[DreamSword]

Episodes 25+26: Rearview Mirror, Mirror

You know things have gotten serious when the PoPTV sign has already been blown up.

During what seems like the Glorft's' final attack on Earth, Coop ends up trigger a hidden trans-dimensional warp drive within Megas, sending both him and Gorrath into an alternate reality. Suffice to say, nothing is as it should be.

You know, it's fun to note that what many fans consider the most dramatic and serious set of episodes in the show also contain some of the biggest laughs. Seriously, the dialogue and the visual gags are all really on point here, without at all taking away from the bigger stakes of the series finale.

Speaking of the stakes though, I found it really interesting in just how much of a deconstruction of the show as a whole that the alternate reality ended up being. This timeline's' Coop became so used to being invincible that his ideals and morals ended up becoming twisted, leading into him being the new big bad of the universe; Even killing former allies like the S-Force.

Heck, the show also shows that if not kept in check by his friends, the Coop we all know and love could very well go down a similar path, even using subtle ways in highlighting that, evil or not, this alternate Coop is still Coop. From the flame design being the symbol of his empire, to a power button symbol being on the backs of his mooks, to his signature number going from 12 to 13(symbolism!). And this version of Kiva, not knowing where else to go in life, just follows along. It's some surprisingly heavy stuff.

But of course, what would Megas XLR be without references? Alt Coop's' mooks are of course based off of the Zaku's' from the Gundam franchise, with his new mech being based off of Char's' Sazabi from the movie Char's' Counterattack. And the warp gate he uses to try and break into the show's' home dimension is literally just the Stargate from, well, Stargate. In a nice little bit of continuity outside of all of that though, Kiva pilots an upgraded version of her mech that she arrived in during episode 1.

The only real critique I have of the finale is, well, the ending itself. It's left incredibly open, as the creative minds behind the show were really hoping for a third season, which while I kinda get, I still feel is an overall bad call because the creators outright knew that the execs at Cartoon Network weren't going to renew the show for a third season. Sure, the final bits are funny and fitting for the show as a whole, but I feel like an ending similar to what season 1 did, which mostly closed the book on everything with a tiny crack open for the possibility of a continuation would've worked a whole lot better.

That aside though, it's a really fun finale, and I sure ain't gonna hold too much against it.