If I were to be completely honest, I'd say Rescue Bots is probably the most mature (not "adult" but "mature" in the most denotative sense of the word) TF cartoon we've ever had in recent years.
Sure, it doesn't tackle as much controversial topics and is kid-friendly, but man is it full of depth and what subjects it does handle have been thought-provoking. But most importantly, it treats its audience, of all ages, with the respect and candor we deserve, about as much as Batman: The Animated Series did.
I've spoken numerous times about the three-parter that introduced Blurr and Salvage and how those episodes not only took the age-old relationship between the "mentoring team leader" and "the rambunctious youth who has trouble following rules" in new directions never before explored in a TF cartoon, but which also felt like a narrative deconstruction of the traditional leader-youth dynamic by turning it on its head to present the most realistic version of that relationship between flawed leader who does have actual limits and stubborn youth who just couldn't learn his lesson overnight no matter what. It was a pretty bold move on that three-parter's part, especially considering how Rescue Bots was supposed to be a show for preschoolers. It's like the writing staff just don't know how to write towards that audience and instead couldn't help but write towards a smarter demographic.
But now, that three-parter is no longer the highest point in that show for me. No, that honor now has to go to a certain Season 4 episode simply titled "Family Business", in which it started off with just a simple premise, with Cody trying to determine which career path he will pursue when he becomes old enough to officially start training as a rescue worker. But from out of that simplicity came a deeper exploration of what it truly means to serve and protect the public as a civil servant, even going as far as showing that, yes, these people do risk their lives every day that they're out there in the line of duty. Rescue work is no picnic and can be very dangerous. And they don't even sugarcoat this point either. The episode actually went as far as to put Chief Burns in such a perilous situation that both the characters and, honestly, the audience wondered if he was going to make it out okay.
In the episode, there was a construction site having work done not too far from an apartment building. At one point, an explosion from broken gas mains at the site caused severe damage to the apartment building. The team gets everyone out to safety and puts up the residents at the firehouse until their home can be repaired. When the team goes back to the damaged building to retrieve some of the residents' more important belongings, the Bots hold up the building while Chief and Dani enter it. But as Chief comes back out, part of the building collapses on top of him and he's buried in debris. At first, he seems to be okay once he's dug out, but then he himself collapses and fall unconscious, in one of the most dire scenes in the entire series that, no holds back, emphasizes Chief's mortality as a human being, written in such a way that made it look like this could really have been the end for him.
The very next scene is even of the rest of the team waiting at the hospital to hear back from the doctor about Chief's condition, complete with realistic frustration and worry from each of them. Of course, the show didn't kill him off, having him emerge from the ER in a wheelchair pushed by the doctor, but the writing sure pulled no punches in showing how severe this situation was and just how intense the life of a first responder can be and is in real life.
And that episode's ending, man, got me right here. With all the townspeople (who had earlier in the episode given Chief so much grief for their irateness towards the construction) gathered outside to witness Chief's release from the hospital since they were all concerned for him too. It was beautiful. Honestly one of, if not
the, only times a TF cartoon has ever moved me nearly to tears of joy.