The Ultimate Redemption Arc⎮Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight Season 3 Review
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2023
- So, we're now in the era of Dreamworks shows being good. Which is a bit of a trip if i'm being honest with you. But there we go. The final season of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight has dropped. And it is good. Let's discuss.
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At first I thought they could have just wrapped it up in Season 2 (especially when that finale was just a New Year Special) but the Alfie twist does a full 180 that's both genuinely shocking yet also makes total sense and completely recontextualises pretty much the entire show that came before it. I'm not even kidding when I say I'm genuinely awed by how well they actually pulled that off.
Looking back on it, Dragon Knight kind of has the opposite "issue" to Ted Lasso where, while that show had a ton of details, plot lines and symbolism that seemed important but amounted to nothing, this show has a ton of characters, subplots and even entire episodes that felt like meaningless filler but actually ended up being crucial pieces of a puzzle, and it actually feels rewarding watching it all culminate together in the finale.
It definitely felt like a meandering slog watching the three seasons separately as they released, but looking back on it now I imagine it works _a lot_ better binged all at once. And I honestly feel kind of tempted to rewatch from the start to see if that experience really does improve it.
Yeah it really works well when you realise that loads of plot lines and details that occurred in the past two season come together and pay off so well. Season 3 along makes Dragon Knight so enjoyable.
it went from bellow mid TO A PRETTY GOOD BANGER and the mr ping back story i hope they make it canon and the retired french pirate queen a character in the 4th movie being someone like tigress thats there for po at his house and maybe seeing po see her as his mother would be a good idea and her character can add a good new branch into the series
I loved this show very much. Although the series is over, it would be cool if in the future there would be a spinoff series, focusing more on the ancient masters, life in Pangea, the Great War and the creation of the tianshang weapons, and the journey that the weapons and the masters went on to get to where they were in the show.
To me I feel the Pirate Queen's voice was fine for being a threatening pirate longed fueled by Ping's past betrayal, along with the voice actress who has a pretty long history in voice acting. Also the other main cast didn't bother me too much.
(the romance bit I think is a bit of a retcon, because in s2 they are clarrified to be adopted sisters by saying auntie so...the whole things a bit weird, to put it lightly.)
Pros: the amount of death in this show, intimidating villains, making the weasels likable, great voice acting (except for the parrot,) better animation, cool plot twists, consistently hiring english voice actors, funny, overall just great in general. Though Ryfeki (Im probably spelling her name wrong) really carried the season for me with how hillarious she is. Example: "If i ever had a daughter...Id want her to dig faster than you!"
Cons: the typical lack of research on England and its culture. Now this is typical and common for American hollywood, and has been going on for years, (such as spiderverse) so its not just a problem in here, but this really just brought the problem into light again.
Scenes such as Po being very out of character acting uneducated and ignorant in other words, steryotyoically american ironically, just to show these sterotypes.
He calls them british instead of English which is not correct for the time period/nor in general, he goes in the steryotypical exagerated accent that no english people actually have, including the actual characters in the show, and its overall just one of those things that like in ducktales, isn't insulting or funny, just annoying.
And unfortunately a disappointment, as this is one of the only recent things coming out that is using english characters in fantasy, with aspects of their culture.
(Honestly Miss the days of when Narnia, HP, and LOTR were coming out around the same time)
I love this season it was really good in my opinion. I do agree that it would have been cool if they pushed for one more season but that’s just me. The voice acting was fine to me.
Huh, interesting, it seems like this Season was quite the twist in more than one way, who would’ve expected that.
Anyway, fair and valid points and opinions, it’s really interesting how things can go for a Show when it’s left to go for a while.
Hm, now i wonder what this means for Kung-Fu Panda 4 and what we could expect from it, what do you think?
there is one thing however im still wondering about, what happened to sir drake? after he got trown out into the void of that underground world with the forge by veruca he just disappears, he even doesnt get mentioned at all in the end afterwards, hell i was even expecting an after credit scene were the camera would show us that world again and they would zoom in on one of those floating rocks its edge wich then shows us an knight hand coming from behind it to hypotheticaly show us theres gona be an season four with maybe him being an villain since he was pretty much going an dark path already in season 3.
