where Eugene does not appear: For Three Dollars More (Album 56), The Ties That Bind, Part 9 (Album 58), Have a Heart (Album 63), and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6). These were all produced within the last ten years, so maybe that’s a positive sign for the future.
Penny still comes ahead of Katrina here. The origin of her character was as a friend to Connie and then a love interest for Wooton. Out of her 68 episodes, Penny is in 11 without Wooton and 13 without Connie. Interestingly, Penny took a further step in Album 66 when she appeared in The Long End, Parts 1 and 2, her first episodes which do not feature either Connie or Wooton. Katrina made similar strides in Have a Heart (Album 63) and Lifted Out of Context (Season 6), neither of which feature Eugene or Connie.
Katrina has most often been in the background, supporting Eugene on his various story arcs. But she may need to step up soon due to recent events. However the AIO team decides to move forward with the character of Eugene following actor Will Ryan’s death, whether Eugene passes away or gets a new voice actor, Katrina will need to become a more prominent character. If Eugene dies, Katrina will be the only parent in Buck’s life. Their relationship will be more important than ever. If Eugene gets a new voice, Katrina will need to carry the weight of the Meltsner story arc as the audience adjusts to the new Eugene voice actor. In either situation, Katrina will be the glue that holds the Meltsner family together.
Whatever happens, Katrina has a big task ahead of her. She needs to become a more major character. The time has come. Let’s take the adventure and explore the world of Odyssey from the perspective of someone who has surely earned the right to be a main character—our own Katrina Meltsner.
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