This town, man. How many villains can Hamster and Gretel face in a single episode? This week’s installment of Hamster & Gretel puts that question to the test.
Over The Hill
It’s Career Day and Gretel and Bailey are shadowing local news reporter Veronica Hill to follow her on all her field reporting. Good news for Veronica, there is a major interview lined up with the Mayor, and she can finally get that daytime slot doing the hard-hitting pieces.
Across town at home, Kevin is chillin’ with Hamster playing video games and they realize they are both seriously overdue for a haircut. That’s our B storyline today. A haircut. But it ties in with the theme to come.
You see, back at the station headquarters for WHOA, Veronica finds out that she has been bumped from the interview in favor of a new hire. The new host, Harrison Filcher, is brought in to meet Veronica, and Gretel notices something about him that is quite familiar. Devotees of the series might notice it as well, and it may or may not have something to do with the obnoxious mustache that Filcher is sporting.
At the salon, which specializes in haircuts for humans and their pets, the salon owner is shopping options for Kevin and Hamster (who he assumes is a teacup bichon-frise). After Kevin gets a “stylish” cut, it’s Hamster’s turn. He is put into a strange contraption/chamber that slices up his fur into a hip new do. As long as nobody cranks the knob past the red, everything would have been okay anyway.
Back at the news studio, Veronica is ready to quit her job while Harrison is interviewing the mayor. Still, Gretel knows she knows him from somewhere – there’s something about him. That’s it! It’s Van Dyke! Remember, from an earlier episode!? The sentient facial hair that can attach himself to people and take over their mind and body? In case you forgot, that’s today’s musical number!
As Gretel challenges him and the battle ensues, the climax of the fight ends with Van Dyke being stopped and asked some hard-hitting questions by Veronica, creating the interview everyone wanted to see. Afterward, the mustache made the rounds, taking over everyone he came in contact with. This is growing tiresome, indeed. Finally, Hamster and Kevin arrive on scene and Hamster brings that hair chopping chamber with him. Van Dyke is thrown in and that knob is turned past the red zone, ending Van Dyke’s reign of terror….for now.
Impressed by the interview, the station owners decided to rehire Veronica (who quit after the interview) and double her salary.
The Ice Queen Cometh
There is nothing better than ice cream on a hot summer day. Kevin and Gretel agree, and instead of going to their usual standby for ice cream, they come across a new, pretentious location – Ice Queen’s Ice Cream. Kevin wants nothing to do with it but Gretel insists they try the new place.
After waiting in a line where Ice Queen herself is deciding who is welcome to come in, she gets to Gretel, whom she deems too cute but with no edge. As Kevin explains why they should just leave, the Ice Queen (who’s character design seems to have been pulled almost directly from The Santa Clause 3) decides that Kevin’s need to not be cool is inherently cool, and he is allowed in – but Gretel (and Hamster) are not.
Suddenly, Kevin’s tone changes and he is very excited to see the new ice cream place. Perfect timing since across town, Pendulum Pete is wreaking havoc at a digital clock shop.
As Kevin is getting his tour, he is shown all kinds of different things, but really he just wants the ice cream. The whole place looks and feels like a nightclub, and Kevin gets taken to a special VIP room for an extra cool secret recipe of Ice Cream. Its a crystal like ice cream cone, that as Kevin licks it, his body slowly starts to freeze over. Realizing early on that something is wrong, Kevin quickly pulls out his phone and calls Gretel for help. Fortunately, they are winding down with Pendulum Pete and considering the phone cut out (as it froze over) she knew something is up back at the ice cream shop.
As Kevin is frozen, he realizes everyone else in the shop is completely frozen as well. But why is she doing this? Good thing we haven’t heard the song this episode yet because here it is. In the tune, we learn her origin story where she was young back in Switzerland, being mocked by the cool kids. After time, she developed EIYSZE (Ice), a special form of ice that will freeze her victims solid.
In order to unthaw Kevin and the others, Gretel needs to destroy the EIYSZE, but to no avail, it’s in its own vat and is also specifically formulated so that nothing on Earth can melt it.
As Gretel and Hamster are fighting the villain, Hamster gets a chunk of the ice as the queen is shooting it, landing in his mouth and he too solidifies. Now, Gretel is on her own with nothing to do. Panicking, she picks up the EIYSZE vat and hurls it at the Ice Queen but misses, launching into the skies above her. As the Ice Queen is ready to take out Gretel, it seems that everyone has now suddenly become freed. The vat that was thrown by Gretel is has rocketed out of Earth’s atmosphere and went right for the warmth of the sun, melting the EIYSZE. Gretel is still cute, but now she has that edge too. Too bad the Ice Queen is now under arrest.
This episode of Hamster & Gretel is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can also catch up with earlier episodes of the series streaming now on Disney+.