The Lake of Reflection

"**The Lake of Reflection**" is the seventy-first episode of the Disney Junior animated series *The Lion Guard*. It premiered on October 26, 2019, and is the sixteenth episode in the third season.

## Plot

The Night Pride confronts Makucha's army from getting into the Tree of Life along with the Lion Guard who works together with the Night Pride as they end up conflicting to which Rani tells Kion to lead the Guard to take on Ora while the Night Pride to take on Makuch an Chuluun. Rani also tells Anga and Ono to take on Mama Binturong as the villains ends up retreating. Rani explains to Kion that the Guard did help but she is to follow her lead. With Kion upset that he can't control the Roar, Mama Binturong overhears him saying Kion doesn't want to lead and can't control the Roar. Kion tells her that the Lion Guard could patrol all day while the Night Pride could patrol all night as a compromising strategy. Kion decides to bring the Guard to do their day duty to which Nirmala tells Kion to come with the Night Pride. Fuli then tells Rani that Kion is still not feeling better to which she says to the cheetah that Nirmala said Kion's healing takes patience. Fuli then decides to trust Nirmala who is the healer of the Tree of Life.

Meanwhile, Nirmala takes Kion to a place known as Pratibimba, the Lake of Reflection by telling Kion to look in the water. When Kion is upset about the scar bothering him, Nirmala tells him that the scar is only skin deep and doesn't make he is a relative of Scar. Nirmala then tells him to look at the lake of Pratibimba. Elsewhere at the taiga, Mama Binturong is devising a plan to get rid of the Lion Guard by starting an ambush. At a bamboo forest, the Lion Guard hears a giant panda named Heng Heng and a lemur named Kely arguing over their bamboo. The group then looks at the quarreling animals arguing about their bamboo. Fuli then stops the argument to talk with the animals to introduce the Guard to them. Heng Heng and Kely, the giant panda and lemur, introduce themselves to the Guard. Heng Heng tells the group that pandas like her have a specific requirement when is the right time to eat as the Guard escorts the panda and the lemurs to the Tree of Life.

Meanwhile at Pratibimba, Kion tells Rani that he is only reflecting and worries about his scar to which he tells her that with the scar on his face, he may be too weak to be the Lion Guard to which she explained that her grandmother wanted the Roar to stay here even if he leaves. The Guard, along with Heng Heng and the lemurs, approach Rani to know why they are disagreeing with each other so that Rani can solve the conflict between pandas and lemurs. As a compromise by shifting routines in the bamboo forest, Rani tells them that the lemurs get the bamboo all day to which the lemurs and pandas share the bamboo first. Heng Heng takes the lemurs to the bamboo forest.

As Kion decides to spend more time reflecting as Pratibimba, Rani is upset with the Guard about Kion's problem in healing while Rani decides to rest with the Night Pride. Soon as the Lion Guard arrives, they talk to Kion to what makes Kion himself by singing to him. In a flashback, Anga remembers the time when the Guard was younger back in the Pride Lands. Young Kion then plans to stops young Janja and his two hyena cronies Cheezi and Chungu from eating a lost egg to which the young animals were able stop the animals. When Kion devises a plan to save the egg and stop Janja, Cheezi and Chungu, they are able to stop them as the hyenas retreat to the Outlands. Soon as the egg the Guard saved started hatching, a young Ono appears and says his first words to the Guard. Back at the present as Anga and Fuli continue singing to Kion to believe what's inside him, they take him to back to the lake. After remembering the time he met the members of the Lion Guard before they became a group after Simba became King of Pride Rock, Ullu warns the Guard that Makucha's army is back once again in the mountain pass as Kion leads the Guard to stop the villains who already arrive at Pratibimba to which. During battle, Beshte gets wounded as the Night Pride arrives to take on Makucha, Chuluun, and Ora while Anga takes on Mama Binturong. Soon as the villains retreat, Nirmala tells Beshte that the venom from Ora is wearing off. Kion then tells the group that he needs to reflect about the group.

