Be a Team
Stories consisting of people who are usually a great team fighting a lot are some of the most frustrating to me. They go against established strong dynamics way too easily and are usually not fun to sit through. Typically, when this show puts its characters in petty fights, it’s kept enjoyable through high energy vocal performances and funny mad expressions. With this fight-based cartoon, those things are technically present, but it’s still not much fun to put up with.
It’s just after a huge 100 day sale at Gar’s Bodega, and all three of its workers who are usually such a great team are constantly at odds. Rad and Enid have a lot of problems to fight over while K.O. is desperate to make peace, but has no luck. It’s just hard to shake off the fact that their usual strong teamwork is suddenly compromised for petty reasons, and the fun is sucked out of everything.
On the plus side, this setup does give a reason to develop side characters from around the plaza. Nick Army and Joff the Shaolin monk are called over to instruct the bodega employees on what it means to be a team. Now, in past appearances, these two characters have been shown to have an interesting dynamic. They have different approaches to life, but are still very close and devoted to each other. For that, it’s nice to some devotion to this pairing in a cartoon. However, the help they offer K.O., Rad, and Enid is very demonstrative of how they clash in approaches. They try combining their methods by having the three get together aggressively and peacefully saying they love each other. While K.O. can do that fine, Rad and Enid still have too many unwarranted problems with each other to pull it off.
From there, Joff and Nick go off down their own paths to settle things. Joff, being a monk tries a peaceful approach by getting the bodega heroes to visualize themselves as shapes of one whole unit. All that comes out of this though is a funny image of K.O., Rad, and Enid as shapes that can’t stand up together. Nick goes a more violent route by having his subjects pilot a machine, though in doing so, they all have jobs that don’t suit them. I get their frustration when the machine backfires, but saying they’re done with each other enhances the audience frustration even worse. Why break up a dynamic that defines the show over something so stupid?
Speaking of breaking up dynamics, Nick and Joff decide they have enough of each other and fight each other. That’s a pretty unpleasing culmination of breaking down an established reputation because of a few difficult subjects. The catch is that only when this happens is when K.O., Rad, and Enid put up the good showing of teamwork they’re known for. Playing to their strengths, they get Nick and Joff under control which is at least a decent conclusion for their sake. As for Nick and Joff, apparently their fighting was all a part of the test for K.O., Rad, and Enid to be a team, but it’s hard to buy that reason when their anger was too genuine. I suppose it’s the best thing that can happen to justify them ending the cartoon by walking into a sunset holding hands though.
Overall, I
can say that the cartoon certainly has its moments, mainly through developing
side characters in a significant way.
However, as a cartoon centering on petty fights, the show has honestly
done better.
B-
Season 2 Rankings
1. Lord Cowboy Darrell
2. Seasons Change
3. Plaza Film Festival
4. Be a Team
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