Review: The Awesomes ‘The Awesomes Awesome Show’

Spoilers Below:

A shot at fame presented itself to the Awesomes this week, in the form of TV executives giving the team a ten episode television series. (Déjà vu, right?) Everyone jumped at the opportunity to be reality show stars, especially Frantic, who was eager to show the world his true self after discovering that he’s the least popular of the group.

Letting the celebrity lifestyle get to them, the gang soon found themselves juggling side projects as well. Impressario started reality shows called ImPromSario and Fashion Crimes; Muscle Man and Sumo created one called Sumo Money, Sumo Problems & Muscle Man also guest starred on a game show called Kiss, Marry, Kill; and Gadget Gal and Concierge got a perfume line. Frantic, told he was “not marketable,” came out as gay for the attention.

Throughout the episode, the Awesomes battled “The Fishsticks,” a group of supervillains that were actually actors fighting our superhero friends to score their own TV show. They also fought against themselves in typical reality show style, but it turned out they had been hypnotized by the head TV exec, who revealed herself to be a supervillain named The Aggrivator. At the end of the episode, she was recruited by Malocchio Jr. to be the fourth member of The PRICKS.

Meanwhile, up in space, Mr. Awesome tried a new serum that he hoped would reverse the evil serum that initially infected Dr. Malocchio. Faking positive results, Malocchio attempted an escape but was thwarted by Mr. Awesome. Back to the drawing board there.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Prock’s action figure catchphrases included: “Ow, I broke my arm again,” and “Sounds like a bad idea to me.”

2) The Awesomes’ series was described as a show that “people are going to put in their Neflix queue, but never watch.”

3) If The Awesomes had a real commercial that was just like their fake commercial, way more people would watch it.

4) Only on Hulu. (It’s also on NBC.) ONLY ON HULU!

5) Perfect Man was seen drinking wine with the others while wearing a lampshade on his head. He later lamented on camera about the life of a lamp.

6) The TV Exec’s suggestions for Frantic to be less boring: “Date a robot. Punch a nun.”

7) A few brief Dan Mintz sightings (or hearings): gay TV chef, Frantic’s boyfriend, & one of the Fishsticks.

Although this episode was definitely funny, I found it to be the least funny of the season thus far. I can’t quite put my finger on the reasoning, but I feel like it might have something to do with the fact that all of the Awesomes, save Prock, acted the same. They all went Hollywood (even level-headed Concierge!) and their activities could have been exchanged with one another without affecting the plot.

Also, Malocchio Jr. (and his lovely mother) were barely in this episode. The one scene with both of them was extremely brief – yet still funny – and then Junior didn’t come back until the very end. Maybe it’s my love for Will Forte, or maybe I just want to see a bit more conflict from the show’s main antagonist, but whatever the reason, the point is the same: there just wasn’t enough Malocchio Jr. this week.

However, I’m pleased to see the theory I formed last week is panning out. If you recall, I floated the idea that each weekly installment focused on a different character. First it was the introduction of Malocchio Jr., then Jaclyn Stone’s first episode, then a Muscle Man family reunion, a trip back to school for Tim, and now we saw Frantic as the star. Interesting that they decided to actually make him gay in the end (no pun intended) but I’d say it’s a smart and respectable decision for the series.

I’d like to clarify that in no way was this a bad episode, but it just didn’t hold up to the standard set by the first four of the season.

Be sure to stop by next week as we venture into the second half of the The Awesomes second season.