TFP - Triage - "I welcome a good distraction."
A bit late, I know, but I needed time to properly process the awesome that Triage was. Soundwave's a badass, Ratchet's still amazing and I'm warming up to Wheeljack. Crossfire is still my favourite of the season but this episode easily takes the number two spot.
First off, I really enjoyed the dogfight at the beginning. We don't have nearly enough of those for obvious reasons, but still. I had to snicker at Wheeljack's sceptical "Megatron's communication chief?" inquiry. Poor Jackie, he had no idea. The sequence probably dragged on a bit too long and could have done with less Space Invaders styled phui-phui-phui, but I digress, the chase part was really fun. Plus, Ratchet's such a backseat driver!
"If you must know, Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision." Heh. Wheeljack usually rubs me the wrong way with his instant awesome but his other defying quality (i.e. douchiness) worked really well for this episode or at least played well off of Ratchet. And an annoyed Ratchet is always fun to watch. <3
I felt sorry for Laserbeak. But he's such a little BAMF for taking down the StarHammer during his freefall with a stray shot. His helpless flapping around in Ratchet's evil clutches really got to me too. :(
Raf's mad hacker skills still make my blood pressure go up but I guess that's just something I'll have to accept eventually. On the bright side, I prefer the Ratchet/Raf pair off over Bee/Raf. I feel like it's a much more organic dynamic.
Soundwave: 1, Wheeljack: 0. As it should be.
I'm glad it was a pretty even fight though. I think it could have gone either way under the right circumstances. Soundwave is great at dodging but he can't really take a hit all that well due to his generally lanky body type. He's still a badass, and of course, I'm happy he ultimately won. Gotta preserve that untarnished record!
Now, that I think about it I'm not sure what was exactly Wheeljack's plan though. I get that he was trying to buy time for Ratchet and grab the relic if he could but then he was about to kill Soundwave. That seems a bit counterproductive to the plan he's trying to buy more time for. At the same time, I really don't think he was trying to lose on purpose either because that also seems counterproductive... for his continued existence. So yeah, that wasn't a very thoughtout plan, now, was it? Thank God, he managed to lose at the most convenient time!
After Ratchet yelled at him for calling him “Doc” again, and all he could say was “I’m sorry,” oh, man, just the fact he said it, never mind his tone, Ratchet knew something went terribly wrong. Such a great moment between the characters.
Okay, most ridiculous part of the episode? Ratchet hiding behind a frickin' rock without Soundwave detecting him. That's just embarrassing. I feel deeply ashamed for you Soundwave, deeply ashamed. I don't mind that the virus went undected though. Or did it? I don't know, the last Knock Out/Megatron scene was weird, but either way, I could imagine three possible scenarios for the future.
1. Decepticons know about the virus. Soundwave is lazy. Optimus is better at the decoding anyway. So let the Autobots have it. They will get the decoded data via SCIENCE. Equal footing for relic hunting.
2. Decepticons don't know about the virus. Then they do. Piggyback the transmission to locate the Autobot base. Oh, crap!
3. Decepticons don't know about the virus. Then they do/still don't. Doesn't matter because it has no further consequence. The Autobots had won this round, plain and simple.
Well, in any case, Knock Out will probably get blamed for it. Poor guy is reaching Starscream levels of misery. Which is a shame because it makes the character lose some of the qualities I love about him. He's just not acting like himself anymore. Where's the wisecracking, confident, nonchalant dick we all love? I admit he's always been a somewhat two-dimensional character but I really hope they are going somewhere with this. There are signs pointing to that, so I'm hopeful.
The relic designs have been less than inspired recently but I found it quite hilarious how the Resonance Blaster looked like a toothpick in Megatron's hand while it was a perfect fit for Soundwave's paper thin arms. What a crazy random happenstance! :) Nah, it was fine. I actually liked that it was a sonic weapon. Obviously it was no coincidence on the writer's part.
Oh, man, the grenade scene was seriously comical. You gotta admire Megatron's calmness about the situation. He just causally bends over, with arms folded behind the back to admire the Autobots' ingenuity. I would note Soundwave's disinterest as well but that's just Saturday for ya. And in the complete opposite end of the spectrum you have Knock Out screaming and ducking in cover. Comedic gold. Megatron's eyebrow raising at the explosion just icing on the cake.
Hmm, what to discuss, what to discuss... oh, yeah, I thought it was pretty awesome that we got a fair amount of Soundwave POVs during the episode. I think we only had that in Masters and Students before. Just a really neat visual to see what SW sees.
Ahh Bulkhead. I'm not sure how I feel about you. I've gotten to the point where I almost wish they would just get it over with and actually kill him next week. I know it sounds mean but I'm bored of the obligatory Bulkhead in peril plots. Just give him something else to do for a change. *sigh*
I have a million exams starting from next Monday so this is it from me for a good while. Later guys! :)