| “ | You're gonna fry our brains? I can't believe I nerd flirted with you. |
” |
The Thunder Games is the thirty-first and thirty-second episode in Season 4 of The Thundermans and the hundred-and-second and hundred-and-third overall. It first aired on May 25, 2018, to 1.39 million viewers, as part of a series finale marathon.[1]
Plot
Summary
Max and Phoebe advance to the final tryout for a spot on an elite superhero squad, but a new supervillain with a surprise connection to the Thunderman family may force them to sacrifice their crime fighting dream.[2]
Full Plot
Following the final scene of Looperheroes, the Thunder Twins find out whether they made it into the Z-Force championships is finally here. The twins are informed that they've made it to the championships. Phoebe and Max are teleported to the Z-Force headquarters where the competitions will be taking place.
The championships are being overseen by the head of Z-Force, Commander Dirk Trumbo. The Thunder Twins have to face other finalists through a series of challenges. The finalists include Balfour (The Gamer), Galexia, and the Hipster Twins among others. Balfour calls himself "The Gamer" because he has a gadget on his hand that he uses to attach chips on people and control them as if they were characters on a video game.
The Thunder Twins become worried when Dirk Trumbo mentions that they will need to demonstrate their "twin power" like the Hipster Twins. Max and Phoebe realize that they don't have their twin power. They try to activate it by bumping their butts together like the Hipster twins but it's no use. They try their complex handshake, but it doesn't work either.
The first challenge is to get rid of a poisonous gas. Galexia wins it by stealing Phoebe and Max's idea. Realizing that Galexia is going to be tough to beat, the Thunder Twins agree to partner with The Gamer to take Galexia out. After a series of challenges, everyone else is eliminated except Max, Phoebe, The Gamer and Galexia. Dirk Trumbo asks them to go home for dinner and then they'd be teleported back that night for the very final challenges.
While everyone else is going home, Balfour takes out his tablet, indicating that he's not going. He tells Max and Phoebe that he doesn't have anywhere to go. He doesn't have a family. He grew up in an orphanage after his villain father was arrested and probably thrown into a super-villain jail. After hearing Balfour's sad story, the twins invite him to join them for dinner.
Meanwhile, with Phoebe and Max out for Z-Force finals, Nora and Billy want to become the new protectors of Hiddenville, but Barb and Hank aren't confident that the kids are ready. The parents decide to take down the bake sale bandit who has been biting baked goods. After seeing a cookie bitten by the bake sale bandit, Billy and Nora discover that the bandit has their two front teeth missing. This makes it very easy for them to identify and stop the bandit. Hank and Barb admit that the Nora and Billy are ready to become Hiddenville protectors.
Phoebe and Max, along with Balfour, rejoin the rest of the Thundermans for dinner. The twins take Balfour to Max's Lair to show him around. Balfour notices Dr. Colosso and realizes that he's wearing his father's super-villain cape.
It turns out that Dr. Colosso is Balfour's father!
Everyone is shocked. The Thundermans explain to Balfour how they defeated his father and turned him into a talking bunny. Balfour becomes so emotional about finding his father that he barely wants to return to the Z-Force competitions. But Phoebe and Max convince him to come with them.
During the final challenge, the contestants are not allowed to use any superpowers. Since The Gamer uses gadgets and not superpowers, he still uses his tech to control Galexia. However, he controls Galexia to mess with the Thunder Twins instead. He tells them that he's turned against them because their family defeated his father and turned him into a bunny. The twins fight Galexia off and in the process, Galexia is eliminated. The twins complete their challenge before The Gamer, winning the Z-Force championships.
Following the loss, The Gamer decides to get revenge on the Thundermans. He goes to their home and attacks them with his gaming chips. He starts controlling them by making them do whatever he wants. He even gets the Animalizer and turns Dr. Colosso back into a human so that they can mess with the Thundermans together.
Back at the Z-Force headquarters, Dirk Trumbo disappoints the Thunder Twins by revealing that since they don't have a "twin power," they can't make it to the Z-Force as a team. They must compete for the sport. Brother vs Sister. There can be only one. Neither Phoebe nor Max wants to compete against the other. This was their dream. Their shared dream. However, they both agree to do it just so that at least one of them is in the Z-Force. The final combat begins between Max and Phoebe. They're both equally as strong, which makes them last long without a clear winner.
After a while, Phoebe gets a hand injury and falls down, allowing Max to win. Max feels bad about it, and he wants to talk to Phoebe, but she walks out. Max is left with Dirk Trumbo, ready for Z-Force initiation. Instead of going home to deliver the bad news, Phoebe goes straight to school and tells Cherry about it. When Phoebe catches a fast-flying object with the supposedly injured hand, Cherry discovers that Phoebe faked the injury to allow Max to win. Phoebe admits to Cherry that she didn't want to see Max lose because he worked so hard for Z-Force.
On returning home, Phoebe is shocked to find Balfour sending a video message to her and Max showing them how he's torturing their family. Balfour attaches his control-chip on Phoebe as well and starts torturing her along with the rest of the Thundermans. Balfour and Dr. Colosso take the Thundermans down to the basement to cage them the way the Thundermans have kept Dr. Colosso caged for years. Balfour reveals that his plan is to turn all of the Thundermans dumb by giving them rabbit brains.
Chloe begs Dr. Colosso to save them but Colosso stands with his son. When Balfour reveals that he is waiting for Max so that he can melt his brain too, Dr. Colosso starts defending Max. Realizing that his father is choosing Max over him, Balfour turns him back into a bunny and throws him in the cage along with the Thundermans.
