Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s K-Pop, a party boat, fuzz nuggets, and cucumber demons. Also screaming “milkshake” in a way that seems awfully reminiscent of “Serenity now!”
“Code Word Milkshake”
Written by Leore Berris
Directed by Matt Ahrens
1. Faith in Kipo
Last week I spoke briefly about Jamack’s faith in Kipo, but it’s really this episode I had in mind. His situation is pretty dire here, but he’s still holding it together, holding out hope that Kipo will rescue him. More than that though, this also shows Jamack’s growing sense of community. He’s not just holding out hope for himself, he’s bolstering the spirits of his fellow prisoners. Even when Kipo shows up, one of the first things he does is to point out that Boom-Boom needs her attention more. He shows real empathy here.
2. Stealth mission!
Man, Kipo and company are angry. I genuinely enjoyed how everyone keeps blowing up all the time. Even Troy, who seemed to be the calmest at first, ends up raging about Dr. Emilia and her inexplicable hatred of Benson’s pancakes.
Kipo’s rants this episode were another nice touch. We always skipped over the bulk of them, but of y’know they went on for a long time. I gotta say, I loved the way at the end of her rant to Doag on the humans’ boat, Doag is still doing the splits. She just listened to that whole rant while doing the splits.
Look, it was an admirable attempt at a stealth mission, but as Kipo herself pointed out, “There is no milkshake frosty enough to cool my rage.”
3. Humans on… holiday?
One thing this episode stresses is how ignorant the burrow humans on Dr. Emilia’s boat are. As Benson points out, they really don’t know much about anything that’s been going on. After spending the first episode of the season with the mutes that are worried about their very future, and bracing themselves for an attack at any moment, it’s kind of sobering to see the humans just hanging out and having fun.
What’s worse is they can only see their own problems. When they were captured by Scarlemagne, there was a problem, but now that they’re on a party boat, they won’t be persuaded there are issues to deal with. They won’t let their comfort be interrupted. Kipo and the mutes with her have every reason to be angry about what’s been done to them and what more the humans are planning to do, but this very justifiable rage is weaponized against them by Dr. Emilia to make them look unreasonable. Man, that’s awfully timely for a kid’s show.
4. K-Pop Magical Dolphin Unicorns! . . . or, y’know, narwhals
Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it took till season three of the show before K-Pop showed up. Given Kipo’s heritage and the show’s love of music, it’s appearance almost feels overdue.
And you can’t have K-Pop group without a fan. In this case, it’s Doag, daughter of Hoag. This is a character that’s been in the background, but never had a speaking role before, so it’s interesting to see her step up and become a rather pivotal character. Her empathy for Hyun-soo shakes her out of her complacency, putting aside her own comfort to help others.
Random detail, I know, but apparently Hoag was named after the acronym for Home Owner’s Association Guy. So obviously, when he had a daughter, she needed to be named with an acronym too: Daughter Of A Guy.
5. Lio and Dave-o
As I said last week, we’ve seen the end of the “five against the world” period of Kipo and this episode starts exploring where the show goes from there. Troy ends up going on a mission with Kipo, Wolf, and Benson. Meanwhile, Dave is left behind, and at first he wallows in self pity, but along the way he ends up having fun with Lio, and even inadvertently helping Lio.
Continued below
I found this team up rather cute. Seeing Lio cut loose with Dave and Yumyan Hammerpaw was a lot of fun, but more importantly it shows Dave becoming a fuller character. Also, Lio kicks a leaf and it’s hilarious.
So, what did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments.