It's safe to assume Drake was killed. But I agree that having him return in a fourth season as the main villain would have been fascinating. I wish the show lasted longer but I'm satisfied with what we got. Besides, the desire for more material is one thing that makes fanfiction so much fun.
*I knew they were going to redeem Klaus.*
Fax
Everyone should have. He was having visual misgivings on his face early in S2, maybe even S1
I am sad that they didn’t mention klaus at the end of the last episode
I know! And that's why, as a fanfic writer, I'm going to give him a happy ending.
I think Klaus returned to the island and became the leader of the mages. He is definitely the strongest among them. And if he completely masters the wind, he will be even stronger than Veruca.
@@GirlYouDontKnow-rx3lmwell I hope so
Personally i like The Dragon Knight series.
The 1st season kinda sucked, but season 2 & 3 are really great and true that a 4th season exploring New Pangea and focasing on the Dragon Knights dealing with the now Evil Alfie would have been interesting.
Some other things to mention: I feel some episodes and scenes kept dragging on for far longer than they should have. The death of Veruca and the redemption of Klaus were both very well handeld. The twist and turns off this season were both unexpected and truely shocking. The ending it self is pretty satisfying and overall a great way to end the series.
I liked the show a lot, but I feel like the tone was asking for a slightly more bitter ending.
The story, and specially the second half of this season filled with death and death references, so it felt a bit weird that nobody died or suffered during the last confrontation.
I'm not asking to kill a main character or anything, but I don't know, maybe they could've made the battle of england and china against the dark army a bit more desperate, or luthera's mom could've suffered a more serious injury than a bonk to the head, or klaus could've needed to defeat the undead veruca himself in a sad confrontation...
I just felt there was a tiny bit of bitterness lacking
I see your point. I think if the second half was paced out a couple more episodes like Smarty Pants said, then maybe that could have been on the cards. But on the upside the fact we got 19 episodes this season as opposed to the usually 11/12 episode run was great!! Which means that the story and character development had more room to pace out and develop.
Okay, I actually really liked this show, and this season went HARD!!!
They actually showed people getting killed!!!!
Kind of wondering where the Furious Five were since the WHOLE WORLD was affected!
But no, seeing everything come around was SUPER!!! I love this series!!!!😊
Something that was severely lacking throughout this entire show: Po's kung fu skills. We know this is already set after the 3rd movie, so where's the staff Oogway gave to him? How does the Spirit Realm fit into the context of the Tianshang weapons? Why did he get scared/defeated so many times by random fodder villains when he's the supposed Dragon Master, strongest warrior in China? And for goodness' sake, WHERE IS HIS GODDAMN CHI?
After seeing this review, I decided to go and actually give Season 3 a bit of a chance (Though I decided to start at ep 10.) and I have to say: Shows what I know of my predictions!
I had honestly thought it was just going to end with Lutheria, Akna, Forouzan and possibly Rhuminni and Lutheria's mother Lucinda all getting knighted by that Corgi Queen with her either firing her lion knights & Colin or making them All their lowly squires for All the Dirty Jobs and that the Hamster Emperor would just suddenly die off-camera without fanfare and thus Po would be Dragon Master again with even Less fanfare along with Colin being treacherous all along and Retconning him having poetry (I thought they state him stealing someone's book!) but.......Not Even Close!😅
Turns out Colin gets the complete opposite of what was going to happen to him! (Just to set the record straight: Drake is clearly supposed to be a worse version of Colin.) What's more, Lutheria Actually turned down being Master of War to give to Colin! I Seriously thought she was going to take it Thus confirming my Lutheria is a Designated Hero theory! Thank Goodness! Also, she was Definitely more tolerable here! That's the Good News!
The bad news? Aside from them not revealing what even became of Klaus let alone Weimin in the epilogue, I Honestly wish that that pretty African Spotted Hyena lady Kemanzi could have joined the Dragon Knights as their True Final Party Member!
Other than all that......I Definitely prefer this season Much more than season 2.
