BUBBLE CAN Review: The Stanley Dynamic “The Stanley Cook-Off”

In children’s television, you’ve got to be good to last. Historically, children haven’t had the strongest attention spans, so when The Stanley Dynamic came on the scene about a year ago, I had my reservations about the show. It was a unique idea to bring to television. The hybrid between live action and animation was something we had seen in the past, but in an ongoing series with a modest budget, I was left scratching my head wondering how this show would last. But here we are a whole year later with new episodes on the way and a second season just beyond the horizon. It’s safe to say The Stanley Dynamic has found a place in the hearts of Canadian youth.

After what seems like forever, The Stanley Dynamic returned last night with an all new episode. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, The Stanley Dynamic is your average family sit-com but with an animated twist. Luke, one of the sons of the family is actually an animated character! This is the first new episode in 2016, the last time we visited the Stanley’s was during the Christmas season. So how was last night’s return? Read on to find out!

In “The Stanley Cook-Off” Mom enters a charity cook-off, only to face Larry in a culinary showdown in the finals. Meanwhile, Morgan puts Luke through a series of scientific experiments.

This was a pretty good return for the show. With two good stories backed up by fun dialogue and funny performances, The Stanley Cook-Off is a success in my book. Luke being an animated character doesn’t come up very often on the show. It’s a crazy phenomenon, but much like Seth MacFarlane’s “Ted” character, the world eventually got used to this character inhabiting their space. This week we saw Morgan take a crack at understanding Luke through scientific experiments. Luke has probably become pretty normal for audiences by now, so this particular story is a nice reminder that this is an animated sentient being living amongst us. This isn’t normal. It was funny, had a nice a moral message for the young ones and got us thinking about Luke’s place in this world again.

Meanwhile in mom and Larry’s story, things were heating up between mother and son as they went head-to-head in a charity cook off. This story poked fun at a lot of tropes in culinary shows. As somebody who spends too much time watching The Food Network, there was much to be enjoyed in this episode. Doop had a small part in the story, but he may have shined the brightest. Every line he gave had me laughing.

Now, the episode wasn’t perfect. It did take a few minutes for the plot to start moving at the pace I prefer. Much like the youth of Canada, I also tend to have a short attention span. The ending tag also wasn’t that great. While it doesn’t impact the episode as a whole, it’s how the show wraps itself up for the week. If doesn’t land right, you finish the episode on a low instead of a high. That was the case this week.

Still overall, I think this was a great return for The Stanley Dynamic. If you’ve liked the show in the past this will definitely be for you.