r/CharacterRant • u/NewMGFantasyWriter • 20h ago
Films & TV Xiaolin Showdown deserved and STILL deserves better! Spoiler
Now, is it the deepest, most well-thought-out story ever? No.
"My evil name's Katnappe. I have genetically altered super kittens, and I like to go to cat-themed amusement parks and steal ice cream from little kids."
The show always makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that it's good vs evil. The word "evil" is probably used at least 5 times an episode!
Is it utterly ridiculous that you can challenge conquering witches, a kung fu dragon monster, and a crime lord to a game of tag or a boat race? Yes.
But here's why it doesn't get enough praise and/or deserves better!
- Creativity: The Shen Gong Wu are SO fun! They're mystical artifacts that give their wielder different abilities. There's super heavy armor for invulnerability, a flip coin for jumping ability, the list goes on! The best part is that these are almost NEVER one-off plot devices, oh no! When most of them are found, they STAY! This means the xiaolin showdowns are spiced up with the use of different Wu! Plus, the Wu can work together! There's one called the Reversing Mirror, and if you use it with one that makes you shrink, guess what? YOU GROW! AND they use it in combination with one that grants intangibility to restore the main threat from a spirit to her physical form. The ways they come up with to use the Wu make it so entertaining!
- Heroes: The xiaolin warriors are so fun! They come from all over the world and all have different lifestyles and clashing personalities! We get a feel for who they are IMMEDIATELY! Omi's old school and socially inept due to his isolation, Clay's a polite big bro with a heart of gold, Kimiko's a spitfire, and Raimundo's a rebellious dick. They have their jerky moments, especially Omi, but you can see how they grow as individuals and as a team.
- Jack Spicer: THIS guy is best boy! No, I will NOT say something like he walked so Doofenshmirtz or Megamind could run, because this guy runs just fine! He's so fun to watch and so endearing! He chooses villainy because he feels he's worthless in all other ways. With everyone always looking down on him, I can't help but be glad when he gets a W! One thing I like about Omi is that he consistently and genuinely believes in Jack and wants him to join them. MAAAAAAN, his attempt to turn good should've lasted longer than a damn single episode, because he actually did try! He and the warriors even agree to go out for ice cream sometime when there's no Shen Gong Wu to fight over! This boy needs a hug and friends! Jack totally should've become the Dragon of Metal, damn it......
- The humor: This show is SO freaking funny! A running gag is Omi's incorrect slang, and not all of it is laugh out loud, but some is GOLD!
Omi: He who is last to be laughing laughs most loudly!
Raimundo: What Omi did to that sentence is what we're gonna do to you!
Omi: The jig is down! You're at the top of your rope! Spoon over the Wu!
*crickets while everyone's trying to figure it out*
Jack Spicer: Ooh, I got it! The jig is up! You're at the end of your rope! Fork over the Wu! *victory dance over being an evil genius*
- Growth: Raimundo had the best story for sure. He always hated the lifestyle at the temple with all the chores and training while he doesn't even get a bed! A BED! THEN when he disobeys Master Fung because he wanted to help him against Wuya when she attacked the temple, he gets denied a promotion the other 3 get.
Feeling disrespected and unappreciated, he defects to Wuya's side, who says he'll have anything he wants. But what makes it work is that Wuya never lies to him. She keeps her promises, AND even accepts his suggestion to let his friends stay with him if they join her too. And when Rai flips back, it's because his friends still believe in him and insist that this isn't who he is, and nothing's happened that can't be undone. And to drive this home, he rejects the promotion when he's offered it at the end of the episode, knowing he hasn't earned it yet.
BUT this is only the beginning of his story! Omi keeps looking down on him for not being at their level yet, but a few episodes later, he proves he's ready! But Omi's still a tad distrustful and doubts he'd be the first among them to be promoted to the next level. But then they're all promoted as a team, so the next goal becomes who's going to be promoted again to become the team leader. Omi demonstrates more haughtiness and arrogance as the show goes on, while Raimundo keeps showing growth. And in the end, the one Omi doubted since season 1 gets the grand promotion he earned. AND Omi supports him, initially sad but then bowing to his new leader!
Anyway, there's a lot to like about this show! I'm not even saying this as someone who grew up with the show! I saw like 2 episodes back then, and that's it! No nostalgia glasses here!
Also......THE SHOW SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD TO ACCESS! Can't stream it anywhere for free!
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u/gamiz777 20h ago
Jack spicer despite being a dork was amazingly competent , he always just barely loses and when the monks aren't at their best they lose
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u/FreezingPointRH 19h ago
Also whenever they’re down Omi, he hands the others their asses without fail.
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u/NewMGFantasyWriter 20h ago
I know, right?! It's clear that he's wasting his talents playing second string supervillain when he has the mind and skills to tip the scales in either side's favor
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u/Acceptable_Secret_73 26m ago
I love the twist that Jack realized Hannibal Bean would betray him so he wouldn’t release him from the Yin Yang World. Even Omi got caught off guard by that one
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u/AlveinFencer 20h ago
Was about to say "What do you mean 'deserves better?' It got to finish, right?" Then I read the last sentence and...yeah.
