My Review of Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters episode 2 Scattered · 4:26pm May 12th
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
Greetings, folks. This is Mr. J back with another TFP episode review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing the second episode of Beast Hunters season 3 entitled “Scattered”. To be honest, there isn’t much happening in this episode aside from Shockwave returning back to the Decepticons and Wheeljack escaping from them.
Shockwave explains how he survived his fight with Arcee and Cliffjumper and managed to live alone in his laboratory while working on his experiments on Cybertron. Now that he has an active role within Megatron’s chain of command, he has to deal with Starscream’s bullcrap every now and then.
Their rivalry is quite amusing to watch, honestly, and both of them never hesitate to cast shade at each other or try to make each other look like fools. David Sobolov does a great job giving Shockwave a cold, callous voice—making him so emotionless in the process which is the whole point of his character.
Now, I’d like to highlight how smart Wheeljack is in this episode. Not only did he manage to skillfully escape the ‘Cons and endure Shockwave’s cortical psychic patch but he also managed to outsmart them by knowingly playing into Starscream’s game…only for it to go up in smoke…literally.
He may not act like the real Wheeljack, but he still possesses the wits of the original character. Anyway, it was kinda funny to see him best the Decepticons in his own way.
As for the scenes with Ratchet giving up and sulking in defeat, it was kinda sad to see him like this. For all he knows, Optimus might not have survived the blast, and the Autobots have no leader to guide them to victory. So it was understandable for him to lose all hope.
But that tension instantly evaporated later in the episode when he joined Raf and Bumblebee in the Harbinger. Honestly, it would’ve been more effective if Ratchet didn’t come back for at least the remainder of the episode until he returns in the next one.
That way, the character growth will flow much more fluently. But having him regain hope off-screen and suddenly regroup with ‘Bee and Raf felt a little rushed and anticlimactic. If the writers wanted to emphasize how dire the situation was, then they should’ve had Ratchet remain in the hopeless sinker until the next episode.
Maybe have a scene where he thinks back on what he said and wonder about what Optimus himself would do if he were in their shoes right now. That would’ve been much more effective in Ratchet’s change of spark and would’ve showed how much Optimus meant to him both as a leader, role model, and friend.
But that’s just my opinion. Overall, this was a decent episode; not the best, not perfect, but still fun to watch. Therefore, this gets a solid C+.
Peace.
Shockwave may be an emotionless scientist first and foremost, but there are times in the series when the emotions he thought he had buried still come bursting forth.
It’s been a while since I last saw this episode, but in regards to the flaws you mentioned…sometimes, I’ve often wondered whether these sort of things have something to do with the “65th Episode Rule”. In this case, because many programs are often restrained to airing only 65 episodes with up to three seasons in total, it causes things to get underdeveloped and rushed if the show team isn’t careful.