The next Adventures in Odyssey episode review from the AIO Update is of The Sacred Trust from Album 3: Heroes. In this episode Lucy Cunningham-Schultz and her friend Heather have promised to keep everything they tell each other a secret. But this arrangement gets Lucy in trouble when she has to decide if she should keep the secret. You can read our full episode review below.
Our Review ★★★☆☆
By David
The Sacred Trust is not one of the most exciting episodes on this album. It is an average story with a slow pace and few surprises. With this being the episode that comes right after Connie’s conversion to Christianity, you would expect the focus to be on Connie living out her newfound faith. But instead we are given a less than satisfactory plot about two kids who decide to share secrets with each other because they got the idea from a movie. After hearing this plot play out, I’m sure watching the fictional movie that inspired it would have been more entertaining.
Twice Lucy startles people when she starts speaking. Neither Whit nor Connie sees her sitting there because apparently she was hanging around in the background, not doing anything interesting. Perhaps she should have stayed there instead of insisting on being the center of this episode. Most of her conversation with Heather is pretty dull, except for the exchange of gifts. They are supposed to give each other something really special to them, but in reality their gifts are really pitiful. Lucy gives Heather a sweater that makes her skin itch and Heather gives her a necklace and locket that turns her neck green. There isn’t any real excitement and most of Lucy’s scenes afterward revolve around her trying to a make a decision about what to do. This is especially painful because the ending is so predictable.
The only thing redeeming about this episode is the conflict between Connie and Eugene. On Connie’s first day back since her trip to California, her rivalry with Eugene is already forming. She is jealous that Whit seems to be paying so much attention to him as they work on inventions together. But she soon finds out that she needn’t worry. Just as in the episode before, Eugene’s adjustments to the shop aren’t as appreciated as he anticipates. His modifications to the vacuum cleaner, for example, turn the machine into a monster, which is easily the highlight of the episode. Connie and Eugene competing against each other to be the most helpful employee at Whit’s End is quite enjoyable to listen to.
The lesson Lucy learns shouldn’t be discarded. Sometimes secrets need to be kept and other times they need to be revealed. I just don’t think this was a dramatic enough story to tell. There is definitely room for improvement. Nothing seemed to happen with Lucy and Heather’s plotline. Everything interesting was either in the past or the future. Heather talks about how she disobeyed her parents in the past and how she is going to do it again in the future. And then Lucy wonders what future consequences might occur if she doesn’t tell her parents about Heather’s secret. But nothing interesting ever happens with Lucy or Heather in the present, where the audience could witness it. That’s what makes The Sacred Trust a forgettable story. It doesn’t make you care about what might happen next. This episode gets 3 out of 5 stars.
By David
The Sacred Trust is not one of the most exciting episodes on this album. It is an average story with a slow pace and few surprises. With this being the episode that comes right after Connie’s conversion to Christianity, you would expect the focus to be on Connie living out her newfound faith. But instead we are given a less than satisfactory plot about two kids who decide to share secrets with each other because they got the idea from a movie. After hearing this plot play out, I’m sure watching the fictional movie that inspired it would have been more entertaining.
Twice Lucy startles people when she starts speaking. Neither Whit nor Connie sees her sitting there because apparently she was hanging around in the background, not doing anything interesting. Perhaps she should have stayed there instead of insisting on being the center of this episode. Most of her conversation with Heather is pretty dull, except for the exchange of gifts. They are supposed to give each other something really special to them, but in reality their gifts are really pitiful. Lucy gives Heather a sweater that makes her skin itch and Heather gives her a necklace and locket that turns her neck green. There isn’t any real excitement and most of Lucy’s scenes afterward revolve around her trying to a make a decision about what to do. This is especially painful because the ending is so predictable.
The only thing redeeming about this episode is the conflict between Connie and Eugene. On Connie’s first day back since her trip to California, her rivalry with Eugene is already forming. She is jealous that Whit seems to be paying so much attention to him as they work on inventions together. But she soon finds out that she needn’t worry. Just as in the episode before, Eugene’s adjustments to the shop aren’t as appreciated as he anticipates. His modifications to the vacuum cleaner, for example, turn the machine into a monster, which is easily the highlight of the episode. Connie and Eugene competing against each other to be the most helpful employee at Whit’s End is quite enjoyable to listen to.
The lesson Lucy learns shouldn’t be discarded. Sometimes secrets need to be kept and other times they need to be revealed. I just don’t think this was a dramatic enough story to tell. There is definitely room for improvement. Nothing seemed to happen with Lucy and Heather’s plotline. Everything interesting was either in the past or the future. Heather talks about how she disobeyed her parents in the past and how she is going to do it again in the future. And then Lucy wonders what future consequences might occur if she doesn’t tell her parents about Heather’s secret. But nothing interesting ever happens with Lucy or Heather in the present, where the audience could witness it. That’s what makes The Sacred Trust a forgettable story. It doesn’t make you care about what might happen next. This episode gets 3 out of 5 stars.