Wow! Cool predictions!! :D Yeah I thought Colin was a well experienced Knight but turns out is no more of a newbie than Luthera. And as it turns out has a bit of a obsession of her. Like reverse Stockholm syndrome in a way. I thought these two characters had history but turns out not so much. I was surprised that Luthera turned down the Master of War title too! Showing that she doesn't need a title to do good and help others. Going by what Smarty Pants was saying how the second half of season 3 could have been a separate season of it's own, I imagine Kemanzi could easily have become another member of the Dragon Knights. And I agree that Luthera is enjoyable to watch this season, I wish she wasn't so grumpy in the first two seasons leading up to this. I like it when she and Po get on and she isn't just mad at him all the time.
@@jeremythomaswebb1485 The term for reverse Stockholm Syndrome is known as Lima Syndrome.
But yeah, looking at this series, I really feel as though Po and Mr. Ping were only really added to this story to try and grab audiences attentions. If they had completely different yet similar characters in this, there probably wouldn't be That much of a difference in the overall story. Just a change to the title really. The Legend of the Dragon Knights! And the Captain Ersatz for Po and Mr. Ping for that would be Pan Dar (Who is still a panda so as to keep the double bear theming of it.) & Master Ling (Who's really a Duck.) that was the one who taught Pan everything he needed to know in how to fight. But in recent years, Ling has retired from teaching Kung fu and is cooking. Considering how Ping having a pirate past completely retcons Everything that was stated in the original movies, it probably would make better sense for someone like Ling to have this.
Speaking of Forouzan, not only do I think her crew of pirates should have mostly consisted of like Farm Animals rather than completely Reuse armadillos, anteaters and jaguars (Think of this pirate crew as like a dark version of U.S.Acres or even Old MacDonald.), but that I Actually think they Should have used those England Toads for additional pirate crowds which honestly wouldn't look that out of place at this point! Even more ironic, if they used the Kemanzi model and gave it a pirate hat, patch and cape, that even That could potentially work!
Also for Pan Dar and Master Ling's relation? While Pan Isn't adopted by Ling, they'd have an Intergenerational Friendship with each other so close that Ling is Like a father to Pan. I see them invoking Hot Rod and Kup of G1 Transformers in their interactions!😁
I think Klaus returned to the island and became the leader of the mages. His farewell to Veruca was very touching. Very...
@@ivanak8776 Agreed!
I wished they went somewhere with the powers of the ancient masters, where maybe they find new hosts and now Po needs to train them, to fight maybe the white bone demon from the paws of destiny. Personally the only reason I ants this to happen is that I really like master Po, I’m a sucker for a team that all have different elemental themed powers, and don’t hurt me but I enjoyed the Paws of destiny show.
Bro why the bird lookin like the duolingo bird 💀
LMAO SAME
Yeah it was good in the end but sad it’s over too soon. God yeah Colin and Luthera was a whatever. Complicated. But yeah I liked the twists and the redemption of the weasels I loved. Actually loads of characters changed sides.
I’m wondering why Po doesn’t use his hero chi in any of the seasons? He’s so much more powerful in the movies than they portray him in the show.
What about in paws of destiny
@@chris92264 yeah he uses chi in that but not at all in the dragon knight
I was hoping you would end up doing a review of the final season of Dragon Knight. I've had similar thoughts about this season which you have outlined in your video. It's a shame that the show is wrapping up now when it's reached it's peak and it's at a place I wished it was like that from the start. Season 3 is on par with other Dreamworks shows like Trollhunters or close to it at the very least. It honestly feels like with each season it just got better and better.
Luthera's development does seem to drag a bit as she constantly defaults to being grumpy all the time. It's good that the character faced her trauma and finally recognised she can't be mad all the time and it's unfair to expect Po to be positive all the time. But this character development finally kicks in so late in the series run, it's a shame because I want to see more of Luthera loosening up and branching out and when she's not being constantly grumpy all the time, she seems like a solid character to watch. I like it when she and Po get on and I would have loved to see more of that. Like how Kim and Ron got on in Kim Possible. They have their differences but they still get on and have great moments together as friends. It's really during Season 3 and mostly toward the end where we see her evolve. I mean we do see that start to happen during season 2. In the first episode, she really steps outside her comfort zone and loosens up. I wish we saw more of that. Overall, I'm happy with how the character turned out in the end. Just wished she wasn't so grumpy all the time and have her branch out more after season 1.
