The last episode of The Wild Batch managed to wow this grizzled old Gremlin fan by delivering something I’d never thought I’d see in all the years that I’ve been a fan of those vicious little green buggers – an origin story that saw one of the slimy little goblins rise to the top of the Chinatown underworld in a way that somehow made total sense in an animated series sort of way.
Rising from the role of chatty hench-Gremlin, to a leading antagonist, George Takei’s eloquent Noggin is proof that that the series writers just simply know their stuff when it comes to exploring and widening the lore of Joe Dante’s gonzo franchise; after all, what is Noggin if not the continuation of the concept of the Brain Gremlin from the second movie? But where that character was a standout in a film full of mutated Gremlin variants, Noggin has the room to truly explore a fascinating idea to its fullest while the rest of the show busies itself will hurling more Chinese folklore and fantasy creatures at the screen.
In the wake of Gizmo’s kidnapping, the group had decided to split up in order to cut down their ever growing, supernatural to-do list. But while Elle had actually managed to track her mother down, she storms out of the reunion when she believes that her long lost parent is still the petty thief she has always been who only wants her child around for her own selfish ends.
Meanwhile, across town, Sam and Chang plan to infiltrate the headquarters of Noggin’s Gremlin criminal syndicate, but while Chang is set to go wading in to avenge his dead father, Sam realises that they’ll need some supernatural muscle in order to face down a building full of monsters. Utilising a trick from his Grandpa’s book of magic, Sam whips up an enchanted tracking device out of a toothpick and a bowl of water and eventually finds what he needs in the form of a living statue of a lion who has taken refuge in the backroom of a scummy restaurant. However, the lion is bitter about a falling out he had with with sister years ago and so taking on the guise of a world famous monster hero, Sam convinces the Lion to help if they can heal the bitter rift between the to sibling statues.
Meanwhile, Noggin is giving a terrified Gizmo a tour of his facility which he reveals he is using to try and train his Gremlin brethren how to be as civilised as he is, but with little success. However, despite forbidding his minions from procreating via water, both the other Mogwai, Lucky and Bobo, had been fed after midnight by have already transformed into pulsating cocoons, leaving Noggin with Gizmo as the only option to get what he wants.
What he wants, is understanding and someone to converse with on an equal level which isn’t something that going to happen anytime soon with the rate the other Gremlins are going through teachers. But when Sam’s escape attempt reveals that Gizmo would rather flee than stay with him, Noggin’s desperation turns to anger.
Back in the first season of Gremlins, it was amusingly revealed that the villain of the piece, Claw, was fixated on the fuzzy little personage of Gizmo due to the romantic feelings she felt for her diminutive nemesis. Well, with Noggin’s ascension to arch villain, we have yet another Gremlin in a long line of them that’s developed an unbreakable obsession with our doe-eyed hero. But where Stripe and Mohawk wanted to abuse the little fella out of pure, unbridled distain and Claw had romantic intentions, Noggin, with his enhanced intellect, is the only Gremlin to see Gizmo as an equal, rather than an inferior creature that’s a step down the rung in the life-cycle ladder. Where Stripe wanted to torment, Noggin only wishes to talk and enjoy the company of a peer who isn’t constantly cackling like an idiot or endlessly looking for ways to break stuff – in fact, the unlikely crime boss of Chinatown even sits his new little buddy down to watch a movie of two lovers in a train which moves him endlessly and while it’s understandable why Noggin is so enraged when Gizmo turns his back on this offer, I’d also like to remind you that the place is also still full of frickin’ monsters.
In the face of such impressive an layered character building (the moment when Giz asks Noggin to come with him is goddamn sublime), the rest of the episode feels a little twee, which is somewhat an unfair stance yo take considering how much is going on. As the continuing drama concerning Elle’s mother is an ongoing thing, the end of episode revelation that she’s a water controlling, mythic being feels a little out of place, but as its a plot thread that’s obviously playing the long game, I’ll let it slide.
Elsewhere, the creature-of-week stuff that usually occurs when the Gremlins take an episode off instead plays out at the same time this episode as Sam and Chang attempt to heal the rift between two lion statues (Michael Paul Chan and Kelly Hu). However, while it may just be a slightly convoluted and highly colourful way to just get some help trashing Gremlins, it is also a way to turbo charge Sam with his latest dose of self confidence. With a newly procured bowler hat and the hastily thrown together moniker of the Monster Hero (needs work, Sam), there’s a feeling that Sam might be stumbling into a mindset that could push him further away from the path his parents have planned for him. After all, he’s already used his Grandpa’s magic know-how to manipulate the wind on Alcatraz and now he does it again to locate supernatural help with the toothpick from the episode’s title, so it it’s a fair bet that he’ll soon be following in his grandparent’s footsteps more and more.
The last character to catch up with is Chang, who seems to be experiencing a mixture of emotions due to being walloped about the head and neck by revelations despite only being back in Chinatown for barely a day. Under the mistaken belief that Noggin has murdered his father in order to take over the criminal empire he believes is rightfully is, Chang is initially gung ho about taking down the Gremlin. However, during the battle, while Gremlins are being splattered left and right, Noggin reveals that not only was he left the empire fair and square, but in the past eleven months, Boss Chang considered the inhuman creature as more as a son than his own jailed flesh and blood. How much this manages to shake Chang’s seemingly unshakable confidence will remain to be seen, but in a cliffhanger that literally sees Elle’s mother rise from the water in a sewer to aid her daughter, it looks like the status quote is about to be flipped like a table at a Gremlins poker game any second.
However, I have to wonder how much use a woman who can manipulate water will be when tangling with creature who become potential WMDs the second a drop of H²0 comes their way.
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