diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/Dispatcher.java b/src/main/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/Dispatcher.java
index f0d9894f..46022cdd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/Dispatcher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/Dispatcher.java
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ public Result dispatch(Map<String, Object> variables, String code) throws Script
             Object out_py = null;
             Object out_ids = null;
             Object out_type = null;
+            Object out_status = null;
             // do we have a result object from an R check?
             try {
                 var_r = engine.get("mdq_result");
@@ -169,8 +170,8 @@ public Result dispatch(Map<String, Object> variables, String code) throws Script
                 }
                 // save the output
                 if (out_py != null && !out_py.toString().equals("<unbound>")) {
-                    
-                    if (out_py instanceof ArrayList){
+
+                    if (out_py instanceof ArrayList) {
                         ArrayList<Output> outputList = new ArrayList<>();
 
                         ArrayList<?> out_py_l = (ArrayList<?>) out_py;
@@ -179,32 +180,37 @@ public Result dispatch(Map<String, Object> variables, String code) throws Script
 
                         for (int i = 0; i < out_py_l.size(); i++) {
                             Output o = new Output(out_py_l.get(i).toString());
-                        
+
                             String id = out_ids_l.get(i).toString();
                             String type = out_type_l.get(i).toString();
-                        
+
                             o.setIdentifier(id);
                             o.setType(type);
                             outputList.add(o);
                         }
-                        dr.setOutput(outputList);    
+                        dr.setOutput(outputList);
                     } else {
                         Output o = new Output(out_py.toString());
                         dr.setOutput(o);
                     }
-                  
+
                 }
+                // if we didn't get any "normal" output from python grab whatever got returned
+                if (out != null & out_py == null) {
+                    Output o = new Output(out.toString());
+                    dr.setOutput(o);
+                } 
                 // try to get the global status variable from python
                 try {
-                    out_py = engine.get("status");
+                    out_status = engine.get("status");
                 } catch (Exception e) {
                     // catch this silently since we are just fishing
                     // the no result case is handled later
                     log.trace("No result found for python check variable variable status.");
                 }
                 // save the status
-                if (out_py != null && !out_py.toString().equals("<unbound>")) {
-                    dr.setStatus(Status.valueOf(out_py.toString()));
+                if (out_status != null && !out_status.toString().equals("<unbound>")) {
+                    dr.setStatus(Status.valueOf(out_status.toString()));
                 } else {
                     // if we haven't found anything at this point it probably failed
                     dr.setStatus(Status.FAILURE);
diff --git a/src/test/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/PythonDispatcherTest.java b/src/test/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/PythonDispatcherTest.java
index ed6e2617..0389d75a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/PythonDispatcherTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/edu/ucsb/nceas/mdqengine/dispatch/PythonDispatcherTest.java
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ public class PythonDispatcherTest {
 	public static void setupOnce() {
 		try {
 			Dispatcher.setupJep();
-		} catch (MetadigException me){
+		} catch (MetadigException me) {
 			fail("Setup failed with MetadigException: " + me.getMessage());
 		}
 	}
 
 	@Before
-	public void init(){
+	public void init() {
 		dispatcher = Dispatcher.getDispatcher("python");
 	}
 
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public void testTypes() {
 
 		names.put("myInt", XMLDialect.retypeObject("2"));
 		names.put("myFloat", XMLDialect.retypeObject("1.5"));
-		names.put("myBool", XMLDialect.retypeObject("true"));
+		names.put("myBool", XMLDialect.retypeObject("True"));
 		names.put("myStr", XMLDialect.retypeObject("hello"));
 
 		String code = "output = (type(myInt) is int) and (type(myFloat) is float) and (type(myBool) is bool)";
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public void testTypes() {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			fail(e.getMessage());
 		}
-		assertEquals("true", result.getOutput().get(0).getValue());
+		assertEquals("True", result.getOutput().get(0).getValue());
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public void testEquality() {
 		Map<String, Object> names = new HashMap<String, Object>();
 		names.put("x", 2);
 		names.put("y", 2);
-		String code = "x == y";
+		String code = "def call():    return(x == y)\n";
 		Result result = null;
 		try {
 			result = dispatcher.dispatch(names, code);
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ public void testCache() {
 		names.put("y", 2);
 		InputStream library = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/code/mdq-cache.py");
 
-		String code = "def call(): \n"
+		String code = "global output \n"
+				+ "def call(): \n"
 				+ "  return get('" + dataUrl + "') \n";
 
 		Result result = null;
@@ -158,6 +159,7 @@ public void testCache() {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			fail(e.getMessage());
 		}
+		result.getOutput();
 		// make sure the file is named as expected
 		assertTrue(result.getOutput().get(0).getValue().endsWith(DigestUtils.md5Hex(dataUrl)));
 	}