Crime
Prime Target
This math-centric thriller comes with an interesting premise. But Prime Target comes with some primary problems, too.
Where in the world will you find a cat, a bird and a giraffe being friends? Well, in Milotown, of course.
Milo, Lark and Lofty are 5 years old. They aren’t sure what they want to be when they grow up, but they do think it would be amazing to be explorers, hairdressers, tennis players, news reporters, dancers, chefs, cruise ship captains or just about anything else you can imagine. And the fact that Milo’s Mum and Dad run a laundry service helps keep that imagination humming.
This PBS KIDS show is incredibly formulaic. Customers come into the shop asking Milo’s parents to clean their clothes—dirtied up by their professions. Then Milo and his friends ask the family’s sentient washing machine, Suds, to loan them some outfits of that same vocation so they can test it out for themselves.
The kids learn that every job has its challenges and rewards. They learn about teamwork, honesty and the importance of making (not breaking) friendships. And while they do occasionally disagree, they also apologize and work through their differences.
When folks come into the shop to have their clothes cleaned, those adult characters are briefly seen in their underclothes (tank tops and boxer-like shorts in a pattern pertaining to their respective careers). Since the characters are all animals, this is meant to be silly, and there are no defining anatomical features to make it anything but. However, younger kiddos may try to mimic this silliness and wind up prancing around in their own underthings.
That one silly caveat aside, Milo is free of most anything parents would find concerning. It has encouraging messages about friendship. And it lets children know that all vocations have value, encouraging them to try new things.
(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.)
Milo and his friends learn all about explorers, helping Commander Cottontail find the legendary Golden Whisk of the Andes.
Someone coughs after catching a whiff of some smelly clothes. An adult character is seen in an undershirt and boxer-like shorts after giving Milo’s parents his clothes for cleaning. Kids are grossed out by a blister on an adult’s foot. Some characters fall (one gets tossed in the air by a booby trap), but they’re OK. When a villain attempts to steal the whisk, he inadvertently releases a giant rolling ball that chases them all out of the cave. A rock looks like a skull.
Milo and company try their hands at hairdressing, running the local salon while the owner runs out to buy supplies.
Milo is briefly teased when his own hair gets out of hand, but he learns to laugh along. When the gang mixes up the hairstyles of several customers, they initially try to hide their mistakes. However, they eventually come clean. A fish blows a raspberry. We see an adult character in an undershirt and boxer-like shorts after giving Milo’s parents her clothes for cleaning.
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.
This math-centric thriller comes with an interesting premise. But Prime Target comes with some primary problems, too.
In Netflix’s new anime series Babanba Banban Vampire, a 450-year-old vampire longs for the untainted blood of a 15-year-old boy.
Severance takes us on an unsettling ride—one with few thrilling loops and dips, but strange turns that may still make you a little queasy.
What’s shown here may be reminiscent of what real police officers have seen on the job. I’m not sure the show’s message is strong enough to justify depicting it.
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