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Master Monk
Guan
Up until now, this show has been pretty light-hearted as far
as action shows go. The quirks of the
characters, the extreme expressions, and emphasis on comedy are a major sign of
this quality. That’s not to say that
there haven’t been legitimately threatening moments of times when the goals of
the heroes were taken seriously. We’ve
gotten plenty of those moments. Now we
can see them as signs for when the series really starts growing a backbone through
introducing two key warriors.
During a
Shen Gong Wu quest, the Xiaolin Warriors meet Master Monk Guan, a man known
throughout the ages. That said, there
isn’t really much to make him stand out as a character apart from being skilled
and wise. Ultimately he becomes a
catalyst for a main plot involving Dojo.
Regarding that, a couple of contrivances regarding characterizations
have to drive it along. For one thing,
the Warriors are much more prone to tease Dojo than average every time he acts
cowardly or gluttonous. Dojo may have
his moments, but his friends have never been on his case to this extent
before. That said, since when did Dojo
have a habit of eating so much? It feels
like this trait of his is only here to make this one plot work.
This brings us to the introduction of the
other key figure. Master Monk Guan plays
to Dojo’s lamenting over the teasing and brings him to a secret lair. Enter Chase Young, a dashing villain with
stellar fighting skills and an entire army of predator cats. Anything impressive about Guan is devalued
given what he does with Dojo. By
offering him to Chase, he gets back a prized weapon known as the Spear of
Guan. Even before he’s confronted, this
is pretty low. As for Dojo, Chase treats
him like an honored guest and feeds him immensely.
All throughout, Chase brings a sinister
atmosphere as he serves him. Out of all
the villains in this show, there’s no doubt Chase stands out from everyone
given how seriously he takes being evil.
He’s also quite formidable when he meets the Xiaolin Warriors and can
easily block every attack. It’s a
fitting first step towards finding a way to beat him by realizing the power he
possesses. It’s during this scene where
the tensions between Dojo and the Warriors are settled before getting overplayed. He can’t go back with them being traded
though.
Later on, the Warriors learn
from Master Monk Guan his reasons for the trade. Despite dramatic staging and an impressive
art style shift for the flashback, his reasons still feel shallow. Guan just lost his spear to Chase in a battle
and feels like he’s nothing without it.
Out of this backstory is interesting background on Chase where he used
to be good, but gave that up for a soup that keeps him forever young. This still begs a lot of questions like how
Guan is still young and alive after thousands of years. Further, how does it take so long for Dojo to
realize he’s being made into Chase’s soup?
Fortunately, the climax works as a solid payoff to everything. For one thing, it’s a play on events through
being a regular showdown instead of a Xiaolin Showdown without any Shen Gong Wu. There’s also a lot of great staging with a
ring of fire and hall of mirrors. Guan
even sees sense by realizing he never needed his spear at all, winning the
freedom of Dojo in the process. Chase,
for all his evilness, accepts defeat, but is fully confident paths will cross,
giving something to look forward to.
Overall, if you can look past a few contrived characterizations, this is
an episode of introductions that make the show more interesting than ever.
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where a big mistake leads to one of the Xiaolin Warriors getting close to joining the dark side.
A-
The Ranking
1. Citadel of Doom
2. Enter the Dragon
3. Days Past
4. PandaTown
5. The Sands of Time
6. Master Monk Guan
7. Crystal Glasses
8. Dreamscape
9. The Shard of Lightning
10. Hear Some Evil, See Some Evil
11. Sizing Up Omi
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where a big mistake leads to one of the Xiaolin Warriors getting close to joining the dark side.
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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