Henry Danger Reviewed: Danger & Thunder (Thundermans Crossover)

Yay! A crossover always brings out the best in each show! It certainly doesn't smack of desperation! The priorities are always creative and not driven by marketing or.....

Okay, that's enough.

Quotes from "The Simpsons Guy"

What is it? Hour-long (44 minute) multi-cam crossover special of two multi-cam kidcoms
Where did it air? Nickelodeon
Who stars in it? Jace Norman, Riele Downs and Cooper Barnes given that it's a Henry Danger episode. Oh, and I heard of a rumor that Kira Kosarin of The Thundermans is in it somewhere too.
Why did we review it? Because it's the first major crossover Nickelodeon's had since iParty with Victorious, not counting Sam & Cat (something I'm sure the network itself is desperate to forget). Oh wait, I forgot The Haunted Thundermans was a thing, though I'm sure the network forgot about that too.

You know, a long time ago, I read an A.V. Club interview with Dan Schneider, and there was something he said that has stuck with me ever since. When asked if he watches his competitors' shows, he pretty much stated that he doesn't because he either doesn't care, he doesn't want to be influenced by them, or he's just too busy. No matter the case, it didn't really seem like he cared about other kids shows besides his own. I don't know if this crossover means his views have changed since then or he was just doing this because the network thought it would be a good idea. I'm leaning towards the latter because this whole crossover looked and felt like a network idea. 

You want to know if this is worth the price of admission? It's an extended Henry Danger episode with Thundermans characters in it. I wouldn't really recommend this crossover to anyone, even people who love crossovers. And I actually do love crossovers. The quote above is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but the thought of two shows that are similar to each other merging together and interacting is always exciting to me. I remember how big a deal it was in 2006 when That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Hannah Montana crossed over. I remember how amped up I was five years later for iCarly and Victorious to cross over. And of course, "The Simpsons Guy" was the crossover I knew that was not only must-see, but can't-miss. At the end of the day, I'll always be in love with the idea of crossovers, but if you don't care about the possibilities and just coast through the event like an everyday episode, you get crap like this.

I even suggested a Henry Danger/Thundermans crossover a while back. It just made logical sense to me and felt like it could work perfectly with enough effort. But there was very little effort here. This episode could have been made without the Thundermans characters being in it and it would be exactly the same. That's how little the crossover aspect mattered. And seeing as how the last time The Thundermans was put in this kind of setting, it worked very well ("Haunted Thundermans"), there's no excuse here. It's a very sterile, unremarkable 44 minutes.

Okay, so let's take a look at it. Phoebe finds out that there has been a serious crime wave over in Swellview, so she decides to volunteer and help out. The rest of the family is on vacation because this is a Henry Danger episode and with that in mind, none of them matter in any way, shape, or form. Max, however, is not on vacation and finds out what Phoebe is doing. He's unable to keep her from going and that's that. The opening scene was pretty decent, but it really doesn't get better than that.

Meanwhile in Swellview, Captain Man (Ray) and Kid Danger (Henry) not only have to contend with the crime wave, but one of their old enemies Dr. Minyak has escaped from prison. Henry is also depressed because his girlfriend left him to go join some reality show, just like in the first season where his other girlfriend did the same thing. Not only is this a little sad, but it has nothing to do with the rest of the episode. Henry's depression is never brought up again even though it could have been part of the story and I'll get to why later. So some villains known as the Three Muchachos come into Junk-N-Stuff and they engage in a fight with our heroes, which they lose. They're also Canadian, so they have to have stereotypical Canadian accents and punctuate all their sentences with "eh." Seriously, when was the last time something like that was funny? Family Guy? At least they brought up the stereotype to make fun of it. Here, the stereotype is the joke, like every other show that's done this. Also, the episode constantly reminds you that they're Canadian. Really? Come on, son.

So the heroes find out from the villains that they were headed to a secret meeting for villains trying to destroy Captain Man and Kid Danger. They decide to take the Muchachos' costumes and infiltrate the meeting, but not before Phoebe mistakes them for the actual villains and starts assaulting them. And of course, Henry wants to get inside Phoebe's guts. I mean, don't get me wrong, Kira Kosarin is beautiful, but we all saw it coming. I saw it coming before I even watched the promo. And this is where I present my theory. Obviously, nothing was going to happen between Henry and Phoebe. But if he was so depressed, Phoebe could have helped boost his confidence and complimented his heroism, or told him that another girl's going to be waiting for him. I mean, Henry seems to get a lot of girls so that's not unbelievable. But no, we really don't get any interaction with Henry and Phoebe that's meaningful. It's just Henry having a crush on Phoebe and her rejecting him. I'm glad these two met so I could see them do exactly what I expected them to do.

