Welcome back to Multiversity Comics’ Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts reviews. This week there’s Carton, Label, Tongue Depressor, Hot Dog Bun, Rusted Can, Fish Bone, Dirty Diaper, and DJ Crowbar. . . and that’s just the Fitness Raccoons. There’s also muscles, leotards, and cool big hair. . . again, still talking about the Fitness Raccoons. To be fair, they are pretty great.
“Twin Beaks”
Written by Joanna Lewis & Kristine Songco
Directed by Chris Copeland
1. “What if I’m never that happy again?”
I love this bleak question and I love that the “Mulholland” episode has some fallout, and not just the stuff at the end with Wolf and Kipo. As I said in last week’s piece, for the most part Benson and Dave’s dream sequence didn’t progress the story much, so it’s good to see it getting explored in this episode. There’s a quiet desperation on Benson’s face a few times in this episode, which says so much about how much he wants to feel and how little he is feeling. It’s a nice bit of comedy that’s also building character.
2. Dave and his mighty left arm
This is an aspect of the series that’s growing on me more and more. Dave’s war with his own body and his extreme case of performance anxiety. He has so much bravado and it’s all empty and he knows it—he’s painfully reminded every time he fails. Still, he tries.
3. Hanging out in Trash Canyon, away from all that garbage
Just ignore the garbage and everything is fine. The Fitness Raccoons don’t confront their problems, they hide from them, they distract themselves from them. Even when Beak Beak comes for an “energy snack.”
Speaking of Beak Beak, this is just a really small, but satisfying detail. I love that when Wolf says, “It’s Beak Beak,” Beak Beak does two parroting squarks like it recognizes its own name.
4. Community living
What an amazingly helpful community the Fitness Raccoons were. I’d never really thought about how Kipo’s natural inclination towards helping people would’ve come from how she’s grown up. That’s the way things were in her Burrow. People helped each other—they had to in order to survive—and Kipo carries that with her even after she’s left.
Seeing Wolf slowly warm to the idea of community is nice too, especially when she helps out the Raccoons. Wolf’s clearly been burned in the past, but remember how easily she was convinced to help Kipo when they first met. Whether Wolf wants to admit it or not, she wants the security of a community around her.
5. The Mute problem
I really appreciate the little animation touches in this show, like Kipo’s jacket sleeve sliding down a bit and her pulling it up again, just enough to show that she’s still anxious about her arm even when it isn’t covered in fur.
As for Wolf (or should I say Wolfatha Christie IV?), she’s been pretty crappy to both Mandu and Dave in previous episodes just because they’re Mutes, and honestly, I feel like a bit of an idiot for not realizing this was obvious foreshadowing for how Wolf was going to react to Kipo being part Mute. I mean, it’s not like the show’s creators were being subtle about it.
Still, it’s jarring to see how Wolf looks both horrified and betrayed the moment she learns the truth about Kipo—and worse, that Kipo’s been concealing it from her. I feel horrible for Kipo in this moment, because we’ve seen all the anxiety she’s had about this, and seen how she’s been fearful of how people would react to her, and yet she never once imagined Wolf would react the way she did. Reality played out far worse than Kipo imagined.
What did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments and check back next Saturday for episode nine. And remember, expectations are just placeholders for reality.
