Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s a colosseum full of molten gold, a gilded flamingo, Mulholland, and Heroes on Fire. . .
“Heroes on Fire”
Written by Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Michael Chang
1. Kipo being pragmatic
In the opening of this episode, we get a short flashback to when Kipo was briefly reunited with her mother and gave her some water. . . except she also gave her a dose of a colony of water bears. And I’ve got to say, nice work, Kipo. This is a good plan. More than that, though, it’s Kipo going into a confrontation with Scarlemagne with more than just the hope that she can change his mind, or rushing in half-cocked.
Kipo has had plenty of successes this season, but she’s also had plenty of failures too, and those failures have changed her. I don’t think Kipo at the beginning of season two would’ve been this prepared. The failures have forged a more pragmatic Kipo, but she’s weathered this change with her optimism intact too.
2. Asher, Dahlia, and Troy are back
This season has been very focused, so I totally get why these three were sidelined. Still, it’s good to see them again and I’m hoping they’ll play a bigger role in season three.
Now that I think of it, someone could always do a comic about their time with the Timber Cats. . . but that’s probably a topic better suited to a We Want Comics column. Also, Benson totally needs some more time with Troy so he doesn’t freeze up and get all babbly while flaming molten gold falls down from the sky.
3. Wolf and Dave have got each others’ backs
These two becoming friends is played pretty low key, but they’ve become my favorite pair to watch interact. They barely interacted at all in the first season, but as Wolf’s prejudice against mutes dissolved, season two was able to make something more out of their screen time together. There’re a pair of moments in this episode that I loved for this. The first was when Wolf was fighting and found herself at a disadvantage without Stalky, then Dave gets all buff and comes to her rescue. The second was when when Dave attacks Scarlemagne and Wolf cheers, “Get ’im, Little Poundcake!” And, yeah, I know, Dave gets the stuffing beaten out of him, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Wolf cheered him on. These two are supporting each other!
4. The mega jaguar arrives
I know I haven’t spoken much about Kipo’s transformation, and that’s largely because I watched the whole season in one go, so all my thoughts about it were tangled up with this moment when Kipo goes full mega. This show is full of great designs, so when Kipo initially became a jaguar back in “Fun Gus Part Two,” I was actually a little disappointed. It was pretty much just your average jaguar, a little larger and Kipo colored.
But, of course, that was just an intermediate form. The proper reveal of the mega jaguar was awesome. I especially love the way the mane evokes Kipo’s hairstyle. (It also reminds me a little of Red XIII in Final Fantasy VII, which is another design I love.)
5. What it’s like to be a mega mute
Kipo’s full transformation is paired with a sequence that visualizes Kipo’s mental experience, cut off from the rest of world. And I can’t help but watch this scene and think, “This is what Song would’ve gone through for over a decade.” It takes me back to that opening sequence with Song struggling to talk and being kind of overwhelmed by everything.
There’s a moment, when Kipo is lost in the jaguar, when Kipo first hears Wolf singing, and then her friends break through. And again, this is what it would’ve been like for Song all those moments before when Kipo was able to sort of get through to her, when she was singing “What We Have Is You” or giving her a hair tie.
Continued belowThis highlights what I love most about this season—it forever changes the way you watch previous episodes. Go back and watch season one now and it’s even better than it was before.
6. Is Song’s hand OK?
Slightly random thought, given what else is going on, but I have to address this. I don’t know much about mega mute biology, but gold melts at 1948 °F (1064 °C), so I can’t help but be extremely concerned about the state of Song’s gilded hand. Is she maimed? This was kind of weird to me, because she’s probably severely injured, and it’s just sort of ignored after the initial gilding.
7. Hope for Lio
I don’t know what hope there is for Hugo, but it was good to see Lio hasn’t given up on him. Given Hugo’s latest homicidal actions, it would’ve been easy to do. It’s one thing to feel sorry and say sorry, but quite another to turn that remorse into action. Lio played a big role in creating Scarlemagne; it’s only right he should shoulder some of the work of finding Hugo again.
8. Hope for Hugo?
As terrible as Scarlemagne has been in these final pair of episodes, I get no pleasure out of seeing all his fears come true. His pheromone power is broken, and with it everything he has is lost. The fragile fantasy he built around himself completely falls apart. Honestly, it’s heartbreaking to see him back in a cage.
Watching this series through the first time, when I got to the flashbacks about Hugo, and the way he changed, I was a little frustrated with how easy it was. Of course, it was purposefully easy, as I’d discover later. The fact that the writers did this shows they’ve already given a lot of thought into what redemption for Hugo would really entail. It’s going to be difficult, it’s not going to happen all at once, and it must take remorse and turn it into positive action.
Most importantly, Hugo has to want change.
9. Dr. Emilia being terrible
No surprises here, but it’s frustrating to see Dr. Emilia take in the people from the Clover Burrow, using them as recruiting material for her campaign against the mutes. And you can tell Hoag is going to take on everything she says like gospel.
10. The shape of the season
This season has a very distinct shape, especially in terms of character development. As I said in my first point, Kipo has failed a few times this season, but the theme of failure and what we take from it has been a major part of the season for practically all the major characters, and a bunch of minor characters too. It’s this sort of thought that makes a rewatch worthwhile.
11. Heroes on Fire
You know what else our heroes learned this season? They don’t give up on each other. Kipo’s got a strong support network around her, not just from her mom and dad, but also from her friends. And it’s that support that enables Kipo to do the impossible.
What did you think of this episode? And what did you think of the season? Let me know in the comments.
