Sunday, September 22, 2019

Crystal Glasses (Xiaolin Showdown Season 2 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 35

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Crystal Glasses


Much like the last episode, this one is majorly fueled by shenanigans caused by a newly revealed Shen Gong Wu.  There’s a touch more effective drama this time around which gives it more weight, especially in an emotional sense.  That said, getting there is a little slow despite still being mildly enjoyable. 
It begins with the Xiaolin Warriors venturing to Russia to obtain a Shen Gong Wu that allows the user to see into the future called the Crystal Glasses.  Along the way, they meet a Russian citizen named Vlad.  As a character, he’s certainly got a funny voice and appealing design, but it doesn’t shake off the fact that he’s a total Russian stereotype.  You can say that nearly all the characters on this show are walking stereotypes, but Vlad seriously takes that quality to a new level.  Despite all that, he proves productive with the Warriors’ pursuit of the Crystal Glasses, and puts up a strong fight against Jack, granting him access to join the team. 
After that comes a sequence of messing around with the Crystal Glasses and Vlad performing the chores around the temple.  It’s all right, but it mostly feels like fluff, save for one scene of Vlad informing Jack that he’s successfully infiltrated the temple, letting the audience know he’s really bad.  You could probably tell from Jack just leaving the fight when he didn’t have to, but it’s a most disappointing outcome that makes the Warriors look dumb for trusting him.  Think of how fresh the team dynamic would be if Vlad really turned out to be good. 
Anyway, the episode gets more interesting when Vlad convinces Omi to use the glasses, and the vision is of the world thrown into darkness started by Omi.  Even with all the reassuring from his friends, Omi is too ashamed of his actions that didn’t even happen yet.  Since the vision is real, the audience is able to be convinced enough to believe Omi has a point to his emotions.  Feeling the need to run away into the freezing cold where he becomes a block of ice is an extreme action but has legitimacy to it if he wants the dark future prevented. 
Out of this though is a nice sense of growth in Raimundo who leads everyone to use the glasses to find Omi.  They do so just as a bunch of Shen Gong Wu reveal themselves at once.  Speaking of that, I have to point out that none of them are named or explained.  In fact, some of them look like ones that are found in later episodes, so why reveal them here? Also, the one that’s fought over in a showdown is completely derivative from an earlier one.  It’s just not that great an exercise in creativity.  At least this part of the episode does get Omi to learn that his vision was a trick with the Reversing Mirror, though it comes from sheer carelessness on Vlad’s part. 
For good measure, the resulting showdown is plenty exciting as Omi and Vlad race through a cave filling with water while stopped by golden idols.  Omi in particular impresses by showing what he can do with his powers by using his connection with water to win and also snag the Shen Gong Wu Jack stole in the last episode.  So, Omi’s worry about going bad turns out to not matter, but even if the vision was a trick here, future events of this season suggest that maybe there was validity after all.  It’s somewhat clever foreshadowing, especially if you’re like me and have a good memory of where things go.  That’s a big element to this episode where even with a couple of questionable decisions, the emotion feels real and you’re really led to think.
A-

The Ranking

1.      Citadel of Doom

2.      Days Past

3.      Crystal Glasses

4.      The Shard of Lightning

 
 
The next Xiaolin Showdown review is a major shift in Raimundo's development with the introduction of crime boss, PandaBubba.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Racing Mule" and "Curly's Girl" in Hey Arnold.
If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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