Carmen Sandiego- Complete Season 4 Review
After 4 amazing seasons, the rebooted animated adventures of Carmen Sandiego has come to an end.
I've loved this series as it has always been great to see the creative and zany heists as well as the various new VILE operatives. The show has always been a heartening tale of empowerment and fighting the corrupt forces that work in the shadows... So far so QAnon, but this show has always been fun and cartoony, and doesn't take it too seriously, unlike QAnon.
The show retains its beautifully animated artistic vision with a stylish noir art look, all angles and interesting colour palette, reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series or Samurai Jack. However, the bigger draw this season is Carmen's search for her mother and the stress her fight with VILE brings upon her surrogate family's and her own life. With ACME circling closer and VILE upping its aggression, hurting Shadow-san in the process, it's a real cracking final series where anything goes. When the chase is on to get to the biggest horde of ancient stolen artifacts, acquired by the original VILE 5 in medieval times, the show really comes into its own as the whole cast has its moment to shine.
The series starts with a couple of heist episodes, however, from episode 3, The Robo Caper, things start to accelerate and divert from the usual story beats and structure. There is a caper but the stolen crown is not the central conceit. Rather, this is a story driven episode as Shadow-san is attacked by a VILE robot as he recuperates whilst Carmen battles the Cleaners as she rushes to find Grey/ Crackle, the brain wiped former VILE operative. He is in the thick of things as the agency try to use him to hone in on Carmen but end up accidentally awakening his memories and his fighting skills. Meanwhile, Agent Devineaux starts to doubt the criminality of la femme rough and alongside Agent Argent, realises that she actually might be a force for good- mea culpa at last.
Episode 4, The Himalayan Rescue Caper, has Carmen and Crackle meet and his decision on whether to leave or remain with VILE has big implications for the endgame. Carmen and Player meet and she confesses that she needed to meet her other oldest friend.
However, from episode 5, The VILE History Caper, we get an insight into the origins of the organisation and a great chase is on to discover the last 2 of 3 remaining locations which will reveal an ancient treasure horde of stolen artifacts. This is a very exciting way to build up the finale of the series, not with a whimper but with a show stopping bang. Once Carmen stops VILE in their tracks they get revenge and take her hostage, leading to her being reprogrammed into a VILE puppet. When they task her with taking out her surrogate family the stakes are raised as a Carmen without restraint and humanity is a dangerous thing indeed.
What transpires is a heartening tale of camaraderie and connection as Team Carmen go toe to toe against VILE and all that it represents. ACME enters the fray and doesn't know which side to be on as it knows VILE is bad but is Carmen?
I'm gutted that the show ended but boy what a ride it's been. We've seen our Red grow from a simple criminal protégé to a master at organising heists. We also get a time jump 2 years in the future and see the old gang in their new lives. I won't spoil if Carmen find the truth about her mother but it is handled well.
The fact that its lead is a strong Latino woman is a big boost for representation but more than that, it's just a great story well told! I highly recommend the show.
LINK- Carmen Sandiego- Complete Series 1 Review
LINK- Carmen Sandiego- Complete Series 2 Review
LINK- Carmen Sandiego- Complete Season 3 Review
LINK- Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated Season 1 Review
LINK- Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated Season 2 Review
LINK- Gravity Falls Complete Series Review