Let’s Watch the Boxmore Show
It soon becomes clear that the intent of this cartoon is to satirize how obsessive people can become when watching a favorite show. However, it’s hard to really immerse oneself in that feel with the given context and how far the characters go with their obsession.
After a round of beating the Boxmore robots, K.O., Rad, and Enid are taken to an important room in Gar’s Bodega. There are several monitors set up around the plaza that Mr. Gar uses to observe every little thing happening. The bodega employees are assigned to watch over them in case there’s any suspicious activity coming from Boxmore. What ends up happening is that they find a lot of entertainment coming from watching what happens at the enemy robot company.
Put together, the events at Boxmore play out just like something out of a reality show. Darrell, the robot in charge of everything, has a position for any of his robot seasons to be his deputy if they can successfully destroy the plaza. It’s also marked by a special award called a bipple which, unsurprisingly, all the robots covet. Add in a few random interviews about their feelings on the circumstance and competition, and the feel the security measures are going for is fully realized. It’s practically convincing that K.O., Rad, and Enid start treating their job like it’s an actual show right down to never moving from the monitors for a week just to see how it all unfolds. That there is an interesting take on the idea of binge-watching.
Slowly though, their obsessions with what they’re watching makes itself known as they eagerly anticipate certain moments. The biggest one is a comedic blowup from one of the simpler robots, Ernesto, at all of his siblings. This is all innocent enough, but then this approach to responsibility becomes very problematic. K.O., Rad, and Enid become so attached to their security watch on Boxmore that they start taking sides on who gets the spot of Darrell’s deputy. Sometimes they don’t show any care about what they’re targeting. At one point, Darrell assigns them to attack the Fitness Dojo where K.O.’s mom works. K.O. nicely sees the horrific implications of this attack coming to pass and begs Rad and Enid to do something to stop them. Knowing how much they care for K.O., and how much he loves his mommy, they really should have seen the issue with this long before.
However, even after talking the robots out of going after the dojo, the bodega employees abuse their positions just as badly. There is at least one funny scene where, with the aid of a special walkie-talkie and solid Darrell impressions, they trick Ernesto into melting himself in the incinerator. The rest of the moments though are hard to excuse as each employee sides with one Boxmore robot, and tricks them into going after different areas of the plaza. Some of them offer unwarranted destruction of personal property like Rad’s van and Enid’s favorite counter. The most disturbing part is that they all forget the Boxmore robots are the bad guys and try to help them. Soon Mr. Gar has to come in and take care of everything and later rightfully berate the bodega employees. Also, when he shows some admiration for the alleged Boxmore Show, it feels more reasonable since, unlike the employees, he doesn’t let it interfere with responsibilities. It makes it all the more disappointing that turn out to not be ready for such a game-changing position.
There are
some laughs from the show and relatable premise, but it could have been better
in context of the story.
B
Season 2
Rankings
1. Lord Cowboy Darrell
2. My Fair Carol
3. Seasons Change
4. Plaza Film Festival
5. Let’s Watch the Boxmore Show
6. Be a Team
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