The sixth episode of the twentieth season turned out to be another clever one, with Samson providing another interesting situation that the show had never used before.
It has been suggested numerous times by a number of fans that Samson is the first legitimately flawed character in the Thomas & Friends television series, and this episode continues to prove that. He lives in his own little world, over-confident and self-assured, making decisions based on his (limited) understanding and not taking the helpful advice (or direct orders) issued him by his coworkers and superiors. Now we just need an episode where he faces severe personal consequences. Time in the shed or something.
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| Image from TTTE Wikia |
Anyway, this installment saw him trying to save time. First, by taking too many cars and causing confusion and delay, and in a humorous twist at the end of the episode, too few cars - in a further attempt to save time.
Another plus for any episode about Samson, is that he is a mainland engine and not from Sodor. Considering how overcrowded the little island had been in years past, it is always refreshing to see engines like Connor, Caitlin, Hiro, Gator and Samson, who are just visitors.
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| Image from TTTE Wikia |
Moving beyond Samson though, the episode was great and had a lot of well written and animated moments. The scene in which Samson tries to scale Gordon's Hill with his heavy load made you feel the strain - it was painful to watch.
Other high points for the episode include the soundtrack, Thomas pushing the train backwards like a real engine might, seeing the Blue Mountain Quarry again and Stanley (who doesn't like him?)
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| Image from TTTE Wikia |
This episode was brought to us by none other than Andrew Brenner himself, back for his second outing this season. This episode is a great addition to the series and gets a solid 8/10 rating from me.
