It’s the season finale this week, with Lion-O and Tygra going toe-to-toe against Mumm-Ra in the battle for the spirit stone. We’ve got some flitting back and forth between the astral plane and the real world, which always makes for some narrative headaches.
The Elephant village is surrounded by the entire lizard army, while the Cats stand guard over the doorway hut. Panthro and Cheetara are concerned about the lizards, but Arnet senses a dark presence on the astral plane. He’s convinced their greatest enemy is themselves though. Remember, by evening bell tomorrow Lion-O will be betrayed by Tygra. I’m kind of wondering what this betrayal will entail, since it’s been made fairly clear Tygra thinks Lion-O’s not able to lead the cats.
The astral plane is one freaky deaky place too. Lion-O and Tygra wander around as pieces of their home city rise up around them. Naturally, the brothers argue about who gets to keep the stone. Tygra says that he is keeping it for himself when they find it, and Lion-O says it’s his responsibility. Mumm-Ra meanwhile shows up and does a bit of a voiceover that he can make their darkest impulses real on the astral plane. I really expected a better evil laugh from that guy.
Back to the real world, where Panthro tells the story of how Grune lost one of his saber teeth. Apparently, Grune snapped his own tooth off and used it to kill a spider monster. This is an interesting look into Grune’s character; he’s willing to do absolutely anything to win.
Tygra and Lion-O remain arguing on the astral plane. Lion-O accuses Tygra of always being jealous of him, and Tygra bites back with his belief that people should only be given what they earn. Then we see a memory of Lion-O and Tygra as kittens during a visit to the “forbidden ruins.” Yeah, this does not seem like it’s going to end well. Tygra doesn’t want to watch the memory, but Lion-O says they’re being shown this for a reason. Little Lion-O is terrified of crossing a bridge, and as he’s almost done little Tygra snaps it off so he falls into the hole below. Adult Lion-O can’t believe Tygra could be such a jerk.
Tygra ran instead of helping Lion-O from the pit. He thought he’d get in trouble with their father, so he bolted instead. Tygra still maintains the Sword of Omens should have been his, and then an astral version rises from the ground into Tygra’s hand. Predictably, the brothers begin to duel for the ultimate supremacy. Sheesh … I’m kind of surprised they’ve been building this long to the duel.
Back in the real world, The lizards are holding back from attacking the Elephant village on Mumm-Ra’s orders. Sly tells Grune that it’s because otherwise they’d shatter the portal to the astral plane, thus trapping Mumm-Ra there. Because Mumm-Ra controls the largest army on Third Earth, the lizards are appropriately terrified. However Grune has a grand idea: shatter the doorway to the astral plane and trap Mumm-Ra there so he and Sly can take over.
The lizards attack the Elephant village, and while the Elephants go off to meditate about helping, the ThunderCats battle to defend the hut. One blast of a ThunderTank is enough to destroy five lizard mechs, which is rather unbelievable. Grune shows up and challenges Panthro to single combat, which naturally Panthro accepts. WilyKat meanwhile wields a massive blaster against a bunch of lizards quite handily while WilyKit sits with the Elephants and meditates.
Tygra smacks Lion-O to the ground, and they begin shouting at each other to get all the darkness and bad blood out into the open. Tygra claims Lion-O blocked him at every turn, that he took the crown and Cheetara away. Then he shoves Lion-O down into the pit, and walks away the same way he did in the memory. Could this be the terrible betrayal?
Except Tygra is just standing at the edge of the pit. Lion-O calls up that whatever they were to each other, they called the same cat father. Tygra then reveals that when he ran that day, he’d originally meant to leave Lion-O but felt instant remorse. He found their father and brought help back. Lion-O slips on the rocks down in the pit, but Tygra comes down and saves him. He claims he’d never betray Lion-O, no matter what. We’ll see about that.
Then Mumm-Ra transforms into his Super Pokemon form. Oh wait, wrong TV show. He bursts onto the scene and attacks both Tygra and Lion-O in one swoop. The cats are knocked to the ground, and we flip back to the real world.
Cheetara tries to get WilyKat to run, but he won’t go. Then the Elephants decide to join the battle and start rocking the lizards like nobody’s business. Reminds me a bit of the Ents in Lord of the Rings. Giant creatures like this always do some pretty darn good damage. Meanwhile Grune and Panthro are still fighting back and forth.
Mumm-Ra claims he’s going to kill Tygra and Lion-O then take the spirit stone, but as it turns out they’ve been standing on top of the stone this entire time. Lion-O jams his Extend-O-Claw down into the stone, and it grows yet more armor up his arm. And now it’s time for mega battle against Mumm-Ra. With a massive “Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Hooooooooooo,” Lion-O lays the smackdown on their enemy.
The astral plane’s now collapsing, and Lion-O and Tygra make a break for it. Grune falls toward the astral plane as it falls apart, and shouts at Panthro to pull him free or they’ll both die. “The defeat of my enemy is worth any sacrifice,” Panthro says, and holds Grune in. The portal closes, and Panthro’s arms are chopped off just above the elbow. I get the feeling he’s going to be given mechanical arms sometime soon.
Lion-O talks with Arnet and wonders about the betrayal by the evening bell, since Arnet’s predictions are never wrong. Arnet replies that he never heard the evening bell, to which Lion-O smirks thinking he’s out of the woods.
Cheetara goes to talk to Tygra, and explains that she made her choice years ago. Of course she chose Tygra after he gave her that flower. Remember it from last week? So she kisses him, and then the evening bell rings as Lion-O looks on. Seriously? This is the betrayal? Lame.
And with this, the first season of ThunderCats comes to a close. All in all, it’s been an interesting ride with a few iffy bits. Still, I’m looking forward to next season’s adventures.
If you missed the previous episode, be sure to read our ‘ThunderCats: Into The Astral Plane’ recap to catch up.
