I didn't want to put these in a list alongside the best episodes. In reality these could also be considered the best episodes because they hit home with kids and maybe adults too. I wanted to call them sad but they're more cautionary tales and stories about how our actions shape those around us. Sure they're dark but sometimes there's a happy ending.. Here's the 5 times Static Shock got real:
Richie eventually becomes a hero in the end. It wasn't always that way. In this episode Virgil finds Richie pretending to be a hero and makes fun of him. It wasn't to be mean, people just make fun of their friends. But if you're friends with that person and you find the thing that bothers them you never do it again. To Virgil's credit he never did it again.
However the damage was done in this case and Richie runs off. He meets and old man named Ragtag that gives him powers in a chance meeting. Richie discovers when he saves a dog. He rushes to tell Virgil and they go out to the junk yard. They practice Richie's new powers. Richie barely avoids injury and rushes off to find Ragtag paying him for more power to be a hero. He quickly becomes a more popular hero than static.
Richie runs out if money and realizes he'll have to join Ragtags goons Run and Jump in stealing to get the money. This was the plan all along. Get Richie hooked similar to how some drug dealers will get people to hooked so that they keep coming back to buy more drugs. In fact it's 100% an analogy for drugs.
Richie refuses to steal saying he doesn't need the powers to be a hero. Run an Jump attack before Static arrives to save Richie and take down Ragtag's scheme. Richie admits he missed the powers but he's okay being average.
Virgil and Richie are a dedication for rescue workers that died during the Dakota Riots years ago. Front and center is Jean Hawkins, Virgil's mother. If you've seen some earlier episodes Virgil avoids talking about his mother. At one point he avoided going to a tribute for her because he wasn't over her death. This is no different as Virgil and Richie duck out to save a girl from Ebon. She uses her powers to rewind time so they save her again.
She goes back with them to their base and reveals she wants to be a hero too. Gear makes her a remote so she can control her powers better. Ebon attacks and during the fight Static shocks Ebon and the remote causing everyone to travel back in time to the night of the riots. Gear looks for Nina and Ebon who wants to create a 2nd Big Bang in this time period. Virgil however goes looking for his mother.
He finds her and saves her from a building falling on her. He places her on a rooftop and begs her not to leave. She asks who he is and he explains he's Virgil, her son and a superhero. She says she won't leave, but she does as soon as he's gone.
They stop Ebon and group up to leave. Static looks over and sees his mother saving lives. When they return to their time he rushes home to see if his mom is still alive. She's not and he embraces his dad in years. He finally starts to accept her death when his dad reveals before she died his mother just kept talking about being proud of Virgil for being a superhero.
It's the holiday season for this one. I say Holiday because there are some characters celebrating Christmas, some Hanukkah and even Kwanzaa. Virgil is late to Frieda's party and leaves early after a power outage to check what's going on at the power station where everything has been frozen. He's attacked from nowhere with ice powers. He never finds the attacker. He's leaving and an homeless girl asks him for change only to be told he has better stuff to do. Static is lame, I've told you this. Later they're at the mall and the homeless girl is looking at a statue when security tells her to get out and attacks her. This causes her to freak out and freeze the whole mall. Static saves everyone but she vanishes, again he misses seeing her.
Later Static abandons Richie at the church where they were prepping care packages for homeless and the less fortunate so he can go to another party. He didn't even invite his best friend to come along. Richie calls and tells him the highway is under attack. This time Static meets the girl and she introduces herself as Permafrost. Static says he can help her and she sees him as a CPS worker and runs away.
He follows her footsteps to a homeless shelter where he finds a picture of her with her mother. He goes back to the church, not to help but to ask about the girl. The preacher explains her name is Maureen and her mother died causing her to end up on the streets. The preacher also gives Virgil a lesson on how homeless people are also people and he should treat them that way. Like I said, Virgil is lame.
She tracks down Static wanting the picture of her mother back and instead of just giving it to her he taunts her like he usually does villains. Eventually he just talks to her and gives her a hug. She gives up and she joins the church's homeless care program.
