Paw of the Jaguar

"**Paw of the Jaguar**" is the 1st episode of season 2 of *Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts* and the 11th episode overall. It premiered on Netflix with the rest of the season on June 12, 2020.

## Synopsis

Kipo flies off to find Scarlemagne and save her father. But first, she leaves her burrow friends with the Timbercats. Time to learn Timbercat survival skills.

## Plot

***Warning:** the following text contains spoilers about the plot or the series.*
The episode begins where Season 1 left off, with Kipo swooping in on a Mega Flamingo she wrestled from the sky. She announces that she is going to hunt down Scarlemagne, though the Mega Flamingo she is riding starts to try to shake her off, leaving her to fight with it in the air for a minute before she finally manages to calm her ride. Once she's pinned down the flamingo, the group enthusiastically agrees to help find Scarlemagne and climbs on, but Troy, Asher, and Dahlia poke their heads out from their hiding place within the rubble, changing her plans.

Meanwhile, at Scarlemagne's palace, the abducted human hostages from Kipo's burrow are all confused and worried. Hoag berates Lio and blames the whole incident on Kipo. Lio stops Hoag, claiming that the situation is his own fault and that Scarlemagne has it out for him. Soon after, everyone is sprayed by pheromones except for Lio, whom Scarlemagne commands his nobles not to spray, stating that "this *is* between you and me."

Back at the destroyed Burrow, Troy, Asher, and Dahlia express shock at Kipo's jaguar arm and disgust at Dave's molting. Though overwhelmed, Troy asks whether the four of them are going to take down the Mute who destroyed their burrow and says that he "wants in". Kipo discourages Troy and the twins from helping take down Scarlemagne, believing the mission to be too dangerous, and discusses what to do with them before agreeing to split up: Kipo and Dave head to Scarlemagne's Palace to free Lio and the others-- leaving a trail of Dave shells so that Mandu can track them-- while Benson, Wolf, and Mandu take Troy, Asher, and Dahlia to the Timbercats for safekeeping. Benson and Wolf look at each other nervously as Kipo flies away, both feeling that the Burrow humans may need some surface training before taking them to the rowdy Timbercats.

Whilst traveling to Scarlemagne's palace, Kipo's Mega Flamingo gets attacked by the Mega Monkey under pheromone control, who knocks her off the Mega Flamingo. She runs through the forest, trying to avoid its pounding arms while Dave attempts to regain control over the startled flamingo. By singing her father's song to the primate, Kipo eventually manages to pierce through the Mega Monkey's induced rage. She and the Mega Monkey have a brief moment before the collar becomes active again, though before it can spray more pheromones, Kipo uses her Mega Jaguar arm to break it, freeing the primate. The Mega Monkey is grateful and attempts to tell Kipo something, but she is unable to understand. Knowing she has a mission to complete and what Scarlemagne may do to her, Kipo tells the monkey that she cannot come with her but gives the primate a blue armband as a reminder that they will always be friends. As she flies away, she tells Dave that she feels like there's something special about that monkey, and he agrees, saying that most of them aren't nearly as intelligent.

In the Valley of the Dogs, Benson, Wolf, Mandu, Troy, Asher, and Dahlia find Pierre taking a nap. Benson tells the burrow group that the only way the Timbercats will protect them is if they respect them, and that they can earn that respect by capturing Pierre. He takes out a bottle of maple syrup but as he gets distracted by its smell, Wolf snatches it out of his hands and sprays the treat on Asher and Dahlia before pushing them toward Pierre. The flea wakes at the sudden intrusion and instantly dashes toward the siblings. In an effort to save his friends, Troy jumps in front on the incoming animal but is pushed out of the way by Benson, who ends up on top of him, blushing profusely. When Pierre reaches Asher and Dahlia, the siblings are surprised to find he only wanted to lick the syrup off their faces rather than doing them harm. As Pierre is distracted with his meal, the siblings put his leash on.

Meanwhile, Kipo and Dave reach Scarlemagne's Palace, making a crash landing through the roof. They find the palace to be empty, however; Scarlemagne and his nobles are arriving in Ratland, to the shock of Brad and Amy.

Elsewhere, Wolf and Benson start teaching Troy, Dahlia, and Asher how to chop wood with an axe. While Troy and Asher are more or less unsuccessful, Dahlia manages to chop through a fallen tree with a single swing and starts chopping it even more and aggressively out of stress, with Asher telling the group to give her a minute as it has "been a day".

Back at Scarlemagne's Palace, Kipo sets out to find her father. She locates him inside one of the many stores, where he is being guarded by two of Scarlemagne's Nobles, Gerard and Lemieux. Kipo charges at the two Nobles while Lio tries to warn his daughter. The Nobles spray pheromones at her-- much to Lio's distress-- but to everyone's surprise, Kipo appears to be immune to them. The Nobles become confused by this revelation but even more by the fact that Kipo has a jaguar arm, with which she is able to easily defeat the Nobles and free her father.

