Review: Ghost Force “Krik Krok”; “Burghorror”


OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Andy forgets an assignment but is saved by a plant ghost attack. Later, Mike tries helping out his crush investigate Ghostforce just in time for a burger ghost to show up.

OUR TAKE
Huh, was really hoping I could cover four episodes at once again, but they don’t seem to be showing up On Demand as fast as before. Maybe because I’m in a different timezone right now? Anyway, two more Ghostforce episodes for the pile, this time being an Andy and Mike focused set. The Andy episode centers on him trying to fake his way through a missing assignment by stealing his teacher’s plant, which is a very dumb plan that would not have worked if his teacher wasn’t meant to be incredibly stupid or senile. From there, as mentioned, the episode quickly shifts into fighting the ghost, during which Andy learns that he needs to own up to his mistakes. By which I mean his sister Liv lectures him until he wises up and confesses by the end of the episode, with the fight basically being completely disconnected from him learning this lesson. I’m not really in the mood right now to be writing this episode for the people who were paid to turn this script in, which was then approved and animated into what we got, but it would probably be more effective if this was a behavior that Andy started unconsciously showing during fighting, where lives are at risk, which would then tell him that he needs to get his act together at school too. Oh well.

The other segment actually works in the secret identity aspect of the show, with Mike helping his crush Charlie by investigating his team with her, leaving Andy and Liv to beat a big burger monster without him. For one, giant burger monsters have yet to let me down as a very entertaining source of comedy and action, with this being no exception, so points for that. And having some semblance of conflict in Mike trying to keep his hero life a secret is at least fun on paper, reminding me of another Zag cartoon, Ladybug, though that had a lot more going for it. But beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be very much focus in the story. Even the Andy one was trying to be about something. Some harmless fun is all well and good, but that’s all this show has ended up being for as many episodes as it’s had and I’d like to see more. It’s still early days, but going through these episodes at such a rapid fire pace only highlights the cracks and flaws.