Review: Victor and Valentino “Folk Art Friends”


OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The brothers’ antics end up releasing even more alebrije, forcing them to bring back HueHue, the spirit from the first episode, to help them.

OUR TAKE

Seems about a good a time as ever to have a sequel to the first episode, taking the initial premise from that episode and expanding on that further to show how far the characters have come. The first episode with HueHue was basically the beginning of the series (especially considering the original pilot doesn’t seem to be canon), so it showed Victor and Valentino when they were at their least experienced. Losing to the numerous tricks left and right and only succeeding through things finally putting it together at the last minute. Keeping that in mind, it makes sense that the follow up to this would have to show how much the two of them have matured, or at least become better acquainted with the antics of spirits. As such, when they do need to release HueHue, they have numerous contingencies in place to keep him from escaping and in their employ. That also means the threat has to escalate a bit in order to provide a greater challenge, essentially expanding it from one HueHue to three, though obviously these alebrije have their own gimmicks. And of course they have to show that the boys still have some ways to go in learning to combat these threats by showing HueHue get away at the last minute. Though I’m sure they’ll complete the trilogy sooner or later.

Honestly, in another world, I can imagine this episode being spun-off into its own show, similar to how Yugioh was initially about several different games but then became laser focused on Duel Monsters when that became surprisingly popular. And I feel like having a monster hunting show based in this universe would be marketable and fun in its own right, but the show as it is now honestly has a lot more variety to it that will probably help it be fleshed out in the end. Plus, as this season has gone on, it does seem like the story is getting more immersed in the supernatural side, as well as progressively hinting towards more of a serialized nature as things seem to be progressing further to a more show specific mythos. So who knows, we might be heading towards something like that anyway and this episode is simply the precursor to that. However that ends up happening, I’m sure the show will retain its charm and quirkiness. It seems like a unique vision that can survive any sort of marketing.