While traveling through a village built on the sword by the sword, Lion-O’s cockiness and hubris cause him to lose the Sword of Omens to a villainous sword-collector known as the Duelist. With the help of the Drifter, Lion-O must find a way get it back.
While this week’s episode was entertaining, it is one that could easily be skipped and you won’t really be missing a thing. Last week’s episode Legacy was the logical choice to be the season finale for this first chapter of the re-imagined ThunderCats, unrightfully making this week’s all new episode a bit of a let down.
We start this week with Tygra and Panthro trying to “install” the Book of Omens in the Thundertank and failing miserably. The whole scene reminded me of watching my friends try to install a new car stereo, even with the smoke.
While the rest of the Thunder-crew are hard at work “pimping their ride”, Lion-O is off collecting supplies and the necessary tools for the Thundertank. The Lord of the ThunderCats happens upon a village where the citizen live and die by the sword. Plus, swords happen to be one of the main sources of income. At the gates of “Swordville”, Lion-O encounters a mysteriously apathetic character know only as “The Drifter”. The Drifter keeps getting hung up because he just goes where the wind takes him.
When Lion-O learns Thundara Shillings are worth nothing, he is forced to put the Sword of Omens to work to pay for his supplies. After easily besting the slicing stone, Lion-O is challenged by “The Duelist”, his best blade against the Sword of Omens… winner take all! After a short lived fight, the Duelist bests Lion-O and claims the mythical sword as his own. It was really quite funny to see the Duelist and the Drifter push the right buttons about Lion-O’s father to get him to duel.
What is a hero to do without his mythical sword, especially since he needs that sword to hunt down some magical gemstones to defeat an evil wizard hell bent on destroying him and all his Cat friends? As luck would have it he he was in the company of a sword making master. You guessed it…. The Drifter. When he was a younger man, with cares of the world, he was a master sword maker and created a masterpiece sword, the Sword of Hatanzo. The sword was his prized possession so, when he lost it to the Duelist, he just gave up.
Not one for giving up, Lion-O sets off to make a new sword to invoke his rematch clause with the Duelist. Once the Drifter sees Lion-O hard at work, he boots him out of the work show and goes about creating the sword Lion-O will use to try and win his sword back, but the wager now is his life. Of course he does more than make Lion-O a sword. He makes one last attempt to share some wisdom with the young king… willows are weak.
The second duel between Lion-O and the Duelist is a much more competitive battle. Lion-O is no longer fighting like a bull in a china shop, he is fighting like a master. While the sword made by the Drifter appears to be perfect it is again a lesson for Lion-O since it was made to break, thus showing him all is not lost even when it appears there is no other out. “Power alone is rigid but if you can bend with the wind you will never break”, and that ends the lesson.
While I think this episode would have served better as a season premiere, it was still an enjoyable and entertaining episode. Stephen Root as the Drifter and Miguel Ferrer as the Duelist are both amazing in this episode, and I hope to see more from them in future ThunderCat adventures. Well, that’s all for this first chapter of the new ‘ThunderCats’ cartoon. I’m not really sure when it will be back on the air. So, if you know, please leave it in the comments. Hopefully the next time we check in with the Cats, it will be to see them reclaiming Third-Earth from the even Mumm-ra; and maybe, just maybe we’ll see more than a glimpse of the other ThunderCats?
Miss last week’s episode? Check out the recap of ‘Thundercats: Legacy‘.
