Time After Time Part 2
While
the story of the first part of this series finale was mostly self-contained
without a huge connection to the main goals, it was still well-told and tonally
consistent. The second part is much more
focused on Omi’s goal to go back in time to stop Chase Young from turning evil,
but the quality of the execution is kind of debatable.
For
one thing, for such a big event, and one set to end the entire series at that,
the whole episode doesn’t really feel too big in scale. Things happen so fast at a typical episodic
pace instead of allowing the time to properly take everything in. You can tell that the show is trying to
attribute itself to the legacy it built for itself by placing Omi in the actual
historical event that started it all.
It’s when Grand Master Dashi, along with his accomplices, Master Monk
Guan and Chase Young, defeated Wuya.
The catch is that there’s a huge continuity error where it was said that
Dashi used the Shen Gong Wu to beat her, and did it all alone epically with the Shen Gong Wu. Here, no Shen Gong Wu are used, the inclusion
of Guan and Chase further builds a sense of fallacy, and it all ends like a
standard battle and not a triumphant sense of good over evil. I’d also say that Omi playing a role in this
past battle can clearly mess up the timeline, but then again his whole plan was
doomed to do that from the start. The
point is that as series finales go, you can already tell that intentions are
good, but a lot of key things have clearly not been thought out.
Then
after that establishing scene, focus goes back to Omi’s attempts at keeping
Chase Young from turning evil. For the
most part, the portrayal of that moment in time is actually well
represented. The dialog between him and
Hannibal Bean is believable in terms of what’s said and how Chase approaches
the situation. He’s dismissive, but
Hannibal is ever seductive in the ways joining the dark side can benefit Chase
over Guan. Then when he’s given that
mystical soup, time is taken to show Chase thinking it over, considering both
sides of the matter. In the process
though, this portrayal of events makes everything seem so shallow. I mean, it was frequently suggested that
Chase turned evil just by drinking a soup, but there could have been a deeper
meaning to his change in side. Maybe the
soup just gave him his powers and eternal youth, and Chase’s turn from good to
evil would be gradual. Instead, all
potential mature context is compromised with it seeming like the soup is all to
blame for Chase’s change in morality. On
another note, it further raises questions for how Chase and Guan are still
alive after 1500 years while Grand Master Dashi is no longer with us. The last episode showed Master Fung still
alive after 80 years, albeit significantly aged, but that’s not even the case
with these three. It ultimately comes
off as a weird choice without any true compelling basis.
So
with the soup apparently being the biggest thing to blame for Chase’s eventual
descent into evil, Omi simply swaps it for a regular harmless soup, and the
morality change doesn’t happen. At
first, it really seems like something was accomplished considering how pure
Chase’s good virtuous ways seem to be, suggesting him being a very valuable
asset. However, this does not solve
anything, for when Omi gets back to his own time, darkness still prevails. It turns out Hannibal just switched his
target to Guan, and turned him evil. On
one hand, this is a believable course of action to take after the original plan
backfired. Still, there’s no clear
indication that Omi could have known this would happen or that Guan had the
same feelings of jealousy Chase had.
Maybe the point is that he should have thought things through, but it’s
not entirely convincing. Also, how could
time have been different if he was able to use the Sands of Time to go back and
stop the new plan if Hannibal didn’t destroy them? That’s a matter that could have made a
difference, but given the message this episode ends up teaching, it’s very
disappointing that this is never explored.
After
Omi and Chase escape the scene of battle caused by Omi’s change to time,
there’s another look at an alternate setup for the Xiaolin Warriors. They’ve now been forced out of the temple
grounds and live in the wild to breed crops and do simple farm work instead of
fighting evil. There are a few
interesting elements to their current state of being like how they got here,
why Master Fung isn’t with them, and how Jack is now aggressively good. The problem is that they’re all dumped during
exposition and aren’t shown, presenting the storytelling as held back. It’s also strange that when Omi explains what
they should be doing, they act like what they’re doing is how things have
always been and are surprised by Omi’s claims.
Shouldn’t they be confused as to why he’s even here since he clearly
wasn’t with them while they were living this life ages beforehand? It all boils down to drawbacks that often
come with time travel stories.
Now,
a notable positive to all this is further proof of the growth and development
of Raimundo. He’s very frequently taken
charge in solving problems a lot, especially throughout this season. With this resolution being in the final
episode, it’s like a grand culmination of his character moments, and this is
before the episode’s actual ending. The
plan is to stop the time paradox by finding the frozen Omi that started all
these events and freeing him. During
their attempts to get the Shen Gong Wu to help them with this goal, they get
captured. To get out, Chase willingly
takes the soup that was originally meant for him, and he instantly turns into
the evil being he’s known as. It’s as if
barely anything changed with him, and him being good was not given the time it
needed to be fully explored. There is
legitimacy to his claims that him being evil is just what’s meant to be, but
again, things could have been different if Omi was able to stop Guan from going
evil.
