On the eighth episode of Big Hero 6 season 2, big bad Liv Amara sought to ward off suspicion about the connection between Sycorax and all the mutated monsters terrorizing San Fransokyo. How? By introducing an invasive species of fast-growing fluffy monsters…
1. Body Odor Hero 6
The episode starts with Hiro attending an SFIT Q&A with Amara and Krei, having just fought Trina and Noodle Burger Boy scavenging in a garbage dump. It occurred to me while Hiro was causing everyone to hold their noses that I’d genuinely never thought about how superheroes would smell: can you just imagine how stinky some of them would be, sneaking back into the office after that day’s fight with a supervillain, especially in the era before body spray?! I suppose superhero storytellers, who always work in visual mediums, have therefore always focused on how exhausted or bruised they might look, and so have caused us to not think further about it.
2. Hiro the Skeptic
After Amara unleashes the adorable little Mayoi, everyone falls under their spell – even the stoic Granville, the germaphobic Wasabi, and Baymax, who’s a robot. Only Hiro maintains his rational desire to find out where the creatures came from, setting a great example for the kids watching at home to remember that, when something’s amiss, often it’s not you with the problem, but everyone else who’s blindly going in on the same craze without any care or knowledge of the consequences.
3. Pokemon No
So the Mayoi are plant/fungi-based little critters that can only say their name, who everyone readily adopts, and which grow through two stages into larger, less cute monsters – gosh, it’s like there was a really popular mobile game starring said creatures that everyone played (gosh) three years ago now? It was a very timely parody when this peremiered at the start of May after Detective Pikachu came out – I think the funniest part was how the Mayoi kept saying their names despite their voices breaking, which makes you grateful Pokemon change their names as they grow up – “Squirtle” just wouldn’t sound right with Blastoise’s booming voice, would it?
4. PLOT TWISTS
Remember I said Obake’s “children” appear in the cold open? They don’t show up again: instead Mr. Sparkles’s last appearance is quickly followed on, with him appearing on camera to take the blame for Amara’s experiments, and revealing he is psychically bonded with the Mayoi, who obey his every whim. As if that wasn’t enough of a twist, Amara, Chris, and Karmi show up with the antidote to make the Mayoi small and cute again, forcing Hiro to grudgingly team up with them.
As if those weren’t enough, while a very confused Hiro is left wondering what Liv’s endgame is, we see her enter a very secure room in Sycorax’s HQ, where a woman is being kept in cryo. Liv promises not to fail her: I wonder, does Liv have a terminally ill sister she’s trying to cure? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.
5. Baymax the Artist
Early on, Hiro and Karmi have a confrontation in the SFIT cafeteria over the uncomfortable questions he gave her boss, which Baymax regales to the rest of the gang with a chibi graphic of her attacking him. Huh, I thought, is Baymax an artist now? Turns he literally is: at the end of the episode, it turns out he’s been using his observations about what everyone finds cute about the Mayoi to generate artwork to cheer up Hiro, with disastrous results:
I thought this was a very funny reference to experiments getting AI to write screenplays or novels, which always leads to bizarre reads – clearly, there’s things you just can’t learn by generating an algorithm.
Bonus thoughts:
– The moderator at the Q&A making jokes about how small Hiro is did a great job of reminding us of how young he is – although how old is Hiro now? How much time has passed since the movie?
– Toon City’s animation of Big Hero 6’s anti-monster suits look different: more black than gray, and with more of each member’s own personal color.
Continued below
– Hiro’s reaction to Granville cooing at her Mayoi is so funny that it deserves to become a reaction meme:
See you next week for “Supersonic Sue.”