This episode is done entirely as a flashback told by Virgil who sits with a greif counselor. The episode entirely follows a random kid named Jimmy. Jimmy gets bullied a lot. Virgil and Richie try to be his friend but he's bullied so hard he shuts himself out from the world. While everyone is preparing for the school dance things were already out of line. Jimmy's bully decided to cross even more lines and shove him into a locker. Jimmy doesn't show up for the dance or school for the next week and rumors start to swirl. Other students speak out but by this time it's far too late and Jimmy had been bullied for way too long.
When we next see Jimmy he shows up at school looking disheveled. Virgil convinces his dad to take him to Jimny' s house so he can check on Jimmy. Once there they learn he isn't there and that he has a journal planning a school shooting. By the time they find Jimmy he's at the community center and has his main bully Nick at gunpoint. Richie talks Jimmy out of it reminding him he does have friends and he starts to put the gun down. Kevin's friends attack Jimmy anyway causing him to panic and fire the gun hitting Richie. Jimmy falls to the ground crying thinking he killed Richie and the bullies play innocent. Jimmy gets some psych treatment and the bullies are expelled and forced to do community service. Richie wears a cast and it is never talked about again.
There's not a lot that happens in this episode, but what does happen shakes you to your core if you're anything like me. Virgil and Richie are hanging out and Virgil asks why they never hang out at Richie's and Richie does everything he can to dodge the question. Eventually he caves and invites Virgil for a sleepover, when his dad would be out of town for work.
Things go great, Richie's mom is great and and Virgil wonders why he never got invited. Then Richei's dad comes home and has the slickest of racist things to say about Virgil and black people in general. Everyone kind of hates him but they keep quite. Later Virgil is brushing his teeth and hears Richie's mom and dad argue. Richie's dad goes on a tirade about black people taking all the jobs and how sick he is they'd let one in his house. Virgil apologizes to Richie and heads home.
Richie and his dad get into an argument about how Virgil is basically his only friend and he scared him off. The actual quote is "Well, his dad doesn't back down," and then Richie runs away. Richie's dad goes crawling to Virgil and his dad for help. The three go looking for Richie. Static finds him and tells him they'll always be friends. Richie heads home and Ebon snatches him.
The dad squad find Ebon and Talon before attempting to fight them. They almost did it. Static eventually comes in and makes the save. Richie's dad promises he'll try not to be racist. But they never did go back to Richie's house so he probably lied.
You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts.
5. Power Play
Richie eventually becomes a hero in the end. It wasn't always that way. In this episode Virgil finds Richie pretending to be a hero and makes fun of him. It wasn't to be mean, people just make fun of their friends. But if you're friends with that person and you find the thing that bothers them you never do it again. To Virgil's credit he never did it again.
However the damage was done in this case and Richie runs off. He meets and old man named Ragtag that gives him powers in a chance meeting. Richie discovers when he saves a dog. He rushes to tell Virgil and they go out to the junk yard. They practice Richie's new powers. Richie barely avoids injury and rushes off to find Ragtag paying him for more power to be a hero. He quickly becomes a more popular hero than static.
Richie runs out if money and realizes he'll have to join Ragtags goons Run and Jump in stealing to get the money. This was the plan all along. Get Richie hooked similar to how some drug dealers will get people to hooked so that they keep coming back to buy more drugs. In fact it's 100% an analogy for drugs.
Richie refuses to steal saying he doesn't need the powers to be a hero. Run an Jump attack before Static arrives to save Richie and take down Ragtag's scheme. Richie admits he missed the powers but he's okay being average.
4. Flashback
Virgil and Richie are a dedication for rescue workers that died during the Dakota Riots years ago. Front and center is Jean Hawkins, Virgil's mother. If you've seen some earlier episodes Virgil avoids talking about his mother. At one point he avoided going to a tribute for her because he wasn't over her death. This is no different as Virgil and Richie duck out to save a girl from Ebon. She uses her powers to rewind time so they save her again.
She goes back with them to their base and reveals she wants to be a hero too. Gear makes her a remote so she can control her powers better. Ebon attacks and during the fight Static shocks Ebon and the remote causing everyone to travel back in time to the night of the riots. Gear looks for Nina and Ebon who wants to create a 2nd Big Bang in this time period. Virgil however goes looking for his mother.
He finds her and saves her from a building falling on her. He places her on a rooftop and begs her not to leave. She asks who he is and he explains he's Virgil, her son and a superhero. She says she won't leave, but she does as soon as he's gone.