Okay, here's another problem with the episode: The pacing. I have said this before, but Henry Danger is not a good show. One of its major problems is the pacing. Things move too slow, time is spent on unfunny jokes and pointless filler, and the plots feel empty because they were hardly ever developed. And when you have a crossover, you have to do more than just cater to one show. The Thundermans is a non-factor in this. I mean, I know they tried giving Phoebe a role here, but there's no reason why I should think Henry and Ray can't handle this themselves. She came to Swellview for the crime wave, then the story becomes all these villains trying to stop Captain Man and Kid Danger. They also add Max into this, but it just comes off as unnecessary. There's no reason for Max to be in this episode beyond the opening scene. He literally does nothing for most of the episode. I mean, he ends up getting Henry, Ray, and Phoebe caught, but he didn't realize they were in disguise at the villain meeting on his own. Phoebe had to tell him this. This really feels like the kind of story Dan and the crew made specifically for their own show, but at the last minute, Nick asked them to edit it so they could advertise a crossover. This shit could have been a half-hour if they were going to tell this little of a story.

It's also a disservice to The Thundermans which is a much better show than Henry Danger. It's not that good, but the characters are more likable, the stories are thought out more, and it's funny without trying too hard to be funny. Like I said before, the Haunted Hathaways crossover was everything this one wasn't. The writers understood what they had to do to make sure both shows came out looking strong. This one is just tone-deaf and too focused on Henry Danger.

So Captain Man lets Phoebe infiltrate the villain meeting too and it's there that we find out Max is in attendance as well. Why, you ask? Not because he wants to help destroy Captain Man and Kid Danger, which would be interesting and make sense. No, he just wants Dr. Minyak's new invention to take over the world because he's evilllllll. Everything else that's going on doesn't really interest him at all. Seriously, Max serves no purpose in this crossover. No reason is given as to how he got to Swellview or how he even found out about the secret villain meeting. That would require inside information, and from what I saw, none of the villains gave a shit about Max's presence so why would they waste their time telling him about this? He does absolutely nothing to help them. Again, it's just "crossovers and junk and stuff, lol." 

Anyway, the villains find out that Henry and Ray and Phoebe are imposters and they manage to trap Ray inside a large block on top of a train, with the intention to throw him in the river and sink to the bottom of the sea. Henry and Phoebe, who were told by Captain Man earlier to escape, are able to locate him with the help of Charlotte and Schwoz. It then leads to another fight scene, and if you still don't believe me that Max is one of the reasons why this crossover is so awkward, watch the scenes on the train. Captain Man is curious about why Max is hanging out with the bad guys when his father is one of the greatest superheroes of all-time, and Max tells him that he just wants that stupid toy to take over the world and shit. Then Captain Man tells him to blow him.........his nose, as it were. 

Missed opportunity, red flag, flagrant foul, penalty on Schneider-Part Two. How this scene should have gone, and usually goes, is that Captain Man would have talked to Max about the life of being a villain and how he should want to carry on his father's legacy instead of wasting his time committing petty crimes. Then Max would end up saving the day just as Phoebe is about to be finished off. At this point, it's obvious that Max is no threat to anybody and he's not really evil. He's just a harmless prankster acting out because he wants to be better at being evil than Phoebe is at being good. They brought this up in the Hathaways crossover and it ended up creating legitimate drama in the climax. Instead of taking the time to utilize these characters, you just have them sit around and do nothing, or do your lame jokes. And since the iCarly/Victorious crossover was much more entertaining despite running too long, you would expect these people to know a thing or two about what it takes to make a crossover work. Of course, Max does nothing on the train because he ends up getting caught on this thing by his foot and could have potentially fallen to his death. Then the heroes win, the villains are finished and Max gets taken home on the helicopter while hanging on a cable suspended in the air. I'm pretty sure he dies when the credits stop rolling. Also, why are they upset at Max for blowing their cover? He's there to help the villains, what did you expect him to do? If Phoebe didn't tell him anything, he would have never figured it out.

Wait, this is actually Captain Man's fault because he told Phoebe to find out why Max was there, knowing that he might get them caught. What? I'm done here.

