Brief Summary: Ambush learns it really is a small world after all….

Summary: The Joes are flying a Tomahawk through the desert. Scoop, Sergeant Slaughter and Dusty (with coyote Sandstorm) are discussing the mission. Apparently, the Joes are spying on a group of Range-Vipers. Sarge wakes up Ambush as they get close to the drop-zone, since he’ll be the one going in for close-up video recon.

Cut to a close-up of two scorpions circling each other in a threatening manner in preparation to fighting. Before they’re able to lay the smack down on each other, a female Range-Viper scoops them up, crowing about what a lovely meal they’re going to make. Two male Range-Vipers then proceed to take the scorpions away from her. But not for long, since she quickly gets the drop on them and takes back not only her scorpions, but their rattlesnake and the rest of their gear.

It’s also at this point that we learn that the female Range-Viper is called Range-Viper #3. So at least in this episode they’re giving the Vipers sensible names. What’s strange is, she refers to one of the other Range-Vipers as Viper #1, which kind of confused me since I’m not entirely sure that the other vipers are Range-Vipers. I know more show up later in the episode but it’s hard to say if these two guys are also Range-Vipers or just Vipers in funky outfits. The two guys are dressed in blue outfits with grimacing skullface facemasks while the Range-Viper is in a reddish outfit with a grinning skullface.

Okay, I took a second and looked up Range-Vipers on YoJoe.com and apparently, yes, both Viper #1 and Range-Viper #3 are indeed Range-Vipers. For those who aren’t up on their Cobra Vipers, a Range-Viper is a Cobra Wilderness trooper. According to their file card:

"Range-Vipers are usually committed to long-term operations deep within unfriendly territory, completely cut off from communication or supplies. They have an unusually high tolerance for discomfort and can survive on a diet of snakes, grubs, roots, berries, nuts, and whatever slow rodents they can catch. They are expected to build their shelters out of indigenous materials, usually rocks and mud, and procure their own ammunition by way of hit and run raids on enemy ammo depots." (source: Yojoe.com, Range-Viper filecard)

Let the review commence:

So, while #3 tosses away her compatriots’ equipment, we get treated to more of the usual “Within Cobra it’s every man for himself” BS that characterizes intrafaction relations in the DiC episodes (and some of the Sunbow episodes). Yes, I know, Cobra is full of evil folks doing dirty deeds dirt-cheap but c’mon, without some sort of unit cohesiveness they’d have fallen apart a long time ago. More on this in the commentary.

RV3, having disarmed her fellow Range-Vipers and spotted the Joe copter, goes off in search of her enemies. Apparently, Range-Vipers think it’s a good idea to meet a superior enemy force in a combat helicopter on foot and alone. Might explain why there’s not a lot of old Range-Vipers out there.

Back at the Joe base, Hawk comes in to check on the status of Sarge and the others. We get a brief bit of back and forth expositionary dialogue between Hawk and a couple of the other Joes about how Sarge and the others are maintaining radio silence so if anything goes wrong the guys are screwed. Basically, it amounts to a non-discussion of sorts: one of the Joes frets about what Sarge and the others would do if they ran into trouble and another Joe saying that no, it’s better for them not to break radio silence since in this case silence really is golden!

So it should come as no surprise when the Tomahawk runs into trouble (I think RV3 shot them down) and all of the Joes but Slaughter bail out. Scoop lands wrong since he was more interested in protecting his camera than himself and breaks his ankle.

Dusty goes after Sarge who is still, as far as the others know, inside the Tomahawk. It should be noted that Dusty’s got a new voice actor who plays him with a much thicker Southern accent. I don’t like it, it’s too hickish.

The chopper crashes and RV3 is very pleased with herself. The other Range-Vipers head off to track the crashed chopper for what they can scavenge from it.

Dusty looks at the wreck with horror, since it looks like Sarge has gone to the great rasslin’ match in the sky. Luckily, Sarge pops up and he’s okay! He ditched out of the chopper since that going down with your ship stuff is for the navy.

