The thrill of steam trains and secret agents precede an adventure in high school politics that goes perhaps a bit too far in the latest episode of Hamster & Gretel on Disney Channel.
Last Train to Dullsville
We open and see a convoluted premise between a number of secret agents and spies who have set out to retrieve a special briefcase on a mountainside. Not only is there one spy who is trying to master the art of skiing (to no avail), there is another spy who is trying to master the art of hang gliding (also to no avail).
Thanks to a series of unfortunate accidents, the package lands in an incognito truck (that happens to be another spy for the same agency) and ends up getting safely out of the hands of the villain to be delivered to The Handyman.
Cut to the Grant-Gomez family getting ready to spend a thrilling, high octane day aboard a vintage train. Yeah, the family (outside of their dad) was not too keen on the idea either.
For the big day of fun though, Gretel and Kevin’s dad is getting ready to load up on caffeine with a special coffee – which happens to be the exact order needed to claim the briefcase as the coffee vendor is an undercover spy. When the Coffee guy asks if Dad is the Handyman, he sees yes. Remember, he is the landlord/super of their apartment building, so it’s kind of right.
As such, Dad is outfitted with the briefcase, which is handcuffed to his wrist. Thinking he won some kind of train enthusiast prize, the family then boards the train and as they depart, Kevin looks out the window and sees a large man with a grappling hook for a hand lifting up and throwing the coffee vendor to the ground. Now he knows that the briefcase is dangerous and a villain is after them. He consults with Gretel and they conclude that they must keep their father covered and occupied to keep this mystery man away from him.
While evading, they leave Dad alone for a moment while they get their hands on some of the highly touted milkshakes, and Dad is approached by another agent who asks if he is the Handyman. He then receives a second briefcase and is instructed to make it to the engine room of the train and meet The Conductor, who he can then give the briefcases to and receive a special tour of how the train works. What a win!
Kevin sits down and sees his dad now has a second briefcase and gets frustrated, telling him not to accept anymore briefcases when a train agent pushing a cart passes quickly and Dad now has a third briefcase. The goal is now to get to the engine room quickly and safely, while evading the man with the grappling hook hand.
Their dad makes his way to the engine, and Hamster and Gretel stop the man, who explains this isn’t superhero business, this is spy business and they have it all wrong. The man is on the good side, trying to keep the doomsday devices in the briefcases out of the hands of a supervillain. But why did he throw the coffee guy on the ground? Well, turns out that was another agent and he just wanted him to adjust his back, which hurt after standing around all day.
Big misunderstanding see?
And speaking of misunderstanding, their Dad is now in the engine room and gives the briefcases to The Conductor, who then leaves the room and lets their dad consult with the engineers to see how the train works. Something totally fine for a perfect stranger who is untrained to do.
Meanwhile, the Conductor is no conductor at all. In fact, he is the conductor! Confused? That’s the point. He’s not a train conductor, he’s a symphony conductor! And in those briefcases are all the equipment he needs to create a symphony of laser shooting robot drones that look like musical notes. When combined, they’ll have enough power to explode the moon!
That’s why he must be stopped. As the villain conducts the drones to take out Hamster, Gretel, the Grappling hook man, and Kevin, Dad is still in the engine room where he doesn’t prove that handy after all when asked to add more water to the steam engine. He cranks the wheel completely off and the engine is overfilling with water, with streams spraying out into the sky.
Some of this water hits the drones, and it becomes clear that’s the solution to taking down this villain. Inevitably, that's what happens and the spy event is over. The mystery man with the grappling hook hand thanks Hamster and Gretel for the assist, as well as the mystery teen with them (Kevin) who he told to stay anonymous and not to ruin anything.
After all is said and done, it turns out that train rides aren’t so boring after all.
Fred of State
It’s the morning announcements at Kevin and Fred’s high school, and the campaign is on to get Taco Tuesday moved to become Taco Wednesday. The class president, Chad, is pushing for this on the P.A. system while Kevin and Fred come in clutch with the exposition, also revealing that Fred lost the student council vote to him, but is now his Vice President.
While the announcements are going on, you hear some kind of trouble brewing over the speakers, and now Chad has gone missing. As Vice President, Fred is now the president since Chad cannot be found and makes Kevin her head of state. She doesn’t know how much time she’ll be in this position but wants to get stuff done while she can. Namely, the addition of the screen door to the school library since the last one is broken and coyotes are still running rampant within.
Hamster and Gretel show up (for some reason out of their own class time) to assist with the search for Chad, but Fred advises against this since every time they show up at their school, the school gets destroyed. While they try to argue that, a montage plays – and we all know a montage can make anybody look bad.
In her pursuit of getting that screen door, Fred has to take a deal with the school principal who says that if she gets the Taco Wednesday to pass the vote, then she’ll get her screen door.
Why does the principal want Taco Wednesday so bad in lieu of Taco Tuesday? He hates alliteration. That’s all. Simple as that.
The song breaks out and another montage while we see Fred campaigning for Taco Wednesday while Hamster and Gretel crawl through the vents of the school looking for clues into Chad’s disappearance.
Eventually, we get some The West Wing-style walk and talks (where we see a number of different background plots that are quite humorous) that leads us to Pamela. Pamela is the last vote Fred needs to secure the Taco Wednesday victory and lock in that new screen door. Another walk and talk leads us into a boiler room where we realize Pamela is the brains behind the kidnapping of Chad, who is now hanging in a massive spider’s web inside the boiler room and making bad puns.
Pamela has a giant robot spider drone that she can control with her glasses that crawls through the vents. Why does she have a vendetta against Chad, and now Fred? She wants Taco Tuesday to stay on Tuesdays. It’s a perfect “mid-week” lunch – even though it's on Tuesday and not Wednesday. How long are the weeks in the Hamster & Gretel world?
Hamster and Gretel arrive on scene, and thanks to all the tacos laying around as part of the campaign, they are able to take down the drone who, after the remote glasses are destroyed, defaults to senseless destruction. Fortunately for Hamster and Gretel, most of the destruction this time was caused by the bot and not them, but they still quickly go back to their own school. Now with Chad found, this means that Fred’s time in office is now over, but to get that last vote, she pardons Pamela.
However, Fred also blew through the Taco budget as part of the Taco Wednesday campaign, so now the school introduces the equally alliterative – Waffle Wednesday.
This episode of Hamster & Gretel is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. You can also catch up with earlier episodes and the first season on Disney+.