Static Shock – 13tantrum

Everything happening to Virgil lately reminds him of how much he misses his deceased mother Jean. Virgil must deal with his feelings of loss even as he tangles with Tantrum, a repressed student whose irrational outbursts of anger turn him into a massive being of brute force out to destroy everything in his path.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by Matt Zimmer

Voices:
Phil LaMarr as Virgil Hawkins/Static
Jason Marsden as Richie Foley
John Cho as Tantrum / Thomas Kim
Kevin Michael Richardson as Robert Hawkins
Michele Morgan as Sharon Hawkins
Crystal Scales as Daisy Watkins
Miriam Flynn as Ms. Pettibone
Michael Paul Chan as Mr. Kim
Huanani Minn as Mrs. Kim
Vernee Watson Johnson as Mrs. Watkins
Ambrosia Kelley as Young Sharon Hawkins
Marcelo Tubert as Young Technician
DeEtta West as Singer
Jimmy Fisher as Singer
Kaci Jeter as Singer
Aladrian Elmore as Singer
 

Virgil grieves for his mother in this touching episode.

The episode opens with Virgil visiting his mother’s grave and explaining why he hasn’t been there lately. Two weeks ago Virgil was asked by
Robert and Sharon to write a speech for his mother’s memorial ceremony.
This really upsets him. Meanwhile a kid in Virgil’s class is being wrung through the wringer by his father who is upset with him for only getting a 99 on a test. After the teacher is attacked by a purple monster Virgil and Richie suspect that he is a Bang Baby and doesn’t realize it. Virgil later sees some home movies of him and his mother comforting him after he’s thrown a tantrum. Instead of punishing him, his mother had let him get the bad feelings out of his system. Static gets the idea that this may work for his classmate and when the monster attacks Virgil’s house because he believed Virgil teased him Static leads him to an abandoned area and lets him destroy and throw things to get it out of his system.
The monster then turns back into the kid. We learn his parents have gotten him help and that Virgil promises to visit his mother more often.
He leaves and gives a heartfelt speech at his mother’s memorial.

I liked the episode a lot because it showed that Static Shock was willing to go to places in which the characters revealed things about themselves and how they dealt with grief. I thought it was a great profile of Virgil and how much he misses his mother. The idea that he uses what his mother has given him to defeat the monster is really touching.

The episode ends with a gospel song that I felt was very appropriate. We had never seen Virgil really deal worth his mother’s death so far on the series and I thought this episode dealt with it perfectly. The only downside to the episode was that the animation was spotty but other than that I have no complaints.

A great episode and a great way to end the first season.

Story: ****1/2
Animation: **1/2
Average: ****