Sushi Pack - Respectable Delectables and Star of Light, Star so Bright

When I first saw the titles of these episodes on MSN's guide, it mashed them together so it looked like the first one was called "Respectable Delectable Star of Light" and the second was called "Star so Bright."  Thus, I thought that it was going to be a two-part Christmas episode, although I should have realized what was going on, as it wasn't the first time MSN had bled the titles into each other (although it was the first time that happened in the Sushi Pack guide).  While the episodes that actually aired where not quite as good as a Sushi Pack Christmas would have been, they were still pretty good.

Respectable Delectables - "I called this meeting for a good purpose."  "Lunch, I hope."

At a hotel/convention center somewhere in Wharf City (or maybe some other city entirely), Apex calls roll, while Oleander voices her displeasure at the continental breakfast.  Sir Darkly is also unhappy, but that's normal for him.  Titanium Chef and the Legion of Low Tide arrive slightly late, but Titanium Chef is already ready for lunch.  Apex directs everyone's attention to the table setting he arranged, but since there's no food on it, no one is pleased.  The Collector also shows up, by the way.

While Apex tries to get everyone to shut up, the Sushi Pack watches them from a monitor inside their juice cooler hideout, which has been moved to the hotel hallway for the occasion.  Ikura and Maguro have doubts about Tako's plan, but they wait to see what will happen.  Apex calls up for drinks, and Tako reroutes the call and convinces him to order juice instead.  With a not-so-quick delivery by Ben, they're in!  Just so we know, Tako reveals that they found out about the convention by tracking Apex's communications and Oleander's phone calls.  Ikura's ready to leap into action, but Tako would rather use the opportunity to figure out what evil schemes the villains are up to.

Apex tries to get down to business, but the Legionnaires guess he wants to take over the world, and claim that plan is old hat.  The other villains agree, and start to leave.  Apex, understandably annoyed by now, uses his forcefield powers to grab everyone and force them to listen to him.  But not even this keeps the villains from grousing about the rooming arrangements.  Apex demands respect, and abruptly drops them all.  He then uses their shocked silence to finally get to the purpose of their meeting: coming up with a plan to stop the Sushi Pack once and for all.  Hearing this, Ikura once again wants to leap out, but Tako makes him wait as the villains brainstorm.

Oleander comes up with a plan to send the Pack to an amusement park and tamper with one of the rides so that the Pack is flung far out to sea.  The Collector illustrates his plan to trap the Sushi Pack in a "really, really deep hole" on a chalkboard, but it gets voted down due to the fact that the villain would have to dig it themselves, with no guarantee they'd be able to get out.  Titanium Chef recommends luring the Pack onto a cruise ship where they'll fall asleep in the sun and fry, which is acted out by the Legionnaire Players.  But the others nix it, especially when Titanium Chef's claim that he "knows sushi" is undermined by the Legion's behavior.  The Pack laughs at the villain's lack of propriety, but stops short when Apex proposes a plan that reveals he was fully aware of the Sushi Pack tracking his communications.  All that remains is to trap them in a space container and blast them to the sun.

The other villains, unaware that Apex's plan is already underway, laugh at it, so Apex shakes up the juice machine and out fall the Sushi Pack.  But even faced with the actual Pack, the villains can't agree on what to do with them, so Apex claims them for his own.  Until his rocket boots run out, that is.  The Pack takes advantage of the villains' squabbling to corner them and trap them in a net.  As they fly off with the villains in tow, Tako thanks the others for sticking with his plan, which Maguro chalks up to the mutual respect they have for each other.  And off they go to deliver the villains to the local prison.

This is another one of those episodes that doesn't really benefit from being written up.  There are just too many lines that I can't cover without it veering off into a complete tangent.  So definitely watch this one, and enjoy the villains snarking on each other.  Also, Apex had a different voice in this one, for some reason.

Star of Light, Star so Bright - "That ruby's worth a million, and I can barely see it!"

Late one night, Titanium Chef and the Legion of Low Tide break into the safe of what I'm assuming is a bank, and quickly begin to bag up the cash therein.  But Titanium Chef warns against taking any change, for it would be too noisy.  Predictably, the Sushi Pack shows up, but Titanium Chef planned for this: he and the Legionnaires don night-vision goggles, and Unagi zaps the power, rendering the whole place pitch black.  While the Pack fumbles (except for Wasabi, who has learned to harness his glow-in-dark powers since Darkness and Spice), the Legion gets away.

