M.O.D.O.K. enlists the help of his daughter to get a makeover in an effort to win back Jodie, who is dating aspiring Avenger Wonder-Man.

On the surface of it, this might sound like a bog standard episode of this sort of show – Wonder-Man (played hilariously by Nathan Fillion) is now dating Jodie and M.O.D.O.K. is of course very jealous and absolutely desperate to take one last shot at winning back his wife and getting rid of the competition. So he persuades M.E.L.I.S.S.A. to help him out with a makeover so that he can win the day.

But that’s really just the setup here – the main course is a surprisingly deep episode about love, loss, the way in which events can often overtake one’s own sense of right and wrong, and the deceptiveness of appearances. No, really.

Turns out you see that the relationship between Jodie and her new beau might not be quite as it first appears. Being seen on the arm of a superhero is doing wonders for Jodie’s professional life, seeing her trending in all the right places and sending sales of her book through the roof.

There’s also a nice bit of understated commentary on the toxicity of various elements of the ongoing situation, whether it’s M.O.D.O.K.’s own powerfully fragile sense of masculinity or the impact of the divorce on Lou and M.E.L.I.S.S.A., who find themselves turning to one another for support when it starts to become clear that their father isn’t the only poor parental influence in their lives.

It ends with a revelation about exactly where certain influences have emerged from and suffice it to say, things may be about to get really interesting indeed.

Verdict: Still effortlessly combining puerility with profundity. 9/10

Greg D. Smith