Crime
The Residence
As much as one might enjoy solving a good mystery, there’s a fair bit of content slop to muck through in Netflix’s The Residence.
Maximum speed. Insane stunts. Full-throttle contests.
This is what you must prepare yourself for when you’re selected to train under Dash Wheeler, the ultimate racing champ.
But training with the Dash Wheeler to become a real life Hot Wheels Racer isn’t something that just anybody can do. You must be selected.
The team this year at the exclusive Hot Wheels camp—composed of the lucky few who have been selected—consists of cooperative Coop; easy-going Mac; brainstorming Spark; clever Brights and competitive Axle (along with his right-hand man, Sidecar).
Members of this bright, competitive, talented bunch must race one another, build high-quality tracks and solve plenty of problems. Last season, it was all about the glory of receiving the most Flame Badges and becoming Camp Champ—which Coop won. But this time, the scores have been reset, the stakes have been raised and it’s anyone’s race. But all of them—win or lose—will go home with important skills, lessons and new friends.
And that includes new racer Cruise. She’s the daughter of the antagonistic (but ultimately silly) Professor Rearview, who has tried and failed multiple times to wreck Hot Wheels City with his ridiculous inventions. Cruise and her dad are determined to beat the young racers and destroy Hot Wheels City forever. But as Coop and Co. learn about teamwork and friendship, they also learn what it means to be a good sport—and that means offering young Cruise kindness instead of taunting.
Yes, winning is important here. But the only real motto here is to never give up.
If you were into Hot Wheels growing up (or if you’re still into them), you’re going to smile at Netflix’s latest original series, Hot Wheels Let’s Race.
This TV-Y animated series, co-produced by Mattel, is aimed at preschool and early elementary-aged kiddos who really love building Hot Wheels tracks and racing cars around for hours.
There are, quite appropriately, bright colors, twisty, mind-bending tracks that appear out of thin air, flame-admitting boosters and allllll of the Hot Wheels vehicles that you can possibly imagine.
With each 20-ish minute episode, the racers get to choose a new car with which to race and then they’re off, learning how to work together, solve problems and truly understand that perseverance and friendship are more important than winning. (Although winning is always fun too.)
This show has a few snarky attitudes and the occasional joke that borders on potty humor. But overall, it’s filled with lessons on cooperation, kindness and integrity—along with pulse-pounding music and enough stunts to satisfy the little thrill seekers in your home.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Racers Coop, Spark, Mac, Brights, Sidecar and Axle compete to see who will become the next Hot Wheel Racer.
The kids race their cars on several loops, and one boy exclaims: “now I know how my underwear feels in the washing machine.” Another jokes about how he’ll start brushing his teeth if he can just get out of a precarious situation.
Axle and sidekick Sidecar taunt the other racers and often have snarky attitudes toward them, referring to them as “babies.”
Coop decides to return and help his friends, even though he’s inches from the finish line, when he finds their cars are in trouble. Coop and his friends learn to work together, practice kindness and problem solve.
Coop and the Hot Wheels racers are shocked when they lose the first race of the season to Cruise, the daughter of their nemesis, Professor Rearview. Then, the racers work hard to complete a teamwork challenge that helps them catch up to Cruise.
The racers’ mentor, Dash, reminds them that speed isn’t all that matters in racing: the racers will have to keep practicing and learn how to work as a team in order to beat Cruise. Dash also encourages them not to give up after a devastating defeat. The team learns that they’ll have to work together in future races to beat Cruise and to stop her and her dad from ruining Hot Wheels City.
A racer uses the “fart force” of his toilet-shaped racecar against another competitor. Racers taunt each other with trash talk, sometimes hurling the insult “loser.” Coop and his friends are upset when Cruise uses dangerous (but technically legal) tactics to win the race.
The Hot Wheels racers are shocked when Cruise uses new power-ups on her racecar to outrace them once again. Then, things go terribly wrong when the team tests out a new power-up, causing everyone and everything to float through the air uncontrollably.
The kids promise they’ll use the Hot Wheels prize, the Ultimate Garage that houses all of the cool racecars they drive, to protect Hot Wheels City from villains like Professor Rearview.
Dash reminds the young racers that, win or lose, being a Hot Wheels racer means being a good sport. And Coop takes that value to heart, reminding his teammates not to trash talk, checking to make sure Cruise is uninjured after her racecar spins out of control and even congratulating her when she wins the race.
The racers use teamwork and creative problem-solving to return to the ground after a broken power-up causes them to float into the air uncontrollably. Axle gets jealous when he thinks his friends have a fan club; he tries to get the fans to pay attention to him instead. However, he calms down after realizing the fan club celebrates all the racers, including him.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
As much as one might enjoy solving a good mystery, there’s a fair bit of content slop to muck through in Netflix’s The Residence.
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