'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 37: We Got Hacked

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We Got Hacked

This may just be another cartoon about a mishap at Gar’s Bodega, but even with a typical subject, it still leaves an impact with a creative aesthetic. 

K.O. sets up a specialized mop to clean the store, but it gets out of control and wrecks everything.  With repairs desperately needed, Dendy comes to make it so the bodega won’t have to be closed.  As usual, Dendy impresses through her combination of intellect with childlike charm through manning her technical skills to get the mop under control. 

Through her work, there’s subtext of how dangerous going online can be.  When bringing up windows of the mop’s inner workings via her hackpack, one of them has an enticing popup ad.  K.O. childishly ignores Dendy’s warning against clicking it, and bad things happen when he does.  If anyone’s been on the computer, I’m sure they’ve done something that unleashed a virus on the system at some point, usually all from a single innocent click on a popup ad. 

This idea is creatively portrayed when K.O. pressing the popup ad unleashes a virus on the mop which is crafted like a human virus.  It explodes with pink puddles of harmful electrical data everywhere and they infect everything and everyone.  When the virus puddles touch an object, it turns pink as if the virus was a bunch of germs latching onto a hard surface.  When people touch the puddles, how they get the virus has a nice interpretation.  They turn into mindlessly functioning beings shaking around and done in limited CGI common in video games of the early 90s.  Different circumstances lead to many people getting infected leading to an army of glitching CGI characters like a zombie apocalypse.  This becomes so serious that the survivors have to hide in the break room.  It’s a creative occurrence with an interesting aesthetic, and the legit dangers to how it spreads add to its magnitude. 

It’s constantly bogged down by K.O. insisting he didn’t click the popup ad that started the mess when he usually does own up to his mistakes, but at least he comes to his senses later.  There’s also a heartwarming scene where he and Dendy decide to endure the inevitable through making sure the last things they see are each other. The emotions feel so real.  The only break in the emotion is when K.O. and Dendy notice everyone glitching so much, they can go out into the store and get Dendy’s hackpack to reset the system and cure the virus. It's honestly a pretty funny realization. 

After that, the suspense kicks up again when K.O. and Dendy rush to connect the infected to the hackpack.  In the process, K.O. does an impressive amount of the work considering he caused the problem in the first place.  All seems well afterwards, even coming with a creative interpretation of the reset process from everything disappearing and reappearing.  However, the last scene of K.O. getting glitched is a little concerning.  It does feel appropriate for the disaster movie feel the cartoon is going for.  All the same, this being the ending doesn’t feel satisfying with him suffering after learning his lesson and doing a lot to fix everything.  Fortunately, the strengths are so strong, the sting of the ending doesn’t cause much harm. 

This is still a simple concept turned into a creative escapade with relatable topics, and stakes that make what happens feel real and relatable.

A

The Ranking

1. Face Your Fears
2. You Have to Care
3. T.K.O.
4. No More Pow Cards
5. Glory Days
6. Legends of Mr. Gar
7. We’ve Got Pests
8. I Am Dendy
9. Let’s Have a Stakeout
10. You Get Me
11. Let’s Be Heroes
12. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
13. We Got Hacked
14. K.O.’s Video Channel
15. Jethro’s All Yours
16. Know Your Mom
17. Everybody Likes Rad?
18. A Hero’s Fate
19. Plaza Prom
20. We’re Captured
21. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
22. Let’s Be Friends
23. We Messed Up
24. Parents Day
25. Plazalympics
26. Presenting Joe Cuppa
27. Sibling Rivalry
28. Second First Date
29. Stop Attacking the Plaza
30. Just Be a Pebble
31. The Power is Yours
32. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
33. You’re Level 100
34. You Are Rad
35. We’ve Got Fleas
36. Rad Likes Robots
37. One Last Score

The next OK K.O. review explores the background of Red Action and starts a charming friendship between her and Enid.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is Animaniacs Episode 33 featuring cartoons in Wakko's body.

