Review: Hot Streets “Super Agent 2 ; Bad Boy Bugs”

The Gang Addresses Their Dark Pasts.

Overview

In the beginning of “Super Agent 2,” Chubbie Webbers runs away from Jen instead of saving her from an alien negotiation mission — all because he appeared to be triggered by fire. In his escape, an alien named Dreznik finds him and enlists for his help to save his home planet from the evil Senkah — a pro-smoking villain who uses someone’s shameful memories to destroy them. When Chubbie Webbers joins Dreznik’s small rebellion, he is triggered by fire once again, and leaves the planet. However, when he learns Hot Streets was captured in their attempt to find him, he returns to defeat Senkah once and for all. She uses her power to make him remember his identity as “Wags,” a puppy who accidentally set his original family’s house aflame. He no longer feels shame, however, because Hot Streets convinces him of his innocence. Chubbie Webbers kills Shenkah, faces his fear of fire to save Hot Streets, and reminisces on when he was found by Jen as a puppy.

In “Bad Boy Bugs,” Hot Streets goes on a mission to take down Krawler — a giant, evil bug who wants to rule the bug kingdom and kill the queen. Jen leaves the mission to partake in an experiment to pay her college loans, and winds up being enlisted by the missing bug queen (alongside Steven Davis) to save her. While Jen, Steven and Chubbie Webbers are evading Krawler and trying to empty the queen’s body of toxins, Branski teaches French to face his childhood fear of bugs. Eventually, the toxins are purged from the queen’s body and she returns to her bug kingdom throne — only to be killed by Krawler. A sickly, child bug named Skuttery Pete — whom French taught to fight — defeats him, and Steven takes the throne as the bug kingdom’s (temporary) ruler.

Our Take

Buckle up for not one, but two strangely sentimental episodes of Hot Streets. It felt as though these two episodes took a small detour from the humor-aimed stories it usually tells. Given the setup for the season, it seems as though they’re taking more opportunities to develop the characters and lay out a foundation for what may be a rather plot-oriented arc. As the first episode of the season established a probable buildup to reveal Jet. Jr’s plans, it’s possible that the S2 writing is reaching out to the audience with the intent of making the viewers form a stronger bond with the characters — potentially making for a powerful punch at the season’s finale.

All theories aside, “Super Agent 2” was a great episode that reinforced Chubbie Webbers as not only the main source of comedy, but even as the “best” character. Even with all the crude jokes that stem from him, it takes a lot for such a character to suddenly switch over to having heartfelt and deep moments. Adding in the events from last season — and the events from episode two of the current one — this all really emphasizes how Chubbie Webbers is truly the “hero” of Hot Streets.

“Bad Boy Bugs” had a few great moments itself — from funny (“Magical John is dead you f**king a**hole!”) to sweet. With French overcoming his bee-sting in the junk from when he was a child, it was great to watch another character develop — even if it was in a smaller sense than Chubbie Webbers.

There were notably more gags and visuals in this pair of episodes than the previous — the PSA on Shenkah’s smoking, the closeup animation on Steven’s…personal asides (where it was also fun to see a unique animation change.) There still remains to be a lot of jokes that rely strictly on visuals or voice acting to get a laugh, but these two episodes have showcased the writing’s strong-hand. Overall, it was great to see certain stylistic turns (such as the adorable bug people) and the otherwise unforeseen sentimentality that came from both episodes.

The quality can hopefully only go up as the season progresses. It’s probable that Jen and Branski will get their own sincere moments in time. In any case, the script may just be setting up for something big — and hopefully the standard of animation, style, and humor can increase along with it.