An accidental discovery of a lost clan leads to surprising and quick revelations.
What They Say:
Native Son
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the useful but a bit drawn out two part storyline done and over with, the group has managed to find the right balance between themselves and now are focused on moving forward. The series has largely hit all the expected points at this stage with the way the characters interact and how their relationships are set up, but it doesn’t stop it from having some quirks as well that continue to crop up. Such as the start here where Lion-O and Tygra are scouting ahead in the snow and Tygra gets frustrated with the way Lion-O “doesn’t grow up” due to the snowballs he gets thrown at him. It’s an obvious piece but one that’s still good to see even after the problems the two had over the previous storyline with Tygra taking on a stronger leadership role. He’s still a bit gruff and pushy when it comes to Lion-O.
This episode expands on Tygra a bit as the pair of them end up coming across a lost tribe, the Tigers, and they’re excited to see Tygra as his father is still alive there as the king of this outcast clan. We get a bit of the history of it that’s certainly interesting since the clan remained loyal to the masters during the mutiny and that lead to them being hidden away in the world. While we know that Tygra is called a brother to Lion-O, it’s now that we finally see how he arrived in the kingdom and became a part of the royal family, which is utterly adorable. Even better is that we get to see Lion-O’s parents in a new light, particularly his mother, as well as the arrival of Lion-O in the family and the muted enthusiasm that Tygra has for obvious reasons. This further expansion on the various cat clans is definitely a welcome addition to the overall lore of the Thundercats family.
Naturally, there are some wrinkles to this place hidden in the mountains as there are creatures that have attacked it regularly, which Tygra and Lion-O get caught up in dealing with. But there are secrets within this as well as pacts were made years ago which lead to why Tygra was sent away at such an early age. Lion-O thankfully takes the approach of trying to suss out what’s going on and uses his head rather than just fighting his way to it. The truth of it all is definitely interesting and not what you might expect at first, but it works well to show why this clan was outcast for so long, long before this particular tale unfolds, but how their pride and view of the world made things even worse. It gives Tygra an interesting background beyond what we saw and in its own way ties him closer to Lion-O I think.
In Summary:
While we saw a lot of back story with Tygra before when it came to Cheetara and Lion-O from when they were growing up, there have been mysteries yet how he became that brother and what it meant to him growing up when Lion-O was born and caused their mother’s death. Getting that exploration, seeing their mother, and expanding much on the Tiger clan’s past does a great job of adding more to the world. There needs to be a lot more in the future about what happened in the distant past and the kinds of deals and shenanigans that have gone on in the generations since. While I’ve liked Tygra overall, I haven’t cared for the back and forth problems he and Lion-O have, even if they’re understandable. Here, we get a better look at them but still hope that things do smooth out over the long run with what everyone has lost. The action in this is used not exactly sparingly, but it’s done very well in service of the story and looks great.
Grade: B
