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akinoameAppropriately enough for an episode named after a Kermit song, it opens with the team fighting Animo’s latest creation: a giant mutant frog. But they fail to defeat it, and everyone goes home, with Ben suggesting that they check the pet stores the next day. Gwen falls asleep at three, but comes five-thirty, she’s got to get up. She goes through her morning routine of working out and studying before school, and her mom ambushes her to get help finishing the invitations for her side’s family reunion. Which need to be done by tomorrow. And have to be handwritten. Apparently, Natalie’s family are sticklers for that sort of thing, and I get the sense that they are very snooty rich people who are far from impressed with the more laidback Tennyson clan (and of course, Natalie’s a bit judgmental of her husband’s family too). Ben arrives while Gwen’s working and asks for help with a lookup of Animo’s prison record, but he totally fails to help her out and bails. Gwen tries a spell to speed things up, but while she talks to Kevin on the phone, the envelopes catch fire, and now she’s got to start all over.
At school, she’s still studying for her French exam and helping friends with their homework when her thus-far unmentioned best friend Emily shows up with breakfast and invites her to her piano recital for the Academy of Performing Arts. Gwen promises to be there, but first she’s got to get through her day. Comes lunch, she’s still studying for French when Kevin arrives to pick her up, nearly running her down and forcing her to scream, “Crepe!” Gwen gets in the car and mentions that she needs to pick up more envelopes and finish the invitations, but then she sees that Kevin is beat up, and he explains that they found Animo, who now has more than one frog. Kevin insists that since Gwen is busy, he and Ben can handle things, but she says no and lets slip that she knows Kevin doesn’t attend school. After a discussion, she promises to try to help him get his GED, but as they begin to get close, Captain Cockblock—otherwise known as Ben—shows up and lets them know that Animo’s attacking right outside Gwen’s window. Kevin tells Gwen to stay, so she gives him a protection charm…that apparently is never used. Go figure.
Gwen rushes back to class for her exam, even though the battle has moved directly outside that window too. Her free period is canceled when the algebra II teacher tells her to take over his class because the police called him about the damage to his car in the battle. Yeesh, does she go to Sheffield or something? I hope she’s getting paid for this—she is under no obligation to teach, and she doesn’t even have a degree for that matter! After that debacle, she runs into Emily, who manages to provide her with some lunch. Turns out that Animo is ransoming the planet, but Gwen can’t worry about it because of her academic and extracurricular obligations. When she’s finally done, Emily reminds her about the recital, but Ben arrives and says that he and Kevin massively underestimated Animo and they can’t win without Gwen. Emily is pissed, despite the imminent threat to the world. This recital is the most important thing in the world to her, and she needs her best friend there. She’s worried that Gwen’s work threatens their relationship, since Gwen is running around all over the galaxy and now Emily’s looking to transfer schools. She’s afraid that Gwen will inadvertently write her off once Emily’s gone—out of sight, out of mind. Gwen is shocked, but still, she has to fight.
She and Ben manage to save Kevin just in time after he drops the protection charm that I guess he used or didn’t or whatever. Animo starts monologuing, but Ben cuts him off by saying that Gwen’s pressed for time. Emily begins her recital, and all sound in the battle is muted as the piano music plays over the fight. The team is getting their asses thoroughly kicked. Ben tries to stop Animo’s transmodulator ray, but Animo’s aimed it at Kevin. At the last possible second, Gwen goes and shields Kevin, but she’s injured. Kevin joins Ben at the observatory to battle Animo, and after a rough fight, Ben finally separates Animo and his frog. Gwen manages to snatch the mind control device and hands it to Ben to destroy while Kevin takes Animo in. As the music ends, Emily wheels away to bow to the audience when she sees Gwen in the crowd, applauding. The day saved, Gwen comes home and tells her mom that she finally finished the invitations. Natalie doesn’t even blink at her daughter’s injuries and torn clothes and simply asks her how her day was, and Gwen answers that it was just the usual.
