Shorts Review: Bravest Warriors – The Season of the Worm

Spoilers Below
I’ve always figured that Bravest Warriors was, for the most part, a set of stand-alone episodes that came together to form a vague overall story arc. Some episodes didn’t seem to fit together very well but they still kinda stayed on topic. However, now that I have read the latest issue of the comic book, I think the fog of confusion has left. The latest episode, The Season of the Worm takes place immediately after the comic book. I’m not sure that people who haven’t read the comic will really understand what is going on.

The comic book left the Bravest Warriors (without Chris) dealing with a group of hamsters having a party in their home. When this episode begins, the black-cloaked hamsters are leaving the celebration. Wallow is sadly eating quiche, wondering why the hamsters are ruining Christmas. Danny, meanwhile, wonders where the hamsters came from. That is still a mystery.

As Wallow, Danny, and Beth head back into the house, they find Hamster Mitch going insane. He rants on about a stranger behind his own eyes, someone drinking their blood and eating their flesh, and Reverend Pickle Chips. Beth, trying to figure out what is going on, finds out that the hamsters worship the Aeon Worm. (The story of the Aeon Worm takes place in the comic.) Mitch admits that he is having some doubts. A second hamster priest starts smacking the crap out of Mitch but Wallow reprimands him by putting him inside a guitar.

Beth keeps trying to talk sense into Mitch as Wallow gives the hamster a baby aspirin to nibble. At the same time, the guitar hamster keeps yelling about their unholy quest before climbing out of the instrument and running away to join the others. Beth continues to tell Mitch that the Aeon Worm is not a god and that her paralyzed horse keeps it in the See-Through Zone. Danny returns (finally) to let Beth know that her father is gone. Mitch takes this as a sign that he cannot escape his destiny and he runs off.

The three Warriors chase after Mitch, using the Falcon to fly above him. As they fly, Beth wonders where Chris is. It is at this point that we find out that this episode is taking place concurrently with The Parasox Pub, thanks to a flashback of Danny looking in Chris’s room for their missing friend.

After a rather immature argument between the Warriors, Mitch figures out that he has been followed. Danny decides to try out some his new Falcon mods. He tries to be cool by showboating around the little hamster. Unfortunately, this disarms the Falcon and the gang falls into the broken Dome. As they fall, Wallow grabs onto a vine. Only it’s not a vine and his arm is bitten by a plant. They wander through the old terraforming colony, which is now filled with a dimension garden. Soon, Wallow finds out that the goo from the plant bite is filled with microscopic hump gnats. The gnats are humping Wallow into another dimension. Before he completely disappears, Beth cuts Wallow’s arm off, saving his life.

Beth sets fire to the garden and the gang sets off to find her father.

While I enjoyed the episode immensely, I’m not sure how it will appeal to people who haven’t read the comics. Especially since the hamster priests are a large part of this particular episode. I feel like most people will be very confused about where they came from. Since it seems like one big “inside joke” for the comic book readers, I’m rating the episode a little bit lower. If there had been some sort of “Meanwhile, the rest of the Warriors….” type of thing at the end of The Parasox Pub to bring the show and the comic book together, it would have been easier to follow. Writers should not rely on their fans to consume every piece of canon when writing an episode.