'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 27: We've Got Fleas

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We’ve Got Fleas

This show prides itself on the creative aesthetic to its world. There's each character of different species having different powers and unique interpretations of themes and abstract ideas.  However, some creative elements to this world don’t always turn out great.  Regarding the one introduced in this cartoon, I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but the thing it leads to is somewhat disturbing. 

It reveals itself when K.O., Rad, and Enid are faced with a new creation from Boxmore, an animal-like robot, Mikayla.  It’s an interesting break from the norm of the Boxmore robots. She's so animal-like in how she moves and attacks, making the usual strategy of the main protagonists ineffective.  They all decide that the only way to beat such a robot is to become animals themselves, and use instincts and abilities of the creatures they turn into in combat.  They learn from Dendy, who makes an inexplicable entrance inside Rad’s van, that the bite of a creature called a were-animal can turn them into animals.

They find one who happens to be the local crazy guy, Crinkly Wrinkly.  Although the animals they turn into from his bite don’t seem to have battle potential with Enid as a rabbit, Rad as a cute cat, and K.O. as a puppy, they do help in beating Mikayla.  From the appealing designs of these characters as animals and how they end up in their state, this strategy seems worth supporting. 

However, the cartoon later focuses on the drawbacks of this move with how much of a hindrance being animals is for them when not fighting robots.  They do approach the idea of remaining animals with open-mindedness which is an ethical way to approach change. It isn’t long before the drawbacks become super apparent.  The biggest one being getting fleas in their newly grown fur coats.  Watching them suffer the fleas is not fun to watch after how accepting they were of the change. 

With the noticeable problems of the change, the group soon does the logical thing of asking Crinkly Wrinkly to undo the curse with another bite…except that won’t do any good.  From there, there’s a very uneasy tone throughout the cartoon giving the impression that our three main protagonists are going to be stuck in this state.  If that’s not enough, they go to a clinic of other animal-turned humans at the request of a usual background rabbit character, Potato. There, they all wear costumes to simply look like humans. This brings up a lot of unfortunate implications about the characters of this world.  Did all the animals use to be humans?  Are any other humans or aliens animals dressed in costumes considering a later cartoon supports this theory?  How does wearing costumes solve any problems?  It’s a disturbing direction that puts many likable characters who did little to deserve this fate into an unfairly unresolvable issue.  It’s creative for sure, but the last scene of K.O. and his friends adjusting to being animals in human costumes with more noticeable problems doesn’t feel like a good place to end all this. 

I applaud bringing in creative additions to this already interesting world , but the unsettling implications make these additions I can’t fully welcome.

C-

The Ranking

1. Face Your Fears
2. You Have to Care
3. T.K.O.
4. Legends of Mr. Gar
5. We’ve Got Pests
6. I Am Dendy
7. You Get Me
8. Let’s Be Heroes
9. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
10. Jethro’s All Yours
11. Know Your Mom
12. Everybody Likes Rad?
13. Plaza Prom
14. We’re Captured
15. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
16. Let’s Be Friends
17. We Messed Up
18. Presenting Joe Cuppa
19. Sibling Rivalry
20. Second First Date
21. Stop Attacking the Plaza
22. Just Be a Pebble
23. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
24. You’re Level 100
25. You Are Rad
26. We’ve Got Fleas
27. One Last Score

The next OK K.O. review is a mature coverage of dealing with something you love having dark secrets and an inspiration to do something about them.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Star vs the Forces of Evil, it's "Crystal Clear" and "The Hard Way."

If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.