Connie loves spending time in Whit’s newest invention, the Inspiration Station. But when a glitch shuts down the machine, her obsession may go too far. Meanwhile, Eugene traces the source of the malfunction to Matthew Parker, who apparently has been “fixing” everyone’s electronics, with disastrous results.
After nearly being mauled by the junk in his own garage, David Parker declares that his family is going to have a yard sale. Will the entire Parker family survive parting with their treasures?
Simon Jones just wants the hedge trimmed, but his son Barrett can’t tear himself away from his portable video game – until it disappears without a trace! Emily, along with trusty sidekick Matthew, takes this as a case for the newly formed “Jones & Parker Detective Agency.”
Matthew is Vance King’s “Target of the Week” – which means certain humiliation at the hands of the bully! Matthew decides to take matters into his own hands by getting revenge on Vance during an Odyssey Coyotes baseball game.
Camilla Parker desperately wants a pet, but her family seems to suffer from the “Parker Family Pet Curse.” To prove her responsibility, Camilla takes care of a baby blue jay. Meanwhile, Eugene has his own run-in with some feathered foes – which leads to drastic action!
Emily Jones is usually right about everything from solving mysteries to cooking chili. But when she decides to try her hand at matchmaking for her brother Barrett, the singing card she creates may have disastrous consequences. Will Emily have to face a situation where she could be...wrong?
The Parker family is in for a bumpy ride. It all starts when their grandmother (or Abuelita) comes to tell them that their Aunt Rosalita has decide to elope...next week...in Odyssey...at their house! Then relative after relative arrives to stay with the family. Where will the chaos end?
Between 2008 and 2009 the AIO team took a long hiatus to revaluate the direction that the show was taking, as they had done 10 years earlier after album 28. During this time they wrote new episodes, created new characters, and decided to make changes on things such as the show's logo and the release of albums.
New Whit
Probably the most notable and noticable change in the season is that the acting role of John Whittaker, who was done by Paul Herlinger up until the end of 2008, is now being taken over by the actor Andre Stojka. When the switch was offcially announced, it was stated that Helinger retired because of health reasons. However, one month before the premiere of the season, he passed away.
Album Release
In the past, albums have always been available some time after all of the episodes in it were aired on the radio. Starting with the release of Passages: Darien's Rise, albums will be available shortly after the first episode of the collection has aired.
Logo
Around this time the AIO logo was redesigned, making its debut on the official site and then on the covers of album 51 and the sampler album Welcome to Whit's End.
Opening Theme
This season also marks the use of a new theme song composed by John Campbell. It was released shortly before the season premiere on the official podcast.
Character Images
The character images for Whit, Connie, and Eugene were updated with somewhat of a new look. Also the first images of Wooton and the Parker family were released.
The Inspiration Station, Part 1
The season opens with Connie experiencing Whit's new invention called "The Inspiration Station". After her first line ("This is great!"), she is greeted by Whit. Connie mentions she met Whit's "friend", sill and unknown identity. She also talks about how her perspective of live has changed as a result of using the device and that she isn't annoyed by things that she used get frustrated with. (A presumable reference to Promises, Promises.)
The scene transfers to Whit's End where Whit meets Eugene. At once all displays and inventions seem to have "gone crazy" and powered down, similar to the scene in A Bite of Applesauce. Whit suggests to Eugene that a computer virus may be the source of their trouble. Eugene says that Matthew Parker was near their equipment.
At the Parker household, Matthew is bombarded with complaints from his family that he's been reprogramming their devices. They come to consensus that he needs to ask permission before making future changes.
Matthew comes to Whit's End and tells Eugene that he ran the harddrive cleanup program on the laptop connected to the The Imagination Station. Whit explains to him that he shouldn't try tamper with things he doesn't how to use. Eugene comes in and says that all lost files where on a backup in the Computer Room, but it will take him the rest of the day to reinstall them. After Matthew leaves, Eugene is quick to judge him for what he did, but Whit reminds him of how he computerized all of Whit's End in Connie, Part 1.
Whit then talks to Connie briefly about how her experience in The Inspiration Station made her feel; she replies with "contented, blissful, peaceful, serene, happy".
Oliva finds Matthew in the park, mad about what happened. She becomes worried and consults Camilla at Whit's End. There, Oliva decides that she would like to change her order and finds it strange that Connie isn't annoyed. Both of these events make her confused.
Whit talks to Connie once again and she says that her expirence in The Inspiration Station changed her and made her close to God.
At the Parker home once again, Matthew's parents are worried that he isn't working on any projects and that he hasn't been to Whit's End. Matthew blames these actions feelings on his experience at Whit's End.
At Whit's End again, Eugene says that he's fixed everything in the shop. Connie is mad that she wasn't informed earlier when the The Inspiration Station was fixed. She goes into frenzy before leaving for her Bible study.
In the final scene of the episode, Connie comes back late at night so she can spend more time in the station.
The producers stated that Eugene and Katrina will not have a child in the near future because of the changes that would be needed to happen with Eugene's personality.
