Never Judge a Hyena by Its Spots

"**Never Judge a Hyena by its Spots**" is the first episode of the Disney Junioranimated series *The Lion Guard*. It premired on January 15, 2016 along with "The Rise of Makuu".

## Synopsis

When Kion gets separated from the rest of the Lion Guard, he finds himself lost in the Outlands where he meets Jasiri, a friendly female hyena, who rescues him and helps face off against Janja and the other hyenas. Maia Mitchell ("The Fosters") guest stars as Jasiri.

## Plot

Janja, Cheezi and Chungu are attacking a herd of oryx. Before they can take down the herd, the Lion Guard comes to the herd's rescue. Kion reminds the trio that he told them to stay out of the Pride Lands. Janja jokingly states "My stomach keeps forgetting", to Cheezi and Chungu's amusement. This prompts Kion to angrily shout "GO!". Sensing danger, Janja orders the others to retreat. Kion orders the rest of the Guard to calm the herd while he gives chase. He then charges after the hyenas and chases them all the way back to the Outlands. But as he's standing on the log, it breaks under his weight and sends him into the river. When the rest of the Guard, who has managed to calm the herd back down, notice that Kion isn't back yet, and they go looking for him. When they discover their friend's predicament, they immediately act to save him. Bunga jumps into the water to rescue him with Beshte jumping in after Bunga, knowing the current is too strong.

Kion manages to pull himself to safety on The Outland side of the river. Ono swoops down to check on the winded cub. Kion tells the other members of the Guard to meet him at Flat Ridge Rock, where he will re-enter the Pride Lands after navigating through the Outlands, due to the river's current being to strong for him to cross safely. Bunga claims to know where that is, and leads the way. Kion tells Ono to go with them to ensure their safety before going into the Outlands. Along the way, Kion meets a hyena cub named Jasiri who recognizes him and tells him he's going the wrong way. Kion ignores her out of distrust and keeps going. Meanwhile, Bunga is trying to lead the rest of the Guard to Flat Ridge Rock with Beshte lamenting that Kion's not there to lead them. After a few mishaps, including a run in with Ushari, Bunga finally admits that they're lost, to the other three's annoyance. After Ono finds their way out of the jungle, they ask a zebra for directions but he doesn't know where Flat Ridge Rock either, to their annoyance. Besthe suggests asking Mbeya the Rhinoceros for directions and head for the watering hole. Meanwhile back in the Outlands, Kion is still distrustful of Jasiri despite the fact she's not with Janja and continues going his own way. He soon falls into a thorn bush and gets stuck in it. Jasiri helps him out and leads him to Flat Ridge Rock.

Meanwhile, at the watering hole, Beshte has been having a long conversation with Mbeya. When he finally comes back, he tells his friends that Mbeya forgot to cover himself to protect himself from sunburn the day before. When Fuli asks for the directions, Beshte replies that you don't need directions for a mud bath. This prompts the annoyed cheetah to snap that she meant the directions to Flat Ridge Rock to which the hippo sheepishly admits he forgot to ask for them and he goes back to get them. After travelling through a swamp, they finally find the way to Flat Ridge Rock. When they get there, Bunga tries to claim that he's been there hundreds of times and knows a great shortcut, but the others scream "BUNGA" in such a way that makes it real clear that they don't believe him.

Meanwhile, back in the Outlands, Jasiri tells Kion that most hyenas especially her disapprove of Janja's ways and actually respect the Circle of Life as much as he does and are very similar to lions. When they get to Janja's territory the two part ways. After Kion leaves, Janja and his Clan appear and attack Jasiri. Kion comes back to help her fight them out and drives them off with the Roar of the Elders. The Lion Guard arrive to help Kion. At first, they consider Jasiri a threat and prepare to fight her But Kion stops them revealing that she is a friend and how they helped each other. Kion goes back into the Pride Lands with the rest of the Lion Guard, who are happy to have him back.

## Cast

* **Max Charles** as **Kion**
* **Joshua Rush** as **Bunga**
* **Diamond White** as **Fuli**
* **Dusan Brown** as **Beshte**
* **Atticus Shaffer** as **Ono**
* **Maia Mitchell** as **Jasiri**
* **Andrew Kishino** as **Janja**
* **Vargus Mason** as **Cheezi**
* **Kevin Schon** as **Chungu**
* **Christian Slater** as **Ushari**
* **Kevin Schon** as **Thurston**
* **Howy Parkins** as **Mbeya**

## Appearances

### Characters

* **Janja**
* **Cheezi**
* **Chungu**
* **Kion**
* **Bunga**
* **Fuli**
* **Ono**
* **Beshte**
* **Jasiri** (debut)
* **Ushari**
* **Thurston** (debut)
* **Mbeya** (debut)
* **Nne** (cameo)
* **Tano** (cameo)

## Group

* **The Lion Guard**
* **Janja's Clan**
* **Thurston's Herd** (debut)

## Locations

* **Pride Lands**
	+ **Flat Ridge Rock** (debut)
	+ **Ukuni Woods** (mention)
	+ **Watering Hole**
	+ **Big Springs** (mention)
* **Outlands**

## Animals

* **Lions**
* **Honey Badgers**
* **Cheetahs**
* **Hippopotamuses**
* **Egrets**
* **Hyenas**
* **Tickbirds** (debut)
* **Rhinoceroses**
* **Flies** (debut)
* **Chameleons**
* **Cockroaches** (debut)
* **Zebras**
* **Oryxes**
* **Cobras**
* **Ants** (debut)

## Trivia

* Kion goes into the Outlands for the first time.
* Jasiri is the first hyena in the The Lion King franchise to be a protagonist. This is due to the perceived racism of the first film, as critics had assumed the hyenas as villains and the lions' prejiduce against them promoted racism and discrimination.
* This episode shows how dependent the Lion Guard is on Kion.
* This is the first episode not to feature Simba, Nala, Kiara, Tiifu, Zuri, Timon and Pumbaa, and also the first episode where Pride Rock is not seen.

* A German audio tape of *The Lion King*, titled Friends for Life shares some similarities with this episode. Both stories focus on Simba's son (Kopa/Kion) meeting a friendly hyena, and both lion cubs wind up getting trapped in a river with a fast current at some stage. Kion also thanks Jasiri in Swahili, which is also the name of the friendly hyena in Kopa's tale (Asante). These are most likely coincidental, however.
* The episode had an average of 1,278,000 viewers.
* Moral: Don't Judge a person by its cover.