I will say this, Season 3 definitely brings it all together. It stuck the landing so well. Solid character development. Excellent story pacing. Like a good book, I couldn't put it down. I smashed out the whole season in 2 days because of how good it was. Granted I should have paced myself more but because of how everything was flowing, I couldn't help jump onto the next episode because I wanted to see what happens next. I didn't see the Alfie twist coming so it's not just you. They really played it well and it takes you by surprise. By the time we get to the 11th episode, it looks like everything was wrapping and Bam, Alfie is revealed to be the villain. Maybe originally he was going to destroy the weapons after all but then changed his mind when he realised he can use them instead. Which is just shocking as it being his plan all along. Either way, it's a great plot twist. Overall, Season 3 is so good and is the best one out of the whole lot. Going to be honest, I nearly didn't watch it after the previous two but I'm glad I have now.
Weird. I thought the weasels did stand out va work. They were easily my favorite characters
Holy sht, that was fast 😂
I miss the furious five. I didn’t even see them in the paws of destiny!
Still, I know that they’re gonna bring them back in kung fu panda 4 ( maybe) but I feel like the furious five shouldn’t be in this series. The creator wanted to explore more about “ friendship”. This series shows that even though you have completely different personalities, you can still I a great team!
That’s the reason why po and blade are so powerful together because they have different fighting styles that makes them hard to defeat
because we can’t handle both fighting styles at once. Everyone is thinking about the furious five but not about the actual story. I love their friendship and how they both become best friends the end of the series. It’s also so interesting and everyone doesn’t like this series!?
Like if you agree with me and think that this series deserves more love!😊
The Kung Fu Panda 4 trailer has been released!
Really
Days ago
The Last Season saves the whole series. I really hate the first one, the second was actually a little bit better. The last season made this series worth to watch.
But even with all that I can't say I really like this series anyway. It's good but something is missing and with that I mean the Furius Five and Master Shifu. Po mentions Master Oogway when he helps Klaus, but It's not enough. When Alfie makes the new Pangea I was hoping that we might get to see them but no.
If the 3rd season was split and we get a 4th season, but I'm sure the creators wanted to end the series due to negative critics from the last two seasons.
My timeline: Kung Fu Panda 1, Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness, Kung Fu Panda 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, Kung Fu Panda Dragon Knight.
I still wish to know where are the Furious Five during the Dragon knight series, I tried looking online and I haven’t found anything as of rn.
Your're forgetting about that Kung Fu Panda Amazon prime series.
Season three was a good season, but I still did not understand why the new villain, wanted to all the continents to connect back to each other and make Pangaea again.
He did mention that during his days of travelling around the world, he came up with the conclusion that division amongst the people and nation caused by continents splitting was the root of all conflicts (case in point that whole central america saga happened because Zuma wanted to hog all the rainclouds for her and her people, leaving others with barren lands)
This show deserves more love!
I was initially disappointed about the lack of Master Shifu and the Furious Five but I've since grown incredibly fond of the characters introduced in this show. And people shouldn't expect a spinoff series to be exactly the same as the source material, anyway.
As a fanfic writer, I'm certainly planning on bringing the movies and DK canons together.
Yes, the animation is fairly bad at times but when it comes to story and characters, animation is superficial. So, I personally don't care.
It's clear Forouzan was voiced by someone who smokes too much but beyond that, none of the voice performances bothered me.
If there's anything I strongly (but humbly) disagree with you on, it's Klaus and Veruca. I liked them from the start, not only as villains but characters, in general. And now I love them! Klaus' redemption story was beautiful and Veruca was the perfect combination of scary, funny, and tragic. I was honestly saddened by her death.
If you ask me, the worst characters in the show are Weimin, Zuma, and the emperor (whom I fondly refer to as Emperor Putz-face).
