The episode opens where the previous left off, as the giant tear is created atop the principle office, as the homeless and disheveled binomes watch on. Megabyte’s troops secure the tear as Megabyte continues to torture Phong into giving the codes. The saucy mare begins to approach the fleet of troops, who open fire on teh pirate ship. However, unbeknownst o the virals, the ship was filled with explosives, which deletes the entire fleet, as the remains of the ship fall to the sea below.
With one heck of a signal for Matrix, he orders the rebel binomes to open fire on the principle office and attack the virals within. Dot watches on and wishes that Bob was there to join in the fight. However, Bob is in a bit of a situation of his own, as he’s been tied up by Hexadecimal, as she wants to dance with him.
AndrAIa joins with Matrix as the rest of the rebels continue to battle on. Inside the office, Phong continues to get weaker as the codes are extracted more and more. Before Megabyte can makes things worse for the old sprite, the rebels have managed to make it inside. However, Matrix wants to be the only one to face Megabyte. he manages to easily chase off Herr Doktor, , and reunites with the weakened Phong. But their reunion is cut short by an attacking Megabyte, who suddenly realizes that Matrix is Enzo.
What follows is easily one of the best moments of season 3 as we finally get the confrontation between Matrix and Megabyte that has been long overdue. Megabyte taunts Matrix at first, and tells him to fight like a real sprite without his gun. Matrix does just that, dropping the gun and landing a massive punch to the virus, followed by full on tackling him through a wall. Before Megabyte can slice apart Matrix with his claws, AndrAIa lends him her trident to help even the odds . Making the moment even more intense is that the codes have finally been extracted from Phong.
Back in Lost Angles, Hexadecimal continues to dance with Bob, and then offers some tea and biscuits. Obviously, Hex seems a bit more unwell than usual. Any time Bob tries to escape, she brings him right back. Bob notices the damage to her mask, and offers to help fix it, but she’s afraid. Eventually he manages to get her to trust him, and he uses his powers to fix it. However, it not only fixes the cracks in the mask…
But it merges with her face, meaning that it can move like a normal face. For the first time in her life, Hexadecimal feels whole. Eternally grateful for what he’s done for her, she allows Bob to leave.
While this is happening, the battle between Matrix and Megabyte gets more intense, as the who fight their way atop the principle office. Megabyte eventually manages to make it up before Matrix, and converts the tear into a portal. However, Matrix catches up, and continues to brawl with the virus. However, Megabyte once again gets the upper hand, and is about to finish Matrix off with his claws, but the sprite eventually fights back, managing to smash the claws with AndrAIa’s trident.
Matrix finally has Megabyte held down, and is about to drive the trident into the virus, deleting him for all of the suffering he’s caused. But he decides to show mercy instead, saying that Mainframe will always endure, and that Megabyte will never win. However, he manages to escape long enough to get close to the portal.
But before he can finally get his dream of making it to the supercomputer, Mouse gives the virus one last double cross, converting the portal into a portal to the web. Creatures grab Megabyte as he’s pulled into the web. As the portal closes, out from the web comes the surfer. Bob also finally shows up. But before they can celebrate the defeat of Megabyte, the ground begins to shake. Mainframe is falling apart. The system is beginning to shut down.
“Showdown” is easily one of the most intense episodes of the series. It’s definitely the most action packed. From the saucy mare’s final voyage to the rebels assaulting the principle office, and finally to the battle between Matrix and Megabyte, the intensity never lets up, and it never feels like it drags on. It just gets more intense as the episode rolls along. And the side story involving Bob and Hexadecimal is entertaining and quick enough that it doesn’t feel like it distracts from the most important parts of this episode.
Speaking of Hexadecimal, her new look is definitely interesting to see. After three seasons of her mask face, seeing her now able to move her mouth and blink takes some getting used to, but it is a neat change of design. From this point on in the series, Hexadecimal will be on the side of good, although like I’ve said before, I always have had the belief that Hex was more good than bad, as unlike Megabyte, her goals were more based out of chaos and disorder, and not domination and control. She was mostly doing things for fun without the thought of how it would effect those around her. And while she has teamed with Megabyte in the past, it would come back to bite her in a massive way. So it’s hard to really say that she was ever really full on evil, just a little naughty.
And now on to the main event of this episode. The battle between Matrix and Megabyte is nothing short of epic. The brawling between the two is intense and violent, as we see the physical damage Matrix causes to Megabyte as the battle ensues. There’s so many memorable parts to it. The first punch, the battle on the stairs, Matrix destroying Megabyte’s claws, and eventually deciding to not stoop to the level of the virus and not kill him.It’s made all the better by the voice acting. Both Paul Dobson (Matrix) and Tony Jay (Megabyte) give some great emotion to their voice work in this entire battle, adding to the intensity. I will say the only downside is that the CGI hasn’t held up entirely in some parts, but like a lot of this show, especially early on, if you can let that slide, you get one of the best battles in any animated series.
And for those who would have preferred this be Bob against Megabyte, I don’t think it would have had the same level of emotion to it. And besides, we have had Bob battle Megabyte before on many occasions, the best to this point being “Infected”. And when you really think about it, Megabyte and Enzo have a longer history between the two. From constant kidnappings, to causing Bob to be sent to the web leaving the young sprite to guard the system. And as we’ll learn later on, Megabyte has caused plenty of heartbreak for the Matrix family way before the series began.
So, in the end, “Showdown” is easily one of the best of the series, and with only two episodes of season three to go, it’s definitely going to continue on this ascension into epicness, as Mainframe is falling apart, and if Megabyte was a problem to deal with, then some other old enemies will make the system shut down a bigger headache for our heroes.