Anyway, one other thing that actually works in the episode’s favor is its Xiaolin Showdown, the last one of the series. The big thing about it is how it brings the whole concept of Showdowns full circle, mainly if you consider the very first one. That one was just a simple race over one of the earliest revealed Shen Gong Wu, the Eye of Dashi. That’s exactly what this final Showdown is over, and it also shows how much they’ve grown in scale. Now it’s over the inventive setup of saving Dojo dressed as a fairy tale princess while everyone works in a tag team.
The intense climb up the tower is against all
four of the well-known Xiaolin Warriors against the most powerful enemies,
Chase Young, Guan, Wuya, and Hannibal.
The different Shen Gong Wu on display and how everything changes from
player to player on each side has all the intensity and excitement needed to
make it such a spectacle. Then again,
these Showdowns typically were some of the best stretches of imaginative
entertainment this show has offered in the first place. In the end, the side of good triumphs, and
they get the simple lightning shooting Shen Gong Wu needed to take care of the
frozen Omi to fully stop all time paradoxes.
All it takes is both Omis coming together to undo the events of these
past two episodes, placing everyone back to a time where none of this ever
happened.
Though
what happened with the timelines is undone, it’s still remembered to play an
impact on how the episode ends. In fact,
if you think about it, much of the entire series impacts the ending. A leader of the Xiaolin Warriors is finally
chosen, and it just happens to be Raimundo.
Considering how, as previously stated, he’s clearly the best developed
of our heroes, it makes the most sense that he’d get this position. In a way, it’s an interesting turn of
events. With Omi being the main character
of the show, it’s easy to think he’d be the one to rise as the leader, and the
events of this saga play to that expectation.
It’s a clever subversion that the main character ultimately falls short
of what it takes to earn it. However, it
also shows how disappointingly underdeveloped he is. He had the whole season to learn from his
mistakes and faults, yet as what happened shows, he never got over his egotism
enough to think things through and not put others down. Even here, it only takes a few seconds for
him to go from disappointed in not getting the leader position to happy and
accepting of Raimundo rising to power.
The scene is overall a good conclusion, but not perfectly staged. That said, as we officially end things with
the Xiaolin Warriors happily going off to fight literally all their enemies,
it’s a fitting final shot. Some might
say it’s disappointing as it sets up a new order to the dynamic only to just
end the show, but I find it works for how everything’s closed. It puts our heroes in a position of what they
do best, and gives great hope to all the changes. If only it also had a better story to lead up
to this.
As
an episode, this has a lot of noticeable logic holes and other sides to complex
issues that get ignored, but has a few redeeming strengths as well. As a finale to the series, it lacks the
grandeur and finality to have everything go out satisfyingly enough. Everything happens fast, there’s a lack of
the scope needed to mark the episode as a big event, and very little actually
stands out. In fact, it makes things
like the leader decision and last team shot feel out of place. In short, this doesn’t really work as a final
episode, but it’s still serviceable for what it is, and with what it does get
right, it does deserve credit.
C
The Ranking
1. Bird of Paradise
2. Wu Got the Power
3. Oil in the Family
4. The Treasure of the Blind Swordsman
5. The Dream Stalker
6. Time After Time Part 1
7. Finding Omi
8. Hannibal’s Revenge
9. Omi Town
10. The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy
Bean
11. Time After Time Part 2
12. Chucky Choo
13. The Return of Master Monk Guan
Final Thoughts
As
we finally wrap up another series with the end of this look at Xiaolin Showdown Season 3, one can’t
help but be drawn to reflect on what it’s done throughout its run. When I look back on it for the most part, the
recollections typically involve a lot of fun and creativity as far as animated
action shows go. These days, it feels
like that may have been personal nostalgia talking since actually revisiting it
has uncovered several qualities that keep it from being one of the true
greats. With the final season, this
point seems more apparent than ever.
Like
most action shows, this one has always had huge ambitions in terms of staging
and storytelling. While it certainly has
the uniqueness and creativity to make it stand out, the ambitions it set up for
itself were not always met. For Season
3, we basically reach the embodiment of high ambitions but less than stellar
execution. The biggest instance of this
is with the actual adventures. This
season in particular has many interesting ideas for adventures that have the
potential to feel epic and grand, as well as enhance the feel of the world the
series has created. Good ideas and
intentions are one thing, but it takes solid executions to really make them
work, especially to fit the high standards that come with big adventures. The thing with Xiaolin Showdown is that the interesting ideas typically are not
executed in the best possible way, with something always holding it back. In the past, it was usually due to the
over-simplicity to most of the protagonists’ personalities or morals being too
heavy-handed. In Season 3, there are
even bigger reasons to why some stories don’t work as well as they do.
