Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. Man, I can't believe that it's taken me this long to review an episode of Recess. And this was quite good. You see back in season 1 of Recess, they had a Thanksgiving episode and unlike other Thanksgiving specials, it focused on something, you usually don't see brought up in cartoons, charity. In this case, a can drive. And in part, I think that is what made this episode rather enjoyable.
Episode Title
The Great Can Drive
Really not too much say here. Moving on.
The Plot
The annual Thanksgiving can drive at Third Street is on but no one in Ms. Grotke's class wants to compete because another class, has all of The Ashley's (for those that may not have seen the show, they were the clique of popular girls. They just all happened to be named Ashley) and the class that has them, tends to win each tends to win each year. That is when after the announcement and the class is let out, everyone decides to bow out of the race after T.J. (the main character) suggests it. Everyone save for Mikey agrees to this as he doesn't see the can drive as being about competition but rather for doing good to help, the less fortunate and he decides to continue on with it and be the only one to do it. The episode then cuts to The Ashley's, who were bringing in shopping carts full of cans. While Mikey just had a little wagon.
Very admirable but it still wasn't enough to beat The Ashley's. Though, Mikey isn't one to give up as we see in a later scene in the cafeteria, where his friends think that he is about to ready to throw in the towel but that is not the case at all and then we see The Ashley's come and taunt Mikey, who happens to take it in stride, while it gets under the skin of his friends, who after much taunting, they decide to join in on the Can Drive, just to take down The Ashley's and in two days time, we see them slowly catch up but it's still not enough to take down They Ashley's. So, we see them go all around the playground offering the chance to other students, the chance to help but at first, they turn it down until, they all offer the chance to take down The Ashley's and we get a second montage of every kid, they gathered collecting more and more cans. We then end at an assembly, where we learn that both classes had tied with their amount of cans. Both having over 4 thousand cans. Mikey was the only one happy with this but everyone else was angered because they felt a tie was worse then losing. But they fight over one can, from special guest, a 1920 graduate of Third Street for one last can.
The fight over her can causes the pyramid to explode and destroy everything. Mikey sees this and leaves angered and distraught. The next day, we see Mikey come into the classroom, the next day, still feeling down from the events that occurred the previous day. We then see, his friends, The Ashley's and every other kid come and find him. Letting him know that they worked together as they collected twice as many cans together then when they were working against one another. And they also got the local grocery store to donate, some of their food to the local homeless shelter. And the episode ends with Principal Prickly coming on over the P.A. announcing the annual Holiday toy drive. Okay, I'll be totally honest and say that while I get ending with a joke, I feel that it kills the message of this episode. That is better to work together to achieve a common goal.
Characters
Main Character
Mikey voiced by Jason Davis
I really liked this episode and how it showed Mikey's charitable side and how he didn't care about the competition. He just wanted to do the right thing and help those in need. And he was the only one that actually cared about the true cause of what the can drive was about.
Supporting Characters
T.J., Vince, Gretchen, Spinelli, & Gus voiced by Ross Maligner, Rickey D'Shon Collins, Ashley Johnson, Pamela Segall-Adlon, & Courtland Meed
Now, while Mikey was in for the right reason and for a good cause, his friends at first just got in because they wanted to take down The Ashley's and their determination to beat their rivals blinded what the true cause was truly about.
The Ashley's (Ashley A., Ashley B., Ashley Q., and Ashley T.) voiced by Anndi McAffee, Francesca Smith, Rachel Crane
The Ashley's were in in the competition just to win and that's what they treated the can drive, like a contest. To them, it wasn't about charity. It was just about being the best and it honestly seemed like they could've cared less about how many people they actually helped.
My Final Thoughts
This was a great Thanksgiving episode as it didn't stick to the usual trappings and it instead decided to focus on a good message that it is better to work together and if you do that, you can achieve more. This is an episode that I truly suggest searching out for this time of year. Peace!
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