Ridley's first appearance in "The Glitch Modder" threw a very interesting wrench in the show's concept and lore - specifically what happens when someone allows glitches to both roam free and be equipped with illegal programming tricks, and if that should be tolerated regardless of their intentions. So it only made sense to bring her back a few episodes later in yet another Ashly Burch-written outing, except this time she's much more close to the root of the conflict as she explores and works with Hinobi. And while "The New Recruit" doesn't quite provide all the answers, it certainly serves as a highly satisfying follow-up to the character.
Ridley herself is clearly being selfish for most of the story. Her revisiting Miko and Five, and by extension getting hired by Hinobi, only comes up as a means to acquire a gauntlet, enabling her to rebuild her glitch lair. Even after she starts going on missions, her idea to cheat the system and take the team to the top is out of a desire to get back at Mitch for belittling her. And the moment Miko and Five start to question her attitude and ethics, she not only abandons them again but causes the captured glitches to respawn at headquarters. This is a far cry from her well-meaning, harmless self in the debut appearance. Despite all this, she remains likable thanks to her frequent positive interactions with Miko, Five, and even Phil, as well as her being plain eager to use her prowess for the benefit of others, even if it's usually part of an ulterior motive. Not to mention that by a certain point, she seems to genuinely enjoy the thrill and comradery in her work, to where it really seems like if she had a better temper and ethical code, she probably would've been a fantastic asset for the team.
This episode seems to be written with the intent that everyone watching this is very familiar with the show and how its world works by now, as a lot of the details are either quickly stated in passing or shown without feeling the need to elaborate. This brisker pace works to the benefit of how much meat there actually is to the plot, while consistently keeping the focus on Ridley and who she encounters. Admittedly, this does lead to Miko and Five sometimes feeling pushed to the side, as they rarely have a back-and-forth with each other. But they serve the story quite well, and it's nice to acknowledge that they're taking the job much more seriously than they did before. Even Mitch is given a nice bit of character development after Ridley powers him up to both reclaim his high score and help clear the infestation, where he lets her go home without a memory wipe, opening up many possibilities for stories that we sadly probably aren't going to get, but that's a story for another day.
Studio 100's animation (with a little assistance from Top Draw, like most of their output in season 2) is also the strongest we've gotten in a while, partly thanks to the heavy amount of action scenes packed here and the climax especially being downright tense and ridiculous with how much is thrown at us. Any rough points they had at the beginning seem to be completely gone now, which makes it all the more bittersweet they couldn't stick around to finish the season. So with all this going for it, "The New Recruit" is definitely on the higher end of the episode tier list.
This opening action scene is a good example on how the pacing doesn't waste any time in getting any newcomers up to speed, as it's over and done within 40 seconds. Also for some reason, the action is kept very far away from the camera in this long shot, though the children all being dead-still definitely creates an eerie atmosphere.
Studio 100 and Ally flying is always a treat, and this is no exception.
Check out this camera/analyzer view that transitions from the opening scene to Ridley's reintroduction. Very well-crafted layout for something that's only onscreen for a few seconds.
Right after spying on Five and Miko, she gets called out by someone behind the bush. This expression is simply priceless, and instantly it paints her as being on the spiteful side, befitting of what she ends up going through in the episode.
It's raining for only this scene, literally just so they could add a lightning strike when Ridley enters her bedroom. Such a long way to go for a brief visual touch, but worth it in making the modder seem intimidating.
The modded Chomp Kitty, who we find out here is named "Horn", has several affectionate scenes with Ridley. I really appreciate that they give her a consistent source of comfort.
Ridley shows a 'pixel' detector on what is clearly meant to be a NintendoSwitch. Plus, that '1' and '3' in her label in place of letters is yet another on-point display on what you usually see from these kinds of people. (On a side note, who the heck puts a coffeepot in a *van*?)
Five drops a couple Spanish lines at a few points in the episode (this one being "Claro que si"), something I don't recall him previously doing outside of his family. Ridley's following line, "Blush emotes, you guys", is pretty great.
Haneesh gets launched into the air by his argumented reality missile, in a bit of slapstick where you lucidly 'feel' the pain from how its drawn.
