SPOILERSSym-Bionic Titan, Ep. 9 - "Tashy 497"
[Heartbreaking in the long run, flimsy in execution]
Sym-Bionic Titan has already proven a few times that it has the emotional capability to make us feel for these characters and their dilemma. Lance apologizes to Ilana for his callous behavior by giving her a water globe she admired at the mall. His father's "disappearance" devastated and warped his perspective on life, one he has yet to recover from. Ilana constantly longs for home and fears her limitation is only further harming Galaluna because she can't do a goddamn thing about it.
Then we get something like "Tashy 497" where the same emotional residue are present and played for all its worth, but delivered in an iffy pacing. The premise deals with not a character or event from either of the trio's past, but a newcomer into their world: a terribly cute Mutruaddi monster feared by other Mutraddian beasts...and that says something, especially given what it looks like. It is a justified fear because the creature (dubbed "Mushy" by Ilana, "Terrax" by Lance, and "497" by Octus, renamed into "Tashy 497" by all three and hence what I will be calling it for the rest of this review) is a living bomb, exploding when it has endured physical stress or if its life expired. Lance and Ilana bond over it, but unfortunately it cannot survive Earth.
Despite Lance and Ilana able to survive a foreign planet (and even that can be justified by their similar humanoid appearance), I am pleased that the writers chose to make Earth less convenient then sci-fi lends itself to believe. Aliens just happen upon Earth and managed to survive their atmosphere and environment without any problems. Not the case with Tashy. It is incompatible and it lasts no more then a day before it slowly starts to deteriorate. It's a nice touch to an otherwise convenient method (though one I don't really complain about).
Tashy has just enough screentime to make its presence known, but it doesn't really do much. Why we feel sorry for it mainly rest on Lance/Ilana's interaction and of course, it's ridiculous cuteness. In this case, only the latter ever reaches a core. The heroes' time with Tashy is too short lived and much of their time with it is not established well for me to be convinced that they formed a bond with the little Octorok (hey, it looks like one!) Both Lance and Ilana have their time with it for all but 30 seconds, then they fight over the creature's name for a few seconds, then Barb and her dog interrupts in an unnecessary chase sequence that does nothing to develop character and story before the heroes go on a short, wild goose chase after Tashy. None of those moments had any significant time for any good bonding. Lance especially is egregious because initially he was suspicious of the thing, then for some reason, he playfully wrestles with him and BAM! instant friendship. It comes out of nowhere and is handled poorly. Frankly, I am disappointed that this wasn't strictly a Ilana episode. She is hurting for more centered around her and being that she was the first to accept it, I wished they had kept it purely in her emotional core. Ilana is the most compassionate and it could have bode way with her bonding with the creature before its untimely demise. It may have made the ending just a tad bit more tragic.
Which is a DAMN shame because Tashy's death is poignantly and utterly heart-ripping. It is a bittersweet ending at its core: Tashy isn't some new mascot the team picks up to boosts the show's cuteness factor and lure in the little tykes. No, it is going to die and there is nothing any of them can do about it. The theme of sacrifice hits these kids hard because they had already endured it (Ilana over leaving her father and kingdom despite the crushing war and Lance with his then-presumed dead father) and to see another pass on without either of them able to do anything is clearly devastating for them. (Lance makes a face at one point that is just...gaaaaah!) Which is why I wished they had kept it mostly Ilana's tale as she suffers that frustration of not being able to do anything. It is especially worse because the musical cue that plays during its death is soul-crushing and fitting. It even plays over the transformation sequence which adds another layer of gut-punching. Tashy's death is handled beautifully and I still felt a pang of sadness, but I may have felt much more if its time with the main characters would have played out much better.
It may have been better if they had cut back a couple of minutes during the beginning with General Modula. Tashy doesn't really enter Earth until at least the six minute mark and the (lack of) bond doesn't occur until at least a good halfway through the episode. However, it does push his villain creds a few more ounces. Not just content to send monster after monster, he goes to where the Mutraddis are kept and actually complains about their failure. Most big bads would just keep sending beast after beast, but Modula notices his pattern isn't working, so he actually goes and does something about it. And when that doesn't work, he kills the guy in charge because he didn't do a good job. He wasn't joking with that threat. For someone who has yet to come to Earth itself, Modula is doing a bang-up job justifying his reasoning and his villain status. I wished there could have been some sort of aftermath of him after Tashy blew up because after that beginning intro, he is suddenly just cut off from the rest of the episode.
Overall, it's a passable episode that could have been executed better. With some slight changes, it could have been a far superior episode, but "Tashy 497" delivers its emotional pay-off well.
6.5/10
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