The Joes have to haul ass and hide before the Cobras show up. Dusty says something about the Range-Vipers scavenging the chopper but Sarge says he made sure the chopper would blow so that there’d be nothing worth salvaging.

Dusty starts to gather some food so that the Range-Vipers won’t get it. Which is when RV3 pops up and shoots at him to get him to drop those cans, since they could feed a hungry Range-Viper for a month! She also eyes Dusty’s coyote as if wondering how Sandstorm would taste with a side of roast scorpion. Not to mention the cute little hat she could make out of his fur.

More Range-Vipers show up and the Joes take off running, with Scoop slowing them down because of his possibly broken ankle.

Back at the base, the other Joes know something’s up since Sarge hasn’t showed up at the refueling station, but there’s nothing they can do for now since they weren’t tracking the helicopter Sarge and the others were in.

Hawk sends the Retaliator after the others and tells them he’ll send the others the coordinates as soon as the Retaliator reports in. The General, a Joe base/playset introduced in 1990, is also featured in this episode. It’s where the Retaliator, a battle helicopter, launches from. Again, thanks go to the folks at Yojoe.com for the reference material.

Meanwhile, back at the stranded Joes, we get to see Scoop be needlessly dramatic about having his leg splinted. Basically, Sarge tells him that the ankle is hurt, but that if they splint it, he should be able to move. Scoop grits his teeth and manfully says, “Do it!” as if Sarge had just suggested removing his appendix with an entrenching tool.

Okay, granted, getting a broken bone hurts but geeze, we’re not talking open heart surgery here and the leg is going to feel better once it’s splinted so quitcher bitchin’ already!

Ambush notices that Range-Viper 3 is able to track him. And Scoop gets a few shots of Range-Viper 3 and notices that she’s very photogenic. Ambush, on the other hand is more than a little creeped out by the fact that the Range-Viper is able to figure out where he is. He explains that the last time that happened, it was a long, long time ago.

Cue Flashback Sequence:

We cut to an idyllic suburb scene while Ambush’s voice-over tells us that he grew up with a girl named Evy. She was the girl next door and was the only person who could always find him, even when he didn’t want to be found. Ambush says that he’s not sure why he liked (and likes) to hide as a kid, it was just something he did. And Evy could always figure out where he was. And when she did, she’d leave him a note that read “I found you, Evy.”

Over the course of the flashback, we see Evy and Ambush grow from preteens to teenagers/young adults. At the end, Ambush says that when he got old enough, he left town to pursue his dream of joining first the Army, then GI Joe. What happened to Evy, he’s not sure (but clearly by now he’s getting a sneaking suspicion).

Flashback Ends.

The Retaliator shows up and finds the wreckage of Sarge’s Tomahawk. Using the wreckage as a starting point, the pilot begins to look for the Joes themselves.

Ambush sends the other Joes further up the side of the mountain/hill they’re on so that they can try to flag down the Retaliator while he goes to find Range-Viper #3.

On the way, he finds a note that reads: “I found you, Evy” thus confirming what we, the audience members, have already figured out.

The Range-Vipers who lost their gear to #3 show up and get into a fight with the Joes, using rocks and sticks. Dusty and Sandstorm manage to get the drop on them.

We then cut to a Cobra installation somewhere else where Destro is watching the fight between the Joes and the Range-Vipers. HE decides that this apparently warrants his attentions and so takes a group of Desert Scorpions with him. The Desert Scorpions rise up out of the sand at what seems to be another location on Destro’s orders. I guess we’re supposed to believe that they like hiding under the sand for hours at a time waiting for The Other Chromeface to decide to call them out.

Side Note: According to their file cards, the Desert Scorpions are Cobra’s desert troopers. They’re also a punishment detail for ‘undermotivated Vipers who refuse to follow orders.’ They’re basically a step up from joining the Toxo-Vipers (also known as the “Leaky Suit Brigade.” They seem somewhat similar to the Range-Vipers, only without the kind of support and perks that the Range-Vipers get. We’ll come back to the Desert Scorpions in the Commentary.

