It’s a Warped Review! (FEW DAYS LATE, BUT DEDICATED TO KATE GODFREY)
I’ve hold off on this journal for so long because I couldn’t come up with a catchy title. And I missed the last few episodes of season 1 and my Hulu Live Tv subscription expired before I could even catch up. But now I present you, a journal from yours truly where every episode will be recapped and reviewed because today’s Nick shows are so damn unappreciated (you can blame the streaming wars - though it’s also Paramount’s fault for not adapting the stream new episodes the next day after linear premiere, meaning people won’t have access to stream this show until October 2023). I’ll be reviewing every episode of Warped’s first (and hopefully not only) season right here. I’ll be doing before Middlemost Post since there’s less episodes. Before we get on to the episode review, let’s talk about the show’s premise. Warped! is about the daily lives of the titular comic book store in a local mall strip. Milo (played by Anton Starkman) is an employee there and his life changes when Ruby (played by Kate Godfrey), an excitable pop culture nerd is hired. Despite their clashing personalities, they are set to make the greatest graphic novel together. Darcy (played by Ariana Molkara), a cosplayer, and Hurley (played by Christopher Martinez), a pizza worker, joins them in their shenanigans. Like Middlemost Post, the moment this show got announced (it wasn’t officially until March 2021, but it was in the works since fall 2020), I was immediately looking forward to it. Nick experienced the comedy buddy genre very well with Side Hustle, so I think they’ll surpass it with this show, and they did.
Pilot! (Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert)
One normal day at Warped!, a hyperactive girl named Ruby applies for a job and gets hired. Being paired up with Milo, they must return the boots to a customer, but Ruby gets into a sticky situation. This is the start of a promising new show, Warped!, and pilots determine whether a show is going to be watchable. It succeeded, and although it does has its usual “first episode problems”, they were thankfully dropped after the first episode. First off, Milo came off as a narcissist in the first half of the episode. He constantly brags about being the only employee (other than his boss) at Warped! and the moment Ruby sees a “Now Hiring” sign, his life is threatened (listen to the way he says “Oh no”). He show major doubts about her becoming a new employee, but eventually he learns how to cooperate with her. And there’s a couple of scene where Ruby acted like a entitled brat. Imagine saying “please” over and over again just so you wear a pair of boots. And as you can see, she will become my favorite character for the show, but the writers were trying to make sure she won’t be too much of an annoyance (for those who are able to stomach Kate’s nasal voice. Trust me you’ll get used to it, I think she has a cute voice) Darby and Hurley were just props throughout this episode, mostly being used as Milo’s established friends, but thankfully they’ll be a little more involved with the show later on. What I liked about the pilot is that they were able to established the main characters very well and what to expect for them. The first line of the show is just Milo telling a customer they can’t buy a comic book because it’s badly damaged. Darby’s first scene, of course, focused on the fact that she’s a cosplayer and she asked Milo what character she’s dressed as. Hurley’s first scene had him doing his job by treating himself and his friends pizza. Ruby doesn’t show up until the two minute mark and right off the bat, before the theme started playing, she’s a major pop culture nerd. All of her knowledge made her a new employee of Warped!. The pilot had a couple other early installment weirdness - the boss is Owen, a former child star of a short lived sci fi show., who doesn’t appear again after this episode, and if you notice the Warped! signs, they’re using the prototype logo (that was originally yellow and orange before finally settling in purple and cyan, although the finalized was also shown in the episode). While I enjoyed the first act of the pilot, the middle section kinda dragged with everyone trying to remove the boot off Ruby after she got it stuck. It starts to pick up towards the end, and we are treated with a wholesome moment of Milo finally accepting Ruby as they start their partnership of working a graphic novel. It’s a good start of a great show, but there’s going to be even better episodes as it goes on. Let’s hope nothing bad happened to it.
