It’s fair to say that yesterday’s review was a bit of a shambles. Constantly changing throughout the day because I was so indecisive about whether it was a good episode or not. I was finally satisfied after the third edit, and decided to not release a review until I was confident in my opinion from now on. I can only apologise for the amount of edits you kept seeing of it.
With that out of the way, Confusion Without Delay!
This is the first episode that I can truly say was great this season. While was one was an uninspired story propped up by a good theme, and the other was a good story with a half baked theme, this was where they got it right on both counts.
First off, the story is really fun. The beginning conflict kicks in a couple of minutes in, which is its only real drawback, but considering they had to introduce Rebecca and give her a story as well, the pacing was bound to suffer somehow.
From there, though, the story really shines. Well, more the characters within the story. Ironically, this does fix the issue I had with yesterday’s episode that there were no positives offered to the changes made to the show (this doesn’t mean yesterday’s episode was better because of this, by the way. It still should have been dealt with in that story). Gordon was angry that he was getting help, but warms to it when the new engine helps fend off his brother. It’s a nice touch.
Also, Rebecca is just the most precious cinnamon roll in the show. Don’t get me wrong, I like Nia’s optimism and willingness to lend a hand, but I feel I gravitate to Rebecca more. Struggling to fit in, wanting to impress and making mistakes doing so are all things that kids can relate to. I know I worry about being late to meetings I have quite often, then getting impatient when I’m waiting. Plus, I have my own insecurities due to many factors that can be boiled down to “the world can be cruel sometimes”.
There were a couple of really funny moments. Rebecca and Diesel at Brendam (seriously, those two need an episode together) and the Fat Controller being in a situation where he couldn’t use his catchphrase.
The fantasy sequence really hit home for me as well, to be honest. I often think my friends are amazing, and I often feel like I’m left behind or in their shadow. So I can empathise a lot with why Rebecca would want to try and impress as much as possible.
The theme is... OK. The one they went with was “it’s OK to make mistakes so long as you learn from them”, which is fairly basic but still one that’s important for children. There were a couple of others that the episode didn’t focus on. There was the “change can be good” lesson which, while being an episode overdue, was well done. There was “patience is a virtue” and there’s one that, I feel, is rather important.
It’s a really subtle one: you don’t need to try so hard to impress, just let your personality shine through. That’s a lesson I can really appreciate, since I feel I’m trying way too hard to make friends (and searching for a boyfriend) by buying new clothes and thinking about changing my hairstyle. I just need to be more confident and show them who I am.
Final Thoughts
Davey Moore can write some real stinkers. But when he’s good, he knocks it out of the park. Confusion Without Delay is one of his absolute best. Is it perfect? No. The pacing at the start isn’t that great (understandably so, but still), and the constant glossing over why Henry moved is really starting to annoy me.
But the main story is good, the characters are great and the themes are varied and easy to digest for kids. Oh, and Gordon and Rebecca seems like it could be a really interesting, yet sweet, dynamic. What more could you ask for?
Rating: Great (10/10)
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