The Rad Awesome Terrific Ray
Episode 5 of Solar Opposites Season 2 begins with Red Goobler returning. Only, he holds a barcode scanner rather than a sniper rifle. It turns out he’s about to marry a girl called Jen. As the pair kiss and walk away, Korvo and Terry believe this may be a big ploy to catch them off-guard. Later that day, Jen heads over and invites the pair to the wedding. Only, Terry zaps her with the rat ray instead of the R.A.T. ray. Unfortunately if they can’t get her back, it’ll cause the Red Goobler to come after them again with murderous intent. Korvo attends the bachelor party and winds up sleeping with Goobler. Together, they decide to run away and get married themselves. Meanwhile, Yumyulack and Jesse attend school and prepare for PE. With a pocket dimension and some Matrix gags, the pair grab some gear to help them cheat and win the race. Unfortunately this brings them in over their heads as the Principal forces them to compete in Regionals, especially given they complete the mile in 1 minute. Well, the next race is completed in 30 seconds. The FBI are there though and incredibly recruit them to compete for the Olympics. Michelle Obama shows up too because I guess, why not! She’s this timeline’s President and she admits that the entire country’s treasury has been bid on the outcome of this race. Together, Jesse and Yumyulack manage to win the race by cheating again. With Jesse using her Lesson-learning device, each of the family learn something new. The kids turn away from running while Terry comes clean about Jen being turned into a rat. As Red Goobler runs away, Jen (still a rat) finds herself happy in the sewers with a fellow rodent called Dennis.
The Episode Review
Solar Opposites returns with another mixed bag episode that proves this show really needs the Wall to survive. There’s a few nice jokes in here but with no scenes regarding The Wall and a couple of other jokes that don’t quite land, this episode falls flat a little. Pupa is almost non-existent while the Olympic running almost feels like an after-thought in the wake of the Red Goobler story. I get that the message here is to “embrace the chaos” but the ending doesn’t feel that satisfying compared to some of the other episodes this season. Still, there’s plenty more to come from this animation and it’s clear this second season is all about experimentation.