(8/10)
Cold Opening: (3:15)
“My Friend Margo:” Tried Italian dressing that time I got stuck in a chimney. (11:50)
Challenged! (Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert)
Milo’s nemesis Carl beat his highest score and wants to surpass the world record. But when Milo’s hands gets hurt, it’s now Ruby’s job to beat Carl’s record. When Warped! Debuted, we were treated to two episodes in one night. Of course, I tuned in to day one to watch both episodes. While the pilot was a decent start, the second episode was slightly better and it’s easy to see why. We already got to know the characters better, and now we got two characters that were introduced in this episode. We have Wren, a sassy black girl who always hang around at Warped! reading comic books for a mature audience and Carl, a self centered jerk who is Milo’s rival that recently beat his world record at an arcade game, which happened to be on the anniversary of Milo setting a world record. Pilots usually set up the premise of a show, and they tend not to be the best episodes. But we already have an interesting episode on our hand when it revolves on gaming (even though I suck at arcades). Milo wants to outsmart his nemesis at Hamster Hazard, but then Ruby accidentally smash his hands on the locker. Without calling off the bets, Ruby stepped in, but she had no gaming experience. With a lot of training, Ruby is ready to have the new world record. But Carl keeps finding way to sabotage her, such as turning off the game. Did I forgot to tell you Darby had a weird crush on Carl? Fortunately, this does worked in her favor and she basically stalled him and later realized he’s a huge jerk. Darby actually prevented Carl from turning off Hamster Hazard, so who knew how different the ending would’ve been? Ruby fell asleep and Hurley tried to give her energy drink, but become way too hyper to focus on finishing the game. It’s a hilarious sequence and really showcased why she’s my favorite character on the show. After calming down, she finally defeated Carl’s record. Everyone but Carl get a happy ending as they celebrated Ruby’s success (and even Wren got a bunch of cookies, which made me hungry). You see why I loved this show? It has a bunch of caring main characters and the only jerks you’ll have to put up with are usually someone doing a recurring or guest star role. Easily my favorite episode that premiered on January, but there will be a few more episodes that will be even better…
(9/10)
Cold Opening: (2:32)
“My Friend Margo:” “There’s a song I wrote about my best Margo from back home when she lost the moose-calling contest and when she lost the butter eating contest, and when she lost the cactus-sitting contest.” (3:38)
Duped! (Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert)
After Milo gets a comic from a customer named Todd, Ruby notices that it’s a fake, so they must get the real comic back from their hands. This episode officially introduced Wilson (played by Milan Carter), who is the new boss of Warped! . The previous boss was Owen who only appeared on the pilot. However, this is the fifth episode of the show, meaning he’s completely absent in #103 and #104, so anything produced after this, you can tell Wilson is already there at Warped. Wilson already has a strange first impression with Milo and Ruby. Ruby wanted to hang upside down by scaring him and Milo just stand there, trying to do something to impress him so he won’t get fired for one simple screw up. There’s a customer named Todd who wants to buy a rare comic book, and they sold it to him. After doing a celebration dance, things went downhill when Ruby realized it’s not realistic. Which means they’ve been duped by a con artist. In order to do something to make Wilson happy, Milo and Ruby try to stop him. And so begin a tradition of Ruby dressing up as someone - here, she crossdresses as a boy named Jake, complete with a surfer dude accent. Everything went well, until OK Pizza become a mess (which almost every single episode will have characters getting dirty because this is a Nickelodeon show). And so the day is saved. I’ll be honest with you, this episode is a little bit predictable and doesn’t have a strong plot like the first two episodes did. The episode was carried by good character interaction, and funny one liners. It does start to pick up in the middle once Ruby begins impersonating a boy. Kate has already done crossdressing before, but she takes it to a new level here. I really enjoyed Wilson’s introduction and he’s somehow considered to be a main cast member, despite Wren still being a guest star and had already appeared in more episodes. Overall, while not my favorite, there’s only one episode of Warped! I considered worse than Duped! and you’ll find out later in my review. Still watchable, but not as quotable or memorable.
