Review: The Awesomes ‘The Big One at the End’

Spoilers Below

Despite the fact that Prock has had a long and storied history with Muscle Man, as we learned last week Muscles is no longer part of the Awesomes which stinks because the team just got invited to the White House for a Superhero Awards show in which they were nominated for best team.

Equipped with a new team member named Teleporting Larry and two members working the red carpet, The Awesomes are all pumped at the Superhero Awards. Its here where Prock runs into Muscle Man whom has his own superhero team to screw things up with.  But where’s Hotwire? She’s holed up with her dad at a hotel Malocchio and their new big huge gun in which he needs help moving downstairs.

Prock thinks there is something weird with all of the heroes at an awards show so he hires Black Irish to get some information. The Concierge and Sumo end up finding Hotwire right at the same time in which Black Irish tells Prock that yep…she’s the traitor!

Hotwire  ends up sitting with Perfect Man which causes the Awesomes to leave the ceremony…or at least they try. The team sits back down and after about an hour not one award is given out nor is their one commercial. Eventually, Perfect Man gets on stage and introduces Malocchio to the crowd. Malocchio ends up controlling everyone’s minds with the exception of Prock and Teleportation Larry. Larry teleports Prock, the Awesomes, and Muscle Man out of the room right at the nick of time in which Malocchio is shooting off his laser.

Back at the hologram Gadget tells Prock all about the history between Malocchio and Mr. Awesome. Turns out Malocchio and Awesome used to be best buds, but after taking a serum the great Dr. went nuts and created a race of super villains. Mr. Awesome’s ray turned all of the superheroes in America into normal citizens. Hotwire and Malocchio are beginning to have a disagreement over the direction of the heroes, but the Dr. is slowly but surely gaining strength as a leader. Muscle Man gets captured but Malocchio offers him a job. Yep, Prock is a terrible leader but the team is sticking with him. This thing is getting real.

The Awesomes COULD be the Breaking Bad for animated shows. Yea, it’s a smart and funny show, but the dramatic elements are really beginning to make waves. Malocchio is just as menacing as Mr. Burns from The Simpsons as both characters balance humor with sinister over tones that can pretty much take over an episode any time it wants. Bill Hader continues to dazzle in the Malocchio role and is threatening to be the best voice actor of the year and is certainly earning credence to one day being compared to a Billy West or a Seth MacFarlane. I also LOVE the growth of Muscle Man’s character as early on in the season he was more off an affable oaf for a side kick and now he truly is starting to distance from the largely maligned Awesomes pack and become a true focal point for the series finale. The plot twists are gripping, and Seth Meyers is right now doing his BEST work as Prock of whom is definitely going from a sort of laughing stock of the ensemble cast to a true super hero.  Hotwire was initially presented in the series as just eye candy and it looked as if she was just going to be relegated to ‘the one that got away’ for Prock, but the last week or so she really seems to be coming on strong with her character seemingly being used as a sort of a decoy by Malocchio while he commences his master plan. The show is not yet perfect, and it would be hard to get it there given the number of heroes you have to account for in each episode, but this episode sets up the finale perfectly. Next week is going to be an awesome week for adult cartoons with the return of South Park and FOX’s Animation Domination, but those out there looking for something really well-written and planned out to help you get through the time lapse between the two network brands should definitely watch this series from start to finish. It’s just awesome.