Review: We Bare Bears “Vacation”

Not the Chevy Chase variety.

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

The episode starts off at the mansion of the petty & contemptuous yet cute Koala Nom-Nom (Voiced by Patton Oswalt) who is told by a doctor to get an “emotional support animal” due to some panic attacks that are starting to become detrimental to his health, which is understandable considering the rabid fans who are storming his home uninvited. As the doctor explains how most celebrities these days now have emotional support pets of their own, He assigns to him Grizz much to Nom-Nom’s displeasure. Begrudgingly, Nom-Nom puts his anger aside and decides to go on vacation with Grizz at a specific treatment center to escape from the fans with a device on his body to keep track of his heart rate.

A good portion of the episode is spent on Grizz looking out for Nom-Nom as he’s trying his best not to blow his cover due to some rabid fans who also just happen to be in the terminal, but fail when Nom-Nom outs himself by accident with the intercom which results in making the fans lose it from just from the mere mention of his name. This leads to a comedic montage where they’re being chased around until the third act when the two decide to take a private plane out of their predicament. At first, everything seems very calm until even more hijinx ensues when the pilot turns out to be a crazed fan from earlier in the episode. When the plane starts to experience turbulence, the two bears exchange honest words about one-another but out of dumb luck, land safely at the treatment center. The episode ends on an unexpected yet positive note when Nom-Nom lets Grizz accompany him for treatment.

Our Take

This episode not only excelled in laughs but also with clever satire. The way rabid fandoms are depicted, while a comical exaggeration, kinda gave me an outside perspective as we sometimes forget that celebrities (animal or otherwise) are also individuals who deserve a quiet life away from anything that would put their well-being at risk. I hope that anyone who’s a fan of any music or pop culture medium can look at this episode as a reflection of what they don’t want to become when meeting any celebrity in general.

What shocked me the most was Nom-Nom’s attitude near the end. I think we’re seeing subtle touches of Nom-Nom being less of a dick towards Grizz, but whether or not we’ll further see a less obnoxious side from Nom-Nom towards the other bears, remains to be seen in future episodes.