Review: Regular Show ‘Tower Power’

Spoilers Below

The opening scene is the guys working out at the gym; or so we think. It turns out that Rigby and Mordecai are playing Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost in a game of ping pong. They’re all having a great time together. Then, all of a sudden, a frighteningly ripped guy gets fed up with their excitement, drops his enormous barbell on the ground, and throws his sweaty towel directly at Muscle Man’s face. When Muscle Man angrily asks him what his problem is, the guy recognizes his voice and asks, “Muscle Man?” Muscle Man replies, “Uhh, hey Dale.” Mordecai asks Muscle Man if he knows this guy. Dale explains that they used to be in bodybuilding competitions together, and that Muscle Man used to be hot stuff, but now he’s just a hot mess. He says that people like them can’t play ping pong at Power Tower, and tells them to get out. Muscle Man stands his ground. Things heat up when Dale says that he doesn’t deserve to be called Muscle Man anymore, and mockingly calls him Mitch. Muscle Man gets in his face and says that only his girlfriend, and the guy who checks his license at the airport, can call him by his real name. He says that he has more muscles than Dale will ever have, which prompts Dale to challenge him to the Power Tower Biceptennial. The stipulations are; if Muscle Man wins, they can go back to Power Tower and play ping pong whenever they want, but if Dale wins then they’re banned permanently  This episode is shaping up to be very similar to last week’s.

Muscle Man begins his training. Mordecai and Rigby show up to try to talk him out of it, but he shows them an old photograph of himself when he was jacked. They were under the impression that he was called Muscle Man for the sake of irony, because he’s so out of shape, but it turns out that he was the real deal. Muscle Man tells them the story of how he got into bodybuilding. When he was a teenager, he used to go to the gym and watch his dad lift weights. He says that his dad didn’t have a great body, but he was as strong as an ox. Despite Muscle Dad’s strength, one day he dropped the barbell across his chest while he was benching. Muscle Man scrambled to help him lift it off. While coming to his father’s aid, his shirt ripped off to reveal that he had developed an extremely muscular physique. The guys at the gym oo’d and ahh’d at his body and impeccable posing technique, and told his dad that he was a natural as Muscle Dad looked on with pride. From that day forward, Muscle Man started winning competition after competition. He eventually competed in the Power Tower Biceptennial, where he was victorious. He told Mordecai and Rigby that he got bored of winning so much, so he stepped away.

He goes back to the Power Tower to train. Hi-Five Ghost, Mordercai, and Rigby are there to support him. While he’s benching, Fives spots him. Meanwhile, Mordecai and Rigby try to sneak in a game of ping pong, but Dale comes out of nowhere and puts the kibosh on that. Muscle Man once again comes to their defense. Dale and Muscle Man start trash talking, and then go right into a flex-off, but it’s quickly broken up. When the two are separated, Muscle Man confesses that he knows he doesn’t have enough time before the contest to get buff, so he decides to focus on his technique instead. He studies a bunch of tapes; standing in front of his TV and practicing his poses. Eventually, he comes across a tape that his dad left for him. Inside, there’s a note that describes the exact situation Muscle Man is in. Muscle Dad writes that on this tape, there’s a pose that will either guarantee him the victory, or send him to an early grave. The tape features champion bodybuilder Don Dinunzio, and the pose is called The Shredder. Muscle Man pops in the tape. When Dinunzio attempts The Shredder, his fingers slip and he explodes. Rigby, Mordecai, and Fives are frozen with horrified expressions, and Muscle Man confidently proclaims that it looks easy. The guys tell him that the ping pong game isn’t worth it, but Muscle Man says it’s about more than just the game; it’s about sticking up for themselves.

The day of the contest has finally arrived, and Rigby, Mordecai, and Hi-Five Ghost attend to show their support. Muscle Man’s technique is flawless, and even though he’s not nearly as ripped as the other guys, the judges are extremely impressed. Wouldn’t you know it? It comes down to Muscle Man and Dale in the final round. Dale’s confidence grows as fatigue starts to set in for Muscle Man, but all of a sudden he goes for The Shredder. His fingers almost slip as he tries to lock in the grip, but he’s able to pull them together at the last second. His body starts to glow as everyone looks on in awe and everything around them shreds. When the pose is complete, the crowd erupts into cheers. One of the judges says “Perfection.” Muscle Man wins the competition, and earns the respect of his old friend Dale. The ghosts of his father, Don Dinunzio, and some other guy appear on stage. Trust me, I double checked, and this guy was nowhere to be found in the episode. Dale extends an olive branch by giving Mordecai, Rigby, and Hi-Five Ghost a box of ping pong balls. The guys get excited to play a game, but Muscle Man says he needs some time because his muscles hurt.

For the second week in a row, we have a competition episode. Last week it was bank shots; this week we got bodybuilding. Maybe next week they’ll have Hi-Five Ghost compete in an arm wrestling competition, or Pops can play horseshoes. Actually, that one time Pops wrestled a giant polar bear was by far my favorite competitive moment in Regular Show history. Despite the ghosts of his father, a champion bodybuilder, and a farmer appearing on stage, this was another episode without a huge supernatural plot twist; you know, like a soda machine becoming a portal to an alternate universe. I kind of hope they go back to basics next week and have something crazy happen at the park. Don’t get me wrong, Muscle Man episodes are always good, but this one was a little flat to me. I think the best part was the explanation of why the pose was called The Shredder. “For one, if done correctly, it shreds the all of competition. Two, if you falter in the slightest, it will literally shred all of your muscles; leading – of course – to an instant, agonizing death.” “Talk about a double-edged sword.” It’s lines like that that made me a fan of this show in the first place. Besides that, this episode wasn’t particularly quotable, but there was a healthy helping of Muscle Man’s majestic moobs. I think Schwarzenegger would give that episode a four out of ten, but I’ll add an additional two points for Muscle Man’s eyes rolling in the back of his head when he commenced his successful attempt of The Shredder, and also because it reminded me that I have to get my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box set back from my nephew.