Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-25400573-20180905093052/@comment-31004482-20180906035009

TL;DR: I can't stand how the writers can only seem to fixate on how dumb most of the subordinate animals can be, as I think it sends morally inept messages at best to their young audience. I also feel as though they deliberately went out of their way to avoid mentioning Thurston's name, despite him frequently appearing on the show and having had ample opportunity to do so. Overall, to me the episode was terrible in quality, but had some ironically funny moments.

Long-winded Rant:

My biggest pet peeve is the fact that the writers seem to be fixated on harping on how stupid the subordinate animals are. There's a fine line between comic relief and sending morally corrupt messages, even if they're unintended. I don't know how this helps their conservation message at all, nor can I even see what kind of a positive message they're trying to send. It's as if they're implying that either 1) it's ok to laugh at someone if they're dumber/slower than you, or 2) If you're a leader you're smart, if you're a follower you're dumb and have nothing of value to contribute to society--and neither of these is a good message to send to very young children! (And yes, I'm aware that technically Thurston is a "leader", but he is still seen as a subordinate in the eyes of the Lion Guard and the Lion King.)

I love Cheezi and Chungu and think they're adorable, and I'm starting to fall in love with the crocs Nduli and Tamka for the same reason; but again, I CAN'T STAND how they're always hyper-focusing on how dumb these characters are and never on anything else. I think especially for Cheezi and Chungu there's the potential to add some more depth to their characters, because as "Janja's New Crew" showed, they're not inherently evil--if left to their own devices, they'd be happy to just fall into their natural role as scavengers. It's their unwavering loyalty to Janja that puts them in the position of doing bad things, and I think some internal conflict between their good natures and their love for Janja could really make for a good episode in and of itself.

Back to this episode though: I'm also irritated that they didn't mention Thurston's name. The theory that the reason the Lion Guard doesn't mention his name being that they don't know it is a good one, however I can't help but feel as if the writers specifically went out of their way to AVOID mentioning his name in this episode, despite being given every opportunity to do so (in his song, introducing himself to any of the villain characters, etc.). With as egocentric as Thurston is, you'd think he'd jump at the chance to get his name out there while he's bragging about how much he thinks the Lion Guard depends on him. Considering how often he appears on the show, he really should have been named by now--and even some minor, one-off characters get named every now and then!

Overall, to me this episode was completely awful--but I have to admit that it had its moments that kept me giggling throughout. It's almost "The Room" level of bad in its quality, so take it with a grain of salt and enjoy it ironically if you can. Although I hated how the episode was written specifically to make subordinate animals look completely stupid, the resulting "attacks" on the Lion Guard were giggle-worthy at the very least if only for how cute the villains' attempts kinda were.