(8/10)
Cold Opening: (1:50)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home was the victim of fraud once. She thought she bought an English Sheepdog.” (11:56)
Space Conflicted! (Jeny Quine)
Milo and Ruby ask Wilson to take a day off so they can see their favorite actor film a show. Hilarity ensues as the gang keeps meddling on the set. Well, the episode is off to an amazing start when you had a cheesy sci-fi spoof of Milo and Ruby goofing off at work. This episode stood out for one of the only episodes to not feature Wren, and that’s because of one thing: for once, Warped is not the main setting as it only appeared in the beginning and the ending. The main location for majority of the episode is a television production set, where the gang are going to spend the entire day. Their costumes (not disguises this time) fooled the guard and they are on set to watch their favorite star. However, things don’t go well as planned due to constant meddling and Chet Donovan considered quitting. After Milo filled in for his favorite star, Chet actually changed his mind and got his confidence in acting back. After an exciting day, Milo and Ruby head back to Warped!, and Wilson asked them about the autograph. There’s no autograph, but they brought him Chet himself to work, much to Wilson’s delight. What can I say? After describing the plot, it’s very easy to tell that I loved this episode. It broke away the workcom formula to do a “let’s meet our favorite star and film a tv show” plot. This episode is very funny from start to finish and it’s among one of my favorite of the show. A lot of chaos happened throughout it. And in all that chaos, it also had its wholesome scenes - the gang convincing Chet that being his character isn't that bad, as well as the ending. It’s always nice seeing a familiar old face and his name Josh Server (playing Chet Donovan), who you might remember him from the All That (technically reuniting with Kate due appearing on the revival on a few sketches with her). The director was played by Zehra Fazal, which is surprising to find out considering she’s more known for voice acting nowadays. If I were to introduce anyone to this show, this wouldn’t be a bad first impression if this was your first episode. You’ll be having a blast watching this episode as it’s full of laughs. But this isn’t my favorite episode of all time…let’s head to the next episode and find out.
(10/10)
Cold Opening: (2:21)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home said I was the oddest duck she’d ever met. And she would know - she bred odd ducks and silly gooses.” (7:18)
Sandwiched! (Joey Manderino)
Ruby presents Milo a drawing of a character for their graphic novel. However, when Milo dislikes it, he must confess the truth to Ruby without hurting her feelings. Ruby drew characters for the graphic novel and one of the drawings that stood out is a ham-like character named Blorphy. Since Milo doesn't like the design, he hosts a meeting where a bunch of comic book fans try to be honest on the design, but it doesn't go well as planned. Later that night, as Milo and Ruby hand out the flyer on the construction lift, Milo finally confesses about his thoughts on Blorphy. But it turns out Ruby didn't like the design either and just rolled with it. In the end, the character was renamed to Hammy and became a mascot of a sandwich restaurant. Oh, boy, we're on another iconic episode! Recapping the events of the episode must've been fun to write because you might not believe this, but this is actually my favorite episode of the show's 13 episode run. It's just as hilarious as Space-Conflicted!, but with a tremendous emphasis on heart. You have the really funny first act of Milo trying his best to not offend Ruby by pretending to like the ham character (and then he resorts to food puns). But, then we get to the second act of the episode and what is arguably the best scene of the entire show. You have Milo and Ruby hanging up high handing out Blorphy flyers and then you have a confession scene. Milo told the truth, but Ruby already seemed to know about his honest opinion the whole time. Normally, I am not a fan of plots that revolve in lying, but I think the writers did it so well here, because the end result wasn't predictable for once. Afterwards, we are treated to another sweet moment of the duo trying to be brutally honest. During their confessions, they praised each other's work. This scene just warmed my hearts, because Kevin and Heath's shows really do have a theme - chaotic moments at a store with the main protagonists getting these heartwarming moments when the situation call for it. I can betcha if the foot man had a hand in this show, it would've been much different and the show wouldn't be as funny. But yes, I loved that scene so much and I don't ship the characters, but Milo and Ruby is my favorite friendship to come out of a Nickelodeon sitcom in a very long time (I also liked Lex and Presley's friendship from Side Hustle, but their best moments doesn't top this). The ending was nice to watch as well with the ham character now having a meaningful renaming. I do find it funny how Ruby made a big deal about Milo being a soft chewer and want him to chew loudly, though. Overall, this is such an amazing episode, and it's a perfect example of why Nick sitcoms have been in a better position lately (too soon to tell, but the way they portrayed friendships has improved).
(10/10)
Cold Opening: (4:08)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home got stuck on an elevator for four days.” (14:36)
Plagiarized! (Tim Barnes)
Kevin Smith is in town shooting an episode of Space Conflicts. But when he steals Milo and Ruby’s comical idea for a new movie, they must take matters into their own hands (although Milo is unsure about getting revenge at his idol). Meanwhile, Darby and Hurley host a fashion runway where you can wear pizza in your pants. The episode's plot feels like an expanded version of Space-Conflicted as we see the set and the guard again. But this time, it focuses on a celebrity guest star. Kevin Smith is a strange choice for a guest star and I'll explain to the target demographic who he is. He is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster, best known for his works of Clerks. He actually owns a comic book store, so that explains why he made a guest appearance on a show about a comic book store. The writers portrayed Smith as an idea stealer as he literally stole Milo and Ruby's idea for a new movie. In order to get back at him, they dressed up as janitors. And yes, this is the second time Ruby gets to crossdress. However, their cover will soon be blown when the guard noticed something suspicious, meaning is the first time someone saw through their disguise (the security guard did). Smith didn’t get dirty in the end, but it was Milo and Ruby that got messy, continuing the show’s tradition of making the main character dirty. Another great episode of the show and with a famous celebrity appearing, it did not disappoint. The main plot was pretty fun to watch, with revenge being its main theme. The subplot was also funny, with a unique way of making pants with foods. I don’t know how to rank this episode, but you’ll find out when I tweet about my ranking of the show later.