I'm thinking about how much better this episode would have been if the Thundermans writers had more of a say in it, or just handled it themselves. I mean, based on the way Phoebe and Max act here, it's obvious the Henry Danger writing staff did their homework. Either way, this is the kind of episode that really didn't need the crossover aspect. It just feels like it was tacked on at the last second so Nickelodeon could have something cool to promote. Don't believe me? Watch this and then watch Haunted Thundermans and see the differences between the two. As a Henry Danger episode, it's not even that engaging. Henry and Ray being forced to confront several of their enemies at once is an interesting story, but the execution falls flat. There's not much of a struggle, they just fight and they win. I have to talk about the subplot, but it adds nothing to the crossover and could have been cut out completely. I don't know, what else is there to say? This episode can go die now.

Episode Grade: C-
Episode MVP: Cooper Barnes, because he provided the only good joke in the entire episode. Ray tells Phoebe that he missed Thunder Man's funeral because he had to go see a game that day. Phoebe tells him that her father is still alive, and Ray says that when Thunder Man does die, he'll make sure to go to the funeral unless he has something else planned. The delivery combined with the joke itself was great.


EXTRA THOUGHTS
-Actually, there was another good joke with Schwoz. He tried convincing Charlotte that he looked like Uncle Jesse from Full House, but she didn't see it. I've always liked Schwoz. He reminds me of Klaus from American Dad in a way. 

-I just realized that no opening sequence was made for this. I don't get it. I mean, this was pretty much just a Henry Danger episode with Thundermans characters in it. You could have used the regular one.

-The subplot was just stupid. Piper ends up being unable to move her neck because she spends all day looking down at her devices, so she gets this condition called "text neck." Yeah. Then she has to wear a cone for the rest of the episode because apparently, she's a freaking dog. Jasper helps her with her texts, and it turns out he's surprisingly good at being her. But then he ends up inviting the wrong person to her friend's sushi party, her friends show up to the house in an unfunny exaggerated fashion, Jasper takes responsibility, and they beat him down. That's it. Also, Henry's dad was here and he infuriated me. Jasper said that he has to treat the neck injury with ice, but they're out of ice so he sticks Piper's head in the freezer. Instead of, you know, taking her to the hospital like a normal person. Then when Piper asks to be led into the house because she can't see, her dad lets her fall to the ground because she has to do it herself. I hate Henry's dad. I don't think I've ever liked him at all. This is especially bad because that one gag made me feel bad for Piper, one of the worst characters any Schneider's Bakery show has ever had. Yeah, I don't like a lot of the characters on this show.

-This was a small moment, but it still bothered me and got me thinking about something. So Henry, Phoebe, Charlotte, and Schwoz are looking for Captain Man while they're in the helicopter. Henry is tracking him and says that he's moving really fast, so Charlotte says that he must be in a car. Henry then says that he's moving at 60-65 miles per hour, so he must be on railroad tracks, which he doesn't get because you can't drive on railroad tracks. Everyone knows where Captain Man is, but Henry doesn't, so Phoebe has to explain to him like he's a toddler that Captain Man is on a train. Henry doesn't hear her and says that he's probably on a train. Okay, I have to ask, when did Henry become so stupid? I noticed throughout the episode (and on other occasions) that sometimes he'll say something a little pointless or idiotic and there's no reason for him to. It's not like he's naive or lacks common sense, he just says and does genuinely stupid things like Jasper would. Why is being an idiot one of his character traits all of a sudden? I don't remember that being the case in season one. We already have one stupid main character, we don't need two.


-Also, a lot of these villains are non-threatening. I didn't see any of them capable of causing real damage except for Dr. Minyak. When Charlotte shot a grenade into the brick to free Captain Man, everyone thought he died and the villains were gloating about it. But they did absolutely nothing to kill him. They don't even question why he's dead before they could initiate their plan, they just start celebrating. And everyone thinks Captain Man is dead even though he's indestructible. Crossovers, lol. 


Great review, BTW. I'm trying to think of a way to phrase it that's humble without crossing into humblebragging (a word I desperately hate, BTW) but I'm absolutely glad Mike's a solid member of this blog. He's certainly been putting his 50% share at least and his opinion isn't just valued, it's spot on. This review of Danger & Thunder being absolutely no different.

