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The Black
Vipers
Although this episode gives background to a central
character, its execution leaves disturbing and morally confusing
implications. As a result, the final
product falls flat.
Today’s
Shen Gong Wu mission leads the Xiaolin Warriors to Texas. Arriving to fight them is a team of bikers
known as the Black Vipers whom Clay seems to be aware of given that they’re
native to this state. Not only is this
the case, but they fight well too and easily bring down the Warriors, though
Clay seems to put up a good fight before he’s captured too. Then everything changes when they meet the
person in charge of the Vipers, Jesse, who happens to be Clay’s sister. In the first place, the reveal is very sudden
even if the others are appropriately shocked that Clay never told them about
her. Maybe if there was a subtle hint to
her existence in the one episode where they explored Clay’s home life, Jesse’s
first appearance would feel more natural.
Even if we let this slide, her introduction really turns unsettling when
her personality is revealed. She has got
to be one of the pettiest antagonists ever with her drive for being a bad guy
fueled by feeling like her older brother got more attention than she did. She just comes off as a spoiled brat willing
to make dangerous choices to get her way.
For all we know, she actually did get some attention and just couldn’t
accept that Clay got it first because he was older. From what’s told, there’s
not enough to even understand her motives.
All she wants for closure is for Clay to challenge her so she can have a
chance to beat him at something, although Clay, as shown in a previous episode,
refuses to fight a girl.
This wouldn’t
be so bad if she didn’t go to such extreme measures. She threatens to feed her brother and his
friends to vultures, somehow gets that they escaped and follows them to the new
Shen Gong Wu, and forms an alliance with Jack.
The latter measure happens when he infiltrates the Vipers’ lair while
after the Shen Gong Wu, and is actually competent enough to beat them and take
them over. There is potential for Clay
and Jesse to bond as they both delight in saying country idioms about how much
Jack annoys them, but this doesn’t go anywhere.
Jesse still follows Jack’s lead and actually sends Clay and the others
way down below the Earth’s crust. This
is beyond low that further shows how extreme Jesse’s pettiness really is, and
from there her morality gets more confusing.
She later lets them out because Clay’s family, yet when they go back for
the Shen Gong Wu they left behind, she still betrays them. It can’t be this hard to decide on whether
Jesse likes her brother deep down or not.
She ultimately gets her challenge when she and Clay set up a Xiaolin
Showdown for a sack of Shen Gong Wu.
This is a fun highlight for the episode as a motorcycle race through a
winding canyon where moralities really clash.
At one point, when Jesse’s falling, Clay shows mercy and saves her, but
Jesse wins by knocking him off and finishing the race first. Clay realizes the hard way that it’s possible
to put in too much trust, but Jesse has her most genuine change of heart. After giving one sad look after winning, she
decides to give Clay back all his Shen Gong Wu but keeps the Wings of Tinabi
making for a nice scene of her motorcycle flying on a rainbow.
Even with this ending though, it’s not enough
to forget how frustrating the story mostly is.
It goes to show that not all background reveals will leave the best
impacts.
C-
The Ranking
1. Citadel of Doom
2. The Evil Within
3. Enter the Dragon
4. The Deep Freeze
5. Days Past
6. PandaTown
7. The Emperor Scorpion Strikes Back
8. The Sands of Time
9. Master Monk Guan
10. Crystal Glasses
11. Dreamscape
12. The Shard of Lightning
13. Hear Some Evil, See Some Evil
14. Sizing Up Omi
15. The Black Vipers
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the next big threat to the world turns out to be a hot mermaid.
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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