CAKED-FOUR

[theorygirl]

Honestly, I think the good outweighed the bad. I mean, I didn't particularly care for all the competitiveness between the main characters at the beginning. It felt out of character to me. But that's only one part of the whole.
Another thought I had: just how did Father know Hoagie's dad? Perhaps, if Father is immortal (as some think), maybe, just maybe, Hoagie's dad was once in the Kids Next Door himself! Hm...... *goes off to further plot theories*

[radicalphantom]

Perhaps Father played a part in Hoagie's Dad's death? Or maybe that would be a bit to dark... then again you never know I guess. I'm just saying this after how strongly it seemed Father felt about Hoagie's Dad being a failure, a loser, etc...

[tako]

TheoryGirl said:

Another thought I had: just how did Father know Hoagie's dad? Perhaps, if Father is immortal (as some think), maybe, just maybe, Hoagie's dad was once in the Kids Next Door himself! Hm...... *goes off to further plot theories*

I personally don't think Father is immortal. I think that he and Numbuh 2's dad personally knew each other when they were kids.

Anyway, my review:
The first half of this episode totally rocked. I loved the appearances of various characters (especially Numbuh 65.3 and the "Hi!" girl from Op. THE-SHOGUN) and the race had me totally hooked. The second part was a little... eh... I didn't really like Father playing a role in the story and the ending made me sad (but it wasn't sad as in "I hated that ending", but sad as in "Aw, poor Numbuh 2!"), and I was creeped out by the whole, baking-kids-into-a-giant-cake thing, but overall, it was a really good episode that really made me want to give Numbuh 2 a hug. He is just too lovable.

The single thing that made me wince about this episode though, was the whole bit with the Kid flirting with Numbuh 3. His voice freaked me out! (But the, "The word for 'tube' in Spanish is 'el tube'" line seriously had me cracking up.) But anyway, the guy-flirting-with-Numbuh-3-and-making-Numbuh-4-jealous thing is seriously getting kind of old. I mean, this is the third time it's been done.

Anyway, I loved Hoagie in this episode. It was kind of agonizing that he didn't go the last 2 yards to finish the race, but when I think about it, it shows that he has solid character: the reporter had just told him that he won because everybody was being cooked into a cake. In addition to needing to save his friends, Numbuh 2 probably knew that it wouldn't be a victory if all his competitors were being cooked in a cake, so even though I was shouting in my mind, "Finish the race! It'll only take a few seconds!", I respect him for going back.

[numbahlt]

No... it's apparent to me that Father is immortal. For obvious reasons. If you look back at ARCHIVE, Mr. Wigglestien, for all intents and purposes, has been there since the beginning of adults. He was there when the seedings of the adult rebellion started. In fact, he started it, so obviously, he's been there for a long time.

[tako]

Mr. Warburton has stated numerous times that not everything in ARCHIVE was true. Also, how can you tell how long ago adults were created? From the technology and fashion of the people, it seems that it might have only been 10 or 20 years ago.

[delightfulliod]

Numbuh said:

I just saw it! My brothers taped it for me. I loved Tubzilla, and Betsy! Poor Hoagie. I think his dad died...

Sure sounded that way to me too.

It also seems that Father does technically love his children. Though i wonder fi they would've enjoied their cake, knowing what was being baked in it (YUCK!)

[saberlock]

I don't believe Hoagie's dad was in the KND, but it's apparent that he did fight Father at some point in his life. My reason for thinking this is that Betsy's technology only activated against Father's ifrit powers. Since she was patched uped mulitple times, it's obvious she can be damaged by other methods. And Hoagie didn't know about the tech, so he couldn't have activated it. Hoagie's dad must have specifically built Betsy (and assumedly other weapons) to fight Father. He used Betsy year after year and convinced his oldest son to use her too in order to protect the Toobin' children from Father's attacks. Now you might wonder why I say thet he wasn't in the KND if he could do all this? Well, the answer is simple: he remembered the importance of Betsy as an adult. Any KND operative would have had his memory erased long before he could tell his wife about it. Also, 2by4 technology doesn't work as well against Father as Betsy did.

The fact I find more surprising is that Father lived in this town when Hoagie's dad was a kid. Season 1 made it seem like Father had just moved into town a few years ago. The cake stealing thing had become a yearly tradition, but the Delightfuls weren't adiquatly prepared for it. Father had his hold on the town, but Sector V had never seen him before. My theory is that Father was massivly beaten by someone years ago and went into hiding until whoever defeated him was no longer a threat.. He returned around the same time as Sector V was created. He didn't believe these "Kids Next Door" were anything to worry about, so they couldn't have been the reason he left the last time.

Francine was in the race! No fair mentioning her without showing her tube. I think it was a mistake for the announcer to call her "Fanny." She would only let her family call her that without retribution.

[homunculi7]

I have to say that I really liked this episode. It had everything, comedy, drama, romance, action, and it was just overall good!

Frankly, I found the story with Numbuh 2 to be very interesting. How his dad gave him Betsy, and it turned out that his dad never actually won any races. Plus it seems that Father knew Numbuh 2's dad and now I'm wondering if Numbuh 2's dad was in the KND, and they were enemies. If that part of Numbuh 1's story in ARCHIVE was right (Father being immortal), than that is a possibility.

