Among the many cult cartoons from Cartoon Network my favorite was always Secret Saturdays back in the day. With sci-fi, fantasy and retro influences, it surely captivated the imagination of kids. However, one of the things that captivated me as well was the beautiful Drew Saturday, the mom who could kick ass.
The show follows the adventures of this secret agent family, most specifically the journey towards maturity of Zak Saturday, the 11-year-old protagonist. Along with their monster pets, the family goes on missions encountering cryptids and hiding their existence from the public, all while battling against the villain known as Argos and his creatures.
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| Captured by Argos. |
Pretty routinary genre stuff but with a "saturday morning" feeling to it as well, something quite intentional and effective. The show is mostly episodic but there is some slight serialization that makes it perfect to binge without worrying much about filler episodes.
As I said before, the highlight was probably Drew Saturday, who became something of a childhood crush for a lot of young viewers. Her motherly wisdom and amazing fighting skills make her an ideal parent and action companion as well, she also has a savage and wild side to her that comes out briefly on certain occasions but she's mostly collected and serious.
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| Drew being flirty. |
While you might argue that she could come close to the "nagging and strict mother" stereotype, Drew kind of escapes it by being equally as impulsive and reckless as her son, making Drew a rounded character with more facets to her than just the disciplined parent, a role she often shares with her husband, who also escapes the "dumb dad" stereotype.
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| Ready to fight. |
Her weapon of choice is a Tibetan Fire Sword she uses in almost every episode but she can employ guns whenever necessary as well. She's one of the world's leading experts in the pseudo-science of cryptozoology, a title she shares with her husband and most likely her knowledgeable son. Being also an expert pilot and trained to survive in the wilderness, she's probably a role model for all mothers and even little girls who rarely get to see women this prepared in animation.
A running joke is her breaking their TV during fights. A small but cute gag.
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| "Sorry about the TV, sweetie." |
Mature women don't often get enough action roles in animation, Drew is in her mid to late thirties and in a space occupied by nagging older women and bratty or airheaded young women, Drew is kind of a refreshing version of the typical cartoon mother, Secret Saturdays actually does that with every other member as well, giving them a new spin that elevates these old archetypal characters and updates them.
She appears briefly (along with the rest of the family) in the Ben 10 Omniverse episode T.G.I.S, where the Saturdays meet Ben and they fight against Argos while investigating the chupacabras. It’s a good episode with decent action and monsters but it follows mostly the teen boys in their adventure, Drew is just there for a couple of fights and to be the butt of the joke since Ben has the hots for her, dialogue like “Dude, that's my mom!” it’s uttered more than once. Kind of awkward.
The redesign caused a lot of controversy and as far as I can tell, the designs for the show in general were not very well liked by some people, but I don't personally like how she looks here, it’s not a bad design itself but it doesn't say “Drew Saturday” to me.
Definitely check out the series, if anything just to witness one of the best animated mom characters in media.
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