After a several-week hiatus, the first season of Hamster & Gretel is back on Disney Channel, and we’re getting deeper into a deeper and overarching storyline that isn’t just a villain of the week.
Hamnesia
Hamster and Gretel are already in an action-packed battle with a villain named Recordscratch when we join them, but after the battle ends, something has happened to Hamster. Gretel is concerned but Kevin just assumes that Hamster has gone home for food, but something else is afoot. We see Hamster awaken in the home of another child, and doesn’t seem to remember who or what he is. Now, this young boy has named Hamster “Peanut” and is taking ownership of the domesticated rodent.
Cue the musical number!
After the song, we see Gretel and Kevin looking for Hamster in the park, where we also learn that Hamster moonlights as a piano player at a local club. Coincidentally, the boy and Hamster are in the same park, and come across Gretel’s favorite tree, which sparks some kind of memory in Hamster’s brain. The boy talks about his fear of climbing the tree, but Hamster gestures and implies that the boy needs to climb the tree. When he falls, Hamster is there to catch him, literally, and the boy discovers that Hamster can fly. Now, he can do anything.
Over at Riff Van Winkles, the club where Hamster plays, Gretel and Kevin are looking for their pet but the club owner is equally upset that Hamster hasn’t been showing up. While there, they discover that Hamster is also a budding artist, and has a gallery exhibit featuring a portrait of Kevin that I’m sure will appear on ETSY in no time.
Back at the park, Hamster is teaching the young boy to play catch when his ball goes beyond an electrified fence. After powering through the shock, the boy expresses that he doesn’t know what he’d do if anything ever happened to his hamster. That’s when Kevin appears and says that it's HIS hamster, though Hamster himself doesn’t remember.
Kevin remembers that Hamster’s favorite food is cabbage when the boy offers him a carrot, and we are treated to a flashback of Hamster devouring the accurate treat as he begins to remember. Hamster comes to and starts talking, telling the young boy, Billy, that he belongs to someone else and will always remember their time together.
The boy gets upset, and we think for a second this might be a villain origin story before it is revealed that the boy is already a villain, The Imposter, who was actually disguised as Recordscratch from the beginning and created a highly elaborate (even for this show) rouse to steal an experimental flying tank. The battle ensues and is over just as fast as it started with police arriving on scene, though Hamster now will be second guessing every kid he sees, thinking its a grown man in disguise.
Romancing the Scone
Hamster and Gretel are reading a book when their mom comes in reminding Kevin that they have to take Hamster to the vet after school. Gretel goes to class, and is randomly paired with Nordle for a book report. You may recall Nordle from the episode shortly before the series went on hiatus. Together, they are deciding what book to do a report on while the power-giving UFO just fired evil powers into a breakfast pastry that jumped into Nordle’s bag as the two children walked by it.
At the vet, Hamster is concerned with something that the doctor said, “it won’t hurt a bit” not knowing what is about to happen. Hamster is genuinely terrified and Kevin tries to console him, but hamsters are notoriously good at hiding, and has begun to do so as Kevin searches frantically for the rodent.
Gretel takes Nordle to a nearby playground and he doesn’t seem to comprehend what it is, especially the giant robot that wants to play with them. Of course, that’s not part of the playground and seems to be targeting the breakfast pastry inside Nordle’s bag.
The robot attacks and Gretel calls Kevin to no avail, as he is busy with Hamster at the vet. The robot has Gretel and Nordle trapped in a crawling tube while other kids at the playground calmly watch. Together, they try to figure out a way out, but Gretel uses the calculator provided by Nordle to not calculate a way out, but throw it out of the tube to create a distraction and a chance to escape.
Kevin is trying to get Hamster to talk at the vet, while Nordle and Gretel make their escape and up at Nordle’s house, where his evil villain dad/used tire salesman is. They go upstairs to his room, and empty his backpack, discovering the radioactive scone that jumped into his bag. When they go to study it more, his father, Professor Exclamation and his robot (From the playground!) are in the doorway. Gretel recognizes him immediately, though the professor doesn’t, and she is sent away with the robot to get a snack, while Nordle has a moment with his dad. His dad confesses, he’s a supervillain with an elbow-based origin story, and is proud that his son has evil powers too—oh wait. He doesn’t. They’re in the scone. After Gretel sends the robot away, she runs into the chamber with Nordle and his dad and stops him from taking a bite of the scone to get evil powers, saying that if he does it, then they can’t be friends. Nordle decides to throw the scone and destroy it, much to his father’s chagrin, though he’ll still pick him up after soccer at 5.
Oh and as for the rest of that vet appointment? Hamster’s just fine, and Kevin owes them $200.00.
You can watch this episode of Hamster & Gretel now on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can also catch up with earlier episodes of the season now streaming on Disney+.