This Episode is My Target of the Week

I came into this episode with average expectations, failing to remember that it was this week's episode that was promised by Original Joe to be the best of the season. I was looking forward to next week's being the highly anticipated episode. I'm glad that I didn't remember right, because, otherwise, I might have gone into the episode with expectations too high to like it as much as I did.

Here are several thoughts that I had concerning "Target of the Week":

• There was overall, I thought, excellent acting throughout the whole episode, partly due to great writing. Even Andre Stojka surprised me with his great job as Whit. Andre gives every inclination that, given the right script, he can be a great Mr. Whittaker. Also, I noticed that Georgina Cordova did a great job as Nelson once again. We hadn't seen him in a school setting before (excluding "The Science Club" episode in "The Truth Chronicles"), and the actress again did well playing a younger male of the opposite gender.
• It was said by Original Joe that Wooton would be in this episode, and therefore I did have high expectations for him. He did not, however, reach those expectations. He didn't seem to be his usual quirky self. (For those of you who vote in my polls, I accidentally misspelled "quirky" as "corky", and unfortunately cannot change it back. So if you like Wooton, but didn't choose "corky" because you didn't know what I meant, sorry!) I think the bad portrayal of Wooton was partly due to bad writing. I don't know if Marshal Younger is used to writing for Wooton or not, but Wooton just didn't sound like Wooton to me.
• I like the fact that the Odyssey writers are bringing Kidsboro characters into regular shows to interact with regular characters. I really liked the interactions between Nelson and Matthew. They genuinely sounded like two fellow students, as well as friends. Again, there was great acting. My favorite line in this episode was, "Warn me before you speak to me!"
• I also like the overall real-world feeling of this episode. It really seemed like a situation middle school kids would get into. I liked the realisticness in that there wasn't really a happy ending. Vance will still be a bully, Matthew didn't convert him unrealistically. Nelson and Matthew didn't get away with wrongdoing, got in trouble, and there was a great message about apologizing.
• I liked all of the new characters. Vance King (and cronies) seem like they'll turn out to be a good replacement for Rodney and his gang (assuming they're not coming back). I loved the new baseball coach. I think he was supposed to be Japanese, and if so, he did a magnificent job (mostly due to good writing). He genuinely sounded Japanese-American, not just his voice, but also because of his emphasis on nature and the way the world works. All of his dialogue sounded like something out of an ancient Japanese haiku poetry book.

Overall, this was a great episode! Great, original, realistic Odyssey writing. Out of 10 stars, this episode deserves a 9.5. Please comment!