(9/10)
Cold Opening: (3:44)
“My (best) Friend Margo:” “From back home once dated a werewolf. Well, actually it was just a coyote, she was convinced it was a werewolf.” (3:11)
Creeped! (Liz Magee)
Ruby finds a creepy doll and keeps scaring Milo with it. However, when it gets possessed and keeps reappearing, the gang must get rid of it. Ruby asks the gang if they’re interested in seeing a horror movie, and while Darby and Hurley are down, Milo has no intention in watching them. To prove him wrong, Ruby tries to jumpscare him repeatedly, frightening him. Enter Josephine, an Annabelle reference, who is a creepy doll that keeps showing up after it’s thrown away. After all the hell they got through, it was Wren that was trying to torture them all day all because Milo didn’t want to be friends on social media. In the end, despite trying to scare her back, this turns her into an Internet sensation. The show had a short run, but to be honest with you, there were no bad or forgettable episodes whatsoever. With that said, this is easily my least favorite episode of the show. I get what the writers were going for a Halloween-themed episode premiering during the middle of February (the show was supposed to come out during the fall, after all). However, it is one of the most cliched episodes ever. I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween in general and this expands to television episodes, unless they’re done very well. Really says a lot when Side Hustle and That Girl Lay Lay did a better Halloween episode than Warped!. The humor got a tad repetitive after awhile, but it’s typical what you see for creepy doll episodes. With that said, I still liked the episode, since it still had its usual Warped humor. I don’t know about you, but the way Ruby yelled out “JUMPSCARE” literally scream meme material. It already exists as a GIF, but it’s such a brief and sudden joke that I find myself quoting it a few times per week when I need a good scaring. The little subplot with Hurley’s blue sauce was the highlight of the entire episode. It’s just Darby being addicted to the sauce and wanting more of it, and her reaction to the sauce not tasting as good as it was before was priceless. The climax was pretty satisfying to watch. I felt like Ren was being too petty to do that to the gang all because of one simple request. But of course, this all worked out in her favor. In the end, all good shows had a dud, and while I won’t really call it a dud, it’s just unusually weak for the show’s standards. It’s still enjoyable, but it had the usual tropes you see in Halloween episodes.
(7/10)
Cold Opening: (1:39)
“One time, My Friend Margo:” “had a cape she thought made her invisible. We didn’t have the heart to tell her we could all see her picking her nose every morning on the bus.” (14:43)
Recorded! (Kevin Kopelow & Heath Seifert)
Milo accidentally sang an embarrassing song about his crush who works at a yogurt shop, which got recorded over the robot device. So, he and Ruby go to the dessert place to remove the recording. Meanwhile, Wilson tries to get a phone call after he got overcharged with the robot devices. Basically, I described everything that already happened in my own word of the episode’s plot, let’s fast forward to the second half of the episode. In order to receive the robot back with Olivia noticing, the gang plan a way to stall her. Darby and Hurley try to do something musical, but instead they ended up making the place a mess. While this is happening, Milo and Ruby succeeded at their plans, but later, it is revealed that Olivia had already heard the message on her way to work, and the rest is history. This was a pretty interesting episode to say the least. It introduces another character working at the mall. Unlike Carl from the sporting goods store, Olivia is a likable character whose existence comes from the fact that Milo has a crush on her. The episode’s premise is very similar to the Regular Show episode Butt Dial, except it doesn’t really involved butt dialing, just recording something automatically that robots has a message stored in their memory. It’s a good plot and I think it’s well done as it had your usual Warped! plot (chaos and heart). The funniest scene of the main plot was how Ruby was going to dress up as a French woman, but then Olivia saw through her disguise, much to Ruby’s annoyance. However, I find myself enjoying the subplot with Wilson a lot more because it’s so relatable if you’re trying to make a phone call about owning overcharged money. It’s how my stepdad constantly get into these situation and it’s just so damn funny to watch. No matter how much try to make a good phone call, Wilson keeps failing, and the phone voice keeps snarking as well. Overall, I liked this episode, although the subplot was a bit better than main plot.
