Story – The name of the man in the sketch is Filmore, which matches the name of the Recreation Centre that gets turned into Whit’s End in this episode.
Connie is once again late, and mistakes Tom who was under the sink for Whit. He tells her that Whit is at the cemetery. Connie is surprised when she hears that Jenny was the one who had the idea for Whit’s End. Tom says that he first got to know Whit when Jenny was trying to convince them “not to wreck the Rec building.” Phillip Glossman asks Jenny if the Centre has any real historical value.
“Yes, well I suppose that sentimental value is worth something. But as a piece of true history, the building is in fact quite worthless.”
Phillip Glossman
Jenny agrees. Tom says that the meeting will recess for ten minutes. Whit is encouraging Jenny. Whit asks Jenny what’s the matter because she looks pale, and hasn’t gotten over a soar throat that she’s had for a month. He asks if it is worth it for a piece of old real estate. He says that he understands Glossman’s point of view, from a business perspective.
“I declare, am I going to have to fight you and City Hall?!”
Jenny Whittaker
They both laugh. David Harley has come instead of Sheriff Moorhead. He tells them that he’s actually not quite yet an officer, but still a cadet. In the next scene, he is making a speech in which he says that most juvenile delinquents are young people. Glossman says that there isn’t enough evidence to keep the building. Jenny is making a case that the children of Odyssey need a place where they can just be children. Phillip Glossman has a letter from Webster Development, who plan to build a shopping centre. We learn in the Blackgaard Chronicles books that Webster Development is owned by Regis Blackgaard.
Jenny is just asking the people to “please not let this happen” and faints on the stage. The doctor tells Whit that Jenny is in serious trouble in the next scene. He says that if the Strep virus settles in the kidney, it can be very dangerous. If her soar throat was taken care of sooner, she could have easily been treated.
“I’m afraid it’s gone too far […] there’s nothing more we can do.”
Doctor
Jenny tells Whit that it looks like she won’t be able to save the recreation centre anymore when he came into her room. They talk about when their children were growing up. Jenny tells him that she loves him, and these are the last words we hear from her. I actually thought the episode ended here, because I forgot about the next part until Chris says that it will continue “right after this”.
After the commercial break, Connie says that it seems like everything happened so fast. No one saw much of Whit after Jenny died, Tom explains. The city council put the Filmore Recreation Centre discussion off for a month. Tom and David went to visit Whit. Tom calls him “Mr. Whittaker”. They asked if he would want to continue in the fight to save the centre. Tom explains that his father helped build the Rec centre. He says that Mr. Glossman has a lot of ideas to help the town make more money, but Jenny’s heart was in the right place. Whit says that the cause they wanted to involve Jenny in is what killed her. He then wants them to leave.
In the next scene, Whit goes to see the Rec centre. He meets a girl that says she won’t be able to play there much longer. She’s sad that they always tear down all the “fun places”. Whit asks her what she thinks of the mall and it’s video arcade, and she says that it’s OK but she likes the Filmore Centre better. Then her mother calls her by her name, Jenny.
“Jenny. That’s my name.”
Jenny
Whit complients her name. She says bye to him and the building. He says he wouldn’t be too sure about that. In the next scene, Tom is saying that Glossman’s motion was carried. He says that he would like to immediately accept Webster Development’s offer because there are no other bidders. Whit comes into the room and says that the Universal Press Foundation of Chicago is purchasing the rec centre and it’s adjoining land for $3,000,000. He is asked what the UPF wants to do with the centre. He explains that it will be a place where “kids of all ages can just be kids”. Glossman is unhappy, and Whit challenges him that what he wanted was for it to be sold. Phillip Glossman unhappily agrees.Tom tells Connie that Whit has never earned a penny from Whit’s End. Whit comes back and Connie hugs him and says,
Connie
“You’re a really incredible man, Mr. Whittaker!”
Chris simply reads the credits.
Humour – I gave it a hundred, just because it would be completely unfair to give it less because it wasn’t trying to be funny.
Moral – I gave it a lower rating, because in my opinion this isn’t like episodes that have solid, easy to identify morals (for example, Promises, Promises which even has it in the name). Instead it gives a good story. This isn’t to say there is nothing to take away from it, you could learn about dealing with loss from Whit’s experience with Jenny’s death. Just because it’s not on the nose doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, even though I gave it an eighty-five, I quite like it.
Continuity – In this episode, Whit makes an offer to buy the building and it’s adjoining land. In later episodes, we learn that the city owns the land that Whit’s End is on. I don’t have a problem with this for two reasons:
- Maybe UPF didn’t end up buying the land, even though they had originally intended to.
- If this can’t be explained, then the episodes at fault would be the later ones, not this one.
Characters – In this episode, Tom is a lot more competent than in previous episodes. He’s actually smart, not just a humour character.
Music – I still can’t get enough of that good old theme! There’s a nostalgic sounding intro to the actual episode. John Campbell does some good sad score for the first part with Jenny dying.
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