Fred deals with her own villains while Hamster and Gretel fight their villain of the week with some elbow grease and cleaning supplies in the latest episode of Hamster & Gretel on Disney Channel.
Last Fred Standing
Gretel, Kevin, and Hamster are trying to learn a complicated board game that Fred loaned them, who also suggested that this game would in fact be too complicated for them. Why isn’t Fred there to teach them how to play herself? Because she, a high schooler, is relaxing and enjoying an antiques auction with Hiromi.
There, she bids on an impossible bottle that has an even smaller impossible bottle inside of it. However, she is outbid by Frederick, her nemesis. Now, in order to get her hands on the impossible bottle, Frederick strikes up a deal and a challenge that if she wins, she gets the impossible bottle and gets to keep the rights to her name, Fred.
You see, back when they were younger, Fred (again, short for Winifred) got the nickname and everyone knows that when you’re younger, there can’t be two of the same name – so Frederick was stuck with Frederick.
Now, as part of the deal, Fred has signed a contract (without reading it first!) that says if she loses, she signs over the name of Fred to Frederick, and she will have to revert back to Winifred.
The first part of this challenge is a simple game of tetherball, and Frederick accidentally knocks Fred’s (not pink, but Mauve) glasses off of her face, but hands them back to her saying it would be unfair of him to allow her to play at a disadvantage.
Surprisingly, Fred isn’t doing so great throughout these challenges, and ahead of their extreme Monkey Bar challenge that Frederick has built, Fred and Hiromi discover that Frederick switched out her glasses, further impairing her vision. However, this was allowed in the contract the she signed, and must now complete the American Ninja Warrior-esque Monkey Bar battle without them.
Even without the glasses, Fred still proves to be the better Fred and wins, with even Frederick admitting that she is the better Fred. However, Hiromi suggests an alternative – why doesn’t he just go by the name “Freddie?” He thinks about it and decides to go with it.
Back at the Grant-Gomez house though, Gretel and Kevin are still trying to figure out how to play the board game and even looking up videos on the internet before ultimately getting so frustrated they destroy the game, right in front of Fred unbeknownst to them.
From Dust Till Dawn
Abuelita is visiting and teaching Kevin how to clean some precious family heirlooms now that he is old enough to do so. After all, this special 18th century Aztec flatware has been handed down through generations and if any harm comes to them, then doom will be brought upon the family. That’s why, despite constantly being cleaned, these items must never actually be used.
As soon as Abuelita leaves the room for a moment, Gretel starts to handle part of the collection – a teapot – much to the ire of a paranoid Kevin. She has a firm grip until Abuelita comes back into the room and startles her leading to her (quite predictably) dropping the teapot and breaking it.
Given that in the past, Abuelita did the same thing with a sugar bowl when she was younger, she banishes Kevin and Gretel from the house to make sure the family isn’t doomed, also leading them to figure out how to repair the teapot. Outside, they encounter Rosie the mail carrier, who suggests they take the teapot to an antique show in town to see if someone there can repair it.
It’s at this Antiques show that this week’s villain appears – the Dust Mite. This villain is obsessed with collecting (stealing) antiques and their 18th century Aztec teapot is quite the find. The Dust Mite creates giant actual dust mites and sends them to attack Hamster and Gretel, and also creates clouds of dust that are impossible to see through. She also knows capoeira, and enchants Hamster with her beautiful movements while simultaneously kicking him in the face. The group is trying to figure out a strategy but is stumped until they remember Abuelita’s secret cleaning skills. While Kevin is with her, she pulls out the sugar bowl from her past and a note stumbles out, saying that Abuelita never brought doom upon the family, and the family will never be doomed as long as they stick together.
That’s when Abuelita realizes she too must help Gretel and suits up, joining her in the fight and eventually vanquishing the Dust Mite (and her dust mites!) with her cleaning techniques. They are able to get through the dust, and Hamster uses capoeira himself to help in the fight, eventually leading to the capture of the Dust Mite, who is revealed to be Rosie the mail carrier – which has nothing to do with her occupation. A person has to have hobbies too, right?
This episode is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. It’s also available on Disney+ alongside earlier episodes of the series.