Sympathy for the Mandrill

**"Sympathy for the Mandrill"** is the 8th episode of season 2 of *Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts* and the 18th episode overall. It premiered on Netflix with the rest of the season on June 12, 2020.

## Synopsis

From Hugo to Scarlemagne, from victim to villain, a tyrant tells his tale. Meanwhile, Wolf, Benson and Dave hatch a plan that could blow up in their faces.

## Plot

In a flashback, Hugo was doing training exercises with Lio and Song. Emilia demanded that they made him mutate by giving him more formula because they needed to figure out the cause of all of the animal mutations. Lio gives Hugo a star blanket to comfort him as they give him his next dose of formula. After over 3,853 formula doses, Hugo was able to spell and say his own name. Lio and Song were elated and hug Hugo, but soon wondered if they had to tell Emilia.

In present day, Emilia goes over her plan and then notices Kipo is missing. Wolf, Dave, and Benson cover this up by claiming that Kipo is sleeping and realize that she has probably been captured because she hasn't returned yet.

Meanwhile, Lio and Kipo catch up, she eats fancy and delicious desserts, as Scarlemagne insists that they are his guests and can do what they want, except "jaguar business". Scarlemagne asks Kipo to show public support for him.

Kipo asks Scarlemagne what happened to him, and Scarlemagne insists he will tell the story.

In flashbacks, Lio and Song tell Hugo that they're afraid if Emilia hears that he can talk that she will take him away. One night, Hugo plays the piano in his room, lamenting his boredom and sadness. He imagines himself in a grand palace playing a piano solo when he is snapped back to reality as a shocked Dr. Emilia walks in on him.

The next morning Emilia has Hugo, Lio, and Song together in a testing room and demands to know what formula was the one to give Hugo intelligence. When Lio and Song tell her they do not know, as they have given Hugo thousands of different formulas, Emilia orders Zane to get a sample from Hugo's blood with a syringe. Lio tries to stop him but is easily knocked away. As Zane corners Hugo and grabs his wrist, Hugo's pheromones are flung into Zane’s face in the struggle and he becomes entranced. Hugo, not yet realizing what has happened, yells for Zane to stop, which he promptly does. Hugo, shocked and still confused, then asks for Zane to let go of his wrist, which he also does. Song, amazed, explains that mandrills create pheromones that have the power to influence other primates; she hypothesizes that the formula must have enhanced this ability. After hearing this, Emilia and her team leave the three alone. Hugo, saddened and confused, asks Lio and Song if their only reason for giving him intelligence was so that they could take it away from others. Lio and Song explain that it was at first, but that after raising Hugo, they realized that they could no longer go through with it. They also explain that it is why they are all going to escape the burrow. Hugo proposes they all escape tonight, as he has the power to make Emilia and her crew pay for all the things they've done to them. But Lio explains to him that forcing people to act against their will is wrong and that they can’t leave until the baby is born. Hugo agrees and the two promise him that they will all escape together.

Lio walks in one day on Emilia extracting Hugo’s pheromones by locking him in a cage with a treadmill. Lio angrily tells Emilia that she can’t do that as Hugo’s a person, but she counters that Hugo is an animal and that Leo needs to “Think like a scientist.” She leaves the two alone with Hugo still in the cage, exhausted and leaking sweat. Hugo comforts Lio, saying it’s just a little longer until the baby comes and they can all escape; Lio again promises Hugo that they will together. As many days pass, Emilia and her team continuously force Hugo to run on the treadmill to produce tanks of his pheromones. Lio visits Hugo every night, promising to help him escape.

“Think like a scientist and stop getting so attached.”
— Emilia to Lio
An explosion happens as a result of Song’s forced transformation and Hugo is freed from his cage by the blast. He is left scarred from the glass and is alone in the wreckage of the burrow when he awakes. Looking up, Hugo sees Dr. Emilia on the mega monkey's shoulders.

In present day, Kipo tries to talk sense into Scarlemange, asking him how he could turn on the people who raised him. Scarlemange angrily tells her she has no idea what it was like, that he had to make it an unknown world, on his own.

In a flashback, Hugo is struggling to find shelter and safety when he happens upon his future palace, inhabited by Goth Apes. He asks to be a part of their group and they agree, but only if Hugo can beat them in a battle.

As one of the Goth Apes is attacking Hugo, he has a realization and throws his pheromones on her, telling her that she will lose the fight. The group is impressed and tells Hugo he's in. Sometime later, Hugo sees Lio on the surface and they have a happy reunion, hugging each other. Hugo asks where Song is and Lio tells how they barley made it out, referring to him and baby Kipo. Noticing the baby and that it is swaddled in his own blanket, Hugo becomes angry and sad, saying that Lio and Song promised that they would all leave together. Hugo then asks Lio if he had even tried to save him or if he even can back to see if he survived, his increasingly loud and angry tone causing baby Kipo to wail. Lio explains that it all happened so fast; how Emilia came for the baby, so they had to run and have been running ever since. Lio, trying to make things okay, says that they are all together now and introduces Hugo to baby Kipo. Hugo, processing it all, is visibly upset and hurt, muttering that Lio “didn’t even look” for him.

Noticing the baby, Hugo’s expression changes to a somewhat unstable look and asks if he may hold her. Lio, noticing this, is uncertain and backs away slightly. This causes Hugo to become angry; he suddenly grabs the blanket Kipo is swaddled in and yells for Lio to let him hold her. Lio shoves him to the ground and Hugo is left holding the ripped piece of his old blanket, huffing as drips of his pharemone-sweat fall onto it. Lio apologies but Hugo turns back to him, laughing manically. This causes Lio to run away with baby Kipo in fear, leaving a laughing, howling Hugo. Hugo later returns to his goth group and flings his pharemones onto their faces, informing them that they are now his subjects and he is their new leader. He then renames himself Scarlemagne after seeing his scared appearance in the piano.

In present day, Kipo asks Lio how he could've left Hugo, but Lio said he had no choice and could only save one- Kipo. Kipo hugs Scarlemagne because he needs it.

Meanwhile, Wolf, Dave, and Benson use a nectar bomb to blow themselves into Scarlemagne's palace to rescue Kipo.

## Credits

* **Written by**
	+ Christopher Amick
	+ Ben Mekler

* **Directed by**
	+ Bridget Underwood

* **Storyboards by**
	+ Michael Chang
	+ Jacob V. Eaton
	+ Yasmin Khudari

* **Cast**
	+ Karen Fukuhara as Kipo Oak
	+ Sydney Mikayla as Wolf
	+ Deon Cole as Dave
	+ Coy Stewart as Benson
	+ Dee Bradley Baker as Mandu, Mega Monkey and Gerard
	+ Carlos Alazraqui as Zane
	+ Sterling K. Brown as Lio Oak
	+ Jake Green as Beak Beak
	+ Grey Griffin as Lemieux
	+ Jee Young Han as Song Oak
	+ Amy Landecker as Dr. Emilia
	+ Dan Stevens as Scarlemagne/Hugo
	+ Anna Vocino as Porcelaine

## Transcript

The transcript can be found here: Sympathy for the Mandrill/Transcript
## Episode notes

### Featured songs

* Play It In My Head Dan stevens
* new breed Dawn Richard
* Punk Rocks In Yer Hed 30FOOTFALL

### Trivia

The title of the episode is likely a reference to the song “Sympathy for the Devil” by The Rolling Stones.