5x03 SPHINX Rising

Not as strong as recent episodes. It’s story-driven, which is a good thing, and all the elements come together really well at the end, but all the new characters made it hard to get invested in the action. Except Gary, I love Gary.
8/10

6.3/10. Not my favorite episode of the show. Maybe it's just that I didn't really watch G.I. Joe as a kid, so I really only know the Cobra Commander stuff through parody. Still, the whole idea of old SPHINX going out with a bang didn't do too much for me (though having the voices of Teddy/Larry Murphy and Mike the Mailman/Tim Meadows for henchmen didn't work.) And Gary trying to find his purpose in the shadow of the OSI is a solid storyline that just kind of had a middling execution and payoff. (Though Brock giving him the crossbow was sweet.)

As for the rest of the episode, Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend infiltrating Dr. Venture's compound as "beaver inspectors" wasn't as funny as that setup portends, but we did get a little breadcrumb about why Monarch hates Dr. Venture with that photo album picture. Really, the interactions between Sgt. Hatred and a blase Dean had the most going for them in an ep that was low on laughs. The comedic highlight was probably Gary calling each of Monarch's moves before they happened (the "acid magnet" line was the best), but this one was, overall, a bit underwhelming.