Omi Town
When you’re on the last season of a show, one of the best things to ask from that is answers to lingering questions. An example of this case for this series is the truth about Omi’s parents. He’s an orphan who’s lived at the Xiaolin Temple all his life, but you can’t help but wonder the truth about his origins. This episode sets out to try and answer that, but it’s debatable if the results are satisfying.
It’s Chinese New Year, and the gang is excited to receive great gifts from their families. Omi is sad, not for materialistic reasons, but because it’s a reminder that he doesn’t have anyone to belong to, i.e. he has no last name. Since this is clearly a deep personal issue, Omi is advised go on a quest to find where he belongs for himself. By chance, he and his friends come across a town where everyone has very similar round yellow attributes to Omi. It would make sense that Omi came from here, and while that appears to be the case, his parents are far beyond any hopeful expectation.
Apparently, they’re old poor farmers who completely lack the interests and background Omi has built for himself for all his life. If that’s not enough, Omi’s questions about his last name is very humiliating, merely standing as Crud. The parents themselves aren’t very pleasing character-wise either. They claim to have missed him for all these years, but are nonchalant when they say they think they sold him off as a grapefruit. However, when he comes home, rather than being overjoyed for his return, they have him do all kinds of grueling chores for them and subject him to poor conditions. There’s also immense lack of consideration towards him with the father constantly coughing on him and them guilt tripping him into staying instead of going back to the Temple. Omi, however, chooses to stay merely because they’re his parents and family sticks together, though you can tell he’s not happy with what they’re like.
That said, given the convenience of the town, something clearly seems off. A lot of that connects to Hannibal Bean already influencing the series’ rogues’ gallery. Now he’s convincing Wuya that Chase Young is holding her back from regaining her powers and along with Jack, they work together to steal Shen Gong Wu to make that happen. When Omi decides to stay with his parents, they feel the path is clear for them to take it all. However, a surprise appearance from Chase saying what’s happening to his friends convinces Omi to return to the Xiaolin Temple after all to help.
Just as the villains are about to get away with Shen Gong Wu, they’re laid out and lead to a Xiaolin Showdown between Omi, and shockingly, his mother. Omi is understandably shaken by his mother being evil and brutal with her attacks, but his friends convince him to not see her as a parent. That’s very telling that even if someone is a parent, they don’t always act like it and you have the right to stand up to them when they go too far. It turns out that Omi’s mother is merely a robot, and she and the rest of that town were just part of a trick with Jack’s robots and the Moby Morpher. In other words, Omi is left without a clear answer as to where he came from, having followed a lie. To add insult to injury, along with a huge Shen Gong Wu loss, this question is never answered or explored again. There is good heart though with Omi coming to accept that the life of care and acceptance he has now is the family he needs, which is a meaningful message.
For that,
the episode is certainly a good one, but bringing up a topic that gets no real
development afterwards feels like a waste.
B+
The Ranking
1. Bird of Paradise
2. Finding Omi
3. Omi Town
4. The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy
Bean
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where our heroes set off for the Wild West to find their Wudai Weapons.
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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