(8/10)
Cold Opening: (3:37)
“My Friend Margo:” “from back home, whenever she gets nervous, she wraps herself in tin foil and soaks in a bathtub full of peanut and baby shampoo. No, wait, that’s what’s she does whenever she gets bitten by a hedgehog. I don’t know what she does when she’s nervous.” (4:04)
Limited!
A new video game console is being released. The gang enters a spicy eating contest in order to win a brand new video game console for Wren. It’s a big day at Warped! as Wilson puts up posters of his face to promote a PlayStation parody console. However, when the box only had one VC7 instead of three (and Hurley wanted three of them for themselves), Milo and Ruby must find a way to win a VC7 (for Wren and PrincessDerpyGirl) So, they end up entering a hot sauce eating contest, much to Milo’s disgust. Another episode I would call good, and it’s a tad forgettable that I somewhat forgot the events of it until I looked over the episode again while finding for Out of Context clips. It’s one of the first episodes I missed on premiere date and only saw the rerun, so yeah. It featured a social media influencer who is trying to get a VC7 for her vlogs (which means she’s a gamer). It’s rather forgettable that I forgot to recap the subplot in Darby becomes a magician for Arnold the Magnificent, who makes his debut here. He’s pretty much in between nice and mean. He’s somewhat nicer than Carl, but still has a rather cocky personality. And speaking of which, the man from the sporting goods store himself makes his return after not appearing since Challenged! and he’s still a big jerk than ever. He still says loser a lot in his vocabulary and now added the words “fart head” to his list of insults. The second half of the episode only happened because he just happened to enter a hot sauce contest and it was the only way for Milo and Ruby to win a new console. One thing's for sure, I would never a contest like that. It, too, would make me cry from all the hot sauce and I prefer other type of eating contests. Thankfully, our heroes gained a sweet but rather confusing ending as they finally won the VC7, but all the trouble wasn’t exactly worth it when they gave it to Wren, only to give it to Princess Derpy Girl. Ah, so now I remembered what happened (not too much with the subplot, but it was still entertaining). If you ask me, this is my second least favorite episode of the show and I would’ve given it a lower score if I wanted to, but it still had wholesome moments and plenty of good humor, so it’s remains an eight for my score.
(8/10)
Cold Opening: (2:47)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home once waited in line for three days to get into the art museum. It turns out she was just in the sculpture garden, standing behind some statues.” (9:10)
Raccooned! (Tim Barnes)
When every boss at the mall leave for the weekend, Milo and Ruby argue over who gets to be in charge. But when a bunch of raccoons invade, everyone at the mall must get rid of them. Hurley announces the news that Wilson has taken the bosses of the mall strip to a fishing trip, which means everyone in the mall can all have the whole store to themselves. Milo and Ruby wants to set a good example of being the boss, but they get into a major disagreement. What they did know about is that raccoons has crashed the party across the mall. With the help of everyone else in the mall, they must work together to get the raccoons out of the place. A pretty interesting installment of Warped!. We get to see how Milo and Ruby function as bosses, and I loved how they got in a quarrel over how they get to run the place. This episode expanded more on their dynamics and the way they run Warped! perfectly sums up their style. Their fighting genuinely feel realistic without being cruel. That’s how cool their friendship is. After several minutes, the real main plot starts to kick in when the episode became the Warped! version of the Austin & Ally episode with the kangaroo, except that we have a bunch of raccoons to deal with. Yeah, this show loves using animals. It becomes even more interesting when you have the entire gang of the mall strip (Carl, Olivia, and Arnold). Unlike his last couple appearances, Carl’s only trait is no longer the Jock Jerk and actually had a few chuckle worthy moments, due to the way he acted towards the raccoons. Olivia and Arnold are still written like they were in their debut episodes. While this was all happening, Hurley wanted to set a world record of the biggest meatball, but it later become a plot device for the raccoons. How they solved the problem was strange but worked out very well in the end. It made me hungry thinking about it, though. But the biggest highlight of the entire episode? Furry Ruby. Yes, we had an obligatory Ruby dresses up as something to solve the plot and it’s arguably my favorite disguise because I find it adorable. How I rank this episode, you ask? The review’s nearly over, so please don’t anywhere. It may or may not be in my top 5, but who knows?
