We open the episode at Bob’s apartment as Dot and Enzo have come to help him in his time of distress. But the problem he’s having is not from Megabyte, or Hexadecimal, but rather Mike the TV, who won’t shut up with his incessant advertising. Bob can’t even turn Mike off because his remote control ran away. Now he has to deal with endless ads for things like “Bucket O Nothing”, which you can get for 99.99.99.
But before Bob can finally dismantle Mike, a game cube just happens to drop on Bob’s aparment. That’s right, for the first time, the whole episode will focus around the game. It’s a medieval fantasy game called “A Dungeon Deep”, and the object, as always, is to race the user’s team to the finish. Up until now, I never realized it, but almost every game’s objective has revolved around a race with a user to the finish. I guess it adds more tension to the story then just destroying the user.
The group reboot, with Dot being the wizard, Enzo being the archer, and Bob being the thief. That’s right, Bob, despite being the main hero of the series, isn’t the warrior. The warrior is instead Mike the TV. And they can’t change jobs, meaning that they have to stay to their roles. Despite telling Mike to stay, he guilt trips the group into coming along.
The first task they have to deal with is the talking door. The door tells them in riddle that only together can they survive. They push the door down to the river below the castle, complete with a waterfall called “The vicious pit of total oblivion”. They manage to survive before falling to their doom. And as expected, Mike’s not helping matters much with his annoyance.
The next area has them dealing with multiple random doors. As well as giant statues that come to life. And Bob’s trusty butter knife is not helping. Dot’s spells just keep multiplying them and making them smaller and smaller, which actually works to their advantage. Eventually they’re small enough to step on and destroy. All the while Mike is being his usual annoying self.
Next they head down a long and winding stairway where a giant spider is waiting to eat them. Bob’s butter knife manages to send the spider falling to his demise. The next issue is carrot soldiers that are quickly turned into snacks. Other obstacles include riddles, a giant water monster that’s frozen and finished off, a giant crawling eyeball, and a big fire breathing demon skull-faced worm thing while they ride a giant banana. In other words, this is a silly dungeon.
Eventually, they make it to the final level of the dungeon. And this time, the enemy they have to deal with is a shadow monster. Mike continues to be useless as they are almost easily defeated. Mike surprisingly is smart enough to turn the light out of the room. But before they can win, they are reminded of the riddle about “all in one”. And with the room collapsing, they have very little time. They all work together, and open the door, entering the final room of the game.
In the final room has the chalice needed to complete the game, but now they have to face off with mirror copies of themselves. Bob, Dot and Enzo are all easily defeated, just as the user’s are arriving. However, with each other’s help, they manage to defeat the mirror doubles, especially with the help of Mike’s unstoppable advertising. The user arrives, and before they can lose, the four heroes manage to open the protection spell and grab the chalice to win the day.
Later at Dot’s Diner, they finally realize that they should have all worked together, and that everyone feels bad for not trusting Mike. Mike of course is eating up the fact that everyone finally likes him. Of course, he finally takes a hint that they’re all a bit tired of his annoyance and shuts down for the day.
This is easily the best “filler” episode of the season, and for a lot of reasons. First off, like I mentioned, this is the first time an episode has revolved almost entirely around a game. And a game that can give the creators plenty of crazy ideas to work with. And they do so masterfully. From the guard carrots, to referencing the other levels we didn’t see. I do feel bad that we didn’t get to see the level with the haunted laundry.
The real star of this episode is Mike the TV. Like i said in “The Tiff”, this is a character you’ll either love or hate. And honestly, I love the little guy. There’s just an undeniable charm to him, and his ability to shill TV shows and advertise nonstop. For the show’s comic relief, he does an excellent job. Though how he can reboot is confusing. He’s not a sprite, or a virus. He’s an appliance. He also doesn’t have an icon. But I guess that wasn’t really thought out. It doesn’t hurt the episode, but it is odd.
This is one of the episodes that still holds up. Again, maybe not in the animation department, but if you can live with that, you’re in for one of the best of the season, if not the series itself. It’s just a fun episode with great writing, and it was all free for only 99.99.99!
But after a few filler episodes, it’s time to finally come back to the world of continuity. Remember in the Crimson Binome episode that I had mentioned a character named Mouse? Well, let’s find out more about her in the next episode.