TTTE S21E15: Emily in the Middle

Another Christmas episode is being reviewed, and it's about the Scottish pair.

Special thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia for the image

509. Emily in the Middle.
Written by: Davey Moore.
Aired: 6 December 2017.

Donald and Douglas are called to Brendam Docks to deliver a very long load of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but begins arguing about pulling the long load, with Donald saying that they can pull it easily, whilst Douglas doubting that they could. As Thomas is leaving, he meets Emily, who is on her way to help the twins with the load. Thomas warns Emily about the twins notorious behavior of arguing with each other, of which she replies that she will be fine with. When Emily arrives and says that she will push the load from behind, Donald is more than happy to join her, whilst Douglas, not wanting to be left behind, agrees to come along and also to push from behind. Douglas bumps into Emily from behind before hooking up, and together, the long train begins to leave the docks.

As they are puffing along, Douglas thanks Emily for helping them out, and Emily mistakenly calls Douglas Donald, in which he corrects her, followed by what he can describe about his twin. This makes Emily laugh, but as she laughs, her laughter echoes through the steel pipes, to Donald, who begins to overhear the conversation. As Douglas explains to Emily about Donald's accidents, and with Emily laughing so hard about it, it makes Donald so cross that he stops the train. He tries to shout back that he is not going any further, but Douglas and Emily are so far behind that they cannot hear him, so Donald uncouples, puffs back along the train and tells Douglas about the conversation and laughter between him and Emily. He also says that it was so lonely at the front, that he now wants to swap places with Douglas. Emily happily agrees, so Douglas uncouples, but as the twins are backing up, Toby with some trucks are coming from behind, and seeing the two engines in his way, he diverts into a siding, and crashes into the snow, causing him to have a snowy white beard. Donald and Douglas apologize to Toby, whilst Toby's driver helps to dig him out of the snow. When Douglas is going round to the front, a grumpy Gordon with his express has to stop, as the front of the steel pipe train is in the way of the express line at Suddery Junction.

As the long train comes to Gordon's Hill, Donald asks Emily of what Douglas has been telling her, and she answers that it is more to do with the twins. Donald then tells her about Douglas' accident, of which make Emily laugh so hard, that her laughter went through the pipes, to Douglas, who overhearing stops the train halfway up the hill, uncouples and goes back to tell Donald that they are swapping back. Emily thinks this is getting silly, as an argument then begins to mount. Donald is uncoupled, goes onto the other line, and is chased up the hill by Douglas. But whilst the twins argue, Emily is left to hold the very long and heavy train, in which was starting to push her back down the hill. As the twins begin bumping into each other, a lump of coal falls from Donald's tender, and rolls down the hill, turning into a huge snowball. It is then that the twins realize the runaway train with Emily at the end, and the snowball, that they stop arguing and begin to chase after them. The giant snowball knocks Emily off the tracks, and when the twins arrive, they begin to argue of who's fault it is until Emily whistles loudly to stop the arguing. She scolds them saying that she was trying to help them, and if they can stop arguing for one minute, then they will know that she now really needs their help.


Harvey then comes to help Emily back on the tracks, just as the still snow bearded Toby, James and Gordon come by. Gordon sniffs and says that it was the twin's fault for the accident. The twins are about to blame each other, when they finally come to even ground to blame themselves. At Vicarstown, as Thomas is leaving the station with some trucks, he sees Emily now in front, pulling the long steel pipe train. Thomas asks Emily of how she handled things with the twins, she answers that it is fine now, and that she has learned in future to never be in the middle of the twins whenever they start an argument. Far at the back, Donald and Douglas happily explained that they should have let Emily be in front, and them be at the back in the first place, then they start to argue about their agreements.

It was nice of them to give Donald and Douglas another CGi episode, and to have them with Emily, considering she's Scottish too, and to have Harvey the Crane Engine rescue Emily since he's Scottish too, but did they really have to have Donald and Douglas' personalities so similar to Bill and Ben's persona now?

Also, did they have to hold the twins off for another winter episode? I mean in the classic series, they weren't so restricted to winter episodes. They had episodes that didn't take place in winter, like Twin Trouble and Bad Day at Castle Loch. 

But even so, I would be in Emily's wheels too if I was stuck in an environment where people argue consistently. And it was easily noticeable that Donald and Douglas could hear each other due to the pipes being hollow inside and being made of metal.

But despite all that, this was a decent episode overall, and Toby looking like Father Christmas was funny too.

My rating: 7.5/10.

Season 21 scorecard:

1. Springtime for Diesel: 9.5/10.

2. A Most Singular Engine: 9.5/10.

3. Dowager Hatt's Busy Day: 10/10.

4. Stuck in Gear: 9/10.

5. Runaway Engine: 9.5/10.

6. P.A. Problems: 9.5/10.

7. Hasty Hannah: 8/10.

8. Cranky at the End of the Line: 5.5/10.

9. New Crane on the Dock: 9.5/10.

10. Unscheduled Stops: 10/10.

11. Philip's Number: 9/10.

12. The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor: 10/10.

13. A Shed for Edward: 9/10.

14. The Big Freeze: 3/10.

15. Emily in the Middle: 7.5/10.

Season 21 so far: 8.8/10.