It’s good to be the King: “Andreas’ Fault”
Jun. 6th, 2010 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameArgit tries to sell some kind of insurance scam to the Forever Knights (this one apparently coming from the South of England, judging by his accent slips at times) but they’re not buying. However, just as Argit threatened, something happens and causes the castle to crumble.
At the Bellwood Mr. Smoothy, Ben is signing autographs for a charity event, now that the chain has released special edition smoothies inspired by his aliens. When the reporter interviewing him points out that Ben’s a trouble magnet, Ben adamantly denies it…only for the Forever Knights to bust in and steal a smoothie machine. Gwen didn’t get it either. After a quick battle, the Knights escape via teleport, and the team decides to ask Jimmy for information. He reveals that the Knights have been stealing a lot of weird things, including burritos and pizza—but not the money, which is definitely not their M.O. When Gwen suggests they ask the Knights what’s up, Ben points out that the Forever Knights are totally clandestine and that’s never going to work…only for Jimmy to log onto “Mugbook” and set up a videochat with foreverduke838, a Forever Knight who plays “Craft of War” with him. But they’re under attack and the castle around them is crumbling. Jimmy is shaken up by seeing the destruction and the video cut out, and the team heads over to investigate, only to find ruins.
Not liking the idea of someone out to destroy his enemies, Ben and the others head off to the next location on Jimmy’s advice. But when they get there, it turns out that Argit has set himself up as King. He managed to find Andreas, the fourth Andromeda alien, and he’s been using him to blackmail the Knights. He vibrates, creating earthquake-like forces that have been tearing down the castles around the Knights. The team doesn’t like the idea of Argit using Andreas, and one of the Knights doesn’t like the idea of him using them. The legendary Sir Dagonet has returned to reclaim their honor and take the alien filth to the dungeon to await the inquisition.
And because I have to… NOBODY expects the Forever Knight Inquisition!
The other Knights agree and turn on Argit, who gets the idea to knock the others out and throw himself at Dagonet’s feet and insist he’s being set up by Ben’s team. But Dagonet isn’t buying it and throws all four of them in prison, taking away Andreas for execution. They escape and see the charges being read against Andreas. Kevin keeps Argit from running and throws him into the throng as a distraction, allowing Ben and Gwen to run in and fight while Kevin frees a grateful Andreas. But Dagonet notices the escape and fires at Andreas with the sonic cannon, which starts to scare him, threatening another attack of quake-causing shakes. Gwen knocks the weapon from Dagonet, damaging it, but he takes off the safeties, using the power cell as a bomb that will wipe out five square miles. The Forever Knights teleport away, leaving the others with a grim choice. There’s no way to stop the bomb other than to ask Andreas to absorb the shock. Gwen tells Ben to try to talk Andreas out of it, but Ben can’t think of any alternatives; they have to save everyone within the radius of the blast. Andreas takes the weapon and sinks into the ground as the castle begins to collapse. The others escape, but there’s no sign of Andreas, and Argit’s more worried about the money he lost. Kevin punches him and calls him out on using Andreas’ love and trust to profit, but Argit can’t understand. They part ways, and the team is left to mourn their new friend.
But Andreas survived, and Aggregor recovers him, promising to make him well again as he teleports him to his ship. The bleeding Andreas is put in a containment pod next to three of his fellow escapees, and Aggregor notes that he only has one left to find before the fun really begins…
Andreas is the fourth of the Andromeda Five, and all we’ve known about him so far is that he’s pretty much the dumb muscle of the group. This is still true—he’s not very bright, but it comes off as a very childish kind of naivety that is honestly heartbreaking. You do not expect this guy to become the woobie, but he is. He’s terrified by the experiences he’s been going through on Earth, and when he gets scared, he starts shaking, which causes dangerous vibrations that can topple buildings. When he finds a friend, such as Argit or the team, he’s going to protect them to the end. It makes him easily manipulated, which is all the sadder. He becomes the first alien character that Kevin forms a bond with—like Ben and Reiny or Gwen and Tiny in the previous series—which says a lot about the both of them; that Andreas is just that vulnerable and Kevin can be kind enough to care about that.