I have to admit that this episode kind of bugged me: both on the level of the absurdity of trying to maintain realistic expectations of a high schooler’s obligations in a very unreal world, and on a psychological level too. In terms of the absurdity, I was reminded a lot of everything I complain about in W.I.T.C.H. season one, where the whole “slice of life” thing doesn’t seem to mesh well with the main story being a war in another world. Now, “slice of life” can be a very good thing. When W.I.T.C.H. does it right, it does it right—like season two’s episode “V is for Victory,” where Will’s drive to win a swimming competition at any cost is directly tied to her character conflict in battle: whether or not she’s following in Nerissa’s footsteps and losing sight of what’s important. In Kamen Rider Ryuki, I love watching Shinji derping around at ORE Journal or at home at Atori Teahouse. And Harry Potter shows some really interesting stuff with school (admittedly, a magical school) when it revolves around a kid who just can’t seem to stop attracting and looking for trouble mostly because he’s being hunted down by a powerful villain. And given how a big part of the theme for Ultimate Alien is how difficult it is to balance a normal life with the celebrity of being a superhero, it is important to see the two sides clash.
But as I said: You have to do it right. W.I.T.C.H. even at its worse has one thing in its favor: the girls have secret identities. The same goes for Shinji in Ryuki. For all their friends may know what they’re doing (mostly because they’re superheroes or support staff), the rest of the world doesn’t know. If one of the girls in W.I.T.C.H. struggles in school due to her superhero job causing a conflict (normally Will), they get flack for it because their parents and teachers don’t know what they’re doing and why they’re failing; it even becomes a plot point in season two when Taranee agrees to tutor Will in math to help her keep her grades up. In Ryuki, Shinji has to work on stories at ORE and help with his chores at Atori, and when he has to let them go due to Rider business, his boss and his landlady get annoyed because they don’t know that part of his life. Harry Potter has it that everyone knows about the secret—at least as far as magic goes—so the teachers are forgiving but worried about Harry’s struggles against Voldemort.
I don’t get that with Gwen’s day-to-day life. There seems to be no sympathy from anyone. Her mom keeps bugging her to do those invitations and refuses to compromise on anything, simply because her family is very fussy and formal. And I find it very hard to sympathize with Emily’s worry when she explains her fears about her and Gwen’s friendship. It’s everything I bitched about with Julie in…well, more episodes than I care to admit. Things come up. You’re not always going to be able to make an obligation to your best friend. It’s even worse when you’re a superhero. I know, Emily’s a teenager, and teens and adults don’t see things the same way. But we are talking about the fate of humanity! I watched that scene and thought of the famous “Where is my super suit?!” scene from The Incredibles, only not funny.
And for the psychological side: Gwen implies at the end that this is a normal day for her. That everyday, she is put through incredible stress at school, by her family, by her friends, and while saving the galaxy, and nobody’s trying to help. Okay, I take that back: both Kevin and Ben show their moments of concern. But still. Gwen herself admits that she can’t let anyone down, and that is the core of her “helper” personality. But she really needs to learn to say no. This whole episode is a mini version of Ben’s entire character arc throughout Ultimate Alien, but she compounds it by taking on more responsibility than she can handle. And nobody gives her a break about it. She seriously looks like she’s moving toward a breakdown at various points in the episode, but she can’t stop. It’s a cycle, and that’s what makes this episode pretty damn depressing.
We also learn something that I suspected throughout Alien Force: Kevin doesn’t go to school. By the time he’d broken out of the Null Void, he wasn’t able to go back, and he implies that he didn’t finish fifth grade either. But it’s a sticking point with Gwen; education is important to her, even though she appreciates his self-education in tech, math, history, and that he apparently read a lot while in Incarcecon. She suggests to him that he get his GED and that she’ll help him. Kevin points out that it’s another project, but she insists that she’s not looking to take things easy and she’s not going to let him or anyone else down. It’s a really nice character moment for the both of them, highlighting a difference between them and explaining another facet of Kevin’s character.
A couple of random notes here: we learn that Ben has a free pass to be excused from school whenever there’s a need, which proves that at least somebody in this world thinks logically when it comes to teenage superheroes. Even more about Ben is that he dated Emily in the past…either before he asked out Julie in “Pier Pressure” or after their Offscreen Breakup. But it was only one date because there was an attack in the middle of it, and to protect her, Ben went Spidermonkey and webbed her to the side of a radio tower, so Emily has a grudge against him. Also, the voice of French lesson is recognizably Yuri Lowenthal, who to my knowledge is the only member of the main cast who is fluent in French, among other languages. Time will only tell if we get to hear Ben speak German or Japanese.
