Well, that didn't last long.
When we last left our heroes, Optimus Prime was asking Airachnid if she could do the dance with her fingers that would let her peek into his noggin and figure out all the weird flashes of memory he's been having over the series. And that's basically where Episode 32, "Woeful Recall" (or "Optimus Prime Needs Surgery!" if you speak YouTubelish), picks up.
And as ever, here's the recap/review of the episode. This shouldn't take long...
We pick up with visions of Optimus in a battle, apparently on Cybertron, which immediately calls to mind that bit in "Dragon Ball Z Abridged" where Vegeta asks how he knows about the parts he wasn't there for, except he was there... but how's he seeing himself is the question?
No matter. Airachnid enjoys a bit of snark by noting that "the embarrassing ones are clear, at least" as Optimus falls flat on his face.
We pull out of Big Bot's Big Brain to see some sort of makeshift operating room set up in the middle of the forest so she can perform mnemosurgery on him. However, a lot of the memories from Cybertron are "corrupted." That might be something to put a pin in for later.
Bumblebee buzzes around Airachnid, bugging her about whether it's hurting OP or not, as it looks unpleasant. Fair, but name me an invasive procedure for going into someone's brain that does look pleasant, hmm?
Anyway, Airachnid asks Elita for assistance. Elita, lost in thought, tells Bumblebee to quit being a distraction. Bumblebee says he's not distracting, he's "helping"... all of which I'm recalling here as it leads up to Airachnid using her spider legs on one side with little more than a glance to pick him up, turn him around, and nudge him away. This also precedes some background humor that I missed the first time during this next part.
Wheeljack checks on Elita, who trusts Airachnid, but is worried because "it's Optimus." He then begins to tell her about the boost core, how it's Energon, powerful but erratic. He likens it up to "topping up the tank," and she compares it to overclocking their system. Wheeljack adds that without a way to regulate the flow, each use carries risk of irreparable damage. And OP? He's used that thing a few times now. But at least he and Wheeljack's vitals are still doing fine.
Elita notes there's something else bugging him, and he confirms he's matched the signature to an anomaly in the desert region that's causing power fluctuations that are glitching out the Cyberworld program. What's more, the device is being drawn to it, as we saw last episode.
Before this line of thought can continue, Airachnid screams -- or shrieks. Whatever you call it, it's loud and unpleasant, and we don't have to wait to find out why.
She wrecks some equipment and pulls some wires out, and hooks up a monitor so everyone can see what she saw: Optimus pressing a button as Bumblebee runs towards him and yells at him to stop, a flash of white, Cybertron, and then... nothing.
Airachnid yells that he took it all from her, from them. Trapping them there, everything she's suffered through, that they've suffered through. She decides to leave before she does something "upsetting," and advises the rest to do the same.
All told, I think she handled that pretty well.
Anyway, Elita needs a moment, Bumblebee feels betrayed, Optimus still doesn't remember it, and Wheeljack points out they have other problems right now.
Optimus says "I'm sorry, team," and I don't think I've ever seen a sentence picked apart and dissected as thoroughly as this. Bumblebee basically throws the word "team" right back in his face, and Elita tells him "sorry" isn't enough.
Wheeljack and Bumblebee start to go at it, and Optimus decides it's best if he goes, and tells them to keep each other safe. Wheeljack grabs him by the arm, and OP tells him not to try to stop him, and Wheeljack says he won't, but tells him to take the boost core. He'll look after the others, but Optimus needs to get to the bottom of whatever is happening.
As Optimus walks off alone, Elita looks sad, and Bumblebee crosses his arms and pouts. Roll credits.
I gotta say, this one was over before I knew it, and I guess it confirms what we've been seeing all along.
Or does it? Remember when Wheeljack said the core use could cause irreparable damage? And Airachnid says that a lot of his memories were corrupted?
Fair bet that there is... sigh, "more than meets the eye" to what's going on here.
