Review: Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY “We Are Family”

Spoilers Below

The Guardians are a planet checking out remnants of a material that seems to set off the “Cosmic Cube” when a bunch of robots show up to try and get Rocket. Turns out these robots used to do experiments on Groot and Rocket and they are, for whatever reason, BACK. While Quill, Gamora, and Drax make a run for the rapids, Rocket and Groot get recaptured and brought back to a ship and sent to Halfworld. Turns out the two have information that the robots want concerning some sort of rebel base. It’s here we run into Rocket’s mom and sister whom are also under siege by the robots. Everyone tries to make a break for it, but are stopped by Rocket’s older brother and his team Black Jack and Wall Russ.

Rocket doesn’t seem to be a fan of his older brother whom helps save everyone and brings them back to a lab ran by a turtle. Turns out, the turtle named Piker wants the mineral that the Guardians found on the mining planet and that he wants revenge against the robots. All of the animals believe in this cause and with the crystals that Rocket brought, Rocket’s brother Ranger is turned into a monster and tasked with destroying Groot and Rocket.

Groot, Rocket, and Rocket’s sis and mom go to the home base of the robots just in time to see the return of Quill and the other Guardians of the Galaxy. Piker returns with more mutated test subjects and a big battle ensues. Rocket and the robots come up with a plan to destroy Halfworld’s hemisphere while subsequently turning all of the animals back to regular animals with the exception of Rocket whom doesn’t change at all and is officially the only thing like him. The robots vow to take care of the animals and now Rocket has something to fight for.

Our Take

At first an episode being completely constructed based off of a line that James Gunn wrote for the Guardians of the Galaxy feature-length film seems irritating, but as time went on this episode really did take on a life of its own. Anyone who watches the Rocket short ahead of the start of the show’s first season should right away be able to pick up on what’s going down, and furthermore, enjoy how his story ended up. The ancillary animal characters were really well done with the exception of Rocket’s mom and sister whom sounded like they were voice actors borrowed from The Jerry Springer Show, but everyone else was pretty good. I especially liked the scene when Quill and the rest of the Guardians showed up for the save whilst blasting their entrance music and it shows the director knows what he’s doing.