Mech Cadets – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Ghosts

Episode 5 of Mech Cadets opens with Stanford returning home after being expelled from Sky Copse Academy. Chief Max is admitted to the Medical unit due to the injuries sustained. She hands over the responsibility of running the Engineering Copse to Ava, along with her Security Keys for complete access.

Overjoyed by the opportunity, Ava calls Stanford to break the good news to him. However, she doesn’t get the expected reaction due to Stanford’s loss.

Back at the Cadet Dorm, Frank and Maya have a fun discussion about football and get close. Frank asks her out on a date, and Maya agrees to go the same evening. Olivia enters the dorm and interrupts them, giving them the news that Stanford has been expelled. The two are shocked to know.

Just then, Stanford’s replacement, Cadet Adam Williams, enters the room. Maya gets called to report for duty, and they all disperse.

At Stanford’s home, his mother tries to make him feel better. Overjoyed by the opportunity, Ava calls Stanford to break the good news to him. However, she doesn’t get the expected reaction. He is still bummed out about getting expelled.

Captain Tanaka and Maya get ready to take down the absconding Sharg. Meanwhile, at the garage, Chief Clark and his team try installing a Neural Override Mod on Buddy to enable him to bond with another pilot. Buddy strongly resists this Mod as the staff treats him awfully. Maya intervenes and insists the mod might be very damaging. However, General Park overrules her idea.

As Maya is the only engineer Buddy is comfortable with, they are forced to give it to her to do the installation.

Out in the canyons, Captain Tanaka and Maya search for the Sharg. They see it eating through the ground and getting bigger as it approaches the GDR Control unit.

Frank takes advice from Adam to set up the date and organizes a dinner with flowers. Olivia makes him realize that Maya is only into him for being him.

Meanwhile, Ava tweaks the mod and installs it to give Buddy his memories back. Captain Tanaka and Maya engage in combat and try to stop the Sharg. Captain Tanaka gets injured in the process, and Maya continues to fight the Sharg by herself. Maya inflicts damage on the Sharg, and Captain Tanaka deals the finishing blow.

Adam finally boards Buddy for a test flight. All seems to be going well until Buddy ejects Adam mid-flight and goes in search of Stanford. He shows up at Stanford’s house, and the two reunite.

Chief Clark addresses the issue with Buddy’s mods. However, General Park is more concerned about Hero Force’s progress. He orders Chief Clark to focus on activating phase 2.

Captain Tanaka writes a letter to his brother Skip, informing him about the current situation and his Vision of the future. Frank decides to ditch the dinner idea and instead hang out with Maya to play football.

Ava sees some of Chief Clark’s men entering a suspicious garage and decides to follow them. She is caught red-handed by Olivia.

The Episode Review

This episode takes a step further to the Sharg War as Captain Tanaka and Maya seek to hunt down the escaped Shark. The primitive creature shows signs of intelligence as it attempts to take down the GDR with the intent to let others onto Earth.

Inevitably, Stanford is also brought back as Buddy refuses to bond with another cadet. Things get heated as Ava is caught sneaking, and Olivia she isn’t amused. Something deeply wrong is going on in the lab and we already have an idea its something to do with the Robos and HF1. To add to that is General Park’s suspicious behavior.

Up until now, General Park and Olivia have shown that despite their questionable decisions, they have maintained their loyalty to the human race.

However, the ending makes us question what ongoing developments are being kept such a strict secret from their engineering staff, specifically Chief Max.