Lucharaaaaaaan! Welcome to our review of ¡Mucha Lucha!‘s eleventh episode, we are getting closer to the end of the season! This episode includes “Honor Thy Lucha” & “Chinche”. As every week there’s a song for you, this time I give you a classic child’s song El piojo y la pulga (which means the lice & the flea), from the biggest musical legend in Mexico, Pedro Infante. And now that the ring is ready, let’s start this review!
1. Recaps
In “Honor Thy Lucha” Rikochet steals the Golden El Rey Trading Card from his friend Minotoro, he is dishonoring lucha with his actions! Can our hero redeem himself?
Then, the gang meets The Flea’s cousin “Chinche” he seems like a good guy, but I know that he’s up to something. Better keep an eye on him.
2. “Possession is 9/10 of the law, and the last 2/10 is not telling anyone about it”
Well, there you go, the classic “bad guy learns to be good with the help of a ghost” cliché, this is a very common story to be told, I’m glad that at least it’s not a Christmas tale. I think this is a very average episode with a plot that every show has to have. This could very easily be a really boring episode, but the creators managed to at least add their style and make good jokes with what they have. Also, I wouldn’t mind a visit from the ghost of donuts.
3. The forgotten art of lucha libre
This episode had a scene where El Fantasmo shows Rikochet the fate of lucha libre after he steals the card; wrestling is just a circus attraction. Well, I would like to note that sadly, it is kind of true. You guys have the WWE, Impact (GFW), Ring of Honor and Lucha Underground, and that is only the main ones; American wrestling is as good as always.
But Mexican wrestling has been on a downslide for a lot of time, wrestlers are not well paid, they have to struggle on little arenas with bad safety, you have to work extremely hard to get recognition from the people, and if you are lucky you maybe can get a stellar career, and then, the best option is to go to WWE and try to be an idol. Keep in mind, every time a Rey Mysterio, Alberto del Rio or Místico gets famous in the US, a thousand other Mexicans are struggling back home. They have all my respect.
4. Chinche Cliché
In this second episode we have another cliché, “everyone thinks he’s good, but he’s really a bad guy”. I don’t have much to say about the plot, it resolves -as you can expect- with a happy ending, and just like I said above, at least they made good jokes with what they have. I knew that guy Little Pea was not a trustworthy dude.
5. “Maybe, Flea, you are the problem”
Maybe this is the most interesting thing both episodes had to offer, the ambiguity of The Flea, with him acting as the devil on Rikochet’s shoulders and his beef with his cousin, he hates him so much that he becomes the bad guy at the eyes of his friends.
We have been exploring about Flea’s moral all season long, I mean, he is a good guy, but, where’s the limit? He can be a treasonous friend, or a nasty fighter, overall he’s a tricky person, so, why is he likable? Why do we root for him?
I mean, the obvious answer is because at the end he does the right thing, but the real magic happens in the background. Writers, animators and voice artist doing what they know best, in order to take unlikable traits and make a likable character, that´s why the Flea is such a funny member of the show.
And that’s our review for this week. Let us know what you think of our thoughts about this episode of ¡Mucha Lucha! (and any other series from our Summer TV Binge) in the comments below. See you next Friday!