The next day, Kion talks to Mufasa again who tells Kion to know if it means he is healed to which he explains to his grandfather that the scar doesn't make Kion turn evil or lose control of the Roar to which Queen Janna says that the Roar is supposed to return to let it turn back to which Kion decides to give the Roar back to the Tree of Life as it is revealed that only the venom is causing Kion to be uncontrollable. Mufasa tells him that Kion cannot return the Roar to him as he never led the Lion Guard as the Roar came from Cikha Escarpment, the place Kion must go to return it. At Cikha Escarpment, Kion talks to Askari who recognizes him as the leader of the first Lion Guard to which Askari tells Kion he knew him as the new leader of the Guard as he tells him that he thought the Roar made Kion the leader to which Kion is unsure if he should control the Roar anymore as he led the Guard before the Roar to which he decides to give back the Roar so he is ready to learn everything the Roar can do.

## Cast

* **Max Charles** as **Kion**
* **Joshua Rush** as **Bunga**
* **Diamond White** as **Fuli**
* **Atticus Shaffer** as **Ono**
* **Dusan Brown** as **Beshte**
* **Bryana Salaz** as **Anga**
* **Peyton Elizabeth Lee** as **Rani**
* **Lou Diamond Phillips** as **Surak**
* **Miki Yamashita** as **Nirmala**
* **Hudson Yang** as **Baliyo**
* **Vyvam Pham** as **Ullu**
* **Steve Blum** as **Makucha**
* **Kimiko Glenn** as **Chuluun**
* **Andrew Kishino** as **Ora** and **Janja**
* **Rachel House** as **Mama Binturong**
* **Fiona Riley** as **Binga**
* **Tiffany Espensen** as **Heng Heng**
* **David S. Jung** as **Kely**
* **Vargus Mason** as **Cheezi**
* **Kevin Schon** as **Chungu**
* **Gary Anthony Williams** as **Mufasa**
* **Michael Luwoye** as **Askari**

## Appearances

### Characters

* **Kion**
* **Bunga**
* **Fuli**
* **Ono**
* **Beshte**
* **Anga**
* **Janja**
* **Cheezi**
* **Chungu**
* **Makucha**
* **Mama Binturong**
* **Chuluun**
* **Ora**
* **Kely**
* **Heng Heng**
* **Rani**
* **Baliyo**
* **Nirmala**
* **Surak**
* **Ullu**
* **Mufasa**
* **Simba** (mention)
* **Askari** (debut)
* **Janna** (mention)

## Groups

* **The Lion Guard**
* **Makucha's Army**
* **Night Pride**
* **Simba's Pride**
* **Janja's Clan**
* **Kely's Troop**

## Locations

* **Tree of Life**
	+ **Mountain Pass**
	+ **Pratibimba**
	+ **Cikha Escarpment** (debut)
	+ **Bamboo Woods** (final appearance)

* **Pride Lands**
	+ **Watering Hole** (final appearance)
* **Outlands**

## Animals

* **African Lions**
* **Asiastic Lions**
* **Honey Badgers**
* **Cheetahs**
* **Hippopotamuses**
* **Egrets**
* **Binturongs**
* **Leopards**
* **Snow Leopards**
* **Komodo Dragons**
* **Giant Pandas**
* **Lemurs**
* **Owls**
* **Hyenas**
* **Tree Frogs** (mention)

## Censorship

For the episode's original airing, Ora spits out Beshte's blood during battle. However, in later releases, this was edited to make it look like he is spitting saliva to avoid a higher age rating and to soften the violence.

## Trivia

* This episode introduces Askari, the leader of the first Lion Guard who previously only appeared as a cave painting in previous episodes.
* This episode reveals that Ono was born from an egg almost eaten by Janja, Cheezi, and Chungu where the younger versions of Kion and the other members of his Lion Guard saved him from being eaten by the hyenas.