Loaded Ep. 108 – The End of Cat Factory?
To paraphrase an old adage: money is the root of all evil and after the Cat Factory 2 launch disaster the friendship between Leon, Watto, Ewan and Josh lay in ruins. Two months have passed since Ewan last saw Watto, Josh has taken to developing a new game – and peeing in a jar much to Abi’s chagrin and Ewan uncomfortably assumes the mantle as the king of Idyl hands.
Leon pays his penance by doing community service picking up garbage for getting into a scuffle with the tiger handler at the end of the expo. Stung by the loneliness and sense of loss, Leon visits Josh and offers an olive branch in the form of a chance to fix Cat Factory 2. After corralling Josh, the duo track down Watto who’s fallen off the wagon and continues to have abandonment issues, courtesy of his mom. They decide to break into Idyl Hands over the weekend so that they can create a patch to fix the game and preserve their legacy.
They then meet Ewan at the office and take over their old stomping ground for the weekend to make things right. As Josh, Watto and Ewan burn the midnight oil tweaking the game Leon does his best to keep them on task. Their brief time together gets Leon thinking that they can rekindle their magic but Josh balks at the idea preferring to go back to his life with Abi.
Reality hits Ewan in the face when Casey reveals that the company wants to use his coding for weapons of mass destruction. A fifty million pound offer is floated in front of him but the moral implications pose a moral dilemma. Not for long though as he signs on the dotted line effectively bringing an end to the company.
With Josh’s money like an albatross around her neck Abi makes a painful decision and sets her sights on San Francisco. Realizing that they are greater together than they are apart Leon floats the idea of creating another company and starting all over again.
The End of Cat Factory brings Season 1 of Loaded to a close and while it’s not the strongest episode it carries enough gravitas and laughs to end the season on a high note. The characters have all come into their own and the narrative possibilities for a second season have potential. Even with the changes in this episode, hopefully the entire cast will stay together as the lads continue to take on the gaming world.