Argit makes his first reappearance, and he’s just as much of a rat as ever. He manipulates Andreas into helping him blackmail the Forever Knights, and the moment any of it starts to backfire on him, he just turns on people and try to save his own hide. He’ll insist that he’s doing it for their own good too—such as knocking out the team with his quills and arguing that if they’d fought, they’d have been killed instead of imprisoned—but the team knows he only cares about himself. It leads to what might actually be the final break between him and Kevin, when Kevin calls him out on his manipulative behavior, and Argit says that he doesn’t understand Kevin. It’s hard to say just what their next meeting may bring, given that Kevin managed to forgive him for stealing the Rustbucket on him, but there is a big divide between them now: between Argit’s need to care only about himself and Kevin’s ability to care about others before himself.
I’ve been hard on the Forever Knights throughout my reviews. I’ve never felt like they meshed well with the whole feel of the Ben 10 series, though I will admit that I like the idea that you’ve got a bunch of xenophobic humans as enemies, which worked with the theme of the first two seasons of Alien Force when they were dealing with the racial purity craze of the Highbreed. But the Knights have really become more of a joke than anything else. The team has few problems defeating them, and their catchphrase lately has become “Run away!” But fortunately, Sir Dagonet appears to think the same, and he wants to reclaim their honor and former glory. And he really does kick ass. He gives them a run for their money, recovering from attacks, not buying anyone’s shit, and generally just being badass. It’s like they took all the good parts of the various Forever Knights we’ve met over the years and tried to compress them into one character, and I think they may have succeeded. I’m calling it right now: the Forever Knights subplot is going to result in them trying to pick a new Forever Knight. And I think I have to cast my vote for Dagonet.
The team dynamics are interesting to note here. Just like in “Too Hot to Handle” and “Escape from Aggregor,” Gwen is more willing to try and open discussion with their opponents; only in this case, she’s curious what their enemies are after when they start acting against character, rather than trying to reason with an alien she believes is afraid. In fact, she’s actually kind of wary of Andreas, though they all feel for him, indicating she may have learned her less on after P’andor’s attack. I’m beginning to think that her character this season will be more about trying to reason with people and approach on an emotional level—the heart, if you will. Ben reacts to Gwen and Kevin’s bickering with amusement and occasional annoyance, at least when it comes to them fighting in the middle of a battle. This is consistent with his character so far. However, what isn’t consistent is his reaction to Andreas’s decision to sacrifice himself. Ben, who refused to sacrifice Tyler in “Inside Man,” now has no choice but to accept this. There’s no alternative solution that comes to him, and he can’t let himself change Andreas’s choice. It’s actually a really good moment in its inconsistency; you see Ben for the first time since “Max Out” forced to realize that he can’t always save everybody and he can’t have it both ways. Either Andreas dies or hundreds of people do. I also think it was intentionally set up like “Max Out,” but here with a more mature Ben—you have the weapon being a power cell without the safeties and somebody agreeing to sacrifice themselves to save countless people, and the team forced to watch and mourn. And of course, the hero of the day survived, without their knowledge. But where Ben had fought against Grandpa Max’s decision, here he knew he couldn’t. And this time around, he’s able to take the time to appreciate just what this sacrifice means instead of just carrying on.
But I think the most interesting reaction of them all was Kevin’s. He punched out Argit and shouted at him for abusing Andreas’s love and trust for him, and Ben and Gwen had to hold him back. Yes, Kevin was the one who ended up forging a bond with Andreas—however brief—in the escape, but he took it very personally. In fact, Kevin kept bringing up the issue of trust from the start, asking how anyone could be dumb enough to trust Argit, who promptly pointed out Kevin was, spurring Kevin to try to attack him. Trust is a big underlying theme in this series, and it tells a lot that Kevin was so adamant about it. It shows just how far he’s come from the little punk on the streets of New York, trying to use Ben for his own profit.
Finally, among the funny things this episode is a throwaway joke about Alien X. A fan interrupts Ben’s interview to let him know that after all the hype, the Alien X smoothie just “tastes like filler,” which I have to admit was my response to “X = Ben + 2,” and probably the reaction for quite a few fans.
“Andreas’ Fault” was written by Jim Krieg and Ernie Altbacker. Alexander Polinsky reprised his role as Argit.