Cut back to Evy and Ambush who have managed to meet face to face. Evy uses Ambush’s real name: Aaron. Ambush asks her why she joined Cobra to which Evy replies that they pay her well to use her talents, isn’t that why he joined GI Joe? Ambush counters that they used to be friends. And Evy trumps him by playing the “You left town without saying good bye” card. Followed by: “If that’s how you treat your friends, maybe the thing you’ve really been hiding from is your own feelings?”

Which, you gotta admit, makes a lot of sense. I mean, Ambush seems a tad obsessive on the subject of hiding and it’s not that big a stretch to see a desire to be out of sight from the world physically as an outward expression of wanting to keep one’s inner self hidden as well. Pop psychoanalyzing to the side, it’s a rather unexpected (and pleasant) surprise to see this sort of thing in a kid’s show from the early 90s.

It’s also interesting to note that the episode never actually answers this question. Ambush doesn’t deny or confirm Evy’s remarks, though he does look a tad shocked at her accusation.

Pointless Side Note: I hate Evy’s voice. The voice actress seems to be trying for a mix of haughty and some sort of weird British-esque affectation that just grates on my nerves.

The reunion gets broken up when Scoop tackles Evy. Either his ankle wasn’t actually broken or splints work a hell of a lot better than I thought they did.

The other Range-Vipers show up and Evy hightails it with them. Then, the other Joes show up in time for the story to temporarily devolve into a fight between the Joes and Destro’s forces. Bleah.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good combat scene as much as the next gal, but the fights in DiC episodes often feel like they were tossed in to help show off new toys and kill some time. That’s especially true in this episode where there wasn’t any need for a fight. In my opinion at least, it would have been a better episode if both sides had retreated with the uncomfortable knowledge that one of these days they could be facing down the kid next door.

But, instead, we get a battle scene. Which does have a few good what th’ incidents in it. Such as:

General Hawk in a jetpack complete with big ol’ golden wings. He uses this to get into a position where he can more easily see the Cobra forces and assist the Joes on the scene who are getting their clocks cleaned.

And then there’s the shot that looks like it might have been an animation glitch where three Vipers parachute out of helicopters that haven’t yet been hit by missile fire. Either that or it was done to show that some Vipers are smart enough to bail before the vehicle is on fire.

The battle ends with Cobra vanquished and running home with their tails between their legs. Scoop gets airlifted out and tells Dusty to be careful with the videotape after all he’s gone through to get it.

Ambush finds a second note from Evy and again looks supremely unnerved by the idea that there’s a Range-Viper out there who can find him.

As Evy and the other Range-Vipers head off, Evy stops and turns back saying something that seems pretty cryptic to me:

Too late for what? For him to save her from Cobra? Or for her to save him from the Joes? Or for them to have been anything other than enemies at all? On the one hand, I’m inclined to think she meant it was too late for them to have been together. After all, they grew up together, she knew him better than anyone else around them did (otherwise, how was she able to find him so easily?). Maybe if he hadn’t run off to join the military, things could have been very different for both of them. Heck, maybe they could have been the first married couple to join GI Joe.

Then, on the other hand, I really hate it when shows introduce female characters and immediately set about hooking them up with a male counterpart, so maybe she just meant it would have been nice to have known where her buddy went all those years ago. In some ways, it's kind of nice that her motive isn't given as "You left me so now I'm going to hurt you because you never told me you loved me back in high school!"

Commentary: Two things I want to talk about this time around:

Firstly, this isn’t the first time a DiC episode has focused on the rivalry between a Joe and a Cobra who knew each other back in The Day, so to speak. In Pigskin Commandos, another Range-Viper played football against Grid-Iron in college and in Metal-Head’s Reunion, Metal-Head and Grid-Iron went to high school together.

What’s interesting about all three of these episodes (especially I Found You…Evy and Metal-head’s Reunion) is the fact that nobody ever tries to redeem the Cobra in question. There’s not even any attempt at “Don’t you realize what you’re doing is wrong!?” moralizing. This is surprising mainly because of all the other sorts of heavy-handed early 90s style moralizing that you do see in the series (see the review for “The Greatest Evil” for more on this). It’s kind of nice to see them shy away from trying to ‘fix’ any of the Cobra characters.

