The
current stakes are higher than ever and this show’s nature when it comes to
heroes and villains fighting has never been more apparent. All of this is very fitting as we near the
end of the series and bring to life its biggest action piece.
T.K.O.’s rampage is still going strong, and it’s revealed to be part of an elaborate
plan by Shadowy Venomous to absorb all power and destroy the universe. This is how he convinces T.K.O. to destroy
the factory of Pow Cards, one of the real K.O.’s favorite things, resetting
everyone’s hero levels. Even if the cards never really made sense, a power tournament is held to make up for the lost
data.
The
tournament itself takes up the entire near half hour runtime and offers so much
to take in. For one thing, there are
several appearances from many well-known heroes and villains, many of which
haven’t been seen since past roles in single episodes. It’s a good way of showing the scope of the
cast, the variety of the characters and their powers, and blends well with the
tournament atmosphere.
Fortunately,
the focus remains on the plot at hand with doing all manners possible to stop
T.K.O. from winning and ending the universe.
Rad and Enid, now Lakewood’s most revered heroes, take action to face
T.K.O. despite all previous battles in the tournament proving he’s the ultimate
fighter. In addition, there are several
instances of the real K.O. inside his own mind, confirming that despite T.K.O.
taking over, he can never be gone for good.
His friends actually notice signs of K.O. trying to break free too,
although T.K.O. is still fighting too hard for that to happen.
From
there, even bigger events in the battle occur at a fast sense. Sometimes it brings up cool ideas only to
shoot them down too quickly. Rad and
Enid get glorbs to unleash their own turbonic forms, but are overpowered just
as they're close to beating T.K.O. Lord
Boxman returns having found inner peace and has an endearing moment with his
robot children. However, when they all
try to face T.K.O. with Dendy, they’re defeated without making even a small
impact even though their affirmed love is effective.
As
Shadowy Venomous obtains control of Lakewood’s glorb tree, granting T.K.O.
ultimate power needed to wipe out everyone, more big events leave stronger
impacts. Everyone, especially Rad, Enid,
Carol, and Mr. Gar, show how important K.O. is to them despite him in his
turbonic state, inspiring others to do the same. It doesn’t stop T.K.O. but it does push K.O.
further into finding a solution. During T.K.O.’s
rampage, T.K.O. discovers he was a pawn in Shadowy Venomous’ plan and he forces out
his father’s dark influence and destroys it.
There could have been more compelling closure for Professor Venomous,
but this is fine enough.
More solid closure however belongs to K.O. when he finds something important deep within the subconscious, a tape recorder. It may seem random, but its contents of Carol singing to toddler K.O. on remembering that everything will be all right when things go wrong is very fitting. It’s not just a tie to a mention of the topic earlier in this cartoon, but also the opening scene of T.K.O.’s first appearance, creatively making him stand as an allegory for anger coping.
This is further supported by a
heartwarming scene where K.O. calls T.K.O. to share a revelation. For so long he was wrong for treating his
negative emotions like something he needed to lose or hide away. They are a part of who he is and should be
allowed to be in control as much as his positive emotions. That is something completely true for us
all. Completing the smart visual
metaphor is both parts of K.O. emerging as a new K.O. with altered design
touches.
It
is disturbing that literally everyone basically gets killed as K.O. comes to
this conclusion. The fix involving the
President of the Universe granting K.O. a wish to fix everything may seem
cheap, but it works since his power to do literally anything was
well-established before. Plus, you can’t
fault the heart in K.O. using victory in the tournament to grant everyone their
best life as his own hero journey comes full circle. He’s now fully capable of being the strong
hero he always set out to be as proven by the last shot of him destroying a
Darrell robot the way he imagined doing so in the beginning.
For
all the things happening so fast in a major escalation of a cast-sized smack
down, the final results leave a lot of great character closure, action, and
smart metaphors. While not everything
reaches the best conclusion or gets enough time to shine, for the most part,
it’s the best end this underlying story can get. And that’s not even all…
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
Season 3
Ranking
1. Big Reveal
2. Let’s Get Shadowy
3. Let’s Fight to the End
4. T.K.O. Rules
5. K.O. vs Fink
6. Whatever Happened to Rippy Roo?
7. Red Action 3: Grudgement Day
8. Carl
9. Chip’s Damage
10. The K.O. Trap
11. We Are Heroes
12. Let’s Meet Sonic
13. Dendy’s Video Channel
14. You’re a Good Friend K.O.
15. Radical Rescue
16. Planet X
17. Deep Space Vacation
18. K.O., Rad, and Enid!
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