You know, I only just realized upon reading the title out loud to myself that it’s a pun on the X-Games. I’m smart, I swear.
Anyway, this was a pretty good one. It’s the kind of segment that has some great moments sprinkled in and is just solid all around. What I really appreciate about this one is the chance for us to see a rivalry between Timmy and Vicky outside of her babysitting. It goes to show that even when she’s not on the clock, she’s still able to cause misery in his life, and it’s a nice change of pace compared to what came before.
The montage involving Timmy practicing his skateboarding tricks is both very funny and foreshadows the trick that will give him the victory by the end. It‘s a good touch of continuity that makes the story as a whole that much more tightly written.
Something I just gotta highlight are the brief moments where Timmy is conflicted as to whether he thinks he’s capable of beating Vicky. Collectively, these moments don’t last more than fifteen seconds, but they do a great job in humanizing him. Since Cosmo and Wanda are unable to help him thanks to Da Rules forbidding it, it gives Timmy a chance to prove his skills without any magic involved, which I love. At the heart of it all, he does care for his friends and wants to keep them free of Vicky’s tyranny, but these bits of him doubting himself show that he is flawed, which makes it that much more satisfying when he does succeed at the end.
I also love how Chester and A.J. are utilized here. For the most part, you think they’re just there for comic relief; Chester gets his braces broken off, and so A.J. builds him special ones that tend to have ridiculous effects, like a park swing or a record player. All the jokes involving them are funny, and getting to see A.J. show off his skills at technology is a first for the series. But by the end, Chester ends up actually using his braces to help Timmy once part of the ramp gets blown up. Because everything involving his braces beforehand was so weird anyway, you end up weirdly believing that they can just become train tracks. Oh, and A.J. constantly having to look up skate lingo just to seem like he‘s cool like the skaters? Great running gag there.
The only real issue I have with the ending is how Vicky ends up failing her trick. She tries to copy Timmy’s trick, which does make sense, but after she fails, the segment explains it by saying that she was weighted down with “too much evil”. It’s very much a deus ex machina in its purest form, and while it is pretty funny that that’s the reason she lost, it doesn’t add up plot-wise.
Other than that, yeah, I don’t have any major complaints. The segment is nothing amazing, but it’s nice that in the middle of its good story, we get great character bits and solid running gags. Oh, and best use of Francis so far.
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