And finally, the music. I’m a complete dork for saying this, but I absolutely loved the fight scene with the piano music played over it. I love when the music matches the mood, or when something that seems inappropriate is properly used for an artistic sense. And when you have someone playing the fight music in the middle of the scene, it brings it all together even better, which is something this does perfectly. What can I say? I’m a sucker for that kind of thing.Note: I would have shown one of the Kamen Rider Den-O battles to “Double Action Piano Form,” but I could only find the Ryuki battle to “Kanzaki Shiro.”
“It’s Not Easy Being Gwen” was written by Matt Wayne.
At school, she’s still studying for her French exam and helping friends with their homework when her thus-far unmentioned best friend Emily shows up with breakfast and invites her to her piano recital for the Academy of Performing Arts. Gwen promises to be there, but first she’s got to get through her day. Comes lunch, she’s still studying for French when Kevin arrives to pick her up, nearly running her down and forcing her to scream, “Crepe!” Gwen gets in the car and mentions that she needs to pick up more envelopes and finish the invitations, but then she sees that Kevin is beat up, and he explains that they found Animo, who now has more than one frog. Kevin insists that since Gwen is busy, he and Ben can handle things, but she says no and lets slip that she knows Kevin doesn’t attend school. After a discussion, she promises to try to help him get his GED, but as they begin to get close, Captain Cockblock—otherwise known as Ben—shows up and lets them know that Animo’s attacking right outside Gwen’s window. Kevin tells Gwen to stay, so she gives him a protection charm…that apparently is never used. Go figure.
Gwen rushes back to class for her exam, even though the battle has moved directly outside that window too. Her free period is canceled when the algebra II teacher tells her to take over his class because the police called him about the damage to his car in the battle. Yeesh, does she go to Sheffield or something? I hope she’s getting paid for this—she is under no obligation to teach, and she doesn’t even have a degree for that matter! After that debacle, she runs into Emily, who manages to provide her with some lunch. Turns out that Animo is ransoming the planet, but Gwen can’t worry about it because of her academic and extracurricular obligations. When she’s finally done, Emily reminds her about the recital, but Ben arrives and says that he and Kevin massively underestimated Animo and they can’t win without Gwen. Emily is pissed, despite the imminent threat to the world. This recital is the most important thing in the world to her, and she needs her best friend there. She’s worried that Gwen’s work threatens their relationship, since Gwen is running around all over the galaxy and now Emily’s looking to transfer schools. She’s afraid that Gwen will inadvertently write her off once Emily’s gone—out of sight, out of mind. Gwen is shocked, but still, she has to fight.
She and Ben manage to save Kevin just in time after he drops the protection charm that I guess he used or didn’t or whatever. Animo starts monologuing, but Ben cuts him off by saying that Gwen’s pressed for time. Emily begins her recital, and all sound in the battle is muted as the piano music plays over the fight. The team is getting their asses thoroughly kicked. Ben tries to stop Animo’s transmodulator ray, but Animo’s aimed it at Kevin. At the last possible second, Gwen goes and shields Kevin, but she’s injured. Kevin joins Ben at the observatory to battle Animo, and after a rough fight, Ben finally separates Animo and his frog. Gwen manages to snatch the mind control device and hands it to Ben to destroy while Kevin takes Animo in. As the music ends, Emily wheels away to bow to the audience when she sees Gwen in the crowd, applauding. The day saved, Gwen comes home and tells her mom that she finally finished the invitations. Natalie doesn’t even blink at her daughter’s injuries and torn clothes and simply asks her how her day was, and Gwen answers that it was just the usual.
I have to admit that this episode kind of bugged me: both on the level of the absurdity of trying to maintain realistic expectations of a high schooler’s obligations in a very unreal world, and on a psychological level too. In terms of the absurdity, I was reminded a lot of everything I complain about in W.I.T.C.H. season one, where the whole “slice of life” thing doesn’t seem to mesh well with the main story being a war in another world. Now, “slice of life” can be a very good thing. When W.I.T.C.H. does it right, it does it right—like season two’s episode “V is for Victory,” where Will’s drive to win a swimming competition at any cost is directly tied to her character conflict in battle: whether or not she’s following in Nerissa’s footsteps and losing sight of what’s important. In Kamen Rider Ryuki, I love watching Shinji derping around at ORE Journal or at home at Atori Teahouse. And Harry Potter shows some really interesting stuff with school (admittedly, a magical school) when it revolves around a kid who just can’t seem to stop attracting and looking for trouble mostly because he’s being hunted down by a powerful villain. And given how a big part of the theme for Ultimate Alien is how difficult it is to balance a normal life with the celebrity of being a superhero, it is important to see the two sides clash.