This is probably the episode that got me to really like Phil. As stuck-up or out-of-touch as he can get, he takes his manager duties and the work of Glitch Techs very seriously. The way he talks here carries a certain dignity we haven't seen too much of from him up to now. And even with that, we get some funny moments out of him; him damaging BITT by making him quickly toast a bagel is kind of stupid of him, but the way he trails off and sweats when explaining this makes it work.
This scene is pretty clunky in its animation. Only 12 or so donuts pop out of BITT, and the piles appear out of nowhere. Also, immediately before this, the same background gets used for two consecutive shots. Methinks they were on a budget or time crunch here or something.
As hilarious and cathartic as it is for Ridley to mess with Helpie here... you're welcome to whoever wrote that text in the middle.
Ridley first getting her gauntlet and gear obviously mirrors the scene from "Age of Hinobi" where Five and Miko do the same. It's not as well-animated as that example, but it's still pretty dang cool they treated her start as a Glitch Tech with this level of grandiose.
The pose work and "Epic Entrance" text is solid enough, but the tacked-on addition of Ridley, almost like she graffiti'ed herself onto the graphic, drives it home.
The fighting isn't even the main point of this action scene here, and yet the studio (I think Top Draw here) still packs it with all these flips and dynamic timing. I love shows that go the extra mile.
Ridley's hesitation and nervousness when told to "aim and fire" is probably as relatable as she gets, and they hold on it just enough for the tension to set in.
Mitch Williams enters the story by stealing the glitch's essence and with this cocky as hell expression. This is probably everything you need to know about the character in one cap.
This is Ridley's second time asking if she can go home with her gauntlet; note how innocent she looks here compared to act 1, no doubt because of Five and Miko having her back in front of Mitch, suggesting a possible change of heart. I love it when expressions alone tell us near endless details about character motivation and progression.
This montage is chock full of the amazing direction you'd expect from someone who worked on "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (Chris Graham, to be specific). These already-attractive stills only improve when seen in motion.
I honestly can't believe it took Glitch Techs 15 episodes to do one of these explosion shots. It may be cliche, but it's damn cool, okay?
Hey, I see what ya clever storyboard artists did there (Their names are Phil Jacobson, Sung Eun Kim, and Sarah Partington)... Also who are the "Brules" anyway?
Simi cameos several times in this episode; this is the best look we get of her. Note she's the only one we see in this crowd not excited about this team taking the top score, and given what happens to her in the next episode, she may have a good reason not to...
The already-strong contrast between the threatening, menacing greens across most of the room and the soothing purple of Ridley's escape portal is only made stronger by how the character is split in half between the two colors. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't intentional symbolism.
Fantastic storyboarding of this scene aside, this episode must've been a blast for the design team with all the different glitch monsters that had to be made. Some of them are taken from previous episodes, like the eyeball-bat creatures are from "Castle Crawl", but I don't recognize most of the others.
I believe this is the first time we see Phil actually get suited and step into action, which - much like my previous statement about him - shows a serious, badass side to him. I do wish we got stuff like this from him more often, but then this wouldn't have left an impact.
Ridley having second thoughts of turning her back on the Hinobi store is another scene that gets the atmosphere and mood just right. Special note to this line Ridley gives Horn: "Who programmed your heuristics, anyway?" Well, she did, so I'll leave you to figure out what this says about her.
This puts dramatic impact shots to a whole new level. Look at how tiny Mitch is compared to the wave. Damn.
I said I wasn't a fan of most of this show's anime expressions, but not only do I appreciate how varied they are across each character, I love how even freaking BITT has one.
This doesn't read well as a still, but this is a rotating panning shot where Miko, Five, and Ridley all move across the screen as they fight with about a hundred things happening onscreen at once. They even animated Phil in the background there. Phenomenal.
These shots are a little heavy on the lighting and saturation, but I adore the polished look to them nonetheless.
Note how incredibly sorry Phil looks and sounds when having to let Ridley go. Even he became really fond of the girl.
Yet another scene where Chris Graham's directing skills shine. The sound effects of Ridley whirring up her remote only to halt when Mitch implies he's about to let her go is especially fantastic.
"I may not have made the cut... but I *can* copy and paste."
So, want to know what Ridley does with her new gauntlet powers? Well, tough luck, because Nick cut off the show before we could find out. We need to make sure this series eventually gets renewed, folks.
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