Days of Panthers Past comes to a weird and unexpected end as T’Challa’s acid flashbacks in his family’s tomb defy basically all of my limited understanding of physics and death. Super secret siblings, genocide and resurrection await in a lore-heavy episode taking us into the present and a week-long breather so we can figure out what we’re doing with our lives before a two-part episode on February 10th!
1. The Legend
The Shield of Wakanda, first Black Panther and King of Wakanda, makes his big appearance voiced by the always outstanding Phil LaMarr. Bashenga is a super nice guy, if not unremarkable, and has a really strong moral compass making him a little lame compared to the direct-action murder model of his cool-as-hell twin sister Bask. Bashenga is pretty passive, the most aggressive being when he guilts Bask for burning Atlantis down with kids inside, but he draws a nice parallel with Cap in that he fights and leads with peace and protection in mind as both the solution and means to an otherwise violent end. Cap also comes back this episode, so I guess there’s that but it’s hardly related to Bashenga being opposed to gutting purple people.
2. The Hidden
Bask, the secret twin sister of the first Black Panther, has a sick ass costume that looks like a Voltron pilot and an attitude just as bad. As far as I know she is an original character created for this show, perhaps as a more succinct, family-related adaptation of the similarly named Bast, the Panther God (in comics) that helped Bashenga conquer the vibranium mutates and found Wakanda. On that, Bask’s militaristic lust for violence could itself be an adaptation of the nascent radiation associated with raw vibranium and its negative effect on some as reflected in the way the Core warps her behavior and abilities. We definitely have more to see from Bask in the future, so it should be interesting to find out what effect being trapped in a hat for thousands of years has on a power-mad sadist, and if that translates to nuking Atlantis again.
3. The Culling
Tying together past plot threads, the Atlanteans are introduced as the ancient antagonist and catalyst for the creation of Wakanda, the discovery of vibranium, and the forging of the Core as a weapon. Unlike the blue fish dudes we’re used to, the Atlanteans of 8000 BC are purple, land-dwelling, marauding assholes. Living somewhere near the vibranium mound, they seem to do little else but beat up on Wakandans and raze their towns, at least until Bask goes nutso with the Core and nukes Atlantis. Bask claims she “drove them into the sea,” which could be potentially hyperbolic, it’s more likely that the fall of Atlantis is more like the evil sister of the first Black Panther murdering so many people that the only course of action is hiding in salt water until they evolve gills and a fussy authoritarian meritocracy. Bask’s return could be a pretty reasonable rallying cry for Atlantean aggression towards Wakanda.
4. The MacGuffin
While there is no mention of the Heart-Shaped Herb, we do get a glimpse of the impact crater created by the vibranium asteroid and the initial discovery by Bask and Bashenga. We’re still not any closer to knowing just what the hell the Core is, but it does at least seem to be an antithesis to the more benevolent vibranium that surrounds it. The past two episodes have slightly alluded to T’Challa’s vision quests as journeys to the Ancestral Plane but, while no one outright uses the term, it’s certainly made clear with a whole scene set in the Plane seen in the MCU. Somehow, the Core and the Ancestral Plane are one and the same, a prison for anyone that rustles its jimmies. Just based on linear deduction, the Core is the Crown is the Ancestral Plane which, I’ll just take a stab and guess, holds the location of or at least information about the Heart of Wakanda.
5. The Present
Five whole episodes in, one of which a flashback involving him, Cap is back! Something about him being stuck in the Crown? We don’t know how any of these damn artifacts work yet, but so far it tracks better than the wooden robots on a mask-operated dark age submarine. Also in question is Klaue and his new found friendship with Shuri and T’Challa. Only three episodes ago, he was literally intent on splattering Panther all over a high school gymnasium with a supercharged sonic hand cannon; I guess watching even your enemies have a bad psychedelic trip is a bummer some can empathize with? Anyhow, Cap needs a nap, Klaue is doing some self-care, Shuri is there, and Bask is out of her wack ass crystal prison so I have to imagine this is going to be a socially stressful next few days for T’Challa.
