At My Whit’s End: Promises of Evil
(Photo: “Foolish female child,” Whit chuckled as he considered which of his many biblical justifications to deploy in order to decimate the girls self-worth. By Bruce Day, Focus on the Family. Image courtesy of The Odyssey Scoop.)
Annie: “Who are those guys?”
Tommy: “Locos.”
Loco: “Hey, Tommy. You’re on our turf, man.”
Annie: “Locos?”
Tommy: “It’s a street gang.”¹
I am not equipped to talk about how racist “The Day After Christmas” is. It’s bad. Really bad. Like I’ve said, I don’t have the ability to write about every single episode of Odyssey. And honestly? This one speaks for itself.
Annie: “Foster Creek? Isn't that like a... Well… You know.”
Whit: “A ghetto?”
Annie: “Yeah.”
Whit: “Well, some people call it that.”²
NOPE.
NOPE.
NOPE.
Episode 7: Promises, Promises
Deep down are we all good or evil? Connie believes the former, Whit believes the latter, and the two make a bet to see who’s right.
If there’s any early entry in Odyssey that stakes a claim on the shows values? It’s this one. Kind of hard not to when its central theme is “are we as a human race good or evil?” Well damn, that’s a killer theme for a kids show. Its a simple yet risky question to tackle, what with so many possible answers to explore, and the series hasn’t exactly handled deeper topics well recently. But hey, at least its trying to take its kid audience seriously which is more than I can say for “Lights Out at Whit’s End.”
The episode is framed around Connie writing a letter to a California friend, Marcy, updating her about life in Odyssey. And, much like my attempts to write this blog, even when Connie’s positive about Odyssey? The cracks still show.
Connie: “I'm working at this place called, are you ready for this, Whit’s End. Yeah, that's what I thought when I first heard it too. But it almost makes sense if you know the story. See, it's owned by this guy named John Avery Whittaker but everybody calls him Whit. Get it? Whit’s End? Like I said, it almost makes sense.”³
It actually doesn’t. No matter how many non-AIO fans I describe the name “Whit’s End” to, not a single one gets the pun. If anything they say something to the effect of “Isn’t the term, ‘I’m at my wit’s end’ a negative thing?” And yes. It is! This show has gaslit me for over 30 years into thinking that name is clever and cute when it makes no sense! Why did Whit call it that?! The phrase “wit’s end” is not positive! It’s not funny! It’s not a good pun! DON’T LET WHIT GASLIGHT YOU TOO, CONNIE.
Connie: “But Whit… Well, he’s different. There's just something about him that makes you want to open up to him. For some reason, you feel good when you're around him.”⁴
WEE WOO WEE WOO CULT ALERT. Connie’s description is giving BIG cult leader vibes. He has an unexplainable charisma that makes you want to open up around him? YOUR BOSS who’s in control of your entire income? Who’s already trying to convert you to his religion?
The two listen to a thinly veiled anti-Palestine news report (BIG YIKES, though not a huge shock as Focus on the Family shares pro-Israel material to this day.) When Connie questions all this violence in the world, Whit chuckles. Like a freak. Connie presses on, suggesting that a way to solve all our differences would be to get everyone in the world together to talk. After all, she reasons, “everybody’s basically good down deep inside.”
I knew Whit’s reaction was going to be trash the moment he started his rebuttal with, “I don’t mean to offend you, but-” Truly THE signifier that some asshole-ery is about to commence. Whit lays into her, calling her idea “one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.” We aren’t all good deep down because it’s “not our nature.” His proof?
Whit: “All you have to do is look at any one of these youngsters running around here. Now, I don't have to tell any of them how to misbehave. -chuckles- They already know that. But I sure do have to teach them how to be good.”⁵
To prove his point, Whit proceeds to activate his Instant Transmission move and break the spine of every child in Whit’s End.
Okay, actually, Connie’s flummoxed at the idea that all of humanity’s born evil (same, for real) and can never change. Whit explains that we can change to be good but, “if the change you're talking about starts on the outside, you're in for trouble. Because the root of all the problems is on the inside. Inside the soul. Do you understand what I'm saying?”
No. No I don’t, Whit. I think that’s bullshit. I think his whole argument is bullshit. Is Connie’s solution to massively complicated geopolitical issues a little naive? Of course, but she’s a teenager! If you hear a young person genuinely suggest how to make the world a better place you don’t just slap her down with, “actually we’re all evil and need to fix our souls so don’t bother with your silly female idea of TALKING.”
Instead, Connie, you should do what a godly organization like Focus on the Family would do! Like when they, in a 2023 article about the genocide in Palestine, basically said, “yeah there should be a ceasefire we guess but like, bro, let Israel kill a few people. They deserve it and if they don’t get to kill a few people, that’d be antisemitic."