Anyway, good episode. Breezy. Moved things along, and had both humor and gravitas. I've no doubt that the rest of the team will rejoin him, maybe for the season finale, but what happens between now and then has me curious.
Also, I hope AIrachnid at least rejoins the others.
No matter. Airachnid enjoys a bit of snark by noting that "the embarrassing ones are clear, at least" as Optimus falls flat on his face.
We pull out of Big Bot's Big Brain to see some sort of makeshift operating room set up in the middle of the forest so she can perform mnemosurgery on him. However, a lot of the memories from Cybertron are "corrupted." That might be something to put a pin in for later.
Bumblebee buzzes around Airachnid, bugging her about whether it's hurting OP or not, as it looks unpleasant. Fair, but name me an invasive procedure for going into someone's brain that does look pleasant, hmm?
Anyway, Airachnid asks Elita for assistance. Elita, lost in thought, tells Bumblebee to quit being a distraction. Bumblebee says he's not distracting, he's "helping"... all of which I'm recalling here as it leads up to Airachnid using her spider legs on one side with little more than a glance to pick him up, turn him around, and nudge him away. This also precedes some background humor that I missed the first time during this next part.
Wheeljack checks on Elita, who trusts Airachnid, but is worried because "it's Optimus." He then begins to tell her about the boost core, how it's Energon, powerful but erratic. He likens it up to "topping up the tank," and she compares it to overclocking their system. Wheeljack adds that without a way to regulate the flow, each use carries risk of irreparable damage. And OP? He's used that thing a few times now. But at least he and Wheeljack's vitals are still doing fine.
Elita notes there's something else bugging him, and he confirms he's matched the signature to an anomaly in the desert region that's causing power fluctuations that are glitching out the Cyberworld program. What's more, the device is being drawn to it, as we saw last episode.
Before this line of thought can continue, Airachnid screams -- or shrieks. Whatever you call it, it's loud and unpleasant, and we don't have to wait to find out why.
She wrecks some equipment and pulls some wires out, and hooks up a monitor so everyone can see what she saw: Optimus pressing a button as Bumblebee runs towards him and yells at him to stop, a flash of white, Cybertron, and then... nothing.
Airachnid yells that he took it all from her, from them. Trapping them there, everything she's suffered through, that they've suffered through. She decides to leave before she does something "upsetting," and advises the rest to do the same.
All told, I think she handled that pretty well.
Anyway, Elita needs a moment, Bumblebee feels betrayed, Optimus still doesn't remember it, and Wheeljack points out they have other problems right now.
Optimus says "I'm sorry, team," and I don't think I've ever seen a sentence picked apart and dissected as thoroughly as this. Bumblebee basically throws the word "team" right back in his face, and Elita tells him "sorry" isn't enough.
Wheeljack and Bumblebee start to go at it, and Optimus decides it's best if he goes, and tells them to keep each other safe. Wheeljack grabs him by the arm, and OP tells him not to try to stop him, and Wheeljack says he won't, but tells him to take the boost core. He'll look after the others, but Optimus needs to get to the bottom of whatever is happening.
As Optimus walks off alone, Elita looks sad, and Bumblebee crosses his arms and pouts. Roll credits.
I gotta say, this one was over before I knew it, and I guess it confirms what we've been seeing all along.
Or does it? Remember when Wheeljack said the core use could cause irreparable damage? And Airachnid says that a lot of his memories were corrupted?
Fair bet that there is... sigh, "more than meets the eye" to what's going on here.
Anyway, good episode. Breezy. Moved things along, and had both humor and gravitas. I've no doubt that the rest of the team will rejoin him, maybe for the season finale, but what happens between now and then has me curious.
Also, I hope AIrachnid at least rejoins the others.
So, what did you think? Catch anything I didn't? Feel free to talk about this episode here, or the series as a whole over in the "Transformers CyberWorld: Optimus STILL Hates Spiders" (which inspired the title for this post) thread in our forums!
