ThomasNATION Reviews - Thomas' Not-So-Lucky Day
July 11, 2020
Thomas’ Not-So-Lucky Day is (as of the time of writing) the last Italian based international story for Thomas and Friends, But did it go out with a bang or fizzle out helplessly?
The official outline for the story is as follows:
“When Thomas has a run of bad luck, he tries everything to get back on track... even if it means following Lorenzo's strange, superstitious advice!”
I was a bit nervous going into it as it feels very similar to certain stories we’ve seen before (One of which I will be mentioning later) and the international episodes can tend to be rather…naff, so to speak, but I’m happy to give each episode a fair go.
If this episode had focused on Lorenzo trying to prove his superstition right, getting bad luck due to his negligence, having Beppe turn on him and eventually learning about “thinking positively” and “working hard'' to get a good outcome instead of believing in superstition. Would be a good thing for his character and would have been nicer than just another Thomas episode.
Gina tells Thomas to think positively instead of worrying about superstition and we get Thomas about to leave with a train and Lorenzo tells him about 2 more superstitions. This is another fun little scene actually, with Thomas and Lorenzo bouncing off each other well. It’s also nice to see Thomas disputing Lorenzo instead of being pushed over or doing it to get back at Gina for being bossy. Thomas then asks Mia about superstition who gives Thomas advice about working hard and Thomas being determined to do that. It’s not too bad but doesn't add anything new. That scene could have been done by Gina at the beginning or in the yard.
Thomas then finds Ester and makes an off hand comment about digging for gold. This feels like a reference, but I can’t remember it happening. Ester is then interrupted by Lorenzo and Beppe who tell them about yet another superstition. Ester calls it silly before actually finding gold. While this is very convenient, it works well on getting Thomas on side and actually gives him a good reason to make his choices, Thomas turns right but then straight after goes under a ladder, giving him bad luck which is demonstrated with a poop joke, and while I didn’t laugh at that bit, I imagine there will be some who did.
We get another lot of superstition and effect from it, With Lorenzo being able to hit his highest note ever and Thomas being forced to stop at a signal and getting into an accident, Lorenzo and Beppe appear again and talk about getting bad luck, before Thomas gets two more lots of bad luck and eventually decides to follow them. I like how Thomas still calls them silly and Lorenzo’s annoyance to that.
We then get a montage of Thomas following the superstition with a faded Lorenzo reminding us of most of them and having things go his way. Nothing to really say here, it’s slightly filler-ish but the music is great. Thomas then arrives back at the station and is praised by Mia, and when he mentions superstition and luck, Gina and Mia correct him, bringing up their points from earlier. This is fine but I feel could have worked better if the superstition haven't worked for him and he needed to work hard to get his results instead of having luck work as well.
The episode ends with a little comical scene where Lorenzo passes a black cat and loses his top C. It’s funny but didn’t really add anything to the plot.
As I mentioned previously, This is a common plot for Thomas and a lot of people compared this episode to Season 17’s Percy’s Lucky Day - The episode’s Learn with Thomas segment even makes comparisons to this story as well and while I can see the similarities (let's be honest, in a show with over 500 episodes, plots are bound to be reused!) I feel this episode stood strong on it’s own.
Becky Overton did a fairly good job on this episode. It’s not incredible by any stretch of the imagination and this isn’t even her best this season but I enjoyed it, particularly after the two sub par regular Italian episodes last year. I can’t wait to see if Overton does more if/when the series returns as I do enjoy her writing.
Overall I’d give this story a 2.5/5. It’s too flawed to be a 3, especially with it’s filler and slightly abrupt ending but a full on 2 feels too low for what is a solid story with some great jokes and good characterisation, especially for Thomas - whose very easy to make unlikable. It’s probably the strongest Italian story we've had so far.
Final Score: 2.5/5
About The Author: Oliver (MrOliver1997)
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