MovieChat Forums > Lab Rats (2012) Discussion > A few nitpicks with this show

A few nitpicks with this show

posted 10 years ago by lilej2
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There's a few problems with this show that could be considered just personal nitpicks of mine but I see they've become more recurring and, imo, they've sort of brought the show down a bit in quality.

Adam: First off, I gotta knock this out the way. We all know Adam is your typical kids sitcom idiot. But he's the type no one (other than another idiot) likes. He's not dumb where it's almost naive and innocent, he's dumb to the point where he's annoying, obnoxious, and inconsiderate almost where his stupidity comes off as more of an excuse than a trait. Too many times lately he's been used as the reason plans fall apart (though it's not any worse than Leo did always wanting to be part of missions) due to the running gag of his stupidity ruining things and not being aware of it or even giving much of crap. For me personally, the character has become increasingly frustrating/irritating since he never really apologizes for the countless dumb mistakes he makes because "it's his nature". That's not a good enough excuse.

Antagonists: Antagonizing characters such as Principal Perry, Trent, etc. who aren't really used as a threat against our heroes (such as Douglas or Marcus) but as comedic bullies (or annoyances) who serve no purpose other than to either humiliate our heroes or just to be silly. Basically, they're cheap jokes the writers or producers must find hilarious due to the continuous use of these characters. To me, they're a waste of time. Do we really need to keep seeing the outrageous antics of Perry when she's the freaking school principal or even Trent (though the actor is good) who could've been gone for good at one point for some reason keeps being brought back as a personal annoyance to Leo. And I don't like Leo just as much as the rest of the people who watch the show, but it gets repetitive and boring when he pops up cause we know what he's there for.....just to embarrass and harass Leo.

The reveal to Principal Perry: Just gotta ask: What is the point of her knowing their secret now? What purpose does it serve? Why did she have to find out? I'm having a hard time trying to understand why they (the writers and producers) went that route with her other than possibly trying to keep the actress who plays her on the show or give her a bigger part on the show. But even with one of those explanations it still doesn't make sense as to why they would choose her to find out their secret. Leo's girlfriend, Janelle, or even Leo's grandma would be a better candidate to find out about their bionics. Anyone a little more trustworthy or of an actual convenience to the team/family than Principal Perry who up till now has been somewhat of an obstacle or antagonist in the way of their missions or situations and now she's just knows. She doesn't really help or anything she's just knows which leads to my assumption they just wanted an excuse to feature the character/actress on the show more.

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[–] britta-andrews 10 years ago

I think the reason that they decided to have Principal Perry discover their secret is because they wanted to do the season finale/season premiere story arc where someone finds out and it is believed to be a serious problem such that the kids leave to protect themselves and their family, run afoul of Douglas, discover their secret is still safe, and come home again. To do this story (which was very good, I thought), they needed someone to find out who would appear to be a legitimate threat to their family, that is, it couldn't be the grandma or the girlfriend; it wouldn't be very realistic for them to believe that either one of them would immediately go running to the Feds and destroy all their lives. But it couldn't be a real villain, either, because there would be no plausible way to correct the secret being blown so that the series could continue essentially as normal after the story arc was over. Principal Perry was the logical, perhaps only, choice to find out, because she is purely self-motivated. Therefore, you could believe that she wouldn't have qualms about ratting them out, and also that she would readily agree to keep their secret for personal gain. So I don't think that the decision to have her find out was pointless or an excuse to feature her character more; it appears to be plot-driven. It served the purpose of allowing them to tell a story they wanted to feature.

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[–] Taylorfirst1 10 years ago

I mostly agree with you but none of these issues are enough to make me stop liking the show. It is still one of Disney's best current shows.

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[–] revenge-3 10 years ago

I strongly dislike Adam. He's the too dumb to live sitcom character for this show. Except for Rose from The Golden Girls, I always hate those too dumb to live characters.

As far as Perry, Trent, and now the Tech-Town crew, I feel they've really minimized the mission and training aspects of the show in lieu of silly bionic hijinks. That's a big gripe of mine, they don't really go on Missions anymore as much as their missions now, tend to be whatever issues they have to create and then remedy…and with Perry thrown in. They really upped her presence in the last half of season 2…imo.

I do like the show though.

[–] lilej2 10 years ago

I mostly agree with you but none of these issues are enough to make me stop liking the show. It is still one of Disney's best current shows.

Well I never said that it's made me even stop liking the show so why would you think these points were intended to stop you from liking it either? Also, anything on Disney XD is better than everything on Disney Channel.

Also britta-andrews, from the way you describe it, it sounds like they just wanted to do a cliffhanger type of season finale so they did the whole "secret identity reveal" storyline and Perry was the most logical choice for the reasons as you stated. But now that whole bit, as revenge-3 put it, has minimized the show's more exciting features and has maximized one of the show's weaker features (Principal Perry). Basically, if you break it down, it was pointless because they just wanted to keep viewers on the edge of their seat for the next season as they usually do (which they don't have to do each season) and now they've shifted the show in a less attractive direction from where it once was because of this direction they've gone with.

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[–] britta-andrews 10 years ago

How do you know "they just wanted to keep viewers on the edge of their seat for the next season"? That's not the impression that I got; I think they wanted to explore the idea of what would happen if someone finally found out their secret. I thought it was very interesting in its implications for their lives and in their reactions to it; I think it was far from pointless. The thing is, they are not at all stuck with more Perry because of that storyline; in fact, they actually made it even easier to get rid of her. She could have gone through with the idea of retiring now that she has all that hush money; they could have had her move away even, writing her out of the show altogether. The fact that they have not done so is clearly not out of necessity based on the previous storyline. The continued emphasis on Perry is obviously by choice; I guess somebody "up there" must like her! Personally, I'm not a big fan of her, though.

"Fish on Fridays! And human flesh the rest of the week!"