Our next Adventures in Odyssey episode review is of Dental Dilemma from The Lost Episodes. In this episode middle-schooler Mark Forbes plants fear in the heart of his younger sister, Emily, as she anticipates her upcoming dental appointment. You can read the full review below.
Our Review ★★★☆☆
By David
This episode starts off slowly because it features multiple beginnings. First there is a sketch about teasing which Chris comments on. Then the episode begins and we hear Whit going to the dentist. But no, that still isn’t the actual story. I’m not sure why Whit has a cameo in this episode at all if he doesn’t have a role to play. His only purpose seems to be to remind the audience that this whole thing is taking place in the town of Odyssey. We find out we’re going to hear a story told by Mrs. Forbes. Considering this is taking place on a short elevator ride to the fourth floor, you’d think the story wouldn’t take twenty minutes to tell. But even Mrs. Forbes adds on an unnecessary beginning to the story. She recounts to Whit a conversation between herself and her husband about what to have for breakfast. It’s not relevant to the story and I think it goes on for too long.
The word dilemma refers to when someone must make a choice between two bad options. In this episode Emily Forbes’ brother tells her she must choose to get her teeth pulled out at the dentist or tell her parents about it, which will send her to the hospital. Emily, however, does neither. Instead she tells her dentist about it. Despite its title, this episode isn’t really about Emily’s dilemma at all but about sibling teasing. Emily’s brother Mark loves to play tricks on her. Older siblings telling convincing lies to younger siblings is a common occurrence, but rarely do the younger siblings have a chance to enact revenge using the same tactic.
The dentist Dr. Graves is very friendly and a bit of an eccentric character like Mr. Whittaker. He sings while he works on people’s teeth which doesn’t seem like it would work if he was using proper dental equipment, including wearing a dentist’s mask over his mouth. Like Whit, Dr. Graves also likes to teach kids lessons. But while Whit usually gives kids hypothetical illustrations to think about, Dr. Graves likes to act out his illustrations to prove his point. It seems to me that it isn’t until later AIO episodes that Whit evolves to use this tactic as well.
This episode was fun in the end because of Dr. Graves’ playful personality. He came up with the idea to scare Mark and allowed the audience to vicariously live through the experience. I’m sure many of the younger siblings listening enjoyed hearing the older sibling Mark taste his own medicine. The show’s main downfall is that it’s predictable, especially since Chris tells us exactly what’s going to happen. And because of the story’s simplicity it contains a lot of filler, especially at the beginning. But for a show from The Lost Episodes, it’s pretty good. This episode gets 3 out of 5 stars.
By David
This episode starts off slowly because it features multiple beginnings. First there is a sketch about teasing which Chris comments on. Then the episode begins and we hear Whit going to the dentist. But no, that still isn’t the actual story. I’m not sure why Whit has a cameo in this episode at all if he doesn’t have a role to play. His only purpose seems to be to remind the audience that this whole thing is taking place in the town of Odyssey. We find out we’re going to hear a story told by Mrs. Forbes. Considering this is taking place on a short elevator ride to the fourth floor, you’d think the story wouldn’t take twenty minutes to tell. But even Mrs. Forbes adds on an unnecessary beginning to the story. She recounts to Whit a conversation between herself and her husband about what to have for breakfast. It’s not relevant to the story and I think it goes on for too long.
The word dilemma refers to when someone must make a choice between two bad options. In this episode Emily Forbes’ brother tells her she must choose to get her teeth pulled out at the dentist or tell her parents about it, which will send her to the hospital. Emily, however, does neither. Instead she tells her dentist about it. Despite its title, this episode isn’t really about Emily’s dilemma at all but about sibling teasing. Emily’s brother Mark loves to play tricks on her. Older siblings telling convincing lies to younger siblings is a common occurrence, but rarely do the younger siblings have a chance to enact revenge using the same tactic.
The dentist Dr. Graves is very friendly and a bit of an eccentric character like Mr. Whittaker. He sings while he works on people’s teeth which doesn’t seem like it would work if he was using proper dental equipment, including wearing a dentist’s mask over his mouth. Like Whit, Dr. Graves also likes to teach kids lessons. But while Whit usually gives kids hypothetical illustrations to think about, Dr. Graves likes to act out his illustrations to prove his point. It seems to me that it isn’t until later AIO episodes that Whit evolves to use this tactic as well.
This episode was fun in the end because of Dr. Graves’ playful personality. He came up with the idea to scare Mark and allowed the audience to vicariously live through the experience. I’m sure many of the younger siblings listening enjoyed hearing the older sibling Mark taste his own medicine. The show’s main downfall is that it’s predictable, especially since Chris tells us exactly what’s going to happen. And because of the story’s simplicity it contains a lot of filler, especially at the beginning. But for a show from The Lost Episodes, it’s pretty good. This episode gets 3 out of 5 stars.