Zero Two Episode 26: United We Stand

In this episode, in the middle of an intense battle against an unstoppable opponent, a therapy session breaks out. Davis thinks Ken's a sad little moe girl.

There's plenty of developments in this episode, from Arukenimon explaining that Ken was a puppet in a larger scheme to a crest actually having a function to a brand new evolution (unless you count the movie, which we don't). How the hell did they screw this one up?

For starters, while the events in the last episode may have happened, nobody's opinions towards Ken changed a lick. After a long day rebuilding a bridge, Davis suggests that Ken could help the reconstruction. This is flatly shot down by everybody, including Yolei, who admitted that she was wrong about Ken and thanked him for helping last time. TK, who silently supported Davis last episode, opens his mouth to reject him this time. He's really starting to piss me off.

When asked why he feels so passionately about Ken joining them, Davis does not talk about how Ken has already helped them twice and might just not be evil anymore. No, Davis talks about the magical moe feeling he got back in Ken's base when he encountered the Digiegg of Pulling Wins Out of Nowhere. Since that was tied to the Crest of Kindness, Davis surmises that the crest was with Ken for a reason and that deep down he's actually a sad little girl in the snow. Davis just wants to give him a hug.

Now, Davis is right about all of this. Ken is deserving of the Crest of Kindness and the Digiegg of Pulling Wins Out of Nowhere was in his base for a reason. But until the team discovers that reason, good luck using this argument on the likes of Cody, who tends to ground himself in crazy beliefs such as logic. Davis ends up sounding like a damn fool, even though he's 100 percent correct.

It's possible that the only reason this was brought up was to remind us that Ken's busted-up base is still sitting in the middle of the desert. Izzy notices a “bizarre signal” there and the kids all rush to discover that the base used fuel and that fuel left unchecked in the middle of the desert can get a bit explody. Davis believes that restoring power to the place will fix it and that Ken's crest will restore power to it. Everybody still protests, but to hell with them: Davis tells Izzy to contact Ken. Note that while everyone's bitching about this, Izzy considers it a good theory and calls Ken to give it a go.

Ken, meanwhile, is chatting with Arukenimon, who rang him up only to harass him. She's delightful in this episode, but she has no reason to call Ken, even threatening to hang up immediately because she doesn't like Wormmon's tone of voice. She stays, gloating about how the genius behind the dark spires was planted into Ken's brain and how he was merely a pawn. While he's busy angsting, Wormmon takes the call from Izzy, tells a total stranger that he's a Digimon, and gets Ken on the line.

With the digidestined losing badly to a spire-turned-Okuwamon, Ken shows up, evolves Wormmon to Stingmon... and the battle is promptly halted for an extended therapy session. Okuwamon is nice enough to stop pounding ExVeemon so Ken can angst angst angst angst and angst some more. Ken wants to save the day himself, while Davis wants to take Ken's crest and do it for him. As they continue arguing about this, the base is still exploding. Much as I respect Izzy, there's also still no guarantee that the Crest of Kindness will actually do a damn thing. After all, in season one those crests ended up being nothing but shiny accessories.

In the middle of their arguing, Davis says something about relying on friends. Ken says he doesn't have any. Somehow this is the moment of mutual empathy that triggers a DNA evolution between their partners. Their argument, the battle and Ken's angst all remain unresolved... yet the episode's over.

My Grade: C-

Loose Data:

• Along with all the aforementioned stuff, the episode is hampered by several awkwardly worded conversations that stray all over the place, like Ken and Wormmon talking in front of the control spire.
• There's some fun bickering between Davis and Flamedramon here. It's rare when an evolved form gets into an argument with its partner, but it seems to happen with Flamedramon more than usual.
• While Arukenimon's motives to destroy the bridge were also questionable, the way she delivered the line “this bridge offends me” was fantastic.
• If the digidestined were so damn determined to save the bridge, why did they stick with the Armor brigade to stop Minotarumon? They can go Champion, and did later in the episode, but apparently thought the likes of Raidramon and Halsemon were good enough to preserve hours of back-breaking labor. Spoiler- it wasn't.
• It's made clear that Gatomon can't evolve to Angewomon, but no reason is ever given for it. The only time she's tried it was episode 24, and the force preventing that was also preventing Patamon from evolving. Yet Angemon shows up here, so we're left shrugging. While there is a reason for it and Gatomon knows what it is, we don't hear it yet... and given that, why'd she even bother trying in episode 24?