Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s a can-can, canned cheese, cheesiness, unabashed sincerity, and giant two-headed flamingos on the hunt.
“Ratland”
Written by Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Chase Conley
1. At last, Scarlemagne makes an appearance!
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this—and I love it. As soon as he spoke, I was like, “Wait, is that David Haller?” And, yes, it is indeed Dan Stevens bringing a marvelously Legion-esque energy to the character.
This ending does so many things at once—it’s exposition heavy, telling us a lot about Scarlemagne in a very short period of time, but it’s all character-based and tremendously fun. Plus it has some excellent music too. Great opening, great character. Gimme more.
2. Happy birthday, Kipo and Wolf
OK, this was something I really enjoyed. Birthday episodes in shows are generally pretty meh, but this worked. I liked all the little things it brought up: Kipo’s relationship with her father, the nerdy link between a parsec and Kipo’s time of birth, the search for the gifts—which Wolf cared about way more than she’d care to admit—and how Kipo’s gift for Wolf was actually something small, and yet also so showed she was paying attention. It was cute without being schmaltzy, and it revealed what characters cared about. I loved seeing Wolf this emotionally vulnerable.
3. Benson and Kipo’s trip to Ratland
This episode shows Benson at his most thoughtful. His gift to Kipo was something she needed. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing, when characters start anticipating each other’s needs and investing in each other. It’s the sort of thing that makes Parks and Recreation and The Good Place great, and it’s what makes ensembles fun. (I suspect this is why I’m still a bit cold on Dave, because he only really seems to be invested in Benson and himself.)
Plus, I just loved the rats. Of all the different mutes we’ve met so far, I think I’d most want to hang out with them.
On another note, I liked the way Benson dealt with Kipo’s budding crush. Too many shows try to spare a character’s feelings with contrived misunderstandings and half truths and. . . well, it was just nice to have Benson get right to the point and very kindly tell Kipo she means a lot to him, but he’s not interested in her romantically. It’s nice to see a show handle this material in an emotionally healthy way rather than mining it for cheap drama and conflict.
4. Background details
I haven’t spoken about it in a while, but I love the care that goes into the environments in this show. They flesh out the world in all these ways that may not be consciously registered, but they still filter through and make a reader get a sense of what the inhabitants of this world are like. In this episode, all the details of the rats’ van tell us about the rats long before we even see their faces. It gives us character to react to before we’ve even met them. And it means the dialogue doesn’t have to do as much heavy lifting either.
Also, I’ve gotta appreciate the background jokes like the “Sechrist Pharmacy — it’s rad!” nod to series creator Rad Sechrist. I know I’ve said before that this series needs an art book, but it’s worth repeating, this series needs an art book.
5. Wolf being selfish
God damn it, Wolf! I know you have abandonment issues, but hiding the map to the second Clover is not cool. I’m totally with Mandu on this. I’m kinda curious to see how this plays out though—and not just from a dramatic point of view. Purely from a mechanical point of view, I want to know more about how Dave’s age states work. If Dave was in his elderly form when he and Wolf discovered the note, will he remember it, or will he only have a vague memory of it? I’m just curious about how his phoenix-esque life affects his perception of the world at different age states. For the moment we’ve only really seen his age played for laughs or to further push the idea that Dave might be a bit flaky.
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Dave could use some character development, and this is a plotline that I’m hoping will dig a little deeper with him. If he is able to remember the map, will he feel an ethical imperative to tell Kipo about it? Will he try to understand why Wolf would do something like this? Would he be willing to help her work through the barriers preventing her from doing the right thing?
C’mon Dave, I want to see you step up.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments and check back next Saturday for episode seven.