At the Bellwood Mr. Smoothy, Ben is signing autographs for a charity event, now that the chain has released special edition smoothies inspired by his aliens. When the reporter interviewing him points out that Ben’s a trouble magnet, Ben adamantly denies it…only for the Forever Knights to bust in and steal a smoothie machine. Gwen didn’t get it either. After a quick battle, the Knights escape via teleport, and the team decides to ask Jimmy for information. He reveals that the Knights have been stealing a lot of weird things, including burritos and pizza—but not the money, which is definitely not their M.O. When Gwen suggests they ask the Knights what’s up, Ben points out that the Forever Knights are totally clandestine and that’s never going to work…only for Jimmy to log onto “Mugbook” and set up a videochat with foreverduke838, a Forever Knight who plays “Craft of War” with him. But they’re under attack and the castle around them is crumbling. Jimmy is shaken up by seeing the destruction and the video cut out, and the team heads over to investigate, only to find ruins.
Not liking the idea of someone out to destroy his enemies, Ben and the others head off to the next location on Jimmy’s advice. But when they get there, it turns out that Argit has set himself up as King. He managed to find Andreas, the fourth Andromeda alien, and he’s been using him to blackmail the Knights. He vibrates, creating earthquake-like forces that have been tearing down the castles around the Knights. The team doesn’t like the idea of Argit using Andreas, and one of the Knights doesn’t like the idea of him using them. The legendary Sir Dagonet has returned to reclaim their honor and take the alien filth to the dungeon to await the inquisition.
And because I have to… NOBODY expects the Forever Knight Inquisition!
The other Knights agree and turn on Argit, who gets the idea to knock the others out and throw himself at Dagonet’s feet and insist he’s being set up by Ben’s team. But Dagonet isn’t buying it and throws all four of them in prison, taking away Andreas for execution. They escape and see the charges being read against Andreas. Kevin keeps Argit from running and throws him into the throng as a distraction, allowing Ben and Gwen to run in and fight while Kevin frees a grateful Andreas. But Dagonet notices the escape and fires at Andreas with the sonic cannon, which starts to scare him, threatening another attack of quake-causing shakes. Gwen knocks the weapon from Dagonet, damaging it, but he takes off the safeties, using the power cell as a bomb that will wipe out five square miles. The Forever Knights teleport away, leaving the others with a grim choice. There’s no way to stop the bomb other than to ask Andreas to absorb the shock. Gwen tells Ben to try to talk Andreas out of it, but Ben can’t think of any alternatives; they have to save everyone within the radius of the blast. Andreas takes the weapon and sinks into the ground as the castle begins to collapse. The others escape, but there’s no sign of Andreas, and Argit’s more worried about the money he lost. Kevin punches him and calls him out on using Andreas’ love and trust to profit, but Argit can’t understand. They part ways, and the team is left to mourn their new friend.
But Andreas survived, and Aggregor recovers him, promising to make him well again as he teleports him to his ship. The bleeding Andreas is put in a containment pod next to three of his fellow escapees, and Aggregor notes that he only has one left to find before the fun really begins…
Andreas is the fourth of the Andromeda Five, and all we’ve known about him so far is that he’s pretty much the dumb muscle of the group. This is still true—he’s not very bright, but it comes off as a very childish kind of naivety that is honestly heartbreaking. You do not expect this guy to become the woobie, but he is. He’s terrified by the experiences he’s been going through on Earth, and when he gets scared, he starts shaking, which causes dangerous vibrations that can topple buildings. When he finds a friend, such as Argit or the team, he’s going to protect them to the end. It makes him easily manipulated, which is all the sadder. He becomes the first alien character that Kevin forms a bond with—like Ben and Reiny or Gwen and Tiny in the previous series—which says a lot about the both of them; that Andreas is just that vulnerable and Kevin can be kind enough to care about that.
Argit makes his first reappearance, and he’s just as much of a rat as ever. He manipulates Andreas into helping him blackmail the Forever Knights, and the moment any of it starts to backfire on him, he just turns on people and try to save his own hide. He’ll insist that he’s doing it for their own good too—such as knocking out the team with his quills and arguing that if they’d fought, they’d have been killed instead of imprisoned—but the team knows he only cares about himself. It leads to what might actually be the final break between him and Kevin, when Kevin calls him out on his manipulative behavior, and Argit says that he doesn’t understand Kevin. It’s hard to say just what their next meeting may bring, given that Kevin managed to forgive him for stealing the Rustbucket on him, but there is a big divide between them now: between Argit’s need to care only about himself and Kevin’s ability to care about others before himself.