In the most charitable reading of Whit’s argument, he’s saying we as a human race can’t just WISH to be better, we have to work on our hearts and minds (aka souls.) Okay, sure, that I can vaguely see that as like a Step 1 here. But Connie’s argument is one that proposes real action. She’d want to talk to people! Learn about them, try and find common ground, come to an understanding. Sounds like a much better way to change not only your own heart and mind but maybe others as well!
But no, Whit’s only plan is to “pray about it,” a classic way for Evangelicals to shut down arguments. Screw that, Connie may not have a rock solid foreign policy plan but she’s at least willing to try SOMETHING. I’ll take that over “lol can’t do anything.”
Connie, sadly the victim of Whit moving the goalposts of this whole argument, is adamant we can change our basic nature from evil to good. She promises to be a better person, to which Whit rolls his eyes. But our freak man can see the goodness in Connie, that her plan might actually work, that she may well be a better person than him, so he sneakily changes the terms of the promise. Under the guise of making the promise “easier,” Whit encourages her to only focus on one aspect of goodness, patience. Connie agrees and Whit’s trap card has been set.
She works in a service industry job where the primary customers are children. As Connie explains to Marcy-
Connie: “Whit would look at me and smile and say, ‘it's just a matter of time.’”⁶
It’s all just a power trip for Whit, the freak.
Of course Connie loses her patience on the job. It was inevitable. Getting frustrated at work doesn’t make you a bad person but under the judging eyes of her freak of a boss, Connie’s humiliated. Whit rubs salt in the wound with a humble brag, he knew she’d fail.
Whit: “You see, Connie, you believe that deep down everybody is good and if we all just somehow tap into that inner goodness, we can make the world a whole lot nicer. Well, I'm sorry, but that's just not the case. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's why I just kind of shake my head and laugh when someone tells me that they've made a promise to be a better person. That's like treating the symptoms and ignoring the disease. I'm just saying that the cause of the problems runs a lot deeper than a simple promise can reach. No matter how good your intentions are. We have to let God renew our mind. He's got to change us on the inside before results start showing on the outside.”⁷
And there it is. The core values of AIO. Without Jesus? You aren’t just lacking God’s love in your life. You aren’t just without a spiritual guide that provides wisdom in hard times. You aren’t just missing out on “community.”
You’re evil. The creators of Adventures in Odyssey and all of Focus on the Family itself? They think you’re a bad person. Intent doesn’t matter. Without Jesus you can never be a good person.
But since Focus on the Family, according to their own standards of logic, is good? That justifies all kinds of things. They can co-opt rap music because it’s origins are with evil people. Beating your children is fine because they’re inherently evil. Forcing your wife into subservience is good because she’s committed the vile evil of being a woman. Openly calling for a genocide isn’t just good, it’s holy, because “those people” are evil.
When the operating logic of an organization that’s, supposedly, focused on “simply meeting the needs of hurting families and friends” is in actuality “you’re all evil”? It’s no wonder Focus on the Family’s Glassdoor reviews reveal upper management use the money from donation drives for meals at expensive restaurants and fly first class. Why use donated money to help people?! Let’s just use it to enrich ourselves and our Family Research Council division. The now independent organization, founded by James Dobson, that, you know, is a designated hate group that dehumanizes LGBTQ people with such actions as spreading grooming myths, working against trans rights, opposing drag performances, and supporting conversation therapy.
If you wonder why all these conservative politicians, who go on and on about believing in God, are so quick to take away minority rights or programs for the poor? It’s because they think you’re evil. Even if you believe in God too? Well, you clearly haven’t let God “renew your mind” enough. You’re just a believer on the outside. Not like the good leadership of Focus on the Family who, according to another Glassdoor review, tell women who report issues of sexual harassment, “it's just going to happen because you are an attractive female.”
So how can you be “good” if even your own belief in God isn’t enough? You, a lowly flesh bag, have no idea since no matter how hard you pray you never hear God. So you look to those more versed in the faith to find out, such as a pastor or community leader like Whit. The power to decree who is “good” and who is “evil” rests with that select group of people. I’m sure that kind of power would never go to their heads.
If this sounds like a nightmare, it is. Actor Dave Griffin sums up what it’s like as a Christian growing up in this:
“i never felt comfort in the church
the idea that we’re born awful sinners
in this FallenWorld™this idea terrified me
i’m a sinner and i don’t want to be
the idea that i could never be good enough
that is not something good to teach a kid with obsessive compulsive disorder
and depression
or was it the teaching of me these concepts and ideas that made me depressed and obsessive compulsive
?™”⁸
Being subjected to this kind of ideology constantly forces you to wonder if you’re being good enough. To wonder if even your purest of actions are just “surface level. You’ll end up assuming you’re never “good enough.” That goodness can never come from you but must come from elsewhere. From a sky-daddy you can never hear but your faith leaders seem perfectly tuned into. Thus they get to decide if you’re “good.” They decide if anyone or anything is “good.” You don’t get to make decisions. They decide for you.
