Zero Two Episode 01: Enter Flamedramon

In this episode, a new digidestined accepts the goggles and becomes the leader. Tai, TK and Kari are all thinking “wait... this guy??”

Years pass, the cast is older and trouble in the Digital World throws a few more recruits into the mix. While the episode thankfully only introduces one Digimon and his Armor Evolution, there's all sorts of other stuff thrown at us right away. The important notes aren't hard to process, but it's pretty dizzying and not always presented as cleanly as it should be.

We start with an older and taller TK, and his first meeting with Yolei and Cody (Davis shows up too, but more on him later). Yolei is somewhere between a geek and a spazz, offering to fix Cody's computer and totally flipping out when she first meets Izzy. Cody is clearly going to be a prominent character and we will certainly see a personality from him in due time. For now... Yolei's amusing!

In the meantime, it's pretty damn dark in the Digital World. Dark rings are enslaving Digimon, and even the act of watching one attach itself is pretty disturbing. Unimon's neck snaps back violently and he suddenly turns against Gatomon, who's struggling to evade all this. Biyomon and Tentomon get knocked out, while Agumon manages to get a distress signal to Tai. Despite not being in the Digital World for several years, Tai still carries his digivice to class and somehow he ends up back in. They never quite explain how he got there or where he got the nifty new PDA that he uses to e-mail the others. While there, he stumbles upon a strange digiegg, which upon contact releases three beams of light into the air, which turn into digivices for Davis, Yolei and Cody. Because why not?

In a wise move, Davis is the only new kid to get any real attention, and is lucky enough to get to try out his new toy (Izzy does a swell job blocking Yolei; this season loves to put Izzy and Tai in awkward situations and I love this season for doing so). TK initially sees Davis as a second-rate Tai clone, which is a pretty discouraging first impression of a leading man. Neither Tai nor Kari seem that impressed either.

Interestingly, Davis himself neither really hurts his cause in this episode. He comes across as a clueless kid with a thing for Kari and hostile to the new rival for her affections. Given how many curveballs were thrown his way today, that's nothing ashamed of. In the end, he performs admirably, claiming the Digiegg of Courage and using it to save an injured Kari from Monochromon. That's not bad!

The TK-Kari interaction is pretty fascinating, as there's some subtle presumptions that they've become close friends in the years. They weren't really all that close in Adventure. Other than the couple times when he had to save her life, TK and Kari never interacted all that much. TK saw Kari as recognition that he was no longer lowest on the totem pole and thus had to act the part. That's about it. To see them getting along like this, and knowing they would be attending school together, says a lot about their relationship in the time between. It's suddenly a pretty stable and comfortable friendship, to the point where TK is amused more than threatened at Davis's clear jealousy. Makes you wonder if he's really as much of a threat as Davis thinks.

Wow, one episode in and I'm already second-guessing this whole TK/Kari shipping. What the hell am I thinking?

My Grade: C+

Loose Data:

• During the quick glimpse of what the six older digidestined are up to now, TK has a note for Matt, Sora, Joe and Mimi. All Tai and Izzy get are that they're “in high school.” Guess which two losers are hanging around this episode?
• TK's mother is apparently a writer. How about that? Perhaps Matt's dad was once an astronaut... he is, after all, Hiroaki Ishida.
• TK's introduction when meeting Yolei and Cody on the elevator covers everything short of his blood type. It's an awkward way to introduce himself. I hope he doesn't do that with every random stranger he meets.
• It's commonplace to see Digimon voices be celebrity impersonations, but Davis, Kari and TK's teacher sounds like he's supposed to be Ben Stein from Ferris Bueller.
• So... why did Davis get new clothes in the Digital World? He comments on it, but it's never explained. It's especially odd since TK and Kari do not get new wardrobes.