But as I said: You have to do it right. W.I.T.C.H. even at its worse has one thing in its favor: the girls have secret identities. The same goes for Shinji in Ryuki. For all their friends may know what they’re doing (mostly because they’re superheroes or support staff), the rest of the world doesn’t know. If one of the girls in W.I.T.C.H. struggles in school due to her superhero job causing a conflict (normally Will), they get flack for it because their parents and teachers don’t know what they’re doing and why they’re failing; it even becomes a plot point in season two when Taranee agrees to tutor Will in math to help her keep her grades up. In Ryuki, Shinji has to work on stories at ORE and help with his chores at Atori, and when he has to let them go due to Rider business, his boss and his landlady get annoyed because they don’t know that part of his life. Harry Potter has it that everyone knows about the secret—at least as far as magic goes—so the teachers are forgiving but worried about Harry’s struggles against Voldemort.
I don’t get that with Gwen’s day-to-day life. There seems to be no sympathy from anyone. Her mom keeps bugging her to do those invitations and refuses to compromise on anything, simply because her family is very fussy and formal. And I find it very hard to sympathize with Emily’s worry when she explains her fears about her and Gwen’s friendship. It’s everything I bitched about with Julie in…well, more episodes than I care to admit. Things come up. You’re not always going to be able to make an obligation to your best friend. It’s even worse when you’re a superhero. I know, Emily’s a teenager, and teens and adults don’t see things the same way. But we are talking about the fate of humanity! I watched that scene and thought of the famous “Where is my super suit?!” scene from The Incredibles, only not funny.
And for the psychological side: Gwen implies at the end that this is a normal day for her. That everyday, she is put through incredible stress at school, by her family, by her friends, and while saving the galaxy, and nobody’s trying to help. Okay, I take that back: both Kevin and Ben show their moments of concern. But still. Gwen herself admits that she can’t let anyone down, and that is the core of her “helper” personality. But she really needs to learn to say no. This whole episode is a mini version of Ben’s entire character arc throughout Ultimate Alien, but she compounds it by taking on more responsibility than she can handle. And nobody gives her a break about it. She seriously looks like she’s moving toward a breakdown at various points in the episode, but she can’t stop. It’s a cycle, and that’s what makes this episode pretty damn depressing.
We also learn something that I suspected throughout Alien Force: Kevin doesn’t go to school. By the time he’d broken out of the Null Void, he wasn’t able to go back, and he implies that he didn’t finish fifth grade either. But it’s a sticking point with Gwen; education is important to her, even though she appreciates his self-education in tech, math, history, and that he apparently read a lot while in Incarcecon. She suggests to him that he get his GED and that she’ll help him. Kevin points out that it’s another project, but she insists that she’s not looking to take things easy and she’s not going to let him or anyone else down. It’s a really nice character moment for the both of them, highlighting a difference between them and explaining another facet of Kevin’s character.
A couple of random notes here: we learn that Ben has a free pass to be excused from school whenever there’s a need, which proves that at least somebody in this world thinks logically when it comes to teenage superheroes. Even more about Ben is that he dated Emily in the past…either before he asked out Julie in “Pier Pressure” or after their Offscreen Breakup. But it was only one date because there was an attack in the middle of it, and to protect her, Ben went Spidermonkey and webbed her to the side of a radio tower, so Emily has a grudge against him. Also, the voice of French lesson is recognizably Yuri Lowenthal, who to my knowledge is the only member of the main cast who is fluent in French, among other languages. Time will only tell if we get to hear Ben speak German or Japanese.
And finally, the music. I’m a complete dork for saying this, but I absolutely loved the fight scene with the piano music played over it. I love when the music matches the mood, or when something that seems inappropriate is properly used for an artistic sense. And when you have someone playing the fight music in the middle of the scene, it brings it all together even better, which is something this does perfectly. What can I say? I’m a sucker for that kind of thing.
“It’s Not Easy Being Gwen” was written by Matt Wayne.