Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s aliens, some sonic revelations, giant bats. . . and I’m not going to talk about any of it because there’s so much character-based and thematic material to discuss that there’s simply not room within the 5 Thoughts format.
“Benson and the Beast”
Written by Taylor Chapulin Orci
Directed by Michael Chang
1. So Kipo’s a Mega Jaguar now?
OK, cards on the table, I’ve already watched the whole season. Writing season one episode by episode was brutal and I had no desire to repeat that experience, so I binged the entirety of season two the day it came out. OH MY GOD, it’s so much more fun this way! Yes, I’m aware that weekly releases help a television show live in the news cycle longer, but as a viewer bingeing is much more rewarding, especially in terms of seeing themes take shape over the course of a season.
One of the things I love about the Mega Jaguar transformation is how it expresses the show’s relationship to violence. Kipo is a naturally peaceful person, something the show emphasized again and again throughout the first season, and the Mega Jaguar represents the simple violence can be as a means of problem solving, but also how destructive it is to Kipo’s sense of self. As Kipo is pushed further and further towards the brink of a total Mega Jaguar transformation, this tug of war between violent and peaceful problem solving comes to the fore.
Kipo’s major struggle in this episode is with how she doesn’t want to hurt anyone and yet she managed to hurt one of her closest friends. And at the end of the episode, it’s not entirely resolved. Yeah, Kipo sees that she can restrain herself to an extent, but that doesn’t mean that pull toward the easier, quicker solution of violence has gone away—and nor should it. This isn’t a decision Kipo makes once and the problem is solved forever, but rather a choice Kipo needs to make again and again about who she is and who she wants to be.
2. Dr. Emilia
Dr. Emilia is an excellent contrast to Kipo. While Kipo doesn’t want to hurt anyone, Dr. Emilia doesn’t care who she hurts to achieve her goals. She doesn’t question the impulse toward violence. When she wants to get Kipo to turn into a Mega Jaguar, the first thing she tries is shooting at her. It’s a brute force solution that doesn’t respect Kipo.
Honestly, it’s hard not to see Dr. Emilia as a reflection of some of the worst aspects of humanity at the moment. In Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, humans had once been the dominant lifeform on the planet, but now that dominance has been eroded and rather than adapt, Dr. Emilia seeks to violently subdue others and reinstate her position as a privileged class. In the flashback to her confrontation with Song, Dr. Emilia uses language that stresses purity (“You’ve contaminated humanity”). This is in contrast to Song, whose language stresses the future is in diversity. Dr. Emilia clings to the past in a way that is volatile and destructive and hateful.
She is completely aware of who the Mega Monkey is and yet she feels completely justified in what she does to Song, utterly ignoring Song’s personhood to restore her misplaced notions of “the natural order.” This character embodies so many of the social problems the world is struggling with today.
3. Wolf and Dave hyping Benson
I have a theory about ensemble television shows: they work best when you can take any one of the main characters and put them with any of the other main characters and you know that combination is going to make for a great scene. And that’s where Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is right now. The dynamics between Wolf and Benson and between Wolf and Dave in this episode were so good. I loved seeing Wolf hype Benson to Troy’s dad, Roberto, and I loved seeing her gossiping with Dave. Plus there’s something so sweet about Dave and Wolf hyping Benson. We expect it from Dave—after all, he and Benson are bros. for life—but coming from Wolf, the most standoffish of the group, it really reinforces how tight knit this group of friends has become. It’s a joy to see these characters support each other and invest in each other’s wants and needs.
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4. Let’s say nice things about Benson
Of the main cast, Benson’s been sitting out of the limelight the most this season, so it’s nice to have an episode focused more on him. Ironically, it’s an episode that focuses on his ability to support others and how important that is. He believes in Kipo even when she doesn’t believe in herself, even after she hurt him. Plus, I love that Benson’s most defining characteristic is his nurturing side, an aspect of his character showcased in the opening as he cares for an infant-stage Dave.
In general, I just love how Benson embodies so much positive masculinity. One of the plots this episode revolves around is a wingman storyline. I’m not fond of the term wingman or even the gender-neutral “wingmate,” because there’s a long history of coercion and other more insidious predatory behaviour associated with the term, yet I use the term here to highlight how Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts addresses this by showing the tip of the iceberg (Wolf and Dave’s lies) and uses it to highlight Benson’s strength of character to resist going down a path of toxic masculinity. He’s open and honest about his attraction to Troy—and that simple act of bravery and openness is a demonstration of his positive masculinity. The show subverted a well-worn trope to tell a better story.
Plus, it was wrapped up with a cute moment of Roberto hyping Troy—yet another moment of positive masculinity.
5. Reunion
The final scene with Kipo meeting with the Mega Monkey, now aware of who she truly is, is such a wonderfully understated and beautiful scene. The music here is perfect—I really don’t talk about Daniel Rojas’s music enough. There are times when the music takes over the scene and goes big and bold, and those moments are so much fun, but this moment stood out to me because it was understated. It leans on the imagery to tell the story and gently amplifies it. This is a moment that could’ve been over-scored, but instead the music drops back, letting us hear every inflection in Karen Fukuhara’s vocal performance.
It was softly, quietly beautiful.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments.
