Review: Blark and Son “Meet Mr. Pockets”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Son’s old imaginary friend, Mr. Pockets, makes an unexpected return. His presence results in Son being torn between childhood and adulthood.

Our Take:

After being absent in the last episode, Son returns to take the spotlight away from his father. If Blark can carry an episode by himself, so can his son. This episode sees Son, along with Junior and Zeke, taking another step towards adulthood, which has served as one of the show’s main plot elements. How? By transforming his room into his man cave, complete with a picture of Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail. Oh, and watching internet porn, of course.

The arrival of Son’s imaginary friend, Mr. Pockets (voiced by Ben Bayouth), has him revisiting his childhood memories, such as playing cops and robbers and hunting for gold. However, it also forces him to make one of the most challenging decisions of his life. Should he remain a kid forever or leave his childhood behind to become a full-fledged adult? It’s important to revisit our childhood memories, but it’s also important to accept that we all have to grow up at some point. The episode managed to portray that scenario in a darkly humorous yet honest light. Most of the humor comes from Junior cursing up a storm because that’s what adults do nowadays. They provide colorful language whenever they want to. It was amusing at first, but after a while, it started to become a bit tiring.  

I was impressed with how they developed Mr. Pockets. I initially thought he would be the episode’s antagonist who plots to keep Son from growing up. It proved me otherwise by providing a character who learns to accept this inevitable change like Son. The episode’s conclusion has Mr. Pockets allowing Son to use an imaginary gun to kill him, symbolizing that Son’s childhood is now behind him. That moment alone was another example of the show’s decent storytelling amid its bizarreness. Here’s hoping that Son makes a full recovery before the next episode.  

Blark and Son’s Mr. Pockets episode is another properly-executed scenario that continues Son’s personal yet messed up journey towards adulthood. There was some decent humor present, but the real cherry on top of this delicious sundae was its story and message. It’s okay to look back at your childhood as long as it doesn’t take control of your life. That’s something that Son will never forget anytime soon during his quest to become a man.