Close Shave

**Close Shave** is the second segment of the third episode in season 1 of *Hamster & Gretel*. The episode premiered on August 20, 2022, and is paired with "Superhero Sibling Rivalry". On August 17, 2022, this episode was released early on Disney+.

Gretel suspects that her substitute teacher, Mr. Chabner, is actually evil, sourcing her "hero hunch" and the fact that Mr. Chabner has a mustache and goatee as possible evidence. She gets into some trouble while trying to expose him.

## Plot

One morning, Gretel asks Kevin to drive her to school early because she suspects that her substitute teacher, Mr. Chabner, is evil. Kevin does not believe Gretel due to the previous times her hunches turned out to be false and got them into trouble, but Gretel remains firm in her intuition. At school, Gretel continually mistakes Chabner's every move, including having Bailey demonstrate her favorite movements and handing out cupcakes, as acts of evil and interrupting Kevin and Fred's presentation about Sigmund Freud in the process. When Chabner asks Gretel to stay after class, she admits to him that she had a hunch that he was evil, but Chabner traps her and Hamster, and reveals that he is actually under the control of Van Dyke, a sentient moustache and goatee.

Van Dyke reveals he was once a normal human scientist who couldn't grow a beard. So he tried to used a machine to combine the facial hair gene with his DNA, only to turn into a living beard and moustache by accident. He then discovered he could possess others simply by attaching to their faces. After realizing he could do this to Gretel as well, he possessed Mr. Chabner, and posed as a substitute teacher until he found and possessed her.

Hamster and Gretel escape the trap and battle Van Dyke, which eventually catches the attention of Kevin and Fred. During the fight, Van Dyke latches onto Hamster, forcing Gretel to punch him to free him from his control. He then places Kevin under his control, threatening to turn him into "minced meat," only for Fred to subdue him with hair removal spray. As the heroes and their relatives triumphantly walk home, Kevin apologizes to Gretel for not believing her.

## Cast and characters

* Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
* Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
* Beck Bennett as Hamster
* Carolina Ravassa as Carolina Grant-Gomez
* Matt Jones as Dave Grant
* Joey King as Fred Grant
* Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
* Casey Hamilton as Mr. Chabner, Van Dyke
* Cree Summer as Ms. Weems

## Songs

* Van Dyke (jingle)
* Fighting Facial Hair

## Running gags

### Image scene transitions

A broken gazebo
(used to transition to Gretel's classroom in full attendance)

## Transcript

*Click here to read the full transcript of **"Close Shave"**.*

## Background information

### Trivia

* It is revealed that Gretel and Bailey's elementary school and Kevin and Fred's high school are across the road of each other.
* Despite being a song, the Van Dyke jingle was not listed among the other songs (Hamster & Gretel Theme Song, How Much Can You Lift? and Fighting Facial Hair) in the credits for "Superhero Sibling Rivalry" and "Close Shave".

### Allusions

* The title of the episode refers to the term "close shave" (a dangerous situation that one has very narrowly escaped), coming from shaving really close to the skin. This makes the episode's title a pun, as the episode involves evil facial hair.
* ***Milo Murphy's Law*** - The watch that is displayed on the TV screen at one point when Kevin and Fred are showing their Sigmund Freud project almost resembles Time Ape's head in the fictional TV show *The Doctor Zone Files*. Their design and colors look similar.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.dgepress.com/disneybrandedtelevision/shows/hamster-gretel/episodes/superhero-sibling-rivalry-close-shave/