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

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 25

The Price of Admission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s my personal belief that the scariest things in life exist in one’s imagination and they can’t help but see them as they go about their lives.  This concept is nicely personified in this cartoon where Lincoln sees a scary movie his parents didn’t want him to see, and he ends up seeing scary parts of the movie everywhere he goes afterwards.  All the moments of Lincoln’s paranoia work because they’re all self-inflicted meaning that Lincoln brought them on himself by seeing that movie.  Because of that, it’s easy to see the humorous side of all the little things around the Loud House that pose as something scary for Lincoln to see.  They include stepping on a doll with a damaged voice box that makes him think that someone’s out to get him, or seeing a bunch of whoopee cushions as his sisters’ colons, or misinterpreting what his neighbor, Mr. Grouse, is gardening.  There’s also a lot of nice scenes of Lincoln trying to keep himself awake at night which involve some nice interactions with his sisters, a humorous moment centering around Leni’s lack of intelligence in response to getting up to start the day when it’s late at night, and even a continuity nod of Lincoln and Bobby being friends.  It’s a very nice collection of scenes that uniquely demonstrate not just what we commonly experience when we’re afraid, but also how much strong relationships Lincoln has in life.  What’s more, everything’s tied together by a satisfying conclusion when, after Mom and Dad decide that he is ready to see that scary movie, and Lincoln confesses what he did and how seeing the movie got him so frightened.  The best part about it is that instead of getting mad and harshly punishing Lincoln for his actions, his parents understand how traumatized he is by the experience and respect his feelings.  This is then followed up with a moment that gives a rare message that sometimes, watching things meant for young children can give you relief from so much stress as interpreted with Lincoln and his parents instead going to see a movie starring a Barney parody, just what Lincoln really needs after what he went through.   On the whole, this is a fine and entertaining cartoon that shows us what it’s like to be afraid as well as prominently displaying the good side of Lincoln’s relationships with the people in his life. 9/10

One Flu Over the Loud House

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting sick is something no one enjoys, and while it’s always good to try and take care of those who are sick, most of the time, there’s no way to do that without getting sick ourselves.  Considering that the family in this show is so big, you can imagine how big of a deal someone getting sick is.  This cartoon takes that concept and really has fun with how it portrays it.  The moment one member of the Loud family gets sick, everyone else is doomed to catch the illness too.  This little moment is made a lot bigger in scale with everyone portraying it as a zombie apocalypse.  Those who are still healthy strive to escape to some place safe, with only water guns loaded with chicken soup to protect them.  In keeping true to the nature of spreading viruses, more family members end up catching it, and if you look at it as a zombie apocalypse, it’s clever and amusing to look at it like the survivors are dwindling.  Through it all though, one character stands out in this unique way of looking at the situation, and that is Leni.  As Lincoln and some of the other sisters treat the sick family members as zombies they should avoid at all costs, Leni shows off some immense levels of heart by wanting to help the sick.  While it is true that she’s not looking at the big picture that there’s really no way to help them without getting sick herself, it’s still incredibly sweet that she wants to show kindness to her family amidst the big escape out of the virus-infested house.  The cartoon then ends in a typical zombie apocalypse fashion where, despite the efforts of the remaining healthy family members and Leni’s kindness, the whole family ends up sick, though it’s great that they’re later nursed by Clyde who does have means to care for the sick without getting infected.  This cartoon’s biggest strength is how it makes a small part of life feel bigger than it is by offering a unique perspective of it.  As a result, it ends up being one of this show’s best displays of character moments, situational humor, and atmosphere crafting. 10/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      A Tattler’s Tale

3.      Undie Pressure

4.      Project Loud House

5.      One Flu Over the Loud House

6.      Funny Business

7.      Space Invader

8.      A Fair to Remember

9.      Driving Miss Hazy

10.  Left in the Dark

11.  Toads and Tiaras

12.  Picture Perfect

13.  Dance, Dance Resolution

14.  House Music

15.  Save the Date

16.  The Price of Admission

17.  Sleuth or Consequences

18.  Hand-Me-Downer

19.  No Guts No Glori

20.  Roughin’ It

21.  Attention Deficit

22.  Changing the Baby

23.  Along Came A Sister

24.  Snow Bored

25.  April Fools Rules

26.  A Novel Idea

27.  Sound of Silence

28.  Butterfly Effect

29.  A Tale of Two Tables

30.  Cereal Offender

31.  Cover Girls

32.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

33.  The Waiting Game

34.  Overnight Success

35.  Raw Deal

36.  In Tents Debate

37.  Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru

38.  Out on a Limo

39.  Linc or Swim

40.  The Sweet Spot

41.  Heavy Meddle

42.  Get the Message

43.  Come Sale Away

44.  Ties that Bind

45.  One of the Boys

46.  Making the Case

47.  Chore and Peace

48.  The Loudest Yard

49.  Two Boys and a Baby

50.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the season finale where Lincoln and his sisters crush on teacher figures in "Study Muffin," and the show's famed use of family love hits its peak in "Homespun."