October’s only started but it’s already Halloween in San Fransokyo, and Hiro is seeing the ghost of Tadashi everywhere he goes. Noodle Burger Boy, meanwhile, plots to steal a giant magnet Go Go and Granville are working on.
1. “Haunted House”
The episode begins with Big Hero 6 – all in new costumes – visiting a haunted house attraction, which is where Obake secretly plants contact lenses on our heroes to make them confront specters of their worst fears later on. I must admit, I was hoping from the title that this episode would fully reveal our big bad’s story, and that it wasn’t just a play on words (“Obake Yashiki” means “haunted house” in Japanese). As it was, it just wasn’t a big surprise to me that Obake was the one messing up Hiro with apparitions of his dead brother. I guess it’s just as well for kids that the episode titles aren’t displayed onscreen.
2. Fear Toxin
I gotta admit, when Big Hero 6 were all surrounded by their biggest phobias, I had to wonder when the Scarecrow from “Batman” had showed up. And frankly, I think his fear gas would’ve been a more logical explanation for their hallucinations than contact lenses, as it’s rather unbelievable the group didn’t notice something in their eyes. (Obake implants them when they’re blasted with air looking at the haunted house, so it even looks like they were sprayed with it.) Given “Steamer’s Revenge” had revealed Obake could hack Big Hero 6’s systems, couldn’t he have projected those holograms into their heads-up displays instead?
3. Storage Crate
Noodle Burger Boy begins the episode stealing a Krei Tech crate (say that five times fast) full of the stealth robots from “Aunt Cass Goes Out” (which he has display the creepy visage of smiling dumplings). It’s one of many assets from earlier episodes that noticeably make a reappearance this week, from a red lollipop Baymax gives a kid on Halloween, to the mummies at the haunted house.
Later on, Noodle Burger Boy reminds us he’s the most unnervingly formidable villain on the show by injuring Baymax to the point of cracking open his armor, and putting him out-of-action in the rest of the episode. One would think it was just a way for the animators to reuse the model of Baymax’s endoskeleton from the start of the series, but it does serve a plot purpose, given Baymax is the only member of the team without contacts. In any case, this episode was full of familiar imagery.
4. Fred the Creep
I didn’t care for Fred and Go Go’s subplot, which sees the team’s fanboy member upset that she was unimpressed by the haunted house he rented for Halloween, and trying his best to get a good scare out of her. Why was he so obsessed with seeing her humiliated? (OK, so he’s clearly got a crush on her, but still.) Like Go Go said, it was just sad seeing him dressed like a leprechaun, and I wondered if she just said she was afraid of them to get him off her back. Oh, and the part where he tries to leave her apartment while failing to notice her lock? Gosh he’s stupid. I’m glad he was too busy screaming at Obake’s projection of a giant spider to take in her being confronted with her own personal demon.
5. Hippos are Scary
On that note, I found Go Go’s fear of leprechauns a very funny choice on the writers’ part: they must’ve decided her parents accidentally let her watch the Warwick Davis film. Similarly, I absolutely agree with the reveal that Honey Lemon’s greatest fear is hippos. Hippos are most definitely not cute, and are very dangerous: I’m glad Disney is teaching kids that.
Bonus thoughts:
– The giant magnet looks like Hank Pym’s lab from Ant-Man and the Wasp.
– I did not need to see Fred in his underwear today.
– Is there a right way to dress up as a person from another race? Honey Lemon dresses up as Lenore Shimamoto for Halloween, and I think she does it correctly.
– What if Tadashi’s ghost had been a clone? A human robot was introduced last week.
Alright folks, ready yourselves: next week is the three-part season finale.
