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Judging Omi
While there’s been somewhat of a tie to the usual formula for
much of this season we start to close with a huge shift in tone. It brings together several plot points
culminating with a grand event, even if it is flawed in a few spots.
For starters, it’s revealed that this season
has lasted an entire year since the Xiaolin Warriors were first named
Apprentices which honestly seems hard to believe. The time has come for supposedly one of them
to rise to the next level of Wudai Warrior.
As a result, the first few minutes feel somewhat childish in tone as each
of the Warriors bicker over who’s going to get the new position. At times it can get uncomfortable when some
of them make condescending or outdated sexist remarks, or bribe Dojo into
saying they’re the one. I know they’re
young, but if they’ve grown up and are close to rising in the ranks, wouldn’t
it make more sense to see less of this?
Also, Dojo just says everyone is chosen to be Wudai Warrior which isn’t
true, and it’s too obvious that everything is going to backfire.
In the process, many interesting events occur
to make up for this. The revealed Shen
Gong Wu, the Ying Yo-Yo said to act as a portal to a place called the Ying Yang
World has a lot of mystery to it, especially with information on it
missing. Chase Young watching from the
distance as they set off figures he must take drastic measures to get Omi to
his side due to his power potentially growing enough to surpass his. There’s a gathering of several past villains
led by Jack Spicer as the Warriors try and fail to get the Ying Yo-Yo; at least
that’s what Chase makes them believe.
Things get darker when after a battle no one remembers having for some
reason, Master Fung mysteriously goes missing into the Ying Yang World. Through this desperation comes a tie-in to a
very recent random adventure as the other Warriors point out that Omi knows the
way to defeat all evil. They plan to use
that information to help find Master Fung, but Omi refuses to share it because
he gave Chase Young his word not to.
Speaking of Chase, after a tense confrontation with his friends over his
word, Omi once again turns to him for help.
Chase agrees while subtly showing his belief that Omi can still join
decide to join him. This leads to an
exciting sequence where they take out Jack’s army as they invade the Temple
which also has decent humor from Omi’s friends being held back by being
tickled. Afterwards, Chase offers Omi
the Ying Yo-Yo and he uses it to go after Master Fung despite legit opposition
and suspicion from the others.
The Ying
Yang World is creatively and mysteriously designed with cloudy layouts and
shifting terrains. Even more mysterious
is how Master Fung is unresponsive when Omi finds him. He gets his master out, but then comes the
catch. Through a bottle of chi with
Omi’s head appearing on the shelf and Omi’s nine forehead dots turning,
something changes in him when he returns.
It’s here where he’s finally moved to join Chase Young, although his
words of not being followed by his friends when he tried leading do offer some
weight to his actions. Even so, this
being a result of going into a strange world cheapens Chase’s tactics. He says that true evil must be chosen, but he
had to change Omi to get him in this position even if he did have a good reason
for desperate measures. At least it’s
hard to deny the grand scale of his fulfilled alliance bringing the end of the
world.
Even with its questionable tone
and decisions, this is an overall strong start to the end of the second season.
A-
The Ranking
1. Citadel of Doom
2. The Last Temptation of Raimundo
3. The Apprentice
4. The New Order
5. The Evil Within
6. Enter the Dragon
7. The Deep Freeze
8. Days Past
9. PandaTown
10. Dangerous Minds
11. The Emperor Scorpion Strikes Back
12. The Return of PandaBubba
13. The Sands of Time
14. The Year of the Green Monkey
15. Master Monk Guan
16. Judging Omi
17. Screams of the Siren
18. The Demon Seed
19. Crystal Glasses
20. Dreamscape
21. The Shard of Lightning
22. Something Jermaine
23. Hear Some Evil, See Some Evil
24. Sizing Up Omi
25. The Black Vipers
Be sure to stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion in the season finale which is practically the show at its best.
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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