Adventures in Care-a-lot, episode 16

So yeah, these eps.  Both of them were kinda lackluster.  Which is why I've put them off for this long.  You guys are just lucky that I want to get to the most recent eps, otherwise who knows how long I would have put these off...

Bumpity and Tweazle

You know, I'm not even going to dignify this one with a summary.  All you need to know is it's the prequel to Flower Power, and it was even worse than I thought it would be.

Here Comes McKenna

This one is really only saved by Grizzle and UR-2 (that part is just me, of course).  The scenerio of the ep introduces the first kid in the TV series, a spoiled brat named McKenna who is brought to Care-a-Lot because of her lack of sharing skillz (among other things, apparently).  Seriously, this girl may have the looks, but her attitude damage is massive.  Her disregard for sharing leaves Share in despair and Funshine dumbfounded (best Funshine face ever!) as she plows through Share's lunch and demands more.  Although properly contrite when chastised, one gets the idea that she's using "this whole sharing thing is new to me" as a crutch to soften the blow of her rotten behavior.  Cheer suggests that she observe sharing in action to get a better idea of how it's done.

One quick field trip to Share's garden and a Grumpy/Share moment does nothing to help McKenna get it.  Later, she blames her lack of getting it on her lack of a belly badge, and Share sees her point.  Somehow she rips off part of her belly badge and "shares" it with McKenna, who thanks Share profusesly and runs off.  As she runs, she reveals her evil plan: she has no intention of returning the badge, and even plans to use it to force people to "share" all their stuff with her.  Cue commercial break.

Once the commercials end, we see that McKenna is lying in wait (and presumably has been all through the commercials), watching for the moment when Grumpy leaves the CBT (Care Bear Transporter) alone, so she can ditch Care-a-lot and get on with her scheme.  Her waiting is interrupted by the arrival of Grizzle, who demands the Care Bears give him Care-a-lot once and for all.  Funshine offers to share it, rather than transfer ownership outright, but Grizzle refuses to share.  Instead, he has UR-2 bring forth the Caretaker 2 (a shout-out to Oopsy Does It), which improves on the first Caretaker by being smaller, mobile, and invisible(!).  McKenna, still in hiding, is impressed.  The Caretaker 2 starts stealing badges, and McKenna notes that it turns uninvisible whenever it snags one.  She then heads for a better hiding place to keep it from getting her half-a-badge.

With the Care Bears powerless, Grizzle sets up the throne he brought for the occasion, complete with neon sign of himself (from the previous episode) and tinny victory music playing.  UR-2 and Sargent Rocketbottom burst streamers as Grizzle ascends.  Once in position, Grizzle calls for the destruction of Care-a-lot and the creation of Grizzleton.  UR-2 asks what Grizzleton is, exactly, and Grizzle tells him it's just Care-a-lot all smashed up.  While the Care Bears are forced to wreck the library steps (not the library!), Grizzle sends his robot minions to find the Caretaker 2, which is still invisible.  He also warns them not to press the blue button that releases all the belly badges, a warning that McKenna overhears.  (Lampshaded: "I never should have installed that blue button.")  Taking advantage of this distraction, McKenna accidentally trips over the Caretaker 2 on her way to the CBT.  Just as she's about to head back home, she starts to feel guilty.  After all, the Care Bears have been nothing but nice to her, and now they're enslaved.  She decides to help them and then head back home with her half-a-badge, and starts looking for the Caretaker 2.  Unable to find it, she remembers that it turns uninvisible when it snags a badge, and even though she had planned all kinds of nefarious deeds for it, her sense of decency suddenly shows up, and she uses her half-a-badge to lure out the Caretaker 2.

Unfortunately for her, UR-2 happened to be nearby when the Caretaker 2 showed itself, and he makes a mad dash (well, whatever it is he does) for it, but ends up in pieces instead (;_;).  McKenna pushes what she thinks is the blue button (since it's invisible again), and gets it right on the first try.  The badges are released and McKenna even gets her half back.  Grizzle is not amused and orders Rocketbottom to get her.  The Care Bears give him a Care Bear Stare instead, but it's not powerful enough with half-a-badge missing.  Share calls on McKenna to help out, but despite McKenna's protests that she doesn't know what to do, the instruction to "care!" is enough to bring Grizzle to his knees (figuratively, anyway).  In his stare-enlightened state, he is easily persuaded to get rid of the Caretaker 2, and then bids the Care Bears farewell.  UR-2 has pulled himself together enough to follow after his master (I'm guessing Sargeant Rocketbottom was already on the cloud transport).

With Grizzle gone, McKenna confesses to her nefarious plans for her half-a-badge, and Cheer points out that the fact that she didn't leave, even when she had the perfect chance, proves she learned something at least.  Later, as McKenna gets ready to go back home (and Share has her whole badge back), Funshine and Share present her with a "Care-a-lot Kid" outfit (it's really only a jacket and fanny pack), complete with a mini-version of Share's badge.  Apparently the mini-badge will give her the same power when it's pinned to the jacket?  I'm not sure how that would work, exactly.  McKenna tells them all goodbye, though she still calls them "Happy Bears" as she did at the beginning of the episode, and Grumpy takes offense at this as the episode ends.

The first time I saw this, I thought McKenna was too old for the part, but while the problems with sharing may be a bit of a younger thing, the attitude was definitely more in line with an older kid.  But really, if it weren't for the Grizzle parts, I probably wouldn't have bothered to write up this episode either.