'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 18: We're Captured

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We’re Captured

In many cartoons I’ve covered so far, characterization has been one of the biggest factors to this show’s success.  This show's characters have appealing designs, and believable and interesting depth beyond their basic traits.  Now, the characterization reaches a new height by investing the audience in what the main villain gets up to. 

Lord Boxman may be a typical bully who loves sending his robot children for the petty task of attacking Lakewood Plaza Turbo and disowning them when they fail.  Still, he's fun and great for his comedic reactions and approaches to everything that happens.  This cartoon shows that he’s still human going about a normal daily routine, allowing the audience to enjoy what he offers as a lead.  It begins with him already capturing K.O., Rad, and Enid holding them over a pit of lava while they’re all tied up.  While Lord Boxman explains their torture process, he frequently leaves to check on certain things. 

In addition to simply doing evil deeds, Lord Boxman spends the cartoon setting up a dinner for an important client, Professor Venomous.  He comes off as a believable civilian working a job.  Even though everything is happening to the villain character, it’s not hard to feel for Lord Boxman trying to make the dinner go well.  Mishaps such as burning the food and having to stop Darrell and Shannon’s overblown entertainment attempts ring very true to how hard something seemingly simple can be. 

Dealing with our three main protagonists makes the night more difficult for Lord Boxman, making him come off as “double-booked”.  In fact, K.O. easily breaking free from the ropes and rescuing his friends sells not just Lord Boxman’s comedic setup as a villain, but also how rushed he feels at the moment.  The actual dinner continues to show how difficult moments common to life can be. Professor Venomous seems hard to please while his little assistant Fink acts all bratty about being dragged along akin to how most little kids would act in this case.  There’s also an incredibly boneheaded move on K.O., Rad, and Enid’s part.  They disguise themselves as chefs and deliberately sabotage the dinner when they have a perfect opportunity to escape.  It’s hard to believe they’d all go along with pointless reckless jokes instead of just getting to safety.  At least their various food server themed gags are hilarious. 

Even if the reasoning for the protagonists messing around isn’t strong, they do have appropriate consequences.  Lord Boxman fights back hard, making good use of Darrell in the process as he traps K.O. Rad and Enid in a big coconut cream pie.  This even impresses Professor Venomous enough to finish them off by shooting them out of Boxmore.  Basically, the cartoon ends with the heroes losing, though they still get shot back home.  On the other hand, Lord Boxman gets a happy ending with the dinner interruption convincing Professor Venomous to remain a client. 

For a villain, his satisfaction of still being needed and being successful for once is somewhat nice even if we’re not supposed to like him.  It all boils down to how well-written these characters are. No matter how simple they’re portrayed or what their morality is, they’re all likable enough to watch and identify with.

A

The Ranking

1. Legends of Mr. Gar
2. We’ve Got Pests
3. I Am Dendy
4. You Get Me
5. Let’s Be Heroes
6. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
7. Jethro’s All Yours
8. Know Your Mom
9. We’re Captured
10. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
11. Let’s Be Friends
12. We Messed Up
13. Presenting Joe Cuppa
14. Sibling Rivalry
15. Just Be a Pebble
16. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
17. You’re Level 100
18. You Are Rad

The next OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes review presents a creative, immersive, and character-developing way for the cast to face their fears.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Star vs the Forces of Evil is a review of "Into the Wand" and "Pizza Thing."

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