(9/10)
Cold Opening: (1:59)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home was once caught bread-handed. She accidentally baked both of her hands into a loaf of marble rye.” (7:51)
Hired! (Liz Magee)
Milo’s girlfriend Olivia is hired to work at Warped!. But things don’t go well as Wilson keeps praising her work. One day, at Whoa-gurt, they started a new rule where all employees must sing. Olivia doesn’t like it, so she wanted to quit her job. Milo offers her a position at Warped!, and a lot of stuff happened when she became the new employee. The subplot is all about Darby taking advantage of the new singing policy by doing nothing useful for the customers. It got so bad that she turned the place into a singing theater, and it’s no longer an an actual yogurt shop. Luckily, Olivia didn’t enjoyed her time at Warped!, so she is hired back at Whoa-gurt after removing the singing rule. I’m pretty conflicted on the episode. While still worth watching, the main plot feels contrived and at times, a tad bit frustrating. It didn’t sounds bad on paper, but I just didn’t liked how Wilson was written here. He came off as a mean boss who didn’t appreciated Milo and Ruby’s work and kept praising Olivia for the smallest things. I also didn’t liked how underutilized Ruby was here. She felt like a side character throughout the whole episode, and I believe this is her “smallest” (least important) role on any episode. Like Recorded!, this is another episode featuring Olivia that I actually find myself enjoying the subplot more than the main plot. You can tell this was the writers’ way of making Ariana Molkara break into song as much as possible because she’s a professional singer. I find myself amused for the whole thing because how much she became a distraction for the customers. It’s no wonder Olivia wanted to quit her regular job, but the few minutes did a great job at solving the problem: a confession scene where it turns Olivia was pretending to enjoy being an employee for Warped!, to make Milo happy, but in reality, she didn’t liked it, due to having different interests. The main plot may’ve struggled in writing, but it knew how to properly end a story, which is why I didn’t give a lower score. But it is one of my least favorites overall.
(8/10)
Cold Opening: (1:32)
“My Friend Margo:” “from back home thought she had a job as a spy, but really, someone just asked her to watch their stuff while they went to the bathroom.” (3:55)
Talented! (Jeny Quine)
Darby’s club gets destroyed, so the only way to cheer her up is to start a talent show. The whole problem started before the episode began. Milo, Ruby, and Hurley literally pointed fingers at each other’s for what happened. They got distracted by phone calls during the play, which caused the place to get flooded, which is why they’re soaking wet. Later that day, Ruby suggested a talent show and this is how the plot kicks off. As everyone plans what’s they’re going to do for the talent show, it turns out Milo on a spinning wheel is going to be the main attraction. And it’s proven true, as they donated enough money for the theater troupe to be repaired. I know I’m spoiling so much with the show with the recaps for those who haven’t seen it, but it’s what really happened. Anyways, notice the production code for this episode? It’s technically the season/series finale as it’s the 13th episode produced. But that’s why Nick decided to air this and Finished! back to back on the same day. Though it’s rather confusing. As both episodes have happy ending, having this be the last episode doesn’t have a finale feel to it as it ended with Milo falling down after reacting to the news that him and Ruby have to do their talents at Vegas again. Either way, this is a pretty fun episode, showcasing everyone’s talents. (And like Raccooned!, the entire mall gang is here) They’re all enjoyable to watch, but I can’t help but feel amused with how Milo and Ruby set up their talents. They were having such a hard time at first, but then it finally happened and it was able to solve the plot’s problem quickly. Arnold and Olivia’s acts were cool, but they were literally held back by the fact that they’re chained together thanks to Arnold’s magical tricks. Carl, of course, being Carl, only wanted to do the best talent and acts like it’s a competition. Darby and her acting friends continued where they left off with a hilarious shark song that people will definitely be more interested to hear than Baby Shark. Wren brought her dog to the show, but it backfired. Hurley’s talent, I believe was galactic themed and he basically scare Wilson with an alien mask. Overall, a hilarious episode with a very heartwarming ending. Now, we just need one more episode to review.
