Ben 10

The story continues off from where the season finale takes off, and that's with Grandpa Max's past coming back to him and the history that him and Vilgax shared. Though the antagonist here is not an alien, but a human. Not just any human, but an alien fighter, and also Max's partner in his plumber days. Season two already starts off with what season one lacked; variety. There was some tension in Phil being the episodes enemy and a bit of excitement. Though despite all this, the episode still feels a bit way too ordinary and in the gist of it all, it's nothing really that special.

I expected the beginning of a new season of such a smashing show as Ben 10 to be more creative than this. The title, Truth, holds no suspense and the idea that Grandpa Max was one half of a team of alien-busters feels too unbelievable to me. What's more, the story of heroes purposely releasing monsters to fight them again and gain credit has been replayed multiple times in many other cartoon shows. Undoubtedly the tale is a cool one, that not all good guys can be trusted, but that idea has been repeated so many times that it is far from impressive now. I hope future episodes show more originality and effort on the part of the writers, or else this season shows signs of going way down.

After the incident with Vilgax, Max tells Ben and Gwen about his secret past. He really was a plumber, but not the garden variety version. He was part of a secret government organization known as "The Plumbers," that dealt with extra-terrestrial and paranormal phenomenon that others couldn't. The organization was disbanded after he defeated Vilgax for the first time. During one of Ben's regular acts of heroism, they run into Max's old partner, Phil. Phil is still in the business of hunting aliens, though he is now a freelance agent. He suggests that they remake The Plumbers, but Max is against the idea. Ben, however, is much more enthusiastic about the idea. During another alien battle, Ben reveals the secret of the Omnitrix to Phil, and Phil is even more determined to get him as a partner. Phil ends up taking them to an expensive hotel, which he is able to pay for thanks to rewards for capturing the aliens. The frequency of the alien attacks, as well as the familiar aliens themselves, raises Max's suspicions, and he heads to Mount Rushmore to check on something. There, he finds the Null Void Projector – a weapon that can trap things in, or release them from, an alternate dimension – missing. Phil has been abusing it to scam various hotel owners into paying him to remove the aliens that he sets free. Phil releases an alien to deal with Max, but Ben is able to rescue him and eventually trap Phil in the Null Void.

This episode was pretty good. My favorite scenes would have to be the beginning scene where Ben is tantalizing Gwen about not being able to restart the Plumbers, the scene where Ripjaws and Phil meet for the first time, the scene where XLR8 grabs Gwen and runs off to the Plumbers headquarters, and the scene where XLR8 is fighting the alien that Phil set loose as a distraction. What I love about this episode, is that we learn Max and Vilgax knew each other long before Ben and Gwen were born. I think it's really cool how Ben acquired the Omnitrix and now Vilgax is after him for it and it's funny that Ben is the grandson of Vilgax's enemy. What are the chances of that happening?

After the final showdown with Vilgax and the Tennyson family, they were able to take him down. But Grandpa Max's mysterious knowledge of alien technology and advanced weaponry is what intrigues his two grandkids whom joined up with him for a normal summer camping trip. But when Ben finds the Omnitrix, Max immediately becomes well aware of the situation, though he doesn't not bring it out...until now.



Grandpa Max Tennyson was once an extraterrestrial hunter, in a group that refer themselves as "The Plumbers." They were an organization dedicated to fight anything out of the ordinary. And he reveals that he has met Vilgax before with his partner, Phil, and was able to stop Vilgax's plans to destroy the major cities. His plan of destruction failed, but he survived Max's methods of bring down alien life forms.



Years later, the Tennyson family find Phil again, and Max is happy to see an old partner whom he hasn't seen in a while. While the reunion of old friends is great, little did Grandpa Max know that Phil has stolen the Null Void Projector from Mount Rushmore, a device that is capable of storing life forms into a molecular level, respectively.



With Max's suspicions about Phil is right, he decides to stop him, before he may do something more drastic and more dangerous. Phil claims that it is "easy money," but releasing aliens that were once caught is more dangerous than you least expect it.



As with Ben, he is glad to learn about his grandfather's mysterious past, and how interesting it had been. And who knows? The Omnitrix holds an even greater mystery.

In the episode, Ben gets to meet an old comrad of Grandpa Max's thus revealing his past as well as a hideous plot. The episode is a mixture of thrilling alien invasion, as always, but with a new flare as work is pitted against friends. One must ask the questions, how long can a friendship truly last over a distance and how much can a person change?

We all knew Grandpa Max had some kind of past that he wanted to keep secret because he was very bad at hiding it. Now it's explored more then what we saw in "Secrets". This is good because it advances characters and relationships more over the series. As well, we see a new villain introduced. Who knows how being trapped in the Null Zone with all the hundreds of other aliens will affect Phil. Will he come back? What kinds of new powers and abilities will he have? Overall, this was an enjoyable epsisode, but not one of the best.

This episode finally shows us what happened in Grandpa's past, something we have been wondering since the first season. To me this episode was good but one thing I didn't like. The whole concept of someone from the past returning as a bad guy, what show hasn't done that. But I guess it did help explain Grandpa's past. I loved how Gwen and Ben defeated him by sucking him into his own weapon though. Overall, this is a pretty good episode, it reveals questions about the series but it also has a plot done by most shows which isn't so good. A must see episode If you don't get Grandpa at all.