Bird of Paradise
With the passing of another world-threatening force of evil, the series is all set to go back to following the usual formula. While this featured episode seems to do that through focusing on the Xiaolin Warriors on a quest, there are a few things to make it stand out from the norm.
A passing old woman with a terrible singing voice is a sign of the coming of an all-powerful being known as the Bird of Paradise. They’re assigned to find it and gain its gifts of wisdom, and there are a few elements to it that set it apart from their usual quest. For one thing, they’re instructed not to bring any Shen Gong Wu, marking the only time in the series where they’re not present at all. Finding the Bird of Paradise requires each Warriors’ inner strength, as well as the assistance of a magical leaf that points towards the bird when placed in water.
As you can tell, this quest has a couple refreshing changes of pace. Still, there’s familiarity as the Xiaolin Warriors venture into the Land of Nowhere, where Chase Young rules, to find the bird. In other words, they have to face schemes from their usual villains like they would under normal circumstances. Of course, the wild antics of Jack Spicer are a burden to deal with as he takes their leaf to find the bird for himself. Even more challenging are the powers of Chase Young and Wuya watching over them with a mystical eye. Being forces of ultimate evil, they have more elaborate challenges planned for our heroes like monstrous faces stretching out of rocks, fire-breathing squirrels, and a rock snake.
No matter what the challenge or inconvenience though, there are good opportunities to emphasize the subject of each Warrior’s inner strength. That, in turn, is a telling sign of growth and maturity as protectors of the world, even if it means drawbacks to their own quest. This mainly applies to Raimundo who sees that same old woman wanting to cross a river, and he stops to help her despite this costing the group their leaf. Others demonstrate creative thinking when overcoming obstacles like Clay taking on the rock snake, and Kimiko beating back the fire-breathing squirrels. These two, by the way, are the first sightings of the group’s new powers that come with their promotion to Wudai Warriors. Like their earlier Apprentice powers though, they just suddenly appear without any prior knowledge. Anyway, gestures that thwart progress come again, this time from Omi who leads an attack on Chase’s rock creature just as they find what they think is the Bird of Paradise. While they’re beating the obstacle, they become distracted which allows Jack to take a small green parrot for himself, leaving the Warriors empty-handed.
However, their supposed losses turn out to be of great benefit. The Bird of Paradise was not a real bird, but a spirit who took the form of that old woman. She reveals her true form, which is very nicely designed, and grants the Warriors with acknowledgement of their strengths and virtues expressed through the adventure. These words may not be anything material, but if you think about it, being told of what you excel at can be a most valuable and inspiring thing. That’s what helps make the Warriors’ encounter with the bird honestly one of the most beautiful scenes of the series. As an aside, along with being told of their virtues, they also learn that things are not always what they seem. This works as an amusing contrast to the ending scene of Jack who thinks he’s got wisdom from the parrot, but actually gets nothing but rude wisecracks.
Overall though, this episode
is a worthy series entry with interesting formula changes and inspiring wisdom.
A+
The Ranking
1. Bird of Paradise
2. Finding Omi
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