Get ready for a two-part full episode of Hamster & Gretel that will see Kevin get super powers and go beyond the minivan, but don’t expect to see much of them as Gretel finds herself in an out of this world situation.
The New Adventures of Super Kevin
Kevin and Fred are enjoying being hip, trendy, and ironic and head over to a yard sale. In fact, this is Nordle’s yard sale, and perhaps they can help them find something that will help them defeat the promised evil that is coming to Earth.
While there, and attempting to haggle but failing spectacularly, Kevin spots a cryptic alien pendant and purchases it. Later at their lair, Gretel – who has been trying to attend the various birthday parties of her peers but finds herself booked with Villain battles – is examining the pendant with Kevin, where they both touch the pendant at the same time and discover that her powers have been transferred to her older brother.
This works well for the moment, because Gretel really wants to go to Heather’s (or is it Helen’s) birthday party, and now Kevin can go battle the evil villain Mud Singer.
While this doesn’t seem to be the best idea, everyone goes through with it with the understanding that this is only temporary and for a few hours at most. Well, when Kevin defeats the dirt-clodded opera singer, he instantly has a brush with fame, and notably catches the eye of Hiromi, his longtime crush.
Wait a minute….I thought he was flirting with Lauren by the end of the last episode. We were rooting for that, come on guys.
Anyway, realizing that he now has the attention of Hiromi and others (that we see during a musical number), you can tell that Kevin isn’t really going to give up the powers so quickly.
In fact, he even schedules a date/interview with Hiromi just so he can spend more time with her under his superhero guise. However, Fred and the others point out it's a bad idea to do an interview with a reporter who will likely try and figure out his secret identity.
Because he wants to go to the interview/date as the hero version of himself, he begs Gretel (quite literally) to keep the powers for the rest of the day. She reluctantly agrees, allowing herself more time to be a normal kid.
However, it’s on the way to the party with Bailey that Gretel and her friend get beamed into space by the aliens who granted her powers in the first place. While viewers might think that this has something to do with her giving up her powers, it’s actually a much more serious scenario – her powers are being put to the test in a gladiator-style arena to make sure her abilities are ready as a greater evil, that has been promised most of this season, is on its way. What a great time for a commercial break.
Part 2
So Gretel and Bailey arrive somewhere in the galaxy at this arena with monstrous creatures (that surprisingly don’t cause her or Bailey to bat an eye at) and have no superpowers to help her. When she even explains that she lent them out for the day, the aliens laugh and think she is joking, despite the fact that clearly there is an alien pendant that exists that could transfer the powers.
Alas, Gretel is thrown into these battles and must now figure out a way to survive. She uses some psychological tricks, including pitting two of the monsters against each other pretending that one smashed the other’s car, to get by but this can only last for so long.
Kevin must know that she is up here somehow and will come and give her powers back to her. Right? Back on Earth, Kevin is still schmoozing and enjoying the attention but makes it back to the lair where he is chastised by Hamster and Fred for keeping the powers for so long. While debating whether or not Gretel would approve, she times her call perfectly on an intergalactic call to Kevin’s phone and reveals where she is and what trouble she has found herself in.
While they don’t know exactly where she is, Gretel texts a picture of the event flyer to Fred who examines it and discovers that if she purchases tickets to the event, they will immediately be beamed to the arena. So that’s what she does, sending Hamster and Kevin to the worst seats in the house, just to get them there to save Gretel. However, the battle area has a force field around it to prevent anybody from entering (probably for this exact reason).
Fred comes in clutch again when she also discovers a forum online that shared a theory that if they break the pendant, the powers will be returned to whoever they were taken from.
Perfect timing, as Gretel is now face to face with the Skull Pulverizer, a villain she had manipulated earlier and is now extra upset and ready to defeat the tiny human child.
Out in the crowd, Kevin is willing to break the pendant and give up the powers to save his little sister, but can’t figure out how to break it, even with the combined superhero strength of he and Hamster. They get the Force Field in on the fun too, trying to use its immense power combined with theirs to shatter the pendant.
Right in the knick of time, they are able to shatter the pendant and Gretel’s powers are restored, defeating the Skull Pulverizer.
As the aliens arrive to congratulate her, Kevin asks for more information about the greater evil that has been promised. They say they can’t share much, but that the villain’s name is Mordros the Annihilator and he will be even worse than the villains Gretel has fought this far. The mere mention of his name caused the audience to panic and flee the arena, so this thing must be real bad.
Speaking of real bad behavior, Kevin has once again forgotten about Hiromi, leaving her stranded at the restaurant where she was sitting on a bench waiting for his superhero alter ego to show up.
That’s okay – we’re rooting for the whole Kevin/Lauren thing to work out.
This episode of Hamster & Gretel is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. You can catch up with earlier episodes and first season streaming now on Disney+.