(9/10)
Cold Opening: (1:45)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home once had an alien as a pen pal. He would write her weird letters in a weird alien language. Turns out it was some kid named Alan.” (5:10)
Finished! (Joey Manderino)
This episode too important so I’ll ditch the short summary in favor of recapping the entire episode’s events. Milo and Ruby finally finished publishing their graphic novel. However, Darby and Hurley keep messing with Milo’s laptop that it got caught on fire so they used coffee to pour it out. After Milo and Ruby have a busy day promoting their graphic novel, Milo becomes upset at the bad news. So, the gang look around the mall to see if they have the copy of the graphic novel. No such luck. Things go downhill when Ruby accidentally shred the only copy of it. Milo and Ruby then go dumpster diving to find anything, and still no luck. After a confession scene, Wren actually have the laptop back repaired and the day is saved. Although the 11th episode produced, this episode had a season finale feel to it, as it’s the last episode to air, presumably for good. With an episode titled “Finished!”, you’d be probably disappointed that the show is potentially ending due to low ratings. (But it’s soon to tell you the fate of this show, but it’s also too soon to do an episode with that title in season one, as it should’ve been the last episode title, or Wrapped!) Regardless of what I feel of the show’s fate, I’ll be still be happy that it still went out with a freaking bang. The Warped! duo have finally met their goal by finishing the graphic novel. I guess short running shows can accomplish something important, even though you’d need between 50 and 100 episodes worth of chaos before the goal is reached. And it’s cannot be a Warped! episode about finishing your work without getting into some sort of sticky situation. I was surprised to hear SpongeBob mentioned in one scene while they were looking for the graphic novel (the only time you’ll ever see a Nick show mentioned in name, not counting the Easter eggs, which are only seen in the background). After pointless searches, it was time for the usual “let’s get messy” scene, this time used for the climax. This is a Nickelodeon show, alright. We already have SpongeBob and Patrick go dumpster diving before and the problems was solved (even though that episode was told in flashback). However, it didn’t got solved here, rather they just head back, and all hope was lost at first. The emotions get really stronger in the scene where Ruby finally told Milo the truth what happened with the graphic novel. What made this scene worked is that Milo is forgiving of the situation and wasn’t mad at Ruby. He even considered her his best friends and wouldn’t haven’t finished the graphic novel if she didn’t get hired at Warped!. Kate, who is known for pulling off laugh worthy performances for all of her television career so far, really gave it her all in this scene as she sounded guilty for the shredding incident. Anton’s acting was already outstanding throughout the episode, but his performance for the same scene was just as genuine and it perfectly described their chemistry (both as their character and together in real life). The last few minutes of the episode (and show overall) perfectly described my opinion on the show: optimism. Wren is a hero and while I’m not the biggest fan of her, she actually did something helpful for once. The last scene is sweet to watch and I’m so disappointed it has end this way. Even if it’s sort of a proper ending, it looks like Milo and Ruby were going to make their works a franchise, like the MCU. In conclusion, I’m just glad the show was able to go out with an amazing installment.
(10/10)
Cold Opening: (2:22)
“My Friend Margo:” “From back home once ate so much cheddar, she could cry melted cheese. If you showed her a sad movie, she could an entire tray of nacho.” (14:43)
What I Liked About Warped!
I was on board with this show when it was only announced as a pilot. With Nickelodeon entering a major renaissance for their sitcoms once Dan Schneider was fired, I thought to myself, hey maybe Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert will finally have a hit show on their hands working at their original network (you see, they already struck gold with Austin and Ally, on Disney Channel, many years ago). The problem with recommending this show was that it’s on cable, a dying medium. But let’s go over what I loved about this show. After many years of their live action shows having this mean-spirited and unfunny vibe, we are back to the optimistic and funny style that was once prominent in the good shows. Let me just tell you how much I love the friendship between the four main characters, especially Milo and Ruby. They are the opposite of each other, but they are still able to cooperate by making comics while trying not to make too much mess at their workplace. And before you ask, I don’t ship them whatsoever as I don’t do romantic shipping (and Milo is already dating Olivia anyway). Hurley and Darby are almost always seen together and I can see some people shipping them even they’re not interested with each other. This is the type of friendship I want to see in kids shows. Get along with each other without resorting to petty arguments or physical abuse. There’s not that many asshole characters on the show, they’re usually limited to just a few, including Carl, a rude customer in Finished!, etc. Because of this, the show has several moments that will make you “awww…” With how cynical the world has become nowadays, this show will cure your depression, because