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T.K.O.
Marking the halfway point of the season is this
double-length cartoon about K.O.’s progress as a hero. By progress, it’s more of a lack of that.
K.O. has the right ambition to become a great hero, but he really isn’t close
to doing that. Most of the time, other
people have done the heavy fighting while he still can’t defeat a bad guy on
his own. In fact, the thing he’s mostly
praised for is being cute.
This looks into the hard truth of what we’ve seen,
getting you to feel for K.O. All he has
to get him to keep going is advice from his mom that the path to greatness
takes focus, which was told to him when he was a toddler. Despite this advice being with him for most
of his life, the cartoon has K.O. instead take advice from a shadowy figure
named Shadowy Figure.
Under his watch,
K.O. is trained to unleash his power through tapping into all his anger, from everyone
saying he’s just a cute kid to his own self-doubts. Shadowy Figure also feels mysterious through
morality. From his appearance, voice,
and what K.O.’s power leads to, he seems like an outright villain. Still, there is logic to his advice. All
emotions, even anger, bring a balanced life and it feels like he genuinely
wants to help K.O.
Anyhow, his teachings
pay off when K.O.’s anger unleashes that power.
It’s creatively interpreted with K.O.’s anger starting out as the black
blob from “Face Your Fears” inside a cage. The blob turns into an extreme shaggy
version of K.O. as the real K.O. thinks of his problems. Finally, the shaggy K.O. gets out of the
cage while the real one becomes trapped inside. In the real world, the anger turns K.O. into
Turbo K.O. or T.K.O. During another robot battle, these teachings seem to
pay off when he defeats a Big Darrell robot with one swift attack.
As great as this new persona seems to work
for him, the cartoon goes in an interesting direction of showing what happens
when emotions go out of balance. The
season has shown that K.O. being too positive makes him weak in battle. Being too negative as T.K.O. has a lot of
problems to it as well. T.K.O. isn’t
nearly as friendly as the kid everyone is used to. When Rad and Enid treat
him as cute as always, he snaps with a furious display of his power,
wanting to fight everyone.
The ensuing
power battle is the show’s most intense so far. T.K.O. shows exactly
what his power is capable of with the strength of his punches and the electricity
of his power fists. The intensity comes
from how he uses it to attack the people the real K.O. would never do. He punches Rad hard into the pavement and furiously chases Enid over the roofs of
the plaza. The magnitude of the battle
is really felt through the shots of other heroes running from or commenting on
what’s going on.
Then, T.K.O.’s anger
spurt ends when inside him, the real K.O. notices he’s destroying everything,
right down to getting close to hitting his mommy. The end of the destruction brings another
creative interpretation of inside the mind. A vision of the real K.O. uses the
teachings of focus to dodge a T.K.O. vision's attacks to get him back in
his cage. As a result, the real K.O. is present in the real world once again. It brings more insightful points when T.K.O.
says K.O. still needs him. This is a unique way of saying negativity is a part of all
of us suggesting that K.O. could become a great hero if he ever learns to
balance his power with love for his friends and family. It’s a possible outcome that comes with lots
of anticipation, enticing you to keep watching.
Along with a creative way of teaching the message, great action, and
mysteries surrounding certain characters, this is easily one of the show’s most
masterful works.
A+
The Ranking
- Face Your Fears
- You Have to Care
- T.K.O.
- Legends of Mr. Gar
- We’ve Got Pests
- I Am Dendy
- You Get Me
- Let’s Be Heroes
- You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
- Jethro’s All Yours
- Know Your Mom
- Everybody Likes Rad?
- Plaza Prom
- We’re Captured
- My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
- Let’s Be Friends
- We Messed Up
- Presenting Joe Cuppa
- Sibling Rivalry
- Second First Date
- Just Be a Pebble
- Do You Have Any More in the Back?
- You’re Level 100
- You Are Rad
- One Last Score
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Lord Boxman is challenged to not give into attack the plaza, which other villains see as the petty obsession it is.
If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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