Review: The Awesomes ‘Secret Santa’

Spoilers Below:

Ah, there’s nothing like a Christmas episode in September.

The Awesomes holiday installment began with some important background: way back when, Mr. Awesome ruined Christmas for a young Prock by telling him Santa wasn’t real, which in turn got him beat up by a bunch of bullies (and a younger Gadget Gal.) In the present day, Prock decided to put the past behind him and make the most of the holiday by spending it with Jaclyn’s family in Albany, NY.

However, The Awesomes found out that a bunch of little kids were robbing various stores across the city under the mind control of a supervillain, later revealed to be Santa himself attempting to take over the world. Turns out, the reason Mr. Awesome never bought into the jolly fat man was because he was immune to St. Nick’s mind control.

After a showdown with our superhero friends, Santa was defeated (and presumably killed), the kids were released and returned home, and Prock (along with his Awesome posse) made it to Albany for Christmas at Jaclyn’s.

Hotwire & Malocchio Jr. had a minor storyline as well, but honestly it was pretty pointless, except for at the very end where it was revealed that Santa was still alive (albeit with a new robotic, spider body) and was recruited to join the PRICKS. Also, he’s actually not the real Santa, he’s a villain named Animal Control. But that’s not really important either.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Perfect Man told everyone he’d be giving forks from the kitchen as Christmas gifts because he can’t leave the mountain. Too bad Frantic is “more of a spoon guy.”

2) A penis is not a muscle.

3) Albany is the WORST place in the world to come from, visit, or talk or think about. I’m from there, so I’m allowed to say it.

4) Why the hell does Frantic want to meet Andrew Cuomo?

5) Metal Fella was referred to as “that sensitive robot.”

6) Why didn’t Prock just ask Frantic to take him to Albany instead of Metal Fella? He might not be able to fly, but he’s faster.

7) More than anything, Mr. Awesome wants… an Amazon gift card.

8) Chumbawamba could still be the next Beatles. Wait, are they still together? (Editor’s Note: They’re not.)

9) I love Jaclyn’s liberal dropping of F-bombs.

10) The headline about Prock killing Santa was “Ho-Ho-Homicide.”

11) Rudolph is a dick.

As is often the case for holiday episodes of cartoons, this was a damn fine installment. Overall it had an interesting and entertaining plot, with three or four separate storylines packed into the 22-minute timeframe.

Almost everyone had at least a couple funny lines, and characters that didn’t have as much airtime recently (Jaclyn, Malocchio Jr., Hotwire) made their way back into the show.

I might even venture to say that this was the funniest episode of the season. It definitely had frequent laughs, and many of them were especially hilarious. I’ve complained in the past that there hasn’t been enough conflict in some episodes with that particular week’s villain or Malocchio Jr. – and I’ll admit Santa was pretty lame as a villain – but the humor really carried the show, and the humor associated with the personality of the outlandish Santa carried the character.

The only thing for which I can really fault the episode is the aforementioned pointlessness of Hotwire’s storyline, but even if that were removed, the show would have been just as solid. And it didn’t hurt it by being included.

If the last three weeks of the season can be as enjoyable as this one was, The Awesomes will have put together a surprisingly solid year, and should manage to garner an impressive following of fans for their already-announced third season.