Benched

**Benched** is the eighth episode of Season 3 and the twenty-eighth episode overall of *Monkie Kid*.

## Synopsis

Short Description
To claim the final ring, the heroes need to... win a talent show? OKAY! Stuck as band manager, Tang isn't just going to sit around and wait!

Extended
The heroes arrive at the last stop on the map: Lantern City! But to get the final ring, they'll need to compete in a talent show! Stuck as band manager, Tang doesn't want to just sit around and wait. He's going to find the ring himself! Unfortunately, he's leading the Macaque right to it! To everyone's surprise, Tang stands up to Macaque, tapping into a power he didn't know existed...

## Plot

As Sandy was driving the T.E.A., MK was doing drawings of himself and the others. Tang asked MK if they were any drawings of him. MK said that he did, but threw them all away, as he didn't how they were. As Tang was disappointed, Sandy told the others that they're almost at Lantern City.

## Features

### Characters

**Main:**

* Mei
* MK
* Monkey King
* Pigsy
* Sandy
* Tang

**Supporting:**

* Demon Accountant
* Jin
* Mo
* Red Son
* Store Owner
* Yin

**Antagonists:**

* Lady Bone Demon
* Macaque

### Locations

* China
	+ Lantern City
		- Lantern City auditorium
		- Giant Lantern
		- Sky train
	+ Megapolis (**flashback**)
		- Pigsy's Noodles
		- Sewers
			* Silken Web Cave
* Moon

### Objects

* Crayons
* Golden Staff (**flashback**)
* Magic cloud
* Map to the Rings of Samadhi
* Mei's phone (**flashback**)
* Noodles (**flashback**)
* Orange Ring of Samadhi

### Vehicles

* Monkey Mech (**flashback**)
* T.E.A./Team Dronecopter (**flashback**)
* Sky train

### Species

* Birds
* Cats
* Celestial beings
* Demons
* Dragons
* Fish (**projection**)
* Humans
* Pigs
* Rabbits

## Trivia

* The scene where Tang thought that MK wanted him to be part of the band, but only to find out that MK just wanted him to be the band's manager, is a callback to "Dumpling Destruction", where Mei thought that MK wanted her to join him but only to find out that he actually wanted Tang to join him instead.

* The makeup and costumes worn when the Monkie Kids are preforming is meant to resemble the costumes used in Peking opera performances of *Journey to the West*.
* The kite Tang grabs onto when making his way to the last ring is shaped like the Golden Cicada. In *Journey to the West*, the Golden Cicada was once reincarnated as Tang Sanzang.
* Macaque's six ears are alluded to when Pigsy preforms his high note, as he is seen cringing in pain with sound waves around his ears.
* The ending scene with Macaque and Lady Bone Demon played out quite differently in the initial storyboards for the episode:
	+ It begins with Macaque looking at MK's drawing.
	+ There are several shots of the people of Lantern City reacting to the Lady Bone Demon flickering the lights.
	+ The Samadhi Fire goes completely unmentioned.
	+ Most of Lady Bone Demon's dialogue is different.
* In another moment that was scrapped, at the end of the talent show, one of the civilians was going to have foam come out of his mouth as he cheered. According to Melanie Shin, the man was supposed to be Kai from *Ninjago*.

## Errors

* Animator Joanne Ruu is missing from the credits despite doing several shots for the episode.

## Characters' roles

### Protagonists

* Tang is the protagonist of this episode as his struggles are at center-focus.

### Antagonists

* Macaque serves as the antagonist of this episode.

## References

1. ↑ myTV SUPER | LEGO® Monkie Kid™ Cartoon - Season 3
2. ↑ Foxtel TV Guide
3. ↑ Denmark, Brandon (September 8, 2022). Another creepy board! This one was a collab. I fleshed out the thumbs done by: Tae Jun Jeung..
4. ↑ Shin, Melanie (February 9, 2023). are you gonna tell them the foam guy was meant to be kai ninjago or should i-.
5. ↑ Ruu, Joanne (October 14, 2023). I hopped on at the end and got the pleasure to work on episodes 7-10! (although there was a mixup and I'm missing from ep8's credits rip) I've grown so much since working on these shots and I will share my work on season 4 in the near future! \o/.