First I want to address that little tidbit Mike mentioned in the very first paragraph, about Dan not watching other people's shows because he either doesn't want to be influenced or doesn't care - and I'm going to be addressing both of those points, in fact. Artists - whether they be what we think of in terms of "classical" artists like painters or sculptors; neuvo avante guarde (I'm probably misusing all three of those words) artists like performance artists and what have you; songwriters; novelists - even scriptwriters like Dan - sometimes talk about not wanting to be influenced by their competitors. Part of it's because being taken as original is serious business in the art world, part of it (especially in multi-cam sitcom writing) is just being afraid of having your pants sued off for plagiarism (to the point where if you submit an original script to a TV show staff they take it from the mailbox straight to the trash without even opening it, for fear that if they even look at it you're going to come back with a lawsuit claiming some idea from some random episode was stolen from you). The idea of somehow being free of outside influence is virtually a holy concept in the creative world. Orson Scott Card - yes, the same Orson Scott Card that gave us Ender's Game (that one movie that had Hailee Steinfeld and Rico from Hannah Montana in it) and wrote an essay on why we should literally have another Civil War if gay marriage was approved (too bad for him I guess) actually wrote a pretty decent short story about taking this sentiment to the extreme some years before he went crazy with the homophobia (this from a writer who has included multiple LGBT characters in his various works, go figure). 

But the whole notion of somehow avoiding outside influence making you a better artist is just hubris, plain and simple. In fact it's hubris of a very high order and a very fatal mistake, especially for new artists. See, all art is a reflection of culture - whatever culture the artist grew up in, including the artist's family, community and the popular culture that artist is exposed to. When you grow up in a cultural vacuum (something you don't have to worry about because based on what I just said, that's virtually impossible), the art you create is going to have all the substance of a vacuum. It's important to be influenced by outside sources - it's how you basically "get with the times" and mold your art to the tastes of the public, or look at the mistakes other artists have made for you and improve upon that (or just improve upon what's already culturally there otherwise - hence, Hunger Games -> Insurgent -> Maze Runner, etc). 

I see the whole "I don't want to be influenced by the outside and have my art be pure" argument as being a close cousin to a quote oft attributed to Alfred Hitchcock, as literal a father to suspense-on-film as you're ever going to find. You probably know the one I'm talking about without any additional hints: "If you want to be a good director, watch bad films and learn from their mistakes." Except it doesn't quite work out like that. See, we humans, particularly we creative humans, are more prone to learning by imitation than learning what's wrong through example. This means that if you expose yourself to bad art only, you're going to be producing bad art. This is why most actual film schools, directors and actors will tell you you need to double-down on good examples of art, or at least what's considered to be popular and successful examples of what you want to do. So why would the great Hitchcock even say something like this? Well first of all quotes get misattributed all the time, so actual proof that he even said this could very well be nebulous. Second, Hitchcock was notoriously paranoid about competition and trying to get the upper hand against other directors - including if not especially up-and-coming ones. He knew he had a lengthy career ahead of him (he started producing his first theatrical-release movies shortly after WWI - in fact he's also the father of Britain's first "talkies" - and he didn't die until 1982, being involved in film and TV production all the way to the end) and even if he actually did say that quote, it's entirely possible he was trying to deliberately sabotage future directors before they gave him serious competition. 

My point being, Dan's sentiment of not wanting outside influence - provided that's even the truth behind it - is pure bunk. And it's also a bit ironic if not even a little hypocritical as one of the things Dan had always been praised for, all the way back with All That, Drake & Josh and the Good Burger movie but especially with iCarly and even moreso with Victorious, is that people were impressed with how in-touch he was with tween/teen pop culture of the eras those works are from. Good Burger isn't just a decent teen comedy movie, it's actually a pretty good insight into life back in the 90s (please please please don't ask me why I know this). Victorious is a pretty good insight into the mind of a teenage girl during the early third of this decade, and is more or less still recent enough to be valid today. To get that kind of praise is impossible without allowing outside sources to influence you. That's the whole point of letting outside sources influence you. Being too busy isn't much of an excuse either - one of the things that makes television writers busy in the first place is scoping out and researching the competition. To completely ignore your competition as a scriptwriter is to simply not do your friggin' paid job.