Now lets move on to Numbuh 4, who had the most tragic end of any of the characters! I mean come on, he didn't win the race (along with the other 364), he didn't get the girl in the end, heck, he didn't even get off the island! Oh well, better luck next time ol' buddy!

Man, now how many people does that make that have flirted with Numbuh 3? First there was 30C, then Sandy, not to mention Numbuh 4, now the mystery kid!? Jeez, Numbuh 3 really IS "the flirt."

Anyway, there were some really humorous parts in this as well. I liked the return of "The Tommy", and I thought that announcer kid was hilarious. I know he's supposed to be a parody of someone, but I forget who.

I give this ep an 8.5 out of 10. I hope we get more eps soon!

[aidanater]

i'm pretty sure father was created, not one of the kids that were there from the beginning.

[delightfulliod]

aidanater said:

i'm pretty sure father was created, not one of the kids that were there from the beginning.

I thought it was more along the lines of his anger taking over him. Such as it did with Anikin Skywaker. He let his hatered for children take control. He then truned from being Wigglestein into the creature known as Father. Though how he got his powers is still to be answered.

I also doubt that he's immortal. We've seen before he can be hurt be intense cold. Therefore it is possible he can also be destroyed.

[numbahlt]

^I agree. That's kind of what they were trying to say in
ARCHIVE, which was mostly a joke episode. I believe that
most of what was in ARCHIVE was faked just to make fun of
The Animatrix, but some of it, like the fact that Father
started the hatred against children, was believable.

Although, if you look at it from a truthful perspective,
ARCHIVE was correct in saying children came first. It's
like asking what came first, the chicken or the egg?
Obviously, the egg (or in our case, children) came first
because somewhere down the evolutionary table, animals
began giving birth to evolved versions of their own
species. The egg of a chicken came from, theoretically, the
ancestor of the species of chicken we know today. Meaning
that a human child, also theoretically, came from the belly
of a monkey! Therefore, humans began evolving and giving
birth to new versions of their own species.

In fact, that is happening again in our society---over the
years, scientists have found human thumbs to be changing
through the generations because of things like video games
and cell-phones that are requiring our thumbs to work
harder. It's a scientific fact that people with
double-jointed fingers are growing in numbers over the
generations, and in about 100 years, we will see humans
with a whole new type of hand. We will see different
fingers and possibly the feet will change as well, and we
will see different toes.

Wow... this is turning into a rather peculiar
conversation... let's continue!

Moving back on the topic of wether or not Father is
immortal, I think he was one of the first homo-sapiens. I
have a huge feeling he is supposed to represent some sort
of evil force on the planet, and that he's representing an
evil force that has been on this Earth over the known
course of history, which would be evil itself.

[kiyosuki]

Wait..*slaps face*

Its funny how we're all saying 2's dad is probably dead, but there's another almost irritatingly obvious answer too.

He's alive, but he just never comes home very often..because he's a commercial pilot of some kind. Airliner, Cargo, whatever. That would certainly make it so he rarely comes home...makes sense doesn't it?
2 being defensive of him could also come from just really missing him a lot ( ) I haven't really seen much of my own dad in my lifetime, but I love him anyways but if I were his age, and someone spoke really bad of my father even if I didn't know him very well, I'd probably have the same reaction. Separation's pretty rough no matter what form it comes in.

Although having him dead is cooler. ;D Its probably the above Tom has in mind.

[xinn0centxpinayx]

Darlimondoll said:

I thought his dad was dead too, but the way his mom was talking it didn't really sound like the case.

Anyway. I love this episode. Perfect mix of everything. The reporter dude (kid?) was awesome. XD and Wally's facial hair. Looks like somebody hit puberty... should we expect a growth spurt any time soon? ..No? And I liked his little coconut friend too.. hehe.
I got excited when I saw the dogifight kid... XD and when he started interacting with Kuki. 3/4 is always better when there's another man involved o.o;
Numbuh 1 was great too. Everyone was great, really. Especially Numbuh 2. I think I teared up a little when I heard his dad n__n;; I was getting angry too when Father was talking stuff about him. They were so mean about 2 being a loser, too ;_; he saved their butts, he's as much of a winner as anyone.
And Father friggin' cracked me up with his love of baking. "It's more than a hobby, really.." XDD
The only thing the episode was missing... unless somebody else saw him.. <<; *points to avatar* but anyway.. this episode deserves like...12 out of 10.

What did they say about his dad? I couldn't watch the episode because there was a blackout x_x

[logmon2]

I think father is a decindint of Mr. Wilgulsten. And I don't think #2's dad is dead. But I loved this eposod.

[numbahlt]

^Who agrees that the above post was, by far, the best post ever?

Anyway, I can't see any proof that Mr. Gilligan (Hoagie's dad, obviously) is in any way, shape, or form related to Mr. Wigglestien (Father). Quite possibly, everybody is related to Father, but then again, who knows?

Meh... *goes off to research plot theories... and finish up Ch. 3 of DoW*