As
this is the final season, one would hope that the adventures the cast of
character get involved in would be especially big and grand as the series is
sent off. The problem is that very few
of them actually feel like they live up to that status. Some might say it’s because they’re only
shown in one episode when more often than not, they should affect multiple
ones. However, in the previous two
seasons, there have been plenty of big creative stories that were told much
better than the ones here. Season 3’s
stories feel like they’re the most held back from their potential for several
reasons. Some of them tend to pad out
stories with plot points that don’t have a strong connection to what the story
is all about. This especially shows near
both the beginning and end of this season.
In the season premiere which sets out to resolve the lingering issues
from Season 2, there’s little reason to warrant the whole encounter with the
chi creature. Sure, it was meant to get
good Jack evil again, but that’s only a little thing, and the story probably
would have flowed better without so much time on it. The creature doesn’t even appear again after
this, really lowering its impact from its initial reveal in the previous
season’s finale. The same can be said
for the time spent in the dark future in the first part of “Time After
Time.” For all its cool concepts and
heavy atmosphere, it still deviates from what the main story is setting out to
tell, making the experience feel noticeably less engaging. Other ways they feel less engaging include
introducing big character building questions in one episode only to never
mention them, much less fully answer them, again; create conflicts that are
supposed to be huge, but have no real major repercussions or especially
difficult ways through them; or just throw various little elements with big
effects together, causing none of them to leave a huge impact. There are also times were episode flaws are
shown to a more extreme extent. Conflicts often center on characters being
unlikable with contrived reasons to justify things that aren’t revealed until
the end, hindering the enjoyment. Other
times, they’re caused by a character whose intentions and true morality are
hard to figure out. Not to mention,
elements show just how confusing they really are like the life longevity of old
masters and how black and white the villains really are despite past signs of
depth.
Speaking
of villains, one reoccurring issue with this season is how they’re
handled. The irony is that the villains
were consistently one of the strongest selling points to the series, but in the
final season, they’re noticeably underutilized.
It is customary that every season
introduces a major antagonist, with this season introducing Hannibal Roy Bean,
a literal bean said to be the strongest forces of evil. His overall impressions though are very
mixed. He at first seems to fulfill the
role of a threatening villain with appropriate cunning and never letting up on
elaborate schemes of malice. At the same
time, many qualities of him make him hard to take seriously from his extremely
puny size, to his unsettling face, to his funny southern drawl voice. This is supposed to be the root of all evil,
seriously? I get the point of how things
that look innocent can actually be quite threatening, but I really don’t think
it works with Hannibal. He just lacks
any sort of charm and charisma which makes most of his screen time fall flat. A bigger issue arises when you consider what
his role means for other major villains.
In the past, the likes of Chase Young and Wuya always offered their own
unique flair on the villain side of this show’s setup no matter how big the
cast grew. Only now with the inclusion
of Hannibal, their roles feel noticeably and disappointingly squandered. Chase may have his moments, but he’s barely
an active player getting up to anything significant in this season which
doesn’t do justice to his appeal. Wuya
is even more disappointing with her spending the whole season in her flesh form
for once, but getting even less to do. I
know that when she took on this form she was already without her powers, but
still. Not to mention the vast rogue’s
gallery is reduced to cameos without any memorable moments. Yes, they were only side characters before
but it shows the cast is not being taken advantage of. At least Jack still offers plenty of his own
villainous charm. On that note, the
underuse of villains can also relate to the handling of other main show
elements like Shen Gong Wu. The
drawbacks in their attempts at creative aesthetics really show here through
mixed impressions. For every cool one
like the Moby Morpher, Rio Reverso, and Denshi Bunny, there are also honestly
lame ones like the uninspired Ants in the Pants or mundane Cannon Blaster. As you can see, the approach to the season is
pretty lacking and makes it come off like a lot of the creative spark going
into it is significantly fading.