So more than likely it's just Dan actively showing disdain and contempt for his competition. I'm assuming Mike's referring to this interview specifically which coinsided with the end of iCarly. iCarly and Victorious had pretty stiff competition - pretty much name any famous multi-cam show in Disney Channel history. Hannah Montana, both Suite Lifes, Shake it Up, Good Luck Charlie, Jessie, Austin & Ally - basically anything older than Liv and Maddie and Girl Meets World (which would've been competition to Dan's last show aimed at this demo so far, Sam & Cat). And don't forget Sonny With a Chance, which depending on who you believe is a sore spot for Dan (again, according to these same sources is based on effectively a stolen very early draft for iCarly with Sam - the original main character - was cast to be a part of a variety show). For that alone he would've had reason to ignore the competition out of contempt, but it's extremely disingenuous to claim that you're doing it because you're too busy or for the sake of protecting your art. It's also no secret that Dan's sense of humor is very different from the corporate-mandated humor style that permeates all the Disney multi-cams - and that it's a very big reason why iCarly and Victorious had a tendency to be seen as more "hip" than their Disney Channel counterparts. In which case go ahead and admit that you're ignoring the competition because you think they're dumb and have nothing to offer to you. If anything that earns you style points because it acknowledges you're just that hopelessly superior to the competition. Granted it would've been a more valid sentiment during The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and Zoey101 days, when his stiffest competition was Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven and Even Stevens which probably came closest to matching his shows, or even moreso during the All That and Kenan and Kell days when Disney Channel's live-action competition was either virtually or literally nonexistent. But no, the "I'm too busy" or the "I don't want outside influence" arguments don't really hold much water.

And again, in Dan's case, it's not like not bothering to watch the competition out of simply not caring or outright contempt is unearned - you cross-shop Victorious and Shake it Up for example, and while SiU is a good show on its own merits Victorious just simply "got it" more. SiU was successful in aiming straight for the escapist fantasies of its demo, but Victorious actually "got" its demo and understood it better. Victorious understood the daily crap, the daily boredom and even the daily triumphs that its core demo would likely go through, and provided a more realistic, more grounded fantasy escape for that core demo. You know, that whole be relatable to your audience kind of thing. Victorious not only excelled at that, but it did it better than all but a very slim few of kid-centric comedies ever got. Yes, Victorious exaggerated its world as much as any other kidcom, but here's the thing - unlike most Disney Channel fare that exaggerates to comedic effect, Victorious exaggerated to the same degree its audience did. If you've ever read the comic strip "Zits" you know what I'm talking about - teens do see the world a little bit skewed, and Victorious tapped directly into that. Again, it's what makes the show genius in this regard. The same teenage girls who were scoffing at SiU and its over-the-topness were watching Victorious and going, hey, I know a  teacher who's exactly like Pscyhowitz! or Lewbert reminds me of that one jerkface (yes the same thing more or less applies to iCarly but I feel Victorious is a better illustrative example)!

But anyway, yeah, I think Mike's dead-on about Dan not caring for other shows, including ones on his own network. Again, this wasn't a problem at his height when he pretty much was the network but it's a problem now when for the first time in about a decade and a half if not closer to two, the most successful live-action show on the network isn't his. There are rumors that he's kind of vicious about other shows too - like how How to Rock, despite fighting in the same ratings weight class as iCarly and Victorious, was canceled pretty much due to Dan's direct influence (it might also help explain why BTR's third and especially fourth season scheduling was more than a little wonky). I have a feeling Boy/Girl Meets World's very own Micheal Jacobs is of the same attitude too, or if not Disney Channel itself is doing it for him - like burying the Series Finales of Jessie and I Didn't Do It under Meets Texas, or burying the Liv and Maddie Season 3 finale under Meets High School. I used to think Jacobs was doing this intentionally to try to screw all the other shows over in favor of his own, but unlike Nickelodeon the actual show creatives and staff have a lot less say in how their own shows get scheduled. But that's not quite here yet - I'll get back to this more when I catch up on Meets Jexica (spoiler alert: it involves my theory behind the creation of "Jexica" herself).

Anyway, yeah, needless to say I agree with Mike in that the crossover just smells of network brainstorming, specifically about five minute's worth. Unlike Disney Nick isn't real big into crossovers - while Disney has a major event a year at least (if you insist on keeping count, I got it up to nine including "one-sided" crossovers and Monstober '15 as one giant event and not counting the Show With Crossover in its Very Premise, Lab Rats: Elite Force) the only ones I can name in the "modern" era are iParty With Victorious, The Haunted Thundermans and Danger & Thunder (again not counting the Show With Crossover as its Premise, Sam & Cat). And of those three, exactly one- The Haunted Thundermans - is officially not a completely one-sided affair (despite actually giving equal attention and pretty fair treatment of both shows' casts, or at least better than some Disney crossover events, iParty With Victorious is considered just a very long iCarly episode with Victorious characters in it). I have a feeling Nick might be smelling some of that Disney crossover success though - the Jessie crossovers actually brought in DCOM-like numbers and the one with GLC spanked Nick's Jinxed movie - and right now they're in desperate enough straights to forget any lessons learned from the Sam & Cat fiasco. And given how thoroughly one-sided it is (it's even more one-sided than the so-called Jessie/LaM crossover) it's pretty clear Dan didn't really want to have much part of it. Dan could've just instantly made up some super-generic superheroes previously unmentioned that Ray could've snidely mentioned were his role models and the episode would've worked just as seamlessly. 

