A story: Max tries to reestablish his evil reputation by committing petty crimes; Max must choose between his friends and his reputation.

B story: Billy feels left out when Chloe and Nora bond so he creates a new friend Luigi.

C story: Hank and Barb binge watch.

This is another interesting episode in that Max and Phoebe have no interaction with their parents.

Once again, we have Max trying to re-establish his street cred as a villian.  Once again, we have Phoebe trying to re-establish her street cred as a superhero.  There’s been a rash of thefts at Hiddenville High, the latest being Cherry’s laptop.  Phoebe promises she’s on the case.

Meanwhile, Max spies three mischievous girls with Cherry’s laptop.  He’s got a conundrum on his hands.  His bandmates, Oyster, Wolfgang and Gideon see Max as a friend but Max believes having friends makes him less evil.  When Max’s guitar strap needs replacing, Wolfgang hand sews Max a new, personalized guitar strap.  Friendship is a wonderful thing!  In the end, Max is torn and, letting evil win out, Max quits the band.

But then Max is on the horns of a dilemma.  Does he help the girls steal his former band’s equipment or does he walk away.  Evil wins out – for now – and he assists in stealing his former band’s equipment.

But Max’s conscience once again wins out.  After Phoebe literally drops in on him backstage, the dynamic duo find the thieves stash and its a fight to the finish – without superpowers.  My favorite tactic: eraser clap.  My favorite stolen item: Cherry’s Shark on a Stick (perhaps a nod to Griffo’s role in Sharknado 3?).  In the end, the band is reunited – its best-in friend-zins.

Its interesting that the more evil Max tries to be, the less he succeeds.  And the more superhero Phoebe tries to be, the more she realizes she can’t do it alone.

The B story is a little odd – although I do like that Billy named his friend after the marinara sauce on the kitchen counter and that Nora (and even baby Chloe) quickly figured out Billy’s scam.  The arrival of Baby Chloe could have been disastrous – but the admiration and love between Chloe, Billy and Nora is rather sweet.

Hank and Barb’s binge watching of The Real Superheros of Metroburgh seems like an add on (as in what are we going to do with Hank and Barb for the show).  They are barely seen in the second act.

I liked this episode.  Phoebe and Max are maturing nicely and I still like the dynamic between the two.