Oddballs Season 1 Episode 10 recap: Blood Excuse

In Oddballs season 1 episode 10 “Blood Excuse” James decides to avoid gym class by donating blood every day. But what happens when he gets mistaken for a senior citizen?

Are the benefits of being old too good to be true?

Oddballs Season 1 Episode 10 recap – Gym Class

James and Max attend gym class where their gym teacher become obsessed with squats. James becomes annoyed, believing that gym class is a joke as there are no benefits to squats.

Luckily the school is having a blood drive. If they donate blood, they will be excused from gym class.

James wastes no time and runs to donate blood. The experience gives James the idea to donate blood every day to avoid gym class.

The result, however, has him looking like a wrinkly, old man. Max and Echo are horrified until they get the bill for their ice cream.

When the ice cream clerk sees James and mistakes him for being an old man, they automatically get a senior discount.

Oddballs Season 1 Episode 10 recap – The Benefits of Being Old

The trio go crazy, buying all kinds of food and snacks just to receive the senior discount. However, as the three head home, James cannot keep up.

A girl scout offers to help him cross the street. Instead, she and other girl scouts kidnap and send James to a nursing home.

James freaks out until he notices how nice, cozy, and easy nursing home living can be. Max and Echo find James and attempt to bring him home.

He doesn’t want to leave. He has everything he could want, good food, no school, and a motorized scooter.

All the other elderly folk are nice and enjoy the nursing home as well. However, when a game of Bingo begins something seems oddly familiar about one senior.

He seems to act suspiciously like Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club, garnering the attention of all the senior women. It’s Smooth Jason from episode 6 “Emo like the Wolfstank”!

After Max and James revealed him to be a cheater, he left and discovered the hidden truth behind donating blood. He has been appearing as a senior ever since, loving and practically ruling the nursing home.

James and Jason battle it out, as best as they can in their elderly states, with James having the upper hand. However, the Bingo ball basket falls and rolls towards the defenseless seniors.

James saves them, using squats and reveals himself to be young. He is taken away from the nursing home while Jason stays behind, achieving victory.

Oddballs Season 1 Episode 10 recap – Lesson Learned

Back at school, James is frustrated that he has to go back to gym class. Even though squats did save the seniors, he still thinks gym class is pointless.

This time however, James’ gym teacher is obsessed with pushups. James makes the same comment that pushups don’t solve any problem as we see an elderly Echo watching from the bleachers.

It seems she has been donating blood and will seek the benefits of appearing old.

Oddballs Season 1 Episode 10 review

While Echo is not the focus of the episode, this is the first time I actually enjoyed her presence. She didn’t dominate the episode.

She wasn’t nearly as unlikable as she had been previously. The attention still remained on James, and he was able to learn his lesson without her interference.

And she did make me laugh with the whole Bingo joke, just so that they could get free food thrown at them. Ideally, this would be a great formula for the show to use in the future, if a season 2 does happen.

I truly liked that James focused on the benefits of getting old and not the negatives. The show is meant to be a comedy, so I assumed there wouldn’t be a dark approach to senior living.

Regardless, most times seniors and nursing homes are depicted in rather depressing ways. But here, the seniors aren’t bored, they are relaxing.

They get to enjoy good food in an inviting environment with games like Bingo. They may be slower and weaker, but they have motorized scooters to help them move around.

The episode even makes a joke about how some grandchildren never visit their grandparents. It was handled both effectively and humorously.

This was definitely one of the more creative stories this season and I hope to see more like this as I get closer to the season finale.

What did you think of the Oddballs season 1 episode 10? Share your thoughts in the comments below, we’d love to read them!

You can watch Oddballs season 1 on Netflix.