This week on Big Hero 6: The Series, Alistair Krei and Obake had a battle of wits over possession of a blue data chip the latter promised to sell the former. But more importantly for the show’s younger audience, Hiro got sick and bedridden after having to rescue Krei at sea.
1. Jacks are Wild
Obake hires a jetpack wearing trio of mercenaries called the Mad Jacks (voiced by Kerri Kenney, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Rob Riggle) to steal back the blue chip, and these characters are an absolute riot. For one thing, they are actually named Jack, except Riggle’s character, who’s actually named Greg, but goes by Jack because it makes sense. The group are just full of delightful surprises, from the way Kevin Michael Richardson’s Jack comes across as a teacher lecturing Hiro during their mid-fight banter, to the fact the loudmouthed trio are actually capable of being perfectly quiet and stealthy.
I could not have been more unprepared for the trio’s commercial, which is one absolutely glorious parody of an action figure promo, complete with Riggle’s over-the-top, macho narration, and an incredibly repetitive but killer theme song. Then to top it all off, it actually plays when they make their escape at the end, which is such a perfectly cheesy way to send them off for now, and one that further reduced me to uncontrolled fits of laughter.
2. This Week in Krei
Last week, I expressed concern the writers weren’t sure if Krei was an antagonist or not, because I naturally felt more sorry for the villain that he screwed over in the previous episode. I think he comes across a lot more like an unlucky doofus who’s way in over his head, as the writers presumably intend, this week, with him being pursued on all sides by the Mad Jacks. He also shows some intuitive thinking, making sure his windows are impregnable after his last kidnapping (though not his floor, heh), and managing to (briefly) escape from his captors.
3. Robots are Coming for Your Jobs
The storyline of Hiro coming down with a cold leads to a couple of standout scenes at the doctor’s office, where Baymax annoyingly concurs with each and every diagnosis. “Patience Sheila, it’s the future,” the medic tells herself. It’s amazing to think that we haven’t seen Baymax with a medical professional, and it’s all the more reason to delight in this show’s existence. It’s also astonishing how a cartoon is already informing kids that automation is coming to replace most jobs. (I for one, welcome when an AI can type up my thoughts for me.)
4. Video Game Homages
During those scenes at the hospital, Hiro claims he broke his leg playing video games, instead of his foolish attempt to prove he could still stop the Mad Jacks while sneezing his brains out. It pays off well when Hiro builds a drone version of his outfit to help the rest of the team at the end, which he puppets with a suspiciously familiar looking controller. It chimes in well with the gag about robots taking over all our jobs, as well as the other video game homages in the climax: there’s more than a whiff of Metal Gear Solid with the way Mad Jacks crouch and crawl around to Obake’s meeting place, and the narrow alleys they fly around in and get ambushed in by Big Hero 6 strongly smack of video game level design as well. (There’s also a cool moment during the Jacks’ HALO jump resembling J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek, but I digress.)
I definitely see Robo-Hiro returning later in the season when Big Hero 6 need to pull the wool over some bad guy’s eyes.
5. A True MacGuffin
The MacGuffin was a term popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, and then George Lucas, to refer to a film’s plot device. What’s less well understood, is that the term is meant to refer to a plot device that isn’t itself important to the story: the “rabbit’s foot” in Mission: Impossible III is a far better example of a MacGuffin than the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Likewise, the blue chip is in this episode isn’t important itself, but rather what it enables Obake to do, namely to to piggyback into Krei’s systems, and discover… Big Hero 6’s true identities.
Continued belowOh boy.
Bonus thoughts:
– The episode must’ve been originally intended to air during winter with the sea fog.
– Of course Baymax knows all about floatation devices.
– I love how this show balances tone, the prime example being Obake asking, “What does it take to lay you low, I wonder?,” before cutting to Hiro sneezing in bed, reaching for the tissue box.
– Wasabi with the puns again: viral infection, geddit?
– Robo-Hiro’s helmet display reminds me of Arnim Zola.
– I love that it’s the diversity of Big Hero 6’s outfits designs that helps them get the advantage over the identikit Mad Jacks.
– What’s up with that red streak in Obake’s hair? Then again, what’s up with his skull?
