#watching stone monkey's character develop since episode 2 has been pretty interesting

[cave-monkey]

Monkey King 2009 Episode 12

Jade Rabbit is the funniest character in this whole show. I will accept argument but you will not win.

The way she just straight tosses Ginseng Fruit once she's done with them, yes, but primarily I am talking about her faces. The look after she casually takes Ginseng Fruit prisoner? Absolute gold. Love it. Also the way she might soften a little but still gives zero ground whatsoever. Oh, you were gathering food for a starving refugee population? How noble! You're still wrong and should feel bad, but in light of this new information you've earned five seconds to grovel for forgiveness.

I love her.

Ginseng Fruit's flair for storytelling makes a comeback and I am here for it. Child was dramatizing for their life so hard they needed a whole other nap after that, and honestly? They earned it. Even made sure to throw in that audience participation. Ginseng Fruit is aiming for pro.

Anyway, back to the program. They're drawing their peaches differently! Huh. Did someone complain about the old style? I never really thought 'peach' when I looked at them, sure, but these new ones are like. Well, they certainly look more like peaches! To be fair! But they're almost so realistic it actually circles back around to looking super weird and sort of off-putting? It might be the coloring not really matching the coloring of anything else. I don't know, maybe they'll grow on me.

Another episode lightly touching on Stone Monkey's flaws and it was really good, actually. Unlike last time, these are less "flaws" that are mostly just products of him trying to survive his environment and more things that make me think, "Oh, yeah, okay. That actually is something he should work on."

The primary ones seem to be 1) a return of his obliviousness toward others' feelings and 2) impulsivity with 3) a dash of 'I'll just do everything by myself'.

Which sort of gets into the Six Ears Situation. Which I thought was really well done this episode. I really like how they're taking care to show why Six Ears - though still definitely going down a concerning path - might be feeling these things and give actual reasons for his growing distance from Stone Monkey. I think the primary example was in the food foraging mission.

Like, nearly from the word go, Stone Monkey doesn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation. This is frustrating for both of them. Stone Monkey, because he doesn't understand why Six Ears is acting so different, and Six Ears, because he feels he can't rely on Stone Monkey, forcing him to go on even higher alert and winding him up that much tighter.

And this is because Six Ears does understand the gravity of the situation. They are in enemy territory and Six Ears is tense. He's a far cry from the kid who was cheerfully helping Stone Monkey fix the peach stores just a couple episodes ago. He wants to get the mission done, get it done right, and go home. For probably the first time since they met, Six Ears doesn't want to play Stone Monkey's games, and Stone Monkey doesn't understand why.

And, honestly, Six Ears is right, is the thing. The peaches? Peaches ripen even off the tree. They're perfectly edible (if not very pleasant) even when they're still very green, so peaches that are just a little green are definitely not that bad. They won't taste as good as a peach left on a tree to fully ripen, but they'll do the job. Six Ears grabbing every peach in range as quickly as possible is absolutely the right thing to do when they need to get in and out quickly, and have so many mouths to feed on top of a need to pad out their stores (specifically so what happens to them later in the episode (they end up trapped and starving in a siege) doesn't happen). Stone Monkey wants to help and do right by the monkeys and give them something nice, but his priorities are off. He doesn't have a sense of urgency and he's not really thinking long-term. He's also not really willing to listen when Six Ears explains. This is a very realistic form of miscommunication and mutual frustration and I love how they wrote it and included it.

I also love Old Monkey King's delight at Jade Rabbit bullying Stone Monkey into teamwork. Man was tickled.

And then later when Stone Monkey throws himself out of the cave to "lead them away", therefore immediately giving away their entire position even though the Demon King was still unsure, preventing them from using that time to better prepare themselves? Even Old Monkey King shouted after him to stop that shit. You know how you have that super laid back guy who is basically never phased by anything and then suddenly they decide to put their foot down and they use that specific voice at three times their normal volume and only a quarter their usual octave and everyone in the vicinity abruptly morph into wide-eyed scolded children no matter their age?

Right, so I have no idea how Stone Monkey didn't shrivel up on the spot. A true superpower.

I gotta say I love Stone Monkey's impulsivity. Any version of a young Sun Wukong just feels so incomplete without it. In this show it's also generally always worked out for him in the past too, so I think this is the first time he's actually messed something up and not been immediately able to fix it? Love that for his character. Sun Wukong should be so competent and capable that he outpaces his development of caution and a true sense for consequences.

And, oh, so now the monkey troops are able to make a stand when their backs are to a wall, huh? No one out here calling for an immediate retreat? Is that so?

Say what you will though, the monkeys continue the trend of a better second showing over the first. They believe in a culture of constant improvement! Old Monkey King is not playing around, either. He hasn't thrown down this hard since Episode 4.

And like Ginseng Fruit's flair for storytelling, Demon King's theater hobby has popped its head back up. He was thrilled to finally be able to use that line. Do you think he's taken the time to mentally sort the monkeys into these opera roles? Who are the painted characters and who gets which face color, buddy? Old Monkey King get his own special category? That's so precious. No, no, don't be shy. I want to hear all your meta.

(But also, show, are you telling me that Iron-Backed Gray Wolf can run sideways on vertical cliff faces but can't balance on a barely shaking branch? Guy, what are you doing.)

