Episode 02: The Mew Kid in Town

The Mew Kid in Town is the second episode in the English dub, Mew Mew Power. It is preceded by Episode 01: The Main Mew's Muse followed by Episode 03: Mew Two.

Episode Summary
The episode starts off with average high school student Zoey Hanson on a date with her crush, Mark, who is revealed to be one of the most popular boys in school. The two of them go to an endangered animals exhibit, which Mark is passionate about. He appears to be completely at ease with Zoey, while she obsesses constantly over what to say next to him. They walk under an archway with a strange golden cat statue atop it, and the scene then changes to show two young adult males observing her.

Mark and Zoey soon leave the exhibit in favour of going to the park. In order to disguise her disappointment at thinking Mark was going to kiss her - when instead he burst into impassioned speech about wanting to save the planet - Zoey professes her need for juice, which Mark goes to get for her. She spots a 'cute place' in the distance, which is revealed to be Cafe Mew Mew; meanwhile, inside Cafe Mew Mew, the two young men, which are revealed to be Elliot and Wesley, activate a 'genetic stimulator' upon seeing that Zoey is alone. A large tower then rises up out of the top of Cafe Mew Mew, with a red light atop it, and the ground begins to shake. Panic ensues, and upon seeing a flash of red light, Zoey loses consciousness.

She awakens some time later to see that it is sunset, and that Mark is still with her. He tells her that he spent the afternoon watching the clouds and listening to her snore, then offers to walk her home from the train station. When Zoey tells her friends, Megan and Mimi, about the date, they both regard the date as disastrous, which Zoey disagrees with before abruptly remembering that she was supposed to meet Mark before Kendo class that morning. The three friends find themselves at the back of a vast crowd of girls, and while Megan proceeds to berate Zoey for her foolishness, Zoey takes out pictures of herself and Mark from the endangered animals exhibit and smiles at them, before a girl in front of them crashes into her and causes her to lose her grip on them. The fly over a steep ledge, and Zoey jumps after them, displaying astonishing balance as she lands upon the top of a fence on one foot to reclaim them. She then topples over the edge, but somehow manages to land, unharmed, on her feet.

Throughout the day, several strange things happen to Zoey, such as falling asleep for over an hour in class and predicting that it will rain, and taking a fish by the mouth at lunch time. She idly suspects that she is turning into a cat, and her belief that something strange is happening to her is strengthened when she is unable to talk properly to Mark without making references to cats.

Convinced that she will be able to help herself by returning to the place where she fell asleep, Zoey wanders through the park alone before feeling a strange energy and an overwhelming urge to run through the forest. She comes across Mark, who appears to have been looking for her, but is unable to reach him. The audience sees a strange, translucent creature floating through the forest behind Mark, eventually merging with a rat that is lurking by the garbage. There is a flash of light, and then the audience sees that Zoey has caught up to Mark, who is standing in a foggy circular clearing, but then bewilderingly sees a massive shadow of what looks like a mutant rat silhouetted against the fog. The rat attacks Mark, who falls unconscious, and then turns on Zoey when she rushes over to see if he is okay. Before it can attack her, however, someone grabs her and jumps into the safety of the trees, who the audience recognises as Elliot. He tells a stunned Zoey that she needs to fight the rat, and then pushes her out of the tree, despite her protests. She finds that she lands on her feet, and then Elliot throws what he calls a 'power pendant' at her, claiming that she has 'the animal instinct'. He then initiates her transformation, and Mew Zoey, now infused with the DNA of an Iriomote Wildcat, fights the mutant rat, defeating it with her Strawberry Bell, which is created from the bell on her tail, and using the attack "Strawberry Bell! Full Power!" The rat then returns to normal, and a pink, fluffy creature, later revealed as R2000/Mini-Mew swallows the jelly-like creature, while Elliot congratulates her on defeating it and on creating a 'superhero slogan' ("Mew Mew Style, Mew Mew Grace. Mew Mew Power in your face!")

While Zoey, returned to normal, kneels at Mark's side, she demands to know what is going on. Wesley appears, telling her all will be revealed in due time, and assures her that Mark will be okay. The episode ends with Zoey continuing to demand to know what is going on.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the official first appearance of the Power Pendant, the transformation phrase, "Power Pendant, Mewtamorphasis!", the Strawberry Bell and its accompanying attack "Strawberry Bell, Full Power!"
 * The scene from the Japanese dub where Zoey is infused with a light-composed cat is cut, replaced by a mere flash of bluish-white light before she falls asleep.
 * In this episode, we are introduced to the characters Zoey, Mew Zoey, Mark, Elliot, Wesley, R2000, Megan and Mimi.
 * Though this is the first episode chronologically, the original pilot episode was The Main Mew's Muse, which was forgotten about and considered nonexistent.
 * The episode title is a pun on the phrase "The new kid in town".

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