It’s no secret that if there is one established couple in ReBoot, it’s Bob and Dot. Although the show doesn’t harp too much on it, and perhaps the biggest reference to the relationship came from “The Tiff”. Since then, it was downplayed mostly to just the two being close friends. But what about Enzo? Why hasn’t he ever found either a girlfriend of his own, or any sprites to hang around with? Not only do we get an explanation, but we also get a new character to befriend little Enzo? Let’s find out with “AndrAIa”.
We open the episode rather strangely. We are given an episode of “True stories of Mainframe”, recapping the ending of “The Quick and the Fed”. Of course, the actors are all binomes, and really cheesy actors, suffering from either being way over the top, being off cue, or completely botching their lines. The actor playing Bob sounds like he’s putting way too much work on a horrible Robin Leach impression. It’s such a strange scene, but it’s kinda funny to see that a show like ReBoot, which has been so good at parodying other properties, is also good at parodying itself.
This is all being displayed by Mike the TV (who for some reason isn’t watching over Hexadecimal. I guess even the queen of chaos needs a break from him), as Enzo watches on, feeling rather bored. Dot suggests to go out and do something, but Enzo mentions that there’s no one to do anything with. Especially since we see that Bob is busy in a game, and since he was told not to run off into games by himself anymore since “Bad Bob”, he’s upset that he can’t have fun with Bob.
The game is once again the “Wing Commander” game from the first episode, but this time Bob is having a tough time with his two partners, who are supposed to be parodies of Kirk and Picard, who often respond with Star Trek catchprases like “make it so”, and “engage”. Because the morons set the planet to “self-destruct”, they escape as the planet explodes, I guess destroying the user in the process. Bob is obviously upset that the two almost got them nullified, so Dot suggests that Bob should have a seminar about surviving games.
She also asks Bob if there’s anything he can do to help Enzo. Since they’re too busy, he’s been alone. The main reason is also finally revealed that there aren’t any other small sprites left in Mainframe since the twin city was accidentally destroyed by an out of control experiment by Dot and Enzo’s father. That one little tidbit of information explains a lot of the show’s back story. Not just about how come there aren’t many sprites left (save for the punk sprites we saw in “The Quick and the Fed”), but also about how there was a twin city in Mainframe that was destroyed. And since the only other city in Mainframe is Lost Angles, that partly explains how it came to be. It will be a while until we get more info on Enzo’s father, the experiment that destroyed the city, and even more origins from the world, but it will be worth the wait.
Enzo leaves the diner in a rage over the fact that there’s no friends for him in Mainframe because of his father. At the principal office later on, Bob sets up his seminar talking about the games. This is another great segment that gives off a lot of useful information about games. From the importance of rebooting to the importance of defeating the user, and surviving inside.
Bob also talks about game sprites. There have been a few seen in episodes before, but the show hasn’t really gotten into them until now. There are five types of games sprites. Aggressives that try to defeat the user. Defensives that try to block anything in their path. Chaotics which will destroy anything in sight. Passives which offer useful information to the players in the game. And finally the newly discovered Artificial Intelligence game sprites, which can adapt and learn useful information in order to defeat opponents.
Back to the Enzo situation, nothing they come up with seems to be a logical way to help his situation. This of course is a perfect time for a game cube to drop down on the diner. Of course, everyone leaves but Enzo, who is ready for the fun within. Bob and Dot make it inside the game as it drops. This time it’s an underwater adventure game where the object is again to beat the user before he makes it to the finish, which is the lost treasure of Atlantis.
Enzo reboots as a captain in an attack sub, while Bob and Dot reboot into a pair of fish creatures, capable of thought speak. Bob has the power of electrical blasts, while Dot has a trident that creates vortexes and piranha mines. While this is all going down, a game sprite is attacking the user’s ship with one of her abilities, which appear to be starfish boomerangs. However, she’s unable to beat the user, and is shot at. Before she’s destroyed, Enzo comes to her aid, picking her up in his ship. Bob and Dot manage to destroy the user’s ship with one of Dot’s piranha mines. However, the game isn’t over as the user has 14 lives remaining. The two work down most of its lives.
