Saturday, November 14, 2020

Radical Rescue - (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 3 Episode 11) - 'Toon Reviews 40

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Radical Rescue

I may not find Rad’s stories to be the show at its most compelling, but there are several instances that make him respectable as a character.  With this cartoon featuring some of these instances, this one does a lot more for me than I would expect.  In fact, they make this Rad’s true stand out starring role of this particular season. 

It all unfolds in an opening scene where a short instance of K.O. going about his work at the bodega leads Rad to give him some advice on coolness and tell him he’d never lead him astray.  This may seem overly prideful in Rad’s buff image he’s constantly building up for himself, but this moment becomes more telling from here.  Enter two often seen supporting heroes, Bell Beefer and Megafootball Baby, whose simple-minded, insensitive, and judgmental behaviors have a history of influencing Rad.  They start dropping statements of what they consider cool or lame with K.O. taking their statements to heart.  It’s kind of surprising he isn’t actually hurt by their opinions, especially since he was capable of being hurt over being called a mama’s boy.  

Rad, however, knows where this is going, and scrambles to delete from his phone all photos showing traces of what his friends consider lame which includes kittens.  Of course, at least one past cartoon has suggested that Rad is quite fond of kittens, and that one element is given significant attention in this cartoon.  When no one’s paying attention, he secretly sneaks over to an animal shelter where he’s apparently looked after several homeless cats for a long time.  He even has one cat he’s particularly fond of, the little kitten in one of his deleted photos called Teacup who was shown playing inside a teacup.  Rad’s easily right at home here, but keeping it secret is undeniably hard for him.  

Right now, it becomes even harder when a new arrival to the shelter is the feral Boxmore robot, Mikayla.  With the shelter owner oblivious and Rad’s cat-caring skills ineffective, he’s left to deal with her alone and protect the other kittens from Mikayla’s attacks.  While trying to get the kittens out of the shelter to safety, Rad gets one of his most respectable moments.  He finds K.O. seemingly completely reshaped by what Bell Beefer and Megafootball Baby’s judgements, acting all condescending with calling everything lame.  When he even calls what he cherishes lame, Rad is horrified showing a sense of legitimacy and brotherly heart to his relationship with the kid.  

He opens up with K.O. on how he’s grown to realize that it was completely unhealthy of him to let himself be guided on what to like, and that K.O. shouldn’t fall into the trap.  Now that there is one of the best lessons anyone can learn for promoting individual tastes and suggesting there’s no true mold to fit.  Luckily, K.O. was merely playing along in what he felt was a game, accepts Rad for who he is, and helps him save the kittens from Mikayla.  After that, it’s Bell Beefer and Megafootball Baby, the judgmental ones, that end up falling apart.  With an interesting take on a power battle, Rad fights with honesty instead of physical blows, and nothing they say can bring him or K.O. down, especially not emotionally.  

So Rad is able to make his soft side completely known, and while its tone doesn’t make it a favorite, it does show how well-rounded he really is.

B+

Season 2 Rankings

1.      Your World is an Illusion

2.      T.K.O.’s House

3.      Final Exams

4.      CarolQuest

5.      All in the Villainy

6.      Dark Plaza

7.      GarQuest

8.      Dendy’s Power

9.      Crossover Nexus

10.  Lord Cowboy Darrell

11.  Bittersweet Rivals

12.  Beach Episode

13.  Red Action to the Future

14.  My Fair Carol

15.  K.O.’s Health Week

16.  Are You Ready for Some Megafootball?!

17.  Boxman Crashes

18.  Wisdom Strength and Charisma

19.  Gar Trains Punching Judy

20.  I Am Jethro

21.  Mystery Sleepover

22.  Super Black Friday

23.  Point to the Plaza

24.  Project Ray Way

25.  Special Delivery

26.  Seasons Change

27.  The So-Bad-Ical

28.  Monster Party

29.  Sidekick Scouts

30.  Whacky Jaxxyz

31.  Rad’s Alien Sickness

32.  Plaza Film Festival

33.  OK A.U.! Alternate Universe

34.  Let’s Watch the Boxmore Show

35.  Be a Team

36.  Plaza Alone

37.  Soda Genie

Season 3 Ranking

1.      Big Reveal

2.      T.K.O. Rules

3.      K.O. vs Fink

4.      Whatever Happened to Rippy Roo?

5.      Chip’s Damage

6.      The K.O. Trap

7.      We Are Heroes

8.      Radical Rescue

9.      Planet X

10.  Deep Space Vacation

11.  K.O., Rad, and Enid!

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode featuring a special appearance by Sonic the Hedgehog.
If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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