Review: Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Homecoming"

First and foremost, this episode gave me someone to root for. Unfortunately, it was the guys in the jets shooting at the Hulks.

Plot
Once again, the Hulks must stop the Abomination. But this time, they have to do it with their resources and more assisting the villain. Speaking of which, you’d think that the Abomination’s unauthorized usage of the Green Hammer would at least earn him a reprimand, but I guess that would only happen in a show where the characters’ actions had consequences.

I mean, you'd think someone would notice that he logged in with the retinal scan of one of the very people he's chasing.

As it is, we’ve closed the door on space and set the stage for another story arc which will surely be just as disappointing. When it comes to disappointing, this show doesn’t disappoint.

Themes
Home is where the heart is, whether you’re settled down or on the run. Also, between this and “Of Moles and Men,” Vista Verde suffers from a rather severe case of Stockholm Syndrome.

The Hulks bring them nothing but trouble, and yet they hold them up as saviors. And the townspeople saw the Hulks wreck the town last season, because the actual perpetrators were invisible. And yet, here we are, with a town full of people insisting that the Hulks are heroes because, quite frankly, they’re in what amounts to an abusive relationship with the Hulks and will continue to insist that the Hulks have “good days” that make the relationship worthwhile. That’s not healthy logic.

That's Harley Quinn logic.

“Lost in Space” Arc
This episode utterly fails as an ending to the “Lost in Space” arc. Appropriate, seeing as how the “Lost in Space” arc was a bit of a fail.

Since last season, the goal has been to return home and clear their names. So after some space shenanigans, they get home and their plan falls apart. In all honesty, you could have kept the Hulks on Earth since last season and just put them on the run from the government. Apart from the Abomination filling the town full of Hulkbusters, you’d get the same status quo and it wouldn’t have taken a quarter of the season to do.

Characters
Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
The Agents themselves actually undergo little-to-no change as characters. This is just another day in their lives… which makes a bit of sense. I mean, they were fugitives all through Kree space, so they’re pretty used to being outcasts by this point.

Leader
The Leader takes the role that he’ll have for the rest of the season. He’s the big bad. And he’s been so unthreatening for the show so far that it’s pretty appropriate that his climb to regain his status as the show’s main villain is achieved by stealing weapons from somebody else.

Abomination
Why is Abomination working for the U.S. Army again? Did they not learn their lesson during his origin story? You know, where he went rogue? And he’s a four-star General, judging by that uniform. Only nine people have been promoted to a higher rank than that. And keep in mind, The Abomination abusing his power was a foregone conclusion. Mainly because he knows that the Hulks are innocent because he’s one of the ones who actually destroyed Vista Verde. So this means that the U.S. government looked at Rick’s video footage showing the invisible Agents of C.R.A.S.H., saw the Abomination, and said, “This footage looks real, but let’s assume it was faked and put one of the people it shows actually destroying the town in charge.”

How is this even supposed to make sense? Seeing as how the writers don’t mention this fact in the episode, I can only imagine that either they forgot, or they assumed the audience would.

Animation
Pretty good. The CGI is well-integrated and there’s a minimum of lazy shortcuts, like still frames. So yeah, I have pretty low animation standards for this show, but they were met.

Final Thoughts
This episode wasn’t too bad. It had a lot of action, it set up the new status quo, and the plot itself was a fairly good “outlaw hero”-style story, all things considered. Of course, the Abomination is pretty much the best villain in the show, despite having lost a lot of his crazy-awesome crazy-preparedness in this episode.

Next time, the Hulks leech off of Spider-Man's popularity cross over with Spider-Man again. See you then.