As writer Amber Cantora-Wylde explains in Out of Focus, this leads to stark divide between Evangelical Christians who follow the teachings of Focus on the Family and the rest of the world.
“Catholics weren’t really Christians. Atheists and agnostics needed saving the most. Secular teenagers were rebellious. Those who went to public school were exposed to too much. LGBTQ+ people were responsible for corrupting our society and destroying the traditional (God-ordained) institution of the family. And those who didn’t believe in and trust God for their future had a hard road ahead, eventually destining themselves to eternal damnation… It created a hierarchy. Rather than seeing everyone as equal, it ranked us above everybody else. It made us better than them, more knowledgeable than them, more spiritual than them, more saved than them.”⁹
When you believe you’re morally superior to everyone else? You can justify just about anything.
No wonder one of the key aspects of bringing Connie to Jesus is about, as Phil Lollar explained, teaching her “lessons.”¹⁰ As a non-Christian she is lesser than we. Mind and soul so vacant we must treat her as if she were an infant. She deserves no better.
Since this is a show meant for Evangelical kids (that must be approved by their parents) Connie can’t be “disrespectful” to Whit. She can’t fight back. The writing refuses to treat her counter argument with any degree of weight. It zaps any potential for conflict away in a show where, only three episodes ago, Connie openly rolled her eyes at religion.
Connie: “I guess they got me curious. There's something different about these people. I haven't got it all figured out yet, but I'm kind of getting to like it. Can you believe that? Not that I agree with all the stuff they're into, but they mean well, and I really think they care about me. That's a good feeling. So I guess I'll stay on here. For a while anyway.”¹¹
It’s the “I’m kind of getting to like it” that makes me roll my eyes. Come on. She’s supposed to be an antagonist! Let her rage at Whit for acting all high and mighty. Force Whit to struggle against her argument. Really get into what it means to dismantle a secular person’s beliefs! But no, Connie’s a role-model who can’t “expose” Evangelical kids to anything that might make them question the great Dobson doctrine. That’d be evil. So she’s just a caricature of a non-believer. A prop, as all women should be in Lord Dobson’s eyes.
I’ve talked before about how this franchise is only intended for an Evangelical audience and BOY, this episodes really makes that clear. If this was trying to sway non-believers it’d be a miserable failure. “You’re evil if you don’t believe in us, idiot” isn’t exactly a welcoming message. This episode is meant to either flatter those who’ve bought into the message or scare them back into compliance. If “Connie Comes to Town” was about keeping you physically locked into your Evangelical community, “Promises, Promises” is about keeping you mentally locked into your Evangelical community.
Boy, these last three episodes have been pretty dire, huh?
“Lights Out at Whit’s End”: Embarrassing.
“Connie Comes to Town”: Horrifying.
“Promises, Promises”: Exposes the vile morals at the heart of the show.
Can any future episode stand up to scrutiny, now that we know what truly lies in the writers hearts? Is there any quality to be found? Have I embarked on a fools errand? Is this whole show, this whole franchise, bad, actually?
Only time and a lot Whit being an asshole will tell.
NEXT TIME: The best episode of Odyssey USA and the first attempt at “world building” for the franchise.
EDIT: A friend sent me this song by Cult Therapy and it felt like it went hand in hand with this post. Just the opening lyrics alone got me.
He loves me
He loves me not
Why do I play these games with a fake god
In my brain
My self worth is to tied to the opinions of my parents friends
From when I was their trophy kid
Just be good and obedient, yeah
I’m sure anyone growing up in the system portrayed in this episode will relate. Give it a listen.
Sources:
The Day After Christmas: Written by Paul McCusker, Directed by Phil Lollar and Steve Harris, Production Engineer Bob Luttrell, Focus on the Family, 1987.
(1)
(2)
Promises, Promises: Written by Phil Lollar, Directed by Phil Lollar and Steve Harris, Production Engineer Bob Luttrell, Focus on the Family, 1988.
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(11)
Afterthoughts Vol. 2: Depression, Written by Dave Griffin, 2024.
(8)
“Out of Focus: My Story of Sexuality, Shame, and Toxic Evangelicalism” by Amber Cantorna-Wylde, Westminster John Knox Press, 2023.
(9) Pages 23-24
"The Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey” by Phil Lollar, Focus on the Family Publishing, 1997.
(10) Page 46