Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. We made it! This is the finale!
“Age of Wonderbeasts”
Written by Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Bridget Underwood
1. No undo button
The first time I watched the third season of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, there was a bit of emotional distance when the Mutes were reverted back to animals. With all the back and forth of various compounds—turning animals into Mutes, splicing humans with Mega Mutes, a cure that turns everyone back—I couldn’t help but operate under the assumption that whatever happened, it was temporary.
But it wasn’t. At the end of the show, every Mute that got turned back into just an animal is still just an animal. There is a very real cost here, and it’s borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable people. There’s no ignoring that, and having this element in play makes the entire season retroactively better.
2. Allies
At last, the burrow humans are finally able to be allies to the Mutes. The cure-in-the-fireworks beat was played as a dramatic cliffhanger for the penultimate episode, but in the final episode it becomes a fantastic way to visualize some of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’ core themes.
This single sequence has so many great payoff moments, but the big one for me was Wolf saving Mandu. It’s just such a great way to show how far these two characters have come since the first episode.
It’s this moment in which Dr. Emilia is defeated. Sure, she’s still got some fight left for the rest of the episode, but at this moment her toxic vision for the future is dead.
Plus, wow, that moment when Kipo is shielding everyone by standing over them, unable to move, but staring at Emilia with such rage. . . that was great. I’m glad the show doesn’t vilify anger. Instead it acknowledges that anger can be justified, and it can be a powerful motivator. Anger in itself is not an evil.
3. An age of Wonderbeasts
Despite the show being called Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, we haven’t actually heard the word “wonderbeasts” said within the show before. And when it popped up, I couldn’t help but wonder about the politics of the term “Mute.” After all, it comes from mutant, so it has its origins in derogatory language. Calling these people wonderbeasts instead is a genuine celebration of them, so this moment isn’t just a “Whoa, that’s the title of the show!” moment for me. It gives us a glimpse of the new trajectory the future is headed to, a future that celebrates our differences.
4. Mega Emilia vs. Mega Kipo
So, confession. . . I find stories about giant things fighting each other really boring.
I mean, there are plenty of things I like with this sort of stuff in them, but they’re things I like in spite of the giant Kaiju-esque or mecha-style fights, not because of them. The raw idea of Kipo and Emilia having a throwdown as Mega Mutes is just really uninteresting to me. What makes it work is everything else that’s going on. I love the way Dr. Emilia’s hatred becomes her real fight—she simply cannot work with her Mute side because of it and it dooms her.
It’s impossible not to see this sequence with Emilia being locked away in her own mind and not think of the sunken place in Get Out. Even the way the shots are composed, this feels like a direct reference. And considering the subject matter, that seems very appropriate to me.
5. Kipo’s empathy
After everything Kipo’s been through with Dr. Emilia, it would have been easy for her to damn Emilia into being locked away in her own mind forever. Kipo has so many reasons to be angry at her, and yet she lets that go. Throughout the season Kipo has struggled with this, and it’s good to see her more aware of when her anger is ruling her.
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But not everyone can be saved. And Kipo doesn’t take that on either. This isn’t the Kipo from the end of season two that felt responsible for someone else’s bad choices.
6. Hugo’s redemption
I find final acts of sacrifice as a means of redemption for villains is usually a pretty weak story beat. And considering a certain 2019 film leaned on this trope particularly badly, I find I despise it even more than usual.
Fortunately, that trope is avoided in Kipo. Hugo’s sacrifice was not his redeeming act. The journey from Scarlemagne back to Hugo unfolded over the whole season and culminated with Scarlemagne making a stand for peace at Kipo’s side. He was working with the community he had hurt and, if he had survived this episode, I’ve no doubt he would’ve gone on to be a big part in shaping the new world with H.M.U.F.A.
Hugo’s final act of sacrifice is simply an act of love for his sister. It’s about him being the brother he always wanted to be, of embracing the idea that to love and be loved also means he can be hurt, and he’s no longer afraid of that. In the end, Hugo eclipses Scarlemagne entirely, choosing to embrace all the pain and hurt of life so that he could fully love and be loved. He finally understood what he wanted and forgave himself.
7. Mandu
I liked how active Mandu was in this final episode. She’s been outside a lot of the action this season, but the show’s creators have always found moments to keep her involved. Still, saving Kipo from Dr. Emilia is her highlight of the season by far, and a great callback to her defeating Dr. Emilia in season two. Dr. Emilia underestimates Mutes, so it’s extra satisfying when she’s defeated by Mandu, and by doing it twice now, it further demonstrates how Dr. Emilia’s inability to change condemns her to make the same mistakes.
8. Five years later
I’m not a big fan of jumps to the future for endings. Usually, I find they create an emotional distance between me and the characters, and especially with long-form stories where I’ve gotten to know the characters really well, I don’t like to feel like in my final moments with the characters that we’ve drifted apart and in some ways they’ve become strangers.
But I also love time jump endings when they’re properly executed. The Lord of the Rings did this, and it has one of my favorite endings of all time. So why did it work? Well, because it used the device to become more intimate with its characters, and we can see the same thing happening here in Kipo. Right away, we have the shot of the design on Kipo’s jacket, with each of the icons representing Dave, Benson, Wolf, Kipo, and Mandu, which expresses that wonderful, tight-knit friendship has stood the test of time.
Then Kipo talks about her friends to Hugo’s grave and it’s not big plot stuff. . . It’s small, things. Wolf’s Mega Dog has had puppies, Benson’s Benstaurant got six thumb’s up, Dave is… well, still Dave, but he’s pushing himself to learn and no longer reveling in his ignorance, even if he’s still got a lot to learn.
In short, Kipo’s experiencing joy through the success of her friends. It’s an expression of how involved they all are with each other’s lives. The pieces we’re shown of the future aren’t about plot, but about character. Even small background relationships from the show are expressed in tiny details in this final sequence.
Did you notice fries are now called potato noodles just like Dave had suggested? Because I sure did, and that may seem like a small thing, but it reminds me of why I love these characters. And that’s why it really works. The show trusts that as a viewer I’ll pick up on all these seeded details and call backs. The whole ending serves us up these moments that show us how well we know these characters, that make us feel closer to them, not further away. Yeah, things have changed, but they’ve changed in ways that express and celebrate character. The changes show the positive aspects of these characters flourishing, and that’s a really sweet way to say goodbye.
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So, what did you think of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts? Let me know in the comments.