Max gets Balfour's video alert just before his first Z-Force mission. He asks Dirk Trumbo to let him go because his family is in danger but Dirk Trumbo refuses. Z-Force takes priority over family. At that point, Max quits Z-Force and returns home to save his family. Unfortunately, he's immediately caged on arrival with the rest of his family. Scared and with no choice, the Thundermans hold hands together as a family as they wait for The Gamer to turn their brains into rabbit brains.
Phoebe and Max touch each other, leading to sparks around their hands. As they hold each other's hands tightly, the sparks become more powerful and bigger. It's their twin power! The twins use the newfound twin-power to disable The Gamer's chips and break out of the cage, knocking him down. Hank intends to take Balfour to prison but Max stops him since he only did all of this due to not having a family of his own. So, Dr. Colosso comes up with an idea to turn Balfour into a bunny too so they can live together and finding the father-son moments they don't have like making fun of the Thundermans.
When Super President Kickbutt arrives at the Thundermans home right afterwards, Max tells her that he had to choose his family over the Z-Force mission. However, Kickbutt reveals that she agrees with him and has in fact fired Dirk Trumbo for abusing his power. Dirk Trumbo is now reduced to her personal assistant. Due to their fights against many super-villains as well as their understanding of what it takes to be a true hero, President Kickbutt asks Phoebe and Max to head the new team and hire whoever they want. The twins hire all the Thundermans family.
The Thundermans officially come out of retirement and resume crime-fighting as a family of superheroes.
On their way out for their first mission as a family, the Thunder Twins inform President Kickbutt that they're renaming Z-Force to "T-Force" - where "T" stands for Thundermans. Then, they leave to go save the world, but before they left, Phoebe changes the family portrait to their superhero outfits as the show ends.
Cast
Main Cast
- Kira Kosarin as Phoebe Thunderman
- Jack Griffo as Max Thunderman
- Addison Riecke as Nora Thunderman
- Diego Velazquez as Billy Thunderman
- Chris Tallman as Hank Thunderman
- Rosa Blasi as Barb Thunderman
- Maya Le Clark as Chloe Thunderman
- Dana Snyder as Dr. Colosso (voice/live action)
Recurring Cast
- Audrey Whitby as Cherry Seinfeld
- Jeff Meacham as Principal Bradford
- Daniele Gaither as President Kickbutt
Special Guest Cast
- Joey Bragg as Balfour / The Gamer
- Daran Norris as Commander Dirk Trumbo
Guest Cast
- Natasha Hall as Galexia
- Bryce & Blake Ackerman as The Hipster Twins
- Sara Konecky as Shield Girl
- Steve Solomon as Fantasto-Man
Continuity
- Since Looperheroes' last scene was the Z-Force championships, the episode is a direct continuation because it's also the Z-Force championships in this episode.
- Principal Bradford mentions his ex-girlfriend, Joyce. Joyce is a woman he had a crush on in Change of Art.
- Nora officially starts using "Lasergirl" as her superhero name. The name was floated around in other episodes including Patch Me If You Can.
- The Z-Force storyline concludes in this episode. It started in Thundermans: Banished!.
- Most of the Z-Force contestants listed in Z's All That are finally seen in this episode.
- Balfour is revealed to be Dr. Colosso's son, but in Four Supes and a Baby, he said that he doesn't have kids.
Trivia
- This was the last appearance of The Thundermans duo until the film, The Thundermans Return.
- The Thunder Twins find their Twin Power just by holding their hands, since it was mentioned that they had never done that before.
- "Now let's go save the world" was the last line said on the show by Kira Kosarin, the actor who plays Phoebe.
- Phoebe also had the first line of the show which was "I hope you're all hungry!".
- The last scene where Phoebe changes the family picture from their supersuits to their normal selves looked just the intro where she does the exact same thing.
- The episode title is a reference to the trilogy dystopian science fiction novel series and its 2012 adventure film adaptation, The Hunger Games.
- Season 4 is the last season, so this is the series finale.
- When the Gamer captured the Thundermans, the costumes they had on looked just like the Mario Bros costumes.
- Despite the 6-episodes extension to Season 4, this episode remains the season finale and series finale.
- Joey Bragg guest starred in this episode, portraying one of the Z-Force hopefuls, "The Gamer".[3]
- Phoebe was likely using Thundersense to catch the ball Bradford threw.
- It is revealed that Balfour is Dr. Colosso's son.
- Joey Bragg is known to viewers for his role as Joey in the former Disney show "Liv & Maddie".
- Joey Bragg is also Audrey Whitby's real-life boyfriend.
- Following this episode, Kira Kosarin guest starred on the proceeding episode of Knight Squad as "Kiki" in "Wish I May, Wish I Knight."
- Kickbutt's final scene in this episode was literally in the Thunderman house.
- Also, when the camera shows the family portrait, Kickbutt is probably still in the house.
Quotes
| Barb: | It seems like just yesterday we moved here so they could live normal childhood. |
| Max: | I thought it was because you guys couldn't fit into your super suit anymore. |
| — living normal life |
| Barb: | Baldor?! |
| Billy: | It’s not Baldor. It’s “Barf Score.” |
| Balfour: | No, it’s Balfour. |
| Chloe: | Are you sure? |
| Balfour: | Forget it, just call me “The Gamer.” |
| — Arguing over what Balfour’s name is |
Gallery
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Videos