Enzo checks on the sprite, but when she awakes, she goes into attack mode. However, Enzo’s gushing over her abilities stops her. He also tries to impress her by claiming he’s a guardian. The game sprite introduces herself as AndrAIa, but Enzo doesn’t even give her a chance to tell him that she’s a game sprite that will leave with the game. Meanwhile, Bob and Dot are getting tired, and the user still has about seven lives to go. So the best strategy left is to slow the user down as they make it to the treasure. The two get stopped by a group of sharks. But it turns out the sharks can easily be sliced in half, which scares off the rest of sharks.
Meanwhile, Enzo and AndrAIa are hitting it off, as Enzo is finally feeling happy. But they deal with the user, and take out one if its lives. Which means that it recovers from the damage that Bob caused it. It speeds up to the treasure now that Bob and Dot cleared off the sharks. But Enzo manages to crash into the user, stopping it momentarily. Bob and Dot notice Enzo inside with AndrAIa, but can’t stop to help him, as they must beat the user to the treasure. But an octopus puts a stop to them.
Enzo sees them trapped, and states that they’re about to be nullified. AndrAIa, being a game sprite that leaves with the game, is unaware of what nullification is, which finally tips Enzo off to her being a game sprite. This upsets him as he realizes that they can never stay together as friends. AndraIAa paralyzes him as she looks at her AI icon.She sends Enzo out in a torpedo which makes it to the treasure to win the game.
Bob and Dot check on Enzo, who tells the two about AndrAIa. However, they notice something on Enzo’s icon. The icon. When it’s touched, Andraia appears in front of Enzo. She downloaded a backup on his icon, which would have her exit the game with him. The episode ends with Bob astonished at a game sprite in Mainframe, while also a bit curious as to why AndrAIa calls Enzo “guardian”.
While I stated before that “Painted Windows” sets the future of ReBoot in motion, it’s “AndrAIa” that really gets the ball rolling. It does so much in a 22 minute episode that it’s a work of genius. It not only has multiple nods to previous episodes. From parodies of old episodes, to subtle pieces of continuity mentioned in previous episodes. It also gives plenty of important information that no doubt most fans would wonder, mainly that being why there aren’t any other sprites seen in Mainframe, and even some information on Lost Angles.
The show adds a new character in AndrAIa, who isn’t just some new character thrown in just to be a love interest for Enzo, but a new kid character to help balance the cast out a bit better. And with her being new to Mainframe from her life as a game sprite, it’s clear that she’s a literal fish out of water. She’s a great character who debuted in a great episode. The game she debuted in was interesting as well with its undersea motif. It was also good to see the show finally give more information on games themselves, even if it took nineteen episodes to get there.
AndrAIa was voiced by Andrea Libman, who to add some connectivity to the other show I review on this site, is the voice actress of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She’s among several voice talents that have worked on both MLP and ReBoot, including Kathleen Barr, who voiced Dot Matrix on Reboot, and is best known on MLP for being The Great and Powerful Trixie. It’s always nice to see that connectivity in shows I enjoy.
While the first two seasons of ReBoot had Bob in the opening, making it look like he was the main character of the series, I think the real main character of the series is Enzo. While season three will prove that, this season two episode is the first to really show that in full. This is the first time the series has shown Enzo as not just the catchphrase spewing, happy go lucky kid character who wants to be just like his hero, but a kid who is suffering from loneliness and angst as the world he grew up with has fallen to pieces due to losing most of his family and any friends he may have had before the disaster that destroyed the twin city. And now that AndrAIa is here, life for him is getting a little better. The evolution of character for Enzo is just getting started, and it definitely takes some interesting twists and turns as we advance in this series.
In the end “AndrAIa” is still one of the best in the series for not just adding a great new character, but really beginning the progression the series is about to undergo. And it continues with the next episode, as something is coming to Mainframe, and not even the viruses are safe.