They stop Ebon and group up to leave. Static looks over and sees his mother saving lives. When they return to their time he rushes home to see if his mom is still alive. She's not and he embraces his dad in years. He finally starts to accept her death when his dad reveals before she died his mother just kept talking about being proud of Virgil for being a superhero.
3. Frozen Out
It's the holiday season for this one. I say Holiday because there are some characters celebrating Christmas, some Hanukkah and even Kwanzaa. Virgil is late to Frieda's party and leaves early after a power outage to check what's going on at the power station where everything has been frozen. He's attacked from nowhere with ice powers. He never finds the attacker. He's leaving and an homeless girl asks him for change only to be told he has better stuff to do. Static is lame, I've told you this. Later they're at the mall and the homeless girl is looking at a statue when security tells her to get out and attacks her. This causes her to freak out and freeze the whole mall. Static saves everyone but she vanishes, again he misses seeing her.
Later Static abandons Richie at the church where they were prepping care packages for homeless and the less fortunate so he can go to another party. He didn't even invite his best friend to come along. Richie calls and tells him the highway is under attack. This time Static meets the girl and she introduces herself as Permafrost. Static says he can help her and she sees him as a CPS worker and runs away.
He follows her footsteps to a homeless shelter where he finds a picture of her with her mother. He goes back to the church, not to help but to ask about the girl. The preacher explains her name is Maureen and her mother died causing her to end up on the streets. The preacher also gives Virgil a lesson on how homeless people are also people and he should treat them that way. Like I said, Virgil is lame.
She tracks down Static wanting the picture of her mother back and instead of just giving it to her he taunts her like he usually does villains. Eventually he just talks to her and gives her a hug. She gives up and she joins the church's homeless care program.
2. Jimmy
This episode is done entirely as a flashback told by Virgil who sits with a greif counselor. The episode entirely follows a random kid named Jimmy. Jimmy gets bullied a lot. Virgil and Richie try to be his friend but he's bullied so hard he shuts himself out from the world. While everyone is preparing for the school dance things were already out of line. Jimmy's bully decided to cross even more lines and shove him into a locker. Jimmy doesn't show up for the dance or school for the next week and rumors start to swirl. Other students speak out but by this time it's far too late and Jimmy had been bullied for way too long.
When we next see Jimmy he shows up at school looking disheveled. Virgil convinces his dad to take him to Jimny' s house so he can check on Jimmy. Once there they learn he isn't there and that he has a journal planning a school shooting. By the time they find Jimmy he's at the community center and has his main bully Nick at gunpoint. Richie talks Jimmy out of it reminding him he does have friends and he starts to put the gun down. Kevin's friends attack Jimmy anyway causing him to panic and fire the gun hitting Richie. Jimmy falls to the ground crying thinking he killed Richie and the bullies play innocent. Jimmy gets some psych treatment and the bullies are expelled and forced to do community service. Richie wears a cast and it is never talked about again.
1. Sons of The Fathers
There's not a lot that happens in this episode, but what does happen shakes you to your core if you're anything like me. Virgil and Richie are hanging out and Virgil asks why they never hang out at Richie's and Richie does everything he can to dodge the question. Eventually he caves and invites Virgil for a sleepover, when his dad would be out of town for work.
Things go great, Richie's mom is great and and Virgil wonders why he never got invited. Then Richei's dad comes home and has the slickest of racist things to say about Virgil and black people in general. Everyone kind of hates him but they keep quite. Later Virgil is brushing his teeth and hears Richie's mom and dad argue. Richie's dad goes on a tirade about black people taking all the jobs and how sick he is they'd let one in his house. Virgil apologizes to Richie and heads home.
Richie and his dad get into an argument about how Virgil is basically his only friend and he scared him off. The actual quote is "Well, his dad doesn't back down," and then Richie runs away. Richie's dad goes crawling to Virgil and his dad for help. The three go looking for Richie. Static finds him and tells him they'll always be friends. Richie heads home and Ebon snatches him.
The dad squad find Ebon and Talon before attempting to fight them. They almost did it. Static eventually comes in and makes the save. Richie's dad promises he'll try not to be racist. But they never did go back to Richie's house so he probably lied.
You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts.
scary and emotional
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