Review: The Adventures of Paddington “Paddington the Table Tennis Champ!”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Judy, Jonathan and Mateo are playing table tennis at the park. The Brown siblings are no match for Mateo.

But even though he’s highly skilled at the game, Mateo laments that he’s not able to play often, since The Unbeatables often hog the table.

Ms. Potts joins in to regale Paddington with the tale of The Unbeatables, who are, as she describes them “adults who should really know better” and who are taking away from the community’s enjoyment of the ping pong table.

After teaching Paddington the game and facing off against the distracted bear, Mateo is excited by the possibility of taking on The Unbeatables as a doubles team. He even pitches it as “healing the community” and “being heroes!”

Paddington is concerned his win was simply the result of beginner’s lucky, but Mateo is undaunted.

They head to the park early that morning to take on The Unbeatables. Who, it turns out, are none other than Mrs. Brown and Sofia.

Their first face off is disastrous because, as Paddington suggested, his first win was a fluke. But Mateo is determined to win, and not, as Paddington also suggests, simply play a fun game against his mum (Sofia.) He seeks to unlock Paddington’s playing abilities, and take on The Unbeatables again.

During their second showdown, things are going much smoother. The Brown’s siblings gather the community to watch the match. The crowd cheers on Mateo and Paddington’s efforts to win the table back. But they don’t do that exactly in the way you might think.

Our Take:

Ah, ping pong. The official sport of Thanksgiving, other obligatory family gatherings, and embarrassing yourself at your new startup job.

I, too, suffer from Paddington’s curse of beginner’s luck. It’s weird that no one ever believes you when you say that’s the case? But I digress.

This episode is adorable, and frankly, might be my favorite so far. Mateo (Jeremiah Waysome) delivers a perfect balance of competitiveness and simply missing playing his mom, while the “unbeatable” Sofia (Monica Lopera) and Mrs. Brown (Morwenna Banks) are perfect in their casual dominance of park ping pong.

It’s also slightly funny that Ms. Potts (Liz Sutherland) was so appalled by these other adults facing off against kids when she was doing that same thing with the Imaginarium card game just two episodes ago in “The Bad Swap”.

Paddington’s “training montage” is very zen, as is his ultimately successful playing style. Standing still and holding your paddle out might not work every time, but it has been my experience in doubles that it works better than it should. Apologies and warnings to past and potential doubles partners, respectively.

Where this episode, as so many in this series, really shines is in the solution to the problem at hand. The community coming together to use the table doesn’t require defeating the reigning table tennis champs, and rediscovering a fun game with his mom doesn’t require beating her at it for Mateo. Oh, and everyone gets treats at the end, because why not have a little cherry on top?

Paddington’s adventures continue to calmly delight, and I’m excited to see what else there is in store for this little bear.