Review: We Bare Bears “Ranger Games“

Time to play the game.

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

The episode begins at a children’s kickball event called the “Pee-Wee Ranger Games”. with Ranger Tabes in charge of the Poppies and is determined to make sure they win against their rival team called the “Ivys” with Grizz as the Poppy cheerleader in a goofy flower outfit. At first, it starts out fine for Tabes’ team as much of the episode is primarily spent on them winning against the rival team while Grizz’s positive cheering skills manage to give them good vibes. But slowly, it begins to reach a turning point when one of their teammates, Wallace, gets injured.

In response to this, Tabes decides to have Grizz take Wallace’s place due to a loop-hole that allows Bears to partake in the game. But Grizz stumbles a bit due to either random acts of clumsiness or insults by the rival team. By the 3rd act, Grizz is ready to kick, and after 2 strikes, Tabes calls a time-out to encourage her Poppy Ranger teammates to cheer Grizz on the same way he’s cheered them because regardless of the outcome, teammates look out for each other. When Grizz finally makes that final kick, there are moments of actual suspense until he finally manages to make a home-run and the episode ends on quite a positive note when Ranger Tabes gets a Trophy and they commemorate their moment with a group picture while the rival coach vows to beat them someday.

Our Take

The episode itself was primarily a call-back to Poppy Rangers which makes sense given that Grizz was deemed a member after the events that transpired in that last episode. I think I was mostly entertained by the presence of the Rival Team’s coach as her ambitiously over the top attitude & hairstyle reminded me of Satsuki Kiryuin from the anime series Kill La Kill. For a sports-oriented episode, the running time managed to move at a good pace while conveying a positive message to kids about cheering for whatever team your part of because at the end of the day, even if you lost, the team you support still has your back.