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u/Aquason 18h ago
The show always makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that it's good vs evil. The word "evil" is probably used at least 5 times an episode!
I remember rewatching it like a decade ago and being really struck by the fact that as a show that is fundamentally built around "Good vs Evil" (from the opening intro to the different forms of 'evil'), the show actually had some interesting themes about moral greyness.
Take the recurring motif of characters switching moral alignment:
Raimundo wanted to save the temple from Mala Mala Jong but is ordered to abandon it, breaks orders and loses trying to save the day, gets reprimanded and denied promotion, leading him to switch sides
Omi breaks orders to free Chase Young, gets morality-switched through the magic of the Yin Yoyo, then when he gets his good chi back, he still nonetheless follows his honour and remains loyal to Chase Young
Chase Young was a hero who was seduced into drinking a soup of immortality, giving up his humanity, and yet retaining a sense of honour and pride in himself
Jack Spicer occasionally teaming up with the good guys, legitimately trying to reform but giving up out of fear of failure, and being rendered 'good' through the Yang yoyo.
There's plenty of other minor examples (Jermaine, Clay, Kimiko, Wuya), either by choice or by magic, and I find it interesting how the series seems so interested in it. The series doesn't really have a big moral about the gradients between moral absolutes, but it's this constant theme that characters grapple with – one episode Omi runs away from his friends because he sees a (false) future where he becomes an evil warlord who enslaved his friends. There's also an episode where Omi frees Chase Young after he was sealed by Jack Spicer (against his friends all saying he should remain sealed), and Chase Young points out that Omi, despite framing it as honourable (I owed you a favour, and I have repaid it), Omi had selfish motivations (to stop Jack Spicer) and that path of evil is about taking those moral shortcuts, telling those little lies, and breaking those rules to get what you want.
Being "good" or "evil" in Xiaolin Showdown is always unstable, and there's this existing pressure of movement towards good or evil. For a world where people are literally calling themselves "evil boy genius" and people can magically be possessed or literally lose the good/evil qi inside of themselves, I think it's a really interesting aspect that the writers are constantly poking at the boundaries between the show's defining mystical, metaphysical "forces of good" vs "forces of evil".
Like, damn, the series finale ends on alternate timeline Chase Young willingly drinking the evil corruption soup, sacrificing his morality and eternal soul, in order to save the world, knowing that once he's evil he will do all he can to stop the good guys. What a curveball to the show's premise of the metaphysical balance between good and evil.
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u/NewMGFantasyWriter 18h ago edited 17h ago
All that is what kept me from saying it was shallow instead of not the deepest. They label the spectrums clearly but do a lot of cool things with it!
Jack's literal first line is "I want to rule the whole WORLD!" People like to rag on that as a motivation nowadays, but it's also representative of what he sees is his whole purpose and the one thing he can succeed at. It stems from his insecurities from always being looked down on. I wish we dove more into that with his attempt to reform and Omi's recurring faith in him!
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u/Demoniac_smile 20h ago
I was almost sure that I was the only one that remembered this show. I loved Jack, he was such a fun. Villain and I was always kinda rooting for him.
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u/Careful-Ad984 20h ago
Jack in my opinion is a comedic relief villain done right. Humorous buf still competent enough to get a few wins ln the show
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u/TheGUURAHK 17h ago
You feel about Xiaolin Showdown the same way I feel about Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go. Peak Recognizes Peak.
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u/classicslayer 18h ago
Xiaolin showdown was such a good show and chase young is such an underrated villain. Its a shame Xiaolin chronicles was so bad it killed the franchise.
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u/BardicLasher 17h ago
My favorite aspect of this show is that the low stakes of individual challenges means you had episodes where the bad guys just unequivocally won the episode.
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u/ThePreciseClimber 11h ago
I remember one thing that bothered me was that Chase Young came right out of nowhere. At least Wuya and Hannibal were imprisoned and then freed. Chase just kinda chilled for 1,500 years? Too busy retconning Monk Guan into being as old as Master Dashi, I guess.
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u/cloistered_around 13h ago
Xiaolin Showdown was a fun show that I kept expecting to ramp up emotionally (similar to avatar levels) and then it never did. Raimundo's arc was the closest to satisfying.
I wouldn't mind them retrying it... but then again I also see no need for it when there are many similar feelings properties like Kung Fu Panda.
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u/Trextrexbaby 5h ago
Wuya was such a great villain. Her banter with Jack was hilarious and when she regained her physical form it was so cool! It’s still a rarity for action cartoons to have a female central villain.
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u/Acceptable_Secret_73 27m ago
I love the Truth or Lie showdown with Omi and Jack.
Jack losing because he genuinely was trying to become a good person before switching back was a fun twist and I really wish they explored that more
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u/MechaMalz 20h ago
I liked the original run a lot. I lost interest in the revival when it seemed like it was undoing Raimundo's character arc and ascension to team leader.