Later, Sophia Tucker reports from the scene of the crime.  Seems this isn't the first time the Pack was bested during a nighttime heist.  Wasabi fangirl that she is, she still has to question how effective the Sushi Pack has been lately.  Ikura is insulted, but Tako takes it as a sign that they just need practice for the future.  Ikura's all gung-ho for an obstacle course in the Green Donut, and for some reason, Maguro suggests that Wasabi should be the one to ask for Ben's permission.  Wait, wasn't Ben not being able to understand Wasabi a plot point in at least one episode?  What's Maguro up to?  True to form, Ben doesn't understand a word of Wasabi's "Why we need to use the Green Donut at night" presentation, but he agrees anyway.  Mostly because he's distracted by the investor who's coming to visit the shop the next morning.  With the right push, he'll help Ben set up a Green Donut franchise!  So as long as the shop doesn't get messy, Ben is fine with whatever they want to do.

Meanwhile, the Legionnaires complain about how little their share of the money from the robberies is, but Titanium Chef explains that he had to use the rest for the ingredients to make his latest recipe: Chocolate Blackout Mousse!  (Sounds tasty :d)  The mousse will create a fog as dense as the darkest night, and give Titanium Chef free range of the town.  There's only one ingredient still needed: a blob of wasabi.

As the Pack gears up for their training, Wasabi starts to tell the others what Ben told him about the franchise guy, but when Tako makes him the leader of the exercise, all thoughts of it fly out of his mind.  With Kani's night-vision goggles, the Pack can see in the dark, but Wasabi manages to get them by shining a light off of Kani's head and blinding Tako, Maguro, and Ikura.  The entire training makes quite a mess of the shop.  The next morning, the sleeping-in Pack are woken by Ben's tortured screams: the Green Donut has been compromised!  The Pack (minus a still sleeping Wasabi) reassure Ben that it wasn't vandals, but the fruit of their practice, which they were apparently too tired to clean up the night before.  They promise to help him clean, but it's too late, the investor arrives!

And thus Ben is rejected off screen.  As he dejectedly cleans, the rest of the Pack apologizes for not cleaning up, since they didn't know that the investor was coming that morning.  Of course, Ben points out that he told Wasabi, which is news to the other Pack members.  When questioned, Wasabi tells the others they don't understand, but they understand that he wanted to be in charge enough that he disregarded Ben's warning.  As Tako questions his own decision to let Wasabi lead, the lump of mustard sheds a few (hilariously cute) tears, then storms off.  That night, the Pack is alerted to another nighttime caper and take off in the Sushi Craft, minus Wasabi, who went patrolling in his own plane.

Landing outside a jewelry shop, Tako predicts that it's another one of Titanium Chef's traps.  Wasabi lands shortly thereafter and runs right into it, despite Ikura trying to warn him.  Inside, Titanium Chef does indeed have a trap, and goes through the requisite 'bad' acting, with Wasabi none the wiser.  He takes the bait and lobs a glob of wasabi at the Titanium Chef, who ducks out of the way to let it fly into his pot of mousse.  With the recipe complete, the mousse begins to spread, creeping toward Wasabi as Titanium Chef gloats. But the rest of the Pack leaps in, putting the moves they practiced the night before to good use.  Tako advises Wasabi to heat up the mousse, while he distracts Titanium Chef by grabbing the sack of jewels.  Hi then whips the Chef into a frenzy by tossing the jewels around indiscriminately.  While Titanium Chef isn't paying attention, he uses a pearl to trip the Chef up and puts him out of commission.

Meanwhile, Toro squares up against Maguro, but is easily taken out by her telekinesis, which she uses to simultaneously spin him and Uni, and fling away Mochi to boot.  Unagi plays with Kani, but she manages to discharge him with a piece of pipe, and Ikura bluffs Fugu into trapping himself in a doorway.  Titanium Chef finally comes to, only to realize that his mousse is no longer creeping.  Turns out Wasabi overcooked it.  First despairing, and then full of rage, Titanium Chef calls for the Legion to regroup, and they form a unified front against the Pack.  But Wasabi uses Kani to blind them, and they retreat...straight into the police's clutches.

Back at the Green Donut, Ben forgives Wasabi for losing him a chance at fame and fortune, claiming that as long as Wasabi learned from his mistakes, it's okay.  Wasabi is so pleased that he starts glowing bright enough to be seen during the day, prompting Kani to pull out her sunglasses, which she wears even when they give the end shout of "Sushi Pack!"

So, this was a weird one.  I mean, Ben doesn't seem to be the type to care about creating a franchise.  But it was nice to see Wasabi actually get called out on his behavior for a change, even if Ben forgave him way too quickly at the end.  And it was great seeing another Legion on Pack fight that actually had some substance to it again.

Bonus screenshot: Unagi can't handle Titanium Chef's 'bad' acting.