>
> **Gerard**: "*Wha... Why isn't this working?*"
> **Lemieux**: "*Uh, why is her hand a paw?*"
>

Meanwhile, Mandu and the others continue on their way to the Timbercats. While he is bringing up the rear, Troy holds Benson back to ask whether he, Asher, and Dahlia stand a chance with the Timbercats. While Benson reassures him that they would have no problem, Wolf explains that Mutes and humans outside of their group do not generally get along well. Troy asks how Benson and Dave became friends if this is the case, receiving the answer that they had bonded over their shared love of food. After being reminded of food, Benson remembers the Timbercats' love of flapjacks, which turns out to be a bonding moment between him and Troy as well, since they both love to make pancakes. They are interrupted by Wolf clearing her throat to get their attention, however. Benson, walking over to Wolf, happily announces the three are ready for the Timbercats.

At Ratland, Scarlemagne and his group begin to destroy and take apart the park, much to the horror of Amy and Brad. Scarlemagne tells the two that he will take anything he wants from the park to create his next empire and proceeds to share his vision of Aurum, where Mutes unite as one and reign over humans under his leadership. He tells them that the construction of this city will require blood, sweat, and tears, which is evidenced more by his group destroying one of the park structures.

Benson, Wolf, and their group venture into Timbercat territory and confront Yumyan, who takes notice of a docile Pierre on a leash. Confused as to why the flea won't react to his snapping, Wolf explains that he has become friends with Asher. She proceeds to introduce the three burrow children and asks if the Timbercats are willing to let them stay. Benson explains how their burrow was destroyed and their parents were taken away, causing Yumyan to break out into tears, amazed by their bravery. Molly happily tells Wolf and Benson they will watch over the three because they are friends of Kipo. She promises the Timbercats will keep them safe and even keep an additional axe on them for extra protection. As Pierre, Asher, and Dahlia follow Molly, Troy stays back to thank Benson, which Benson shrugs off as having been no big deal. The two make a promise to meet up again to discuss the difference between flapjacks and pancakes. After proclaiming in unison that the two are the same, Benson announces that they will need something else to talk about. Troy calls it a date, kisses a surprised Benson on the cheek, and walks toward the others, telling Benson and Wolf to be careful.

Back at Scarlemagne's Palace, Lio comes clean about Kipo's powers and explains how he and her mother infused her DNA with mutagen so she could be unaffected by Scarlemagne's pheromones-- which only work on primates-- and transform into a Mega Jaguar. Her initial utter shock quickly morphs into unbridled excitement, and she asks how to transform into a full jaguar so she help everyone escape. Lio urges her to practice restraint, as she could be lost in the jaguar transformation and never come back if not done properly. He tells her that once they escape, they will head to the Chevre Sisters, who can teach her how to control the animal in her. Lio points out that they can climb the tree in the palace to escape, but Kipo gets cocky and attempts to reclaim the flamingo she and Dave used to break into the palace. During the fight, however, Lio is captured once more by nobles and tells Dave to get Kipo out, much to Kipo's distress.

Back at Ratland, Scarlemagne completely dismantles the amusement park and captures two humans who had been visiting. After spraying the humans with pheromones, he berates Amy and Brad, claiming they had turned their backs on mutes by providing a safe zone for humans. As he takes to the skies on his own Mega Flamingo, Scarlemagne pulls out a nectar bomb and uses it to blow up the remains of Ratland as a way of setting an example to any mutes who would disobey him.

Meanwhile, Benson, Wolf, and Mandu follow a trail of pieces of molted Daves that Kipo left behind so they could find her. Soon after, Dave uncontrollably flies by with Kipo, and crashes in a nearby ditch. Wolf and Benson ask what happened, and Kipo explains she failed to rescue her father, berating herself. Kipo's friends cheer her up by telling her about how she was right about the Timbercats taking care of Troy, Asher, and Dahlia and how she saved the Mega Monkey. This moment is short lived, however, when the group sees an explosion in the distance, quickly realizing that it was Ratland when they see Scarlemagne's flamingos flying overhead with several pieces of the destroyed amusement park, manned by some of Kipo's brainwashed burrowmates.

On a distant apartment building, three cloaked and masked figures witness the destruction of Ratland. The leader of the group lowers her head, stating they must stop Scarlemagne, as the firelight flickers on her goggles and reveals a pair of sharp, crystal-blue human eyes.

## Credits

**Written by**

* Joanna Lewis
* Kristine Songco

**Directed by**

* Chase Conley

**Storyboards by**

* Jacob V. Eaton
* James P. Gibson
* Ben Li

**Cast**

* Karen Fukuhara as Kipo Oak
* Sydney Mikayla as Wolf
* Coy Stewart as Benson
* Deon Cole as Dave
* Dee Bradley Baker as Mandu, Mega Monkey, Gerard, Pierre
* Jeff Bennett as Hoag
* Sterling K. Brown as Lio Oak
* Dan Stevens as Scarlemagne
* River Butcher as Asher
* Avrielle Corti as Amy
* Lea Delaria as Molly Yarnchopper
* Ace Gibson as Brad
* Giullian Yao Gioiello as Troy
* Grey Griffin as Lemieux
* Amy Landecker as Dr Emilia
* Fryda Wolff as Dahlia

## Transcript

The transcript can be found here: Paw of the Jaguar/Transcript