Let’s look back at everything that went down last time on ReBoot. Mainframe now has two Bobs. Glitch Bob, the one that was found in the web by Matrix and AndrAIa, and Other Bob, one that returned to Mainframe after the battle with Daemon, and looks and sounds exactly like Bob before he was sent into the web by Megabyte. Now it’s a question of who’s the real Bob, and it seems like Dot has already made that answer, feeling that the other Bob reminds her of better times. Is Glitch Bob getting friendzoned? Who is the real Bob? Let’s see if we get any more answers to this messy mystery in part two of the My Two Bobs 4-parter titled “Life’s a Glitch”.
The episode opens with Dot and Phong trying to communicate with the null of Wellman Matrix, but since the death of Hexadecimal, Wellman has returned to his null state. Phong however has an idea that since nulls contain the full code of the nullified sprite, it could be possible to collect the codes of the games they were nullified in, and recompile sprites. That’s all well and good, but what about sprites like Wellman who weren’t nullified in-game? That’s still something that doesn’t have a solution to it just yet.
Next we’re greeted to Mike the TV, who uses the magic of fourth wall breaking to remind the viewers at home about Hex touching Enzo’s icon, leaving some sort of code on it, and speculating that it could possibly turn him viral. Back to Dot talking to Mouse again about her conundrum over choosing which Bob to finally go with. This is as confusing as it sounds.
Back at the principal office, Glitch Bob wants to finally split up with Glitch, realizing that it could make him look like the other Bob. Bob asks to enter the archives, and we see that even Phong’s starting to doubt that he’s the original. But before this can get more awkward, Dot and company learn of game data in Kitts Sector. Phong mentions that he must be in the game with the data sampler to make sure it works. So Dot has the wise idea of sending Hack and Slash to escort Phong. Can’t see this backfiring.
They meet up with Matrix, AndrAIa, and Other Bob. No sign of young Enzo. But of course, since he was being watched by Cecil, Enzo easily leaves off to join the game. Back at the principal office, Glitch Bob talks to Mouse about wanting to separate with Glitch to make Dot happy. But since he can’t split without Phong’s passwords to enter the archives, he’s up a creek without a paddle. But since it is Mouse he’s talking to, he’s easily entered back.
The game seems to be some weird Toy Story-like game, which the user is Rocky the Rabbid Raccoon. Because, you know, he’s such a popular character that he had to come back. Most of these attempts to split Glitch and Bob are done through parodies. The pods from the 1988 version of The Fly, the teleporters from Star Trek, you get the idea. And as you’d expect, none of them work. Though after watching how Gigabyte was split into three with the use of a portal, he gets an idea.
Back in the game, the heroes reboot, with Enzo as a mannequin on strings, Matrix turning into Darth Vader, Phong into Yogurt, and Hack and Slash into cola cans. Definitely the most random assortment of rebooted forms in the series, that’s for sure. They try to keep the now larger Rocky beaten down long enough to rid him of his lives, while AndrAIa and Phong work to extract game data.
Back that the principal office, Bob tells Dot to release a tear, while ignoring the game in progress This concerns Dot as it’s not like Bob to just ignore a game like that. He stabilizes the tear into a portal and enters it. Back in the game, the group manage to eliminate two of Rocky’s three lives, and finish him off with the help of a turkey that walks like a mech, and a bottle of hot sauce, ending the raccoon once and for all.
Atop the principal office, Glitch Bob’s attempt to split up hits an unfortunate snag as the portal explodes, leaving him in a frozen corrupted state. They take him back to the supercomputer to be checked up on. Meanwhile back at Mainframe, we end the episode with Dot finally making her choice to marry the other Bob.
This second part is… well… messy. There are some good jokes, and it does move at a decent pace. But everything else just doesn’t flow with the fun of the classic ReBoot that this four parter is trying to replicate. While ReBoot has been known for pop culture references being scattered throughout episodes, in this episode it feels like it’s almost relying on them to garner the biggest laughs.
The game also comes off as one of the most random in the history of the series. It feels like a poor mix of older games in the series. Not only does it bring back Rocky the Rabid Raccoon, but also feels like the toy race game from back in “Firewall”, only now with random Star Wars references added in for no reason but to say “hey, look it’s a Yoda reference and a force joke”.
Then again, most of the games in season four feel like cheap parodies of early 2000’s pop culture other than the more creative game ideas once seen in the early days of the series. It’s like they wanted to stay more relevant to the times instead of taking a fresher spin on a certain style of computer game. They’re still fun to watch at times, but especially by the later end of the series, the coolness factor of games vanish quickly.
And now we enter part three. Will Glitch Bob be frozen forever? Will Dot and the other Bob really get married? Will there actually be an interesting twist to merit two more parts? Find out in the next exciting review.