It’s especially interesting since Evy’s a one-shot generic Viper character. They could easily have ‘fixed’ her without worrying about screwing up a toy’s filecard. That they decided to go with the more ambiguous ending is a nice touch and makes this a strong episode.

Okay, now that I’ve praised DiC, it’s time to bury it. Or at least to bury a concept endemic to inter-faction cartoons like GI Joe and Transformers: the idea that the Bad Guys can’t play Nice amongst themselves.

In “I Found You…Evy” we’re once again told that it’s a Viper vs. Viper within Cobra and frankly, I’m at the point where I’m calling “No Way.” Especially since Evy does something as stupid as steal her compatriot’s guns and ammo when she knows there are Joes in the area. Sure, you want to prove that you’re just as tough as the boy Range-Vipers, but being tough and being strategically stupid are not the same thing! Give ‘em their guns back, kill the Joes then take them to school!

Look, I realize Cobra’s an evil terrorist organization bent on world domination but you don’t dominate the world by having a bunch of people who can’t manage to somehow work together despite their differences. Especially when those people are running around armed to the teeth. As I’ve said many times and in many places in reference to groups of antagonistic characters, an armed society is a polite society. Not by choice but by necessity.

“But Cobra’s EEVIL!” folks will argue. “They have no morals and no scruples and they’ll do whatever it takes!” Granted. All of it. They’re mean nasty unscrupulous bastards who’ll blot out the sun, steal the U.S. Constitution and use subliminal rock music to take over the minds of the nation’s youth. (But they’ll never do drugs, remember kids, drugs kill!).

But keep in mind, those actions are being aimed outside of Cobra, not within itself. Of course Cobra’s going to be ruthless against its enemies, how else are they supposed to take over the world? But within their own ranks, Cobra has to be able to maintain some sort of unit cohesion or things are going to rapidly start to fall apart.

When I talk about unit cohesion, I’m not talking about Cobra’s High Command. I’m talking about the ordinary troopers. The various generic Vipers, Cobra Troopers and specialist units that make up the majority of Cobra’s forces. Those are the guys who have to be able to work together well otherwise none of them are going to get out of this alive. Doesn’t matter that they might actually hate each other, when they’re on duty, they have to be able to put those problems aside. Otherwise, they’re SOL and I ain’t talking Satellite of Love.

Sure, intrafaction rivalries are going to spring up. The Strato-Vipers are going to think of the Frag-Vipers as dumb grunts, the Frag-Vipers’ll think the Strato-Vipers are pampered flyboys and everybody looks down on the Toxo-Vipers. That’s normal. We see that sort of rivalry within our own armed forces all the time. (Fer example, according to a friend of mine who’s recently joined the Navy, Marine stands for Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential.) Even within various subgroups, different units are going to band together and sneer at their fellows (“Not Company L, sir! They smell!”). But overall? Cobra is going to side with Cobra vs. an outside force.

And, to help back up this assertion, I’d like to quote from the Desert Scorpion file card:

"A Scorpion prefers to be in the midst of fighting, because it's safer than being in the garrison. In the field, where the whole unit is under threat, everybody pulls together because every trooper's life hinges on their combined firepower and team effort. In the barracks, each Scorpion thinks of himself as a desperate, isolated individual, surrounded by thieves, cutthroats and scoundrels - and he's right." (Source: YoJoe.com)

No, being a member of Cobra doesn’t mean you’re going to all link arms and sing “Kumbaya” but it also doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be at each other’s throats, especially when there’s Joes just over the next ridge.

Overall, despite the nitpicks, this is one of the better DiC episodes and is well worth checking out.

Filecard Trivia: When Ambush was ten years old, he won a neighborhood hide and seek competition by staying gone three days. The National Guard had to be called in to find him. He was hiding under the front porch of his house.