I'm so happy that Rukhmini and Diya's relationship was sweet and subtle rather than the creators shoving it down our throats. And those two certainly have chemistry!
Finally, I loved Alfie as the twist villain! I honest to God wasn't expecting that! And he was a great villain because he wasn't 1-dimentional. He didn't do the things be did because he was "evil" or "power hungry". He did those things because he genuinely thought it was the right thing to do. Villains don't always have to be evil and Alfie was a great example of that!
Great video, SP! Keep up the good work.
Agreed with all of this, especially about Klaus and Veruca
It was a pretty strong season and I'm glad the show got to tell its full story. Though I wish this had been two season releases. It took too long to catch up for a single "season".
It would have been cool if they released the episodes weekly like how Disney Plus does it with some of their shows. So that way, the breaks inbetween seasons wouldn't feel so long. I'm glad to have seen the show through to the end. First season was a tough watch and I was unsure if I would end up watching the rest but I'm glad I did. :)
Looks like I'm wrong about the queen being the secret final villain when it's was Alfie
Probably the writers worst plot hole but I'm pretty sure that Dragon Knight is an AU as po states that he was taught inner piece by oogway contrary to shifu being his master and that in show kung fu panda paws of destiny he 'knows' why he is the dragon warrior.
The time line is weir Allie made the sword from storm wheel then came back and talked to blade teaching her for what couple months then decided to try and stop klaus and veruca then died you see I think it was an animation mistake in season 1 when the showed Alfie with the sword
No kidding, I kinda expected Klaus & Veruca would turn out to be a red herring and that there's gonna be someone else who'll be the final boss of the show, but I never expected Alfie would be one.
The twist was so unexpected that at some point I wondered if I was actually watching the same show I've been watching lol
But yeah, while it did feel like there were few parts that felt kinda choppy and nonsensical even for a supposed kid's show standard (like that scene with Po playing chess with queen. I mean, you'd think there'd be an audience or some sort or that the queen would know a thing or two about playing chess if this really was a game people paid to attend/watch), on the whole, the story was very interesting fascinating to watch till the end
Still don't agree with you on the critiques on voice actings tho because I still don't think they were that bad
something tells me they wanted to make a 4th season but couldnt so they extended the third season
I think that the furious 5 should make an appearance in 4
They probably rushed the show because the fourth movie is on the horizon. I mean, we’ve even seen the leaked new character.
Ear bleach; nice- gained a new term today. Nice!
I really loved season 1 and 2 but for me season 3 is not that good
I didn't knew they had a series. I adored the movies ... but... wth is this plot? Pirates, magic weapons, england and... just WHAT THE HECK?!
Oh my days was Po in the first episodes of this season annoying as hell with the whole "dad you lied to me and I don't even know who i am anymore" thing.. 💀
gaaah dam
This show will always be bad to me,
The title is called KUNG FU PANDA.
So lets explore everything BUT KUNG FU,
Wheres the main cast? GONE
It's like having Goku (and only Goku) Go off into space and learn about chess and starts to beat people in chess.
This show could be the best top tier level writing top ten best show of all time level of writing.
But it still sucks because of all the movies before it.
The true redemption arc is if you bring the furious Five, Shifu and the Panda's back.
Like imagine how much BETTER the show could've been if just TIGRESS or SHIFU were in the show
(Hell, an even BETTER twist would be to have Tai Lung be in the show as a main antagonist, he gave up his dream in china and started going around the world collecting these powerful artifacts or whatever.(Idk I took like 5 seconds to think about this.))
Like seriously replace Po with 'Shmoe the Hippo' and then you start to see how crappy this show really is.
People are only watching this show for Po and even he sucks in it.
You're expected to watch the movies but also forget the movies because of all the characters that exist in that universe.
If I were to boil it down, they wanted Po to service their crappy plot of a kung fu master exploring britain or whatever the hell I forgot the plot it was so boring.
To each their own.
Its called kung fu panda because that is the name of the franchise, not just the main character. If they just called it the dragon knight, people would think its an entirely new franchise
Quit being such a negative baby. Not everything in life goes your way.
L take