Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s a hiss off, a Mega Monkey, lots of spikes, and guitar shredding.
Most importantly, there’s respect for headaches. Always respect the headache.
“Cäctustown”
Written by Joanna Lewis & Kristine Songco
Directed by Chris Copeland
1. That opening
This was pretty much my favorite episode so far, not just because of what was in the episode itself, but because of how it built on previous episodes. Most notably, all those scenes in past episodes where Kipo played a guitar are put into greater context. In “Burrow Girl,” the surface world is something dangerous to Kipo until she discovers the music shop. Playing the guitar is like a breath Kipo takes to stop being freaked out and start being productive. More importantly, it’s a comfort. It’s a part of her home she carries with her. And as the series progresses, this is reinforced again and again.
And again, I love the design of this world from a story perspective. Kipo’s home isn’t just a room full of stuff—it’s full of memory. The roof has constellations on it and her father’s guitar has a sun design on it, both memories of the world Kipo’s people have left behind; her father wears a guitar pick around his wrist that’s clearly connected to his memories of Kipo’s mother.
Then there’s the song, the heartbeat of Kipo’s home, now a memory of a mother that’s gone… complete with the shredding guitar bit at the end, which says so about her family. Also, there’s mandu, which immediately made me hungry. God, I need dumplings right now.
2. What we choose to leave behind
This was a running element throughout the episode, expressed through all four leads in different ways. Obviously, it’s something built into Wolf, a major part of her character—her whole thing is how she has repeatedly left everything and everyone behind, and she’s struggling to come to terms with the new attachments she’s forming. Her natural impulse is always to leave things behind.
Benson and Dave mentally have one foot out the door already. From the beginning of the episode they’ve already decided they’re OK with leaving Kipo behind, but they’re not really being honest with themselves. In Dave’s case, he’d rather leave a leg and two antennae behind instead of Kipo.
As for Kipo, she’s going to find her people, and if Wolf, Benson, and Dave won’t come along, she’ll leave them behind without a moment’s hesitation.
3. Umlaut Snäkes
Make a snake play a guitar. . . and do it in a way that feels natural. That’s the brief the character designers would’ve had for the Umlaut Snäkes. The result is snakes holding the guitar with their tails and strumming with their tongues. Damn, I’m impressed with the brilliance of it. It’s not just functional, it has attitude.
4. More than survival
Wolf’s been dropping a lot of rules about surviving the surface world—thirty-two at last count, plus one from Kipo—but life has to be about more than survival. As Benson says, together they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Whenever that need comes into conflict with survival, we always get the most character-defining moments. Each member of the core cast, even Mandu, demonstrates this.
5. Wolf and Kipo conflict
Things have worked out for Kipo so far, but I can’t help but agree with Wolf. She’s rolled a few natural twenties lately, and it’s made her more confident than she has reason to be. That said, Kipo’s also right to look for the humanity in the monsters they encounter along the way. So far we’ve seen this conflict play out in a rather lop-sided way, favoring Kipo, which works to show how different she is from the others and how her point of view is something sorely needed in the surface world, but I’m hoping in the future we get a bit of shake-up. I’d like something to blow up in Kipo’s face spectacularly so I can watch the characters find a new equilibrium.
For now though, this ending with Kipo calming down the Mega Monkey was the perfect way to end this episode, especially since Kipo plays the song from the opening with her father’s pick.
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What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments and check back next Saturday for episode five.
