- Released: July 14, 2022
- Total amount of seasons: 2
- Seasons watched: 2
- Rating: 3/5
Synopsis
My Thoughts
I had pretty mixed feelings on the first season, and this one really is no different. Some elements of this series I really like, others...eh. I still wouldn't call it a bad show, I honestly think that Dragons: The Nine Realms is worse at least in later seasons. But that doesn't make this one good.
This season definitely marks a first time of Po and the gang leaving China behind for other countries. For a few episodes we make a pit stop in India where we meet up with several antagonists as well as Rukhmini's old partner in crime. Hijinks ensue, and eventually we end up in Central America where the weasels are now wreaking havoc, and our gang has to stand up to a new antagonist, their local ruler who is using one of the Tianshang weapons. And during all this Mr. Ping gets possessed by one of the four ancient masters, Master Mastodon. We end the series on a Lunar New Year special with a longer running time, one that doesn't connect to any of the main events going on except very loosely.
So we got a lot going on this season and not all of it works. While I think it's cool to have new locations to explore, the series still feels weirdly small-scale. Like we'll be going to a new location such as India or Central America and still we mostly stay in the same three-four locations there. I get that this is probably a budget issue, but honestly with (so far) how little was shown we might as well have stayed in China and explore some unique locations there. And I also honestly don't think the Kung Fu Panda franchise needs to even leave ancient China as a setting behind. It's a huge and awesome location and has so much left to offer, so honestly while it's a cool idea to explore new locations and cultures it's just not something the series needed. Season one stayed within China and it already gave us enough interesting locations, we don't need more. But it's what we're getting, and so far I'm not super enthused. The next season seems to have our characters traveling to England, so who knows, maybe things will be different there.
As for the characters, they're still not great, but I'd at least consider them better. I really didn't like Luthera and Rukhmini in season one that much, but they surprisingly grew on me here, especially the latter. Luthera is still quite unlikable if you ask me because of the trick she pulled in season one (treating Po like shit and lesser than her all the while lying to him constantly), but at least in this season she seems to really be trying her best to do better and make up for her mistake. She also drops the solo act a bit and seems to accept help and friendship now much more than before. So at least she's not a static character and she does genuinely treat Po and the others better by now. She's still far from my favorite, but at least she's not as godawful as last season. The only thing I don't hope they do with her in future seasons is pushing her as a love interest for Po.
Rukhmini meanwhile is great because she's a grouchy old kleptomaniac, and just written really fun. She's also quite perceptive on more subtle things which is nice. And I like her interactions with Mr. Ping. She's just genuinely a fun character and while I didn't like her in season one she's by now probably my favorite of the entire show. There's also Mr. Ping, who is still great. The only thing I don't like they did with his character is retconning his backstory. He's now a retired pirate captain who became a noodle chef, and future seasons are probably going to touch on this.
He also gets possessed by Master Mastodon throughout most of the show, but luckily this is a "mode" he can turn on and off semi-voluntarily, so we don't spend our entire season with Ping in Master Mastodon state. As for Mastodon himself, I didn't find him a particularly likable character, making his heartfelt "sacrifice" at the end ring a bit hollow. He just kind of treats Po and the gang like shit and despite the fact that they're on the same side and (mostly) our main team is trying to actively help him. So not a very fun character.
As for Po...I still like him, really do. I'm just not sure I like what this series is doing with him. In these first two seasons they're trying to push this "he is no longer the Dragon Warrior" and "he's out of shape" thing and it's just kind of annoying. I can understand Po being bummed out about no longer being the Dragon Warrior, but the whole thing that he's out of shape just doesn't feel very Po to me. We know how much he loves kung fu, we had three movies plus several specials and animated series to showcase this. And now we're supposed to believe he just got sloppy with his practice after a while resulting in him being a weaker fighgter. I don't know, it just doesn't work for me.
That said, I do like him finding a new purpose this season in becoming a "Dragon Knight" and knowing that even if he's no longer (officially) a kung fu master, he can still find value in himself nonetheless in his own way. Kind of reminiscent of the first movie's message. And he has some sweet and fun interactions with some of the characters, and I'm also glad how he's sticking by his moral of trying not to hurt (and especially not kill) people unless he has to. But overall I'm still not too big a fan of how the series handles him so far.
Okay so we've covered the traveling, the characters. The plot itself is still pretty good, at least a good setup for an adventure story. We get several antagonists, lore, traveling, epic battles, it's all there. The execution still fails quite a bit sometimes, but at least I do like the overall plot we've set up. My main gripe would still be Veruca as a villain. Klaus is honestly kind of growing on me because he's clearly the more logical, sane and subdued one of the two. He's definitely evil, but at least has some standards, when Veruca is just unhinged and wants to watch the world burn, to the point she's even abandoning Klaus by the end of the season. Honestly I kind of hope we're going to get a de-corruption arc for Klaus. Maybe not an outright redemption, but just him standing up against his sister because he's clearly shattered by her betrayal and he doesn't quite have the same goals as her.
The plot for the next season seems to have us traveling to England and I definitely look forward to the potential there, especially with the possibility for good development from Wandering Blade since she seems to be wanted by them and has a lot of emotional baggage leading back to the trauma of losing her brother there. Another thing season three will probably touch on is the pirate subplot which was hinted at several times in this season. Mr. Ping is a retired (and once very notorious) pirate, and it seems we're getting a sheep pirate as a villain this time around. Which has potential, since she has a connection to Mr. Ping. But we didn't seen enough of this season in order to get a good impression. Time will tell.
One thing I will give season two credit for is it feeling quite a bit more epic than the first, with the larger scale, several new antagonists, lore which is introduced, and an intense final battle where Po almost dies. There's genuinely glimpses of a good show in here. So far it just hasn't found its footing yet if it is to be better. But the fact that the quality overall is so mixed is just frustrating.
Speaking of frustrating: this season ends in a Lunar New Year special, as mentioned before. Is this special in and of itself bad? Absolutely not, it's quite enjoyable. The problem is that the point where it's placed completely kills the tension and tone set up by the previous epic two-parter which was full of grand battles, character moments and overall feels like a true conclusion to the season and proper setup for what comes next. But instead the next episode isn't season three episode one, where the story will directly continue, but rather a Lunar New Year special which is separate from the main story and thus kills all the anticipation the previous two-parter built up for the audience.
I honestly think they just should've released this special as a separate thing, rather than squishing it at the far end of season two. My Little Pony: Make Your Mark does this thing where it releases its specials as separate "chapters" from the main episode season, and that probably would've worked better here as well than what they ended up going for. Because right now we get a frankly quite intense two-parter season finale with a lot of setup for future seasons...only for the viewer to then be thrust into a completely unrelated special. Just not a smart way of releasing things and kills the tension the epic two-parter set up. Again, the special in and of itself is quite fun (it's basically a story about Lunar New Year being acted out by our main characters), it's just not a smart way of releasing it.
Overall though this season was a bit of a step up from the first, but I still wouldn't call this series good. Like said before, there's potential and glimpses of a good show in here, but it's not quite there yet. I don't recommend this series, but I don't not-recommend it, either. If you're curious you can give it a go but if it doesn't peak your interest it's not worth watching unless you want to truly be caught up on Kung Fu Panda media.
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