ThomasNATION Classic Reviews - Two Wheels Good
September 14, 2024
A lot of people ragged on Season 19 when it first came out, saying it wasn't necessarily bad, save for a few episodes, but compared to Seasons 17 and 18 before it, it was a little underwhelming. Me? I'd say I'm...frustratingly in the middle. It's had its share of bad episodes like The Other Side of the Mountain, which I've already covered, but other episodes like Lost Property and Diesel's Ghostly Christmas are ones I consider pretty good, even great. Then there's Two Wheels Good, which I don't see a lot of people talking about. And I'm here to ask the question "should they?". Well, let's begin.
Thomas, Spencer and Bertie bicker about how many wheels are better - four, six or twenty. But what starts off as a simple job for Spencer turns into a mad race to get the Duke and Duchess to the castle.
As you can tell, the episode borrows a fair bit from Season 5's Lady Hatt's Birthday Party, with the Duke and Duchess going from vehicle to vehicle trying to make it to their destination. And while that's a high bar to clear, does this manage to reach its quality? No, but that doesn't mean it's a bad episode. The best part of Two Wheels Good is in its concept. The engines getting into a silly argument about how many wheels are the best is not only really funny, but a concept I can see working in the Railway Series in a similar vein to something like A Scarf for Percy or Thomas Comes to Breakfast. And I love how the solution to the problem is just "sometimes the best amount of wheels is just no wheels".
It's also one of those episodes where every character's presence feels important to the story. I mean, yeah, Thomas, Spencer and Bertie have to take the Duke and Duchess to the castle. But even Mr. Percival, the character who was only on screen for a minute in the opening, has a role to play in this story. My one gripe here is that the way the characters get put out of commission is a just a little contrived, like how Bertie's tire pops because of a random bunch of nails on the road. But this was also an issue in Lady Hatt's Birthday Party, so it gets a little leeway.
Overall, Two Wheels Good is a very underrated episode. It presents a funny idea, the characters are used to their full extent, and it's a nice throwback to Lady Hatt's Birthday Party. Again, is it as good as that one? Definitely not. That was among the best episodes of the model era, while this is just a good time. I'd recommend it as one of those "hidden gems", because again this is one I don't see many people talk about, and I think it should be part of some conversation. It's a fun ride throughout and that's why I'm giving it a 4/5.
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