"The Poor Rich Guy" shows Marvin, Tamika, and Grady in Whit's Sunday School class. In the class, Tamika recites a verse that says a camel has a better chance of getting through the eye of a needle than a rich man has of getting into heaven. The kids think this verse means Whit and Wooton won't be able to go to heaven, seeing as these two men are considerably wealthy. Whit has a talk with the kids, and he asks them to read the verses before and after the one Tamika quoted. After doing this, the passage makes more sense to the kids, and they understand that it is possible for people who have money to enter heaven if they place God before their wealth.
The reason why I loved this episode so much is because of how much it reminded me of the early days of AIO. In the past, many episodes revolved around a kid, teen, or adult with a difficult problem. After the person would fail to solve the dilemma alone, Whit would usually come to the rescue, using the Bible or his own experiences to help conquer the problem. Countless episodes followed this format, but episodes nowadays rarely do. I don't mean to say all episodes should be uniform, but I was thrilled to hear an episode that sounded so much like a traditional, classic AIO story.
This episode is almost completely centered on the theme: reading Bible verses in context. It may not sound like a very exciting lesson for an AIO show, but I thought it was handled beautifully. In recent reviews I've complained about how much AIO has focused too much on storylines lately and has been lacking in Biblical values. This was sure not the case this week! The Bible was placed before the story in "The Poor Rich Guy," and the theme taught was not one that has been used in the past (if my memory serves me correctly).
Also buried in this episode was the issue of wealth (though it was not the main theme). I think the AIO staff tackled this issue well, in addition to the main lesson. It was creative to have multiple themes buried in one story.
Though the theme was the main focus of the episode, some character development took place as well. Of course, the secret that Wooton draws Power Boy comics was finally revealed to someone. It was probably a wise choice to have Grady be the one to discover this. Speaking of Grady, it was interesting to hear his relationship with Wooton being explored further in this show. Whit also sounded very much in character. Not only did he provide the advice he is well known for, but he also added humor with some of his lines. The only character flaws I noticed were in Marvin and Tamika. While they did add humor and other positive elements to the show, I thought they seemed rather immature, considering how old they both are now. It wasn't a major issue, but I would expect them to act a bit more mature than they did. Assuming Whit was rich because he had more than one thousand dollars, as well as calling UPF like they did were a couple examples of their immaturity.
I suppose it is obvious that this episode met my approval! I had very little criticism to share. While I love the action-packed, suspenseful, and dramatic stories, I believe this episode demonstrates what AIO is about. Sure, it's about sharing entertainment and excitement, but more importantly, it is designed to share Biblical lessons in an entertaining way. I am very interested in what will come of the current storylines, but I hope AIO produces more episodes like this one in the future. Because this episode captured the classic AIO feel so well, I give it a 5 out of 5 star rating!