Dark Plaza
The
Season 2 finale is one to appropriately and epically culminate some of the
series’ deeper elements after a string of fairly light-hearted material. In fact, there’s an effective transition from
nice and wholesome to dark and serious right at the start.
Reflecting the happier times K.O. and his friends have been enjoying, the beginning features them all enjoying life at the bodega, thinking the day’s going to be great. At just a couple of seconds in, the lighter tone is quickly and suddenly darkened, though given the context of the story, it makes sense for things to escalate quickly.
The heroes responsible for this are from
P.O.I.N.T. under the leadership of Foxtail, giving some much needed context to
the end of the earlier P.O.I.N.T. Prep arc of this season. She’s also appointed Elodie to work alongside
her, which at first feels like a detriment to her character development.
Thankfully though, there are a few hints all throughout that she doesn’t really
approve of following these orders.
Now,
Foxtail has come to the plaza to take full control of the hidden glorb tree so
P.O.I.N.T. can harvest them and use them for power. Out of this is the exposure of Carol’s
involvement as a secret agent who was the former protector of the tree and is
now relieved of those duties. Though
Carol is quick to oppose these plans, Mr. Gar is understandably hurt that she
kept such a huge secret from him. For an
even darker measure, P.O.I.N.T. ends up taking over the entire plaza and even
tears down Gar’s Bodega, making everyone work for them harvesting the
glorbs.
Not only does everyone opt not to stop them right on the spot, but P.O.I.N.T.’s reign legitimately lasts for two months, showing the weight of the events’ effects on the world. K.O. and many of his friends form an underground resistance with both Mr. Gar and Carol going into hiding. The impressive thing about this setup is that despite the repercussions on P.O.I.N.T.’s reign, it hardly feels out of place for the light-hearted tone of the series. K.O. for instance is portrayed as an edgy resistance leader, but still gets over-emotional about the prospect of things going back to normal.
Then there is the
plan to take P.O.I.N.T. out of power that makes good use of characters major
and supporting put into action once important blueprints are obtained. It’s hard to tell it’s actually happening
since it’s shown while K.O. is explaining it, but it’s made clear later that
this is the case. There’s a good
productive use of everyone’s powers while K.O., being the serious mission
leader, is treated as the cute little bundle he’s designed as. His small size fitting into things like
Enid’s shadows, Rad’s levitation, Red Action’s arm cannon, and even Chameleon
Jr’s tongue is an endearing sight in a post-apocalyptic setting. There’s also strong continuation of newly
formed bonds, particularly with K.O. and T.K.O.
Bringing the impression that he’s embraced his positive and negative
emotions, they’re able to work in sync and be at their most powerful, creating
a being called P.K.O. or Perfect K.O.
Their power along with a previous plot device, the key to the plaza is
used to bring to life Lakewood Plaza Turbo’s ultimate defense system, Plazamo,
proving that ridiculous story true.
As Plazamo is kind of dopey and can’t focus on the battle, she needs help from K.O., Rad, and Enid when Foxtail and Elodie come to attack. There’s an exciting battle out of this with Plazamo soon under threat of losing her powers, but there are plenty of elements on its side. P.K.O. brings on the truly impressive elements of holding back the disempowering rays of the enemies.
Carol and Mr. Gar suddenly show
up, have an endearing make-up while falling towards the scene of battle, and
then help out majorly. Bringing on the
true redemption though is Elodie, for allowing herself and Foxtail to take the
hit of the disempower ray, allowing the plaza to win back its freedom. It’s easily one of the show’s grandest
battles and it’s followed up on effects that change the show going
forward.
Foxtail
is left powerless and is heartbroken over this as she feels that without power,
she can’t lead P.O.I.N.T. well and could potentially lose another great one
like Laserblast. Carol, who was once
really close to Laserblast, understands Foxtail’s feelings, and gives her a
passionate speech. Luckily for Foxtail,
with K.O.’s help, she gets a chance to prove herself as a great hero through
launching him to stop Lord Boxman from stealing much of the harvested glorbs. The real changes then come in just after
this. While Elodie’s sacrifice is
cheapened somewhat with a mention that the disempowering ray was dialed back so
the effects won’t be permanent, healthy decisions are still made. Foxtail retires, and Elodie who’s much more considerate
for the job, is named the new head of P.O.I.N.T. K.O., Rad, and Enid are also named official
heroes with Mr. Gar allowing them to take part in top secret missions. Just to further K.O. getting to his ultimate
goal, this growth is marked by a fitting level up on his Pow Card. For this show, this is best way to close one
season and go into the next one, and after something so huge too.
It’s
true that some things happen quickly, some conveniences arise, and some
repercussions aren’t as big as they could be.
While this means this season finale isn’t perfect, it doesn’t change
that it’s still very strong for what it does provide. It goes from happy to dark seamlessly, still
maintains the show’s cartoonish side even when dark, and the changes it brings
to the show are fitting to see. Any
fault it does have end up working well because of these strengths in fact. One thing’s for sure, it does its part to
make the series all the more engaging, and excites for what’s coming next.
A+
Season 2
Rankings
1. Your World is an Illusion
2. T.K.O.’s House
3. Final Exams
4. CarolQuest
5. All in the Villainy
6. Dark Plaza
7. GarQuest
8. Dendy’s Power
9. Crossover Nexus
10. Lord Cowboy Darrell
11. Bittersweet Rivals
12. Beach Episode
13. Red Action to the Future
14. My Fair Carol
15. K.O.’s Health Week
16. Are You Ready for Some Megafootball?!
17. Boxman Crashes
18. Wisdom Strength and Charisma
19. Gar Trains Punching Judy
20. I Am Jethro
21. Mystery Sleepover
22. Super Black Friday
23. Point to the Plaza
24. Project Ray Way
25. Special Delivery
26. Seasons Change
27. The So-Bad-Ical
28. Monster Party
29. Sidekick Scouts
30. Whacky Jaxxyz
31. Rad’s Alien Sickness
32. Plaza Film Festival
33. OK A.U.! Alternate Universe
34. Let’s Watch the Boxmore Show
35. Be a Team
36. Plaza Alone
37. Soda Genie
The second season is officially covered, and you won’t have to wait long to see any views of what comes next. For in just a few reviews, we'll soon see these new status quo changes come into effect in the premiere for Season 3.
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