I’ve been hard on the Forever Knights throughout my reviews. I’ve never felt like they meshed well with the whole feel of the Ben 10 series, though I will admit that I like the idea that you’ve got a bunch of xenophobic humans as enemies, which worked with the theme of the first two seasons of Alien Force when they were dealing with the racial purity craze of the Highbreed. But the Knights have really become more of a joke than anything else. The team has few problems defeating them, and their catchphrase lately has become “Run away!” But fortunately, Sir Dagonet appears to think the same, and he wants to reclaim their honor and former glory. And he really does kick ass. He gives them a run for their money, recovering from attacks, not buying anyone’s shit, and generally just being badass. It’s like they took all the good parts of the various Forever Knights we’ve met over the years and tried to compress them into one character, and I think they may have succeeded. I’m calling it right now: the Forever Knights subplot is going to result in them trying to pick a new Forever Knight. And I think I have to cast my vote for Dagonet.
The team dynamics are interesting to note here. Just like in “Too Hot to Handle” and “Escape from Aggregor,” Gwen is more willing to try and open discussion with their opponents; only in this case, she’s curious what their enemies are after when they start acting against character, rather than trying to reason with an alien she believes is afraid. In fact, she’s actually kind of wary of Andreas, though they all feel for him, indicating she may have learned her less on after P’andor’s attack. I’m beginning to think that her character this season will be more about trying to reason with people and approach on an emotional level—the heart, if you will. Ben reacts to Gwen and Kevin’s bickering with amusement and occasional annoyance, at least when it comes to them fighting in the middle of a battle. This is consistent with his character so far. However, what isn’t consistent is his reaction to Andreas’s decision to sacrifice himself. Ben, who refused to sacrifice Tyler in “Inside Man,” now has no choice but to accept this. There’s no alternative solution that comes to him, and he can’t let himself change Andreas’s choice. It’s actually a really good moment in its inconsistency; you see Ben for the first time since “Max Out” forced to realize that he can’t always save everybody and he can’t have it both ways. Either Andreas dies or hundreds of people do. I also think it was intentionally set up like “Max Out,” but here with a more mature Ben—you have the weapon being a power cell without the safeties and somebody agreeing to sacrifice themselves to save countless people, and the team forced to watch and mourn. And of course, the hero of the day survived, without their knowledge. But where Ben had fought against Grandpa Max’s decision, here he knew he couldn’t. And this time around, he’s able to take the time to appreciate just what this sacrifice means instead of just carrying on.
But I think the most interesting reaction of them all was Kevin’s. He punched out Argit and shouted at him for abusing Andreas’s love and trust for him, and Ben and Gwen had to hold him back. Yes, Kevin was the one who ended up forging a bond with Andreas—however brief—in the escape, but he took it very personally. In fact, Kevin kept bringing up the issue of trust from the start, asking how anyone could be dumb enough to trust Argit, who promptly pointed out Kevin was, spurring Kevin to try to attack him. Trust is a big underlying theme in this series, and it tells a lot that Kevin was so adamant about it. It shows just how far he’s come from the little punk on the streets of New York, trying to use Ben for his own profit.
Finally, among the funny things this episode is a throwaway joke about Alien X. A fan interrupts Ben’s interview to let him know that after all the hype, the Alien X smoothie just “tastes like filler,” which I have to admit was my response to “X = Ben + 2,” and probably the reaction for quite a few fans.
“Andreas’ Fault” was written by Jim Krieg and Ernie Altbacker. Alexander Polinsky reprised his role as Argit.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-07 01:13 am (UTC)I appreciate that the maturity of Ben, Gwen and Kevin were allowed moments to shine through during the episode-Ben's was shown near the end, when Andreas agreed to do his best to absorb the shock ahd Ben realized they were out of options; Gwen's was shown mid-way through as you stated, which was undoubtedly due to the previous episode with P'andor; Kevin's was shown almost through the entire episode alone, and as much as I liked seeing Gwen's moment Kevin earns a gold star for the day. (And not just for punching Argit. XD)
Gwen and Kevin doing their best to rein in Ben's 'ego'-or their own annoyance toward him-during his charity event was hilarious, and Ben stating that the Forever Knights attacking was total coincidence? Well said, but humorous in the fact that Ben + Outside = Trouble
/Explosion. Gwen's line at seeing the Forever Knights steal a smoothie machine earns a trophy for perfect deliverance-twice.Ben SO needs to run into Dagonet again just for the fact that his badass moments should make him and the team consider that they might need counterattacks for his counters to their initial attacks. As for Argit? Assuming the team ever runs into him again, I seriously doubt Kevin will be looking to pull another scam with him like he attempted to in Simple.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-07 02:55 am (UTC)