it is that wholesome and riotous. Besides the acting feeling natural, I forget to tell you how much I love the production values for the show. The set for the Warped! store looks amazing (though it might be too expensive to keep it going). There's Easter eggs where you see Nickelodeon shows as comics and props. Though, I don't like that people might only remember the show for them, but I digress, since Nick is always remembering its history. The costumes for the characters (particularly Ruby and Darby) are also pretty cool. This show should get an award for all the effort they put in, but it'll be snubbed as it's not a streaming original. It’s pretty obvious that I am passionate towards this show, even though I’m not a huge comic book enthusiast. The writers did their homework with comic books, and I think that’s why they brought in Kevin Smith for one episode. Unlike Game Shakers where the writers did no research on how gaming worked, the writers did an excellent bringing viewers the world of comics. I am not exaggerating when I say this show is better than all of Dan Schneider’s sitcoms (even Drake and Josh). Although the Amanda Show is better by margin, but I’ll bring up that up again in a little bit. I told you guys Kevin and Heath were the true geniuses of All That and Kenan & Kel, but Nick thinks otherwise, as their works are largely overshadowed because they aren’t a household name as Schneider and his bakery productions. So even with having such a short run, I think this is my top 5 favorite Nick live action show of all time. While I really enjoyed majority of the show’s character, Ruby takes the cake as my fave. This is because she is played by the talented Katharine “Kate” Grace Godfrey, who I’ve became a fan of her acting the moment I started watching her on the 2019 All That revival. I’m glad the casting directors saw potential in her by giving her a main role on a show. She carried over all of her talents from All That to Warped!, and it really shows. You’ll see Ruby do a voice or wear disguises, and it’ll always be funny every time. And of course, she’ll mention Margo once per episode to remind us what she did back home. This is why I think Kate will be the next big hilarious young white girl in the acting industry because it’s been lacking since Amanda Bynes retired from acting back in 2010 (not saying that aren’t hilarious young white girls, they just didn’t have the same impact). But yeah, I’m getting way too off topic gushing about her, I’m supposed to praising the show itself. The plots are all chaotic in a way that you’ll find yourself smiling throughout. However, despite this, every episode will have at least one friendship moment, and I’ve seen interviews of the cast members. They were really passionate about working on Warped!, and I can tell a lot of love was put into this.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, by the time this review finally gets published, it is announced that Warped! got cancelled at only one season. No reason was explained why it got the ax, but I got a few theories why. The main cast members were too old to be on a show aimed for kids. (Not that they had a few shows with an adult main actor playing teenagers) They were pushing 17 and 18 by the time they started filming and when it hit the airwaves. Sometimes, kid actors have to separate themselves from a kids organization so they could work on mature projects. I hope this isn’t the case with them. I mean, they clearly loved working for this show, and it’s not that they had a falling out or anything. I don’t want to use low ratings as an excuse because tv ratings for kids networks are really really low right now. But I got a better second theory. This show and Side Hustle were different from the other sitcoms Nick have. They both feature main characters who are older than 13-14 years old and aren’t superheroes nor young rappers. Guess what their other sitcoms have? Warped! And Side Hustle have none of that and they feel a bit more realistic since they have to do with jobs. I feel like it’s unfair to cancel two Work Coms just because they were actually unique ideas for kids to get engaged with. Kids and teens can learn a thing or two about the importance of work ethics. And my last theory is, Nick have too many shows in production. This year alone, they have aired or produced 8 different live action shows. So it was inevitable that one of them was going to have to get the boot somehow. Unfortunately, death decided to pick Side Hustle and Warped as the next victim of cancelled tv shows. And I thought with the crossover special, maybe Warped and Side Hustle would get season renewals. Unfortunately, upfront day happened and none of the current sitcoms got renewed (the others didn’t get renewals until a later time). I’m disappointed but not surprised, considering Nick’s current climate right now. They’ve been very IP happy lately and I really wish they be more open to creator driven shows. It’s a shame too cause Kevin and Heath should’ve been as big as Dan Schneider, but I guess they’ll forever be overshadowed. All in all, while it sucks the show only had 13 episodes, I’m still grateful that it happened, because it should be a wake up call for the live action department because as of right now, That Girl Lay Lay is the only live action show I’m actively following from Nick. Whatever new sitcom that comes out next year and beyond will be a tough act to follow because I don’t think nothing will top Warped!. (And by the way, if you’re curious about my ranking of the episode that I keep hyping up for, you’ll have to go my Twitter account to see it).