Now,
you can probably tell that Season 3 is set up to be the show’s weakest, and
that’s unfortunate with this being the last one. However, being the weakest doesn’t mean that
it’s completely without merit, and there is still plenty of merit to be found
here. For all the story ideas that don’t
seem to go all the way, there are still some that hit the mark nicely. A quest for a mystical bird beautifully
showcases the strengths of our heroes; there’s a solid Wild West adventure searching for the Wudai Weapons; a look into dreams is nothing short of
creative; and a major elemental battle between Omi and Hannibal Bean is simply
epic. Also, even though the dark future
in the “Time After Time” saga is largely disconnected from the main story, it
still impresses in staging and atmosphere building. There’s even somewhat of a consistent endgame
plan at its most apparent in this season, and it actually relates to character
development. This is notable because
character development has never been a huge strength for this show, at least
for the protagonists. In fact, the lack
of good development from them is very much apparent with Season 3. At this point it should be expected that the
likes of Kimiko and Clay remain little more than supportive teammates (though
it is disappointing that Clay doesn’t get a single starring role here), Master
Fung exist to give vague wise proverbs, and Dojo be extremely neurotic. However, the biggest disappointment would
have to come from Omi whose ego problems remain the issue they’ve always been
since Day 1. Nothing is done to overcome
them and it frequently adds to many really bad world-threatening situations. It
even gets to the point where when he does accept not being the best of the best
at the end, it doesn’t feel believable if I can be honest. That’s not a natural growth; it’s him
discovering what’s right because the plot demands it.
Then
there’s Raimundo; from the start he’s stood out the most in terms of
development with a many less-than-ideal qualities for him to work through,
which he has. For someone who started as
reckless teen right down to being the last Xiaolin Warrior to make Apprentice,
he’s clearly become much wiser in terms of strength and decision-making. A frequent thing to Season 3 is how
Raimundo’s development is clearer than ever.
In most episodes, he’s the one who thinks things through, and most of
the decisions he makes turn out to be very logical and yield the best possible
results in given situations. Even little
moments of mistakes he makes and him doubting his abilities are nice touches in
making his arc feel very authentic and rewarding. In spite of fluctuating results with this season, what ultimately
happens with Raimundo is satisfying closure.
How often he resolves problems well and actually grows from his
experiences lead to the series ending with him becoming the leader of the
Xiaolin Warriors. This is the kind of
development that would benefit the show which makes it a shame that there isn’t
a lot of it. I will say that it is an
interesting shakeup that Raimundo ends up more developed and comes to a grander
place than the much more focused Omi.
That’s a rare instance where the highest honor doesn’t go to the main
protagonist, and a solid lead-in to a final shot of the Warriors happily
running to fight all their enemies. With
all this said, despite all faults, it’s clear to see that anyone who’s enjoyed Xiaolin Showdown will still have a
reasonably good time with Season 3.
One
more thing to say before we wrap up is that I am aware that there’s also a
spinoff series that came years after this called Xiaolin Chronicles. In case
you’re wondering if I plan on reviewing it, I am not. This is mostly due to my stances on reviewing
in general where I’d like to focus on things I actually see as worth watching,
and this is one of those things that just doesn’t feel like it. I actually saw some bits and pieces of it
back when it was new, and from what I remember, it hardly feels like a good
companion. It’s simply hard to shake off
the major differences in voices and Shen Gong Wu names. I know that there’s a legit reason for
changes, mainly from the show being made outside of Warner Bros, but it still feels wrong. Plus,
just from reading some episode plots and observing the weak critical and
audience reception, I’m inclined to just let it be and move onto better
shows. I mean, the final season of the
original series is problematic enough. I
wouldn’t be surprised if Chronicles
exasperates them. This could change in
the future, but I’m just at a point where I feel like I should be more mindful
of what shows I choose to review.
So
in the end, Season 3 kind of ends Xiaolin
Showdown on a weak note with lesser, unmemorable stories, and a lack of
prior strengths among other things.
Fortunately, it still has great merit from a number of moments and
adventures that do work and at least one piece of notable character development
at its core. Basically, the final
results aren’t as great as they could have been, but this season’s impact is
one I feel is good enough to call positive.
That’s all the more reason for me to end my look at the series here.
Worth a Look
So
this blog’s overall views of Xiaolin
Showdown are officially in the books, thus putting the end to another
animated series. In the end, it’s much
more of a show that I enjoy more for nostalgia’s sake than one I look at as a
high quality work of TV animation. It’s
got a lot of ambition, but whether it’s from the tone thinking more of just
kids than universal audiences or short-sighted visions, it doesn’t always live
up to it. However, it has ways of
hitting high creative marks from its multitude of creative premises,
globetrotting aesthetic, and the occasional high stakes adventure. There’s less of them as the show goes on, but
that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t left any significant mark. This is a show that leans more into the
obscure sense, but it’s nevertheless one to leave a positive experience. If you ever get the chance to check the show
out, it might not be the best one you’ve seen, but it’s a chance worth taking
just to see how good an impression it leaves.
The next review set for MC Toon Reviews will be of a new season of adventures from Netflix starring everyone's favorite blue-haired adventurer, Hilda. So
until next time:
Stay Animated Folks!
