Review: We Bare Bears “Panda’s Friend”

Hello, friend.

Spoilers Below

Panda is feeling very different from his brothers. He is into anime and veganism while they are into stupid movies and meat. As Panda watches a new Korean show on his phone, he gets an ad for a Buddy Finder app. After he downloads it and fills out the form, he is matched with a man named Tom. They meet at the local boba shop, where Grizz and Ice Bear tried to set Panda up with the shop girl the day before. Panda and Tom notice that they have so much in common that Panda actually ignores the shop girl hitting on him. Quickly, Panda and Tom become best friends. They start hanging out together and calling each other a lot. Tom says that he wishes they could be roommates and Panda sorta agrees.

The next morning, when Panda wakes up, he finds himself in a high-rise apartment. Tom had him and all his stuff transported to their new apartment. Panda begins to freak out and tries to leave but Tom locks him inside. Attempting to escape, Panda excuses himself to the bathroom. Once he is alone, he smashes the window and jumps out onto a nearby scaffold. Tom follows Panda, trying to get him back. Panda tells Tom that this isn’t how best friends act and he just wants to go home. Tom realizes the error of his ways just as the wires on the scaffold begin to snap, leaving Tom hanging perilously. Panda tries to save him but fails. Luckily, a couple of roommates below them are talking about their need for a third roommate. One of the guys throws his hands out the window just in time to catch Tom.

Panda returns to his brothers, thankful for their differences.

This is one of those “Be careful what you wish for” episodes. I think it took it a little too far, though. Poor Panda is so different from his brothers that he feels left out and lonely. He isn’t into all the things they are. It’s easy to see why he would want a friend to share his love of anime and tofu. It would have been nice for the writers to just introduce a new character that Panda could hang out with once in awhile. His new friend didn’t have to be some sort of freak. Heck, they could have just brought Chloe in to hang out with Panda a bit. That would have been better. Panda and Chloe at the anime convention. A nice, normal friendship. Is that too much to ask?