On to Mike's third point - yes, I do love crossovers. I was outright all get hype when Disney launched Infinity, and saddened when they announced they're pulling the plug a couple months ago. I actually enjoy the crazy, very loose extended universe the Disney Channel live-action sitcoms have ad-hoc build around each other despite whatever tone and sentiment I let off in this essay (though I do think it's just getting too out of hand - moderation, people!) On that note - I actually do have not only a mental map of the DCLAU all laid out, not only do I have a plan on how to actually sort things out while letting everything keep its canon status, but I did it in the best way possible - by formulating the entire plan into its own, multi-spinoff TV show, essentially Descendants: Wicked World-style (it basically involves original characters from the Star Wars universe, of all things, from the time gap between Episodes VI and VII specifically, interacting with Disney Channel live-action, animated, and Marvel characters in a CGI-cartoon). I just haven't shared it because, well, it's one of the few things even dorkier than sharing details about that really hot female firemage you created for that one game of D&D six years ago. 

So, uh, where was I? Oh, right. Yeah, Mike's right. It is a very sterile 44 minutes and, uh, stuff happens. It's extremely paint-by-numbers as far as all these big-name supervillians from past episodes get together only to be predictably anti-climatic. I really don't have much to add, but I do want to emphasize Mike's point about The Haunted Thundermans being a much better crossover written to actually include both shows, not exclude one because Dan doesn't have a monopoly on the network anymore. That crossover actually knew how to create general implications for both shows without stepping on the toes of either for immediate (i.e. the very next episode) implications, something even the Disney Channel crossovers plainly flat-out don't know or simply refuse to do. Danger & Thunder can be summed up as "Well we know you really like Kira Kosarin because you either look up to her or think she's really cute, and you really like Jack Griffo because you think he looks cute so here they both are, on Henry Danger! Yay....."

Episode Grade: The AV Club's Gentleman's F (that is, the same C- Mike gave). I'm tempted to give it a D+ but having an excuse to say "Gentlemen's F" sounds cooler.
Episode MVP: The pretty-ish stunt lady who played the one security guard villain who's entire career is probably doing very light stuntwork for multi-cam kidcoms at this point (yeah this is a pity MVP award, might as well, not like anybody legitimately deserves it). 

Extra Thoughts:

 - speaking of which, yeah, we can pretty much agree that given that it's a canon fact that train was going over 60 MPH that Phoebe, Max, Henry and Captain Man straight up murdered at least some of those people they threw off the train, at the absolute least those extras we'll never see again (and by that, I mean the actors themselves in pretty much the remaining history of television). I'm pretty sure at least Minyak is going to come back, but if we never see Van Del or The Toddler ever again, yeah, you know what happened.

 - and speaking of that Van Del was a lame villain to bring back, he didn't even really qualify as a villain. What he stands for barely qualifies as a crime anymore in most major cities. I know they were reaching for recurring villains since oddly enough for a show about a superhero Henry Danger is kind of lacking in actual major villains, but seriously. C'mon, man.

 - Last I remember that little take-over-the-world toy Max was so obsessed with is still hanging onto the side of that train, which means it's still doing better than pretty-ish stunt lady (yeah that's her character's official name now. You can look it up on the episode's IMDb page, even).

 - Schowz doesn't remind me of Klaus because Schowz is better.

 - Beyond what Mike already said the subplot isn't even worth wasting keystrokes on.I'm sure the writers themselves were thinking this, as they were writing it.

 - I'll offer the theory that Henry has temporary lapses of being an idiot because Dan really misses another Cat Valentine-like character (Jasper is more of a Robbie Shapiro and the other two lackey friends are more like Sinjin clones).

 - Oh crap I just again reminded myself that a vastly superior Dan Schneider show exists.

 - A lot of people would consider someone who's just stuck doing light stuntwork for kidcoms to be stuck in Hollywood's version of perpetual loserdom, the acting career equivalent of permanently gluing pocket protectors to every article of clothing you have, but I'd still consider dating that stunt lady. Yeah I'm running out of things to say, or at least non-skeevy things to say.