Monday, 10 September 2018

S22 Ep.8: Samson And The Fireworks

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

SAMSON AND THE FIREWORKS
Written by
Lee Pressman

Directed by
Dianna Basso

Air Date
10/09/18

Plot
Samson is terrified of fireworks, and when he mistakes the sound of a warning detonator for fireworks, he is so frightened that he races off into the fog and gets lost.

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Samson was never a big favourite character of mine since his inception on the 'Dinos and Discoveries' DVD and that was because of his one dimensional persona. He's just this strong and arrogant tank engine and that's it, we never see him with any other trait that makes him interesting and today's episode is the opposite!

It's so nice and refreshing to see Samson with a new trait to steer conflict with him having fear and the episode makes it more relatable to kids who do have fear of fireworks, many do. I know I did as a kid until as I got older that they aren't scary. They are loud but we can't help that in the end. Sure some might say it could've worked with Percy or Paxton, but it just feels better if it comes from a character who was in need of such needed character development.

I also like it at the end, the scene with Thomas talking about the episode of the day, that Henry had a fear with the rain in 'The Adventure Begins'. It's a nice reminder that Henry is still being remembered. Hopefully this puts an end to people saying, 'Edward and Henry are dead!' I understand that these characters have been around for years, but they weren't given enough because they were hard to write for. In the end, it's nice that the production team is at least acknowledging their existence and I think some fans need to be at least thankful.

I remember when the episode was shown on 'Cartoonio' a website of the Italian children's channel and was so surprised by an unexpected returnee that I never thought he returned and that was Cyril the Fogman from 'The Fogman' and the last time he was seen was in S6, which was 16 years ago! It was short but he gave a nice lesson about detonators and what there uses are. So, nice to see some realism is still in tact.  

In the end, the episode was a vast improvement over the Bollywood episode. I felt that the plot was not thin, it was properly paced and even the fantasy sequence from Thomas didn't feel forced. 

Episode Rating
Thomas and the Dragon - 10/10
Confusion Without Delay - 10/10
Trusty Trunky - 6.5/10
What Rebecca Does - 9/10
Thomas Goes to Bollywood - 6/10
Samson and The Fireworks - 10/10

Series Rating (So far):
68/80