Washington B.C.

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Ben 10 episode
"Washington B.C."

Doctor Animo; preparing to jump from his mutated frog.
Episode # 2
Production # 102
Airdate January 13, 2006
Writer(s) Greg Klein
Thomas Pugsley
Director Alex Soto
Story Scooter Tidwell
Guest star(s) Dwight Schultz
Season 1
December 27, 2005 – March 25, 2006
  1. "And Then There Were 10"
  2. "Washington B.C."
  3. "The Krakken"
  4. "Permanent Retirement"
  5. "Hunted"
  6. "Tourist Trap"
  7. "Kevin 11"
  8. "The Alliance"
  9. "Last Laugh"
  10. "Lucky Girl"
  11. "A Small Problem"
  12. "Side Effects"
  13. "Secrets"
TV.com episode summary
List of all Ben 10 episodes...

"Washington B.C." is the second episode of the American animated television series Ben 10, that premiered on January 13, 2006.

[edit] Recap

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In Washington D.C., a crowd has gathered around a burning building. Within the building, the flames have trapped a woman and her son. Above them, the roof is beginning to collapse. The woman covers her son in preparation for the collapse, only for nothing to happen. The boy looks up to find Heatblast holding the broken piece of roof up. Heatblast leads the two outside, having to take them through a nearby window. After rescuing them, he begins to talk to the crowd, but is quickly distracted by a gold Sumo Slammer cards the boy is holding. Gwen and Max drive up to get him back on track, since the fire was set as a distraction for some jewel thieves. They eventually catch the thieves, but Heatblast doesn't get any credit because he reverts to human form before the police arrive.

In another part of town, Dr. Animo is buged by his landlord for overdoing his rent. He sees this as a good opportunity to test his Transmodulator, a machine capable of causing and accelerating mutations at the genetic level. He uses the Transmodulator on a frog as a demonstration, firing a red beam from the horns on his helmet and mutating it into a giant version of itself. The frog swallows and spits out the landlord. Animo says that he's close to getting what he deserves, but is lacking a few components. A commercial for a new M-Mart is shown and mentions that it carries high-tech electronics, which is just what Animo needs.

At the new M-Mart, Ben, Gwen, and Max are shopping for supplies. Ben ends up destroying the cereal aisle as Grey Matter, a super-intelligent and very small alien, in an attempt to find a gold Sumo Slammer card. Ben is caught by Gwen, who is subsequently caught by the store manager. Max ends up having to buy all the cereal. Max thinks that Ben might be getting a little too obsessed over the card. Ben thinks he should be rewarded for his heroic acts. After they split up again, Ben walks into the electronic section just as Animo bursts through the wall on his giant frog. He hops down and starts stealing parts. When Ben protests, his giant frog uses its tongue to knock a stack of boxes over onto Ben. Animo then warns him not to be a hero. Since the Omnitrix is still recharging, Ben is forced to take the advice. As the security guards arrive, Animo hops back on his frog and it jumps into the pet section of the store.

In the pet section, Animo mutates a hamster and a cockateil. Ben arrives after Animo has assembled his newly-created super-pets, and he then starts ranting about how he'll get what he deserves, as well as making making Washington D.C. into "Washington B.C." He has the hamster attack Ben, Gwen, and Max, Ben manages to take on the hamster by improvising with a motor scooter. Animo is annoyed, but does nothing about it, opting instead to escape on his parrot. The store manager offers Ben a reward and Ben is about to ask for a gold Sumo Slammer card, but Max drags Ben off before he can claim it.

In the RV, Max is chasing after Animo. He comments on how it reminds him of the good old days. This confuses Gwen, who is under the impression that he was a plumber. Max covers for himself by saying that he was a darn good plumber. Ben complains about not being able to get the gold Sumo Slammer card as a reward. Max says that "being the hero isn't about someone else knowing you did something good, it's about you knowing you did something good. Being the hero is its own reward." Ben isn't convinced by the speech, thinking that he read it off of a greeting card, which Max admits to. Gwen cuts in to report what she's learned about Animo. It turns out that he was a veterinary scientist that was doing twisted genetic experiments on animals. He believed that his work would win him the Verties Award, but it did not, which drove him mad. After remembering Animo's earlier comments, Ben realizes that he's headed to the Natural History Museum.

Animo manages to finish his upgrades to his Transmodulator when Ben, Gwen, and Max arrive. This upgrade allows him to use the Transmodulator to reanimate dormant cells, effectively bringing the dead back to life. He then uses it on a woolly mammoth as a demonstration, and a T-Rex later on. Ben defeats the mammoth as Fourarms, a super-strong, red alien with four arms, but Animo escapes on the T-Rex and Gwen is kidnapped by the giant parrot.

Animo smashes through a Sumo Slammer card factory as he heads to his destination, catching a gold card on the toe of his T-Rex. Meanwhile, the giant parrot perches on the Washington Monument with Gwen still in its clutches. She uses her cell phone to call Ben and Max. Just before they get the call, Max hands Ben the piece of paper he found. It shows the person Animo lost the Verities Award to: a scientist by the name of Dr. Kelly. It becomes obvious that it is this man Animo is after. They then get Gwen's call and head to the Washington Monument. As they arrive, Gwen drops her cellphone. Before she can follow it, however, Ben transforms into Stinkfly, an insectoid alien capable of flight, and saves her. After a short aerial fight between Stinkfly and the parrot, Stinkfly manages to defeat it and chases after Animo.

At Kelly Industries, Animo confronts Kelly and collects the award. He then has the T-Rex attack Kelly, but Stinkfly arrives just in time to stop it. A tail whip from the T-Rex sends Stinkfly flying into some rubble, where he finds the gold Sumo Slammer card. Before he can take it, however, he sees that the T-Rex is about to eat Kelly, so Stinkfly leaves the card, which becomes buried in rubble, and saves Kelly. He then defeats Animo after a short fight and takes the Transmodulator, throwing it to the floor and causing it to reverse all the mutations Animo caused incuding the parrot,who was about to finish of Max & Gwen.

Ben ends up seeing his own behavior reflected in Animo, and realizes that being a hero is, in fact, its own reward. In addition, he also takes Animo's Transmodulator as a souvenir.

Spoilers end here.

Aliens used in this episode:

[edit] See also