Honestly though, this whole battle scene is tense in exactly the right way. Loved it.

*bops Jade Rabbit gently* Stop meta-gaming.

Listen, if Jade Rabbit's going to be accusing anyone of "wanting the acclaim" based solely off their actions, Stone Monkey literally gave away their entire position by deciding all on his own to take on an entire army single-handedly, and prefaced this by solemnly-but-resolutely declaring to the king that he was going alone to "lead them away" despite literally everyone saying, "Wait, don't do that."

He wasn't doing it for praise, but you can't say a case couldn't be made that he was glory hounding. And I'm just saying that if anyone feels the need to accuse anyone else of fishing for praise, Six Ears should probably not be the first name that comes to mind. Just. Based on what little has been seen by a certain person's own two eyes. Get out of the script, Jade Rabbit.

(That is definitely a motivating factor in Six Ears's decision, yes, but the point is how does Jade Rabbit have any reason to know that? She doesn't. *bangs gavel* case closed defendant found guilty of meta-knowledge)

That said, it was sort of a struggle figuring out Six Ears's motivations here. I'd call his plan sort of a contrived event to force the plot along, but I actually think it does make sense. I'm about to ramble a lot, bear with me.

Okay, so Six Ears deciding to quietly stage a surprise attack on the enemy camp at night without input from Old Monkey King or anyone else...doesn't actually fit his character, in most circumstances? At least in my opinion? Since Episode 1, Six Ears has always made sure to declare his intentions/seek permission from at least Old Monkey King before taking on a task, as is typically the proper way to do these things. Just taking off on his own isn't really his MO - that's Stone Monkey's thing. We should also consider even just the beginning of the episode, where he was definitely taking his enemies seriously and trying to handle the whole mission in as efficient and safe a manner as possible, and also being the first to insist to Stone Monkey that he needs to work together with someone. Six Ears abruptly deciding to underestimate them and also go entirely rogue from any authority figure is just...odd.

Unless he doesn't think Stone Monkey was punished for his earlier stunt of throwing himself out of the waterfall in front of the whole Demon King army and trying to take them on single-handedly. (Are you still with me? I swear I'm getting to the point.)

This isn't quite correct. Stone Monkey was sort of being punished. Or at least that's how I took it. Old Monkey King's giving him the same unimpressed and doubtful looks he tends to give the four generals. He's not humoring him or favoring him with any extra patience when he defends Six Ears's plan. Stone Monkey takes it like a champ and convinces him anyway, sure, but only after Old Monkey King listens long enough to decide that Stone Monkey learned something beneficial from his mistake after all, and he's mostly a cold wall until he does. Even when he voices approval, it's not exactly warm. He's far and away from the indulgent figure we usually see around the kids. Stone Monkey is in trouble.

But I'm not sure Six Ears would have seen it that way. In his head, it might look like Stone Monkey's recklessness and impulsivity is what they all want. If he's barely gotten a slap on the wrist for a mistake that big, that's almost approval, isn't it?

So! Six Ears's plan makes sense to me if he's trying to be Stone Monkey. It doesn't sit naturally with him, but he's desperate and scared (see all of last episode) and has spent a good chunk of his life chasing Old Monkey King's approval. I can see him trying, even if he knows it's a bad idea. Six Ears's caution and prudence, after all, hasn't benefited him in a single way he actually cares about - it hasn't kept him safe from the Demon King's army and it hasn't kept him in Old Monkey King's esteem (in his view). If he's deliberately ignoring the voice in his head listing why this can't work and he needs to run it by Old Monkey King right now - all the things he would probably want to say to Stone Monkey, if Stone Monkey had tried anything like this - well, Stone Monkey's been just fine without that voice, hasn't he? And so Six Ears buries it. (I actually think that dramatic hesitation when he's being questioned by the guards is just him internally screaming when he realized he'd have to say his dumb plan out loud. RIP kid, make better choices.)

(He still brought people along, though. No amount of pretending to be Stone Monkey will be able to remove Six Ears's better judgement entirely. He's just gotten started. Give him a bit. He needs to work his way up to Stone Monkey's level. Baby steps.)

Also I agree with Stone Monkey that it's not a bad plan, exactly. It's the way Six Ears is trying to execute it that's wrong, not the plan itself. He's right that they need to break the siege as quickly as possible - they have no other options. They have no food and it's not even a day in, and the longer they wait the weaker they'll get. Even doing nothing, it wouldn't be a week before the Demon King's army could just walk right in with no resistance. A well-targeted, hard-hitting attack when they're most likely to be disorganized and slowest to respond is ideal considering their comparatively weaker fighting force. It's a good plan, actually.

The primary issue is that it's severely under-resourced and lacks any degree of cohesion with the larger troop. Old Monkey King, properly alerted to the plan, could have forces on standby in case something goes wrong and they need to provide an escape route, mount a defense of the entryway, or an opportunity to break the Demon King's army otherwise presents itself. They could make sure there are no conflicting operations. Old Monkey King wouldn't suddenly be absent three guards on the main entrance. I mean, hey, we don't even know if those three guys are good for a stealth mission. They could put together an actual team, maybe.

*claps hands* COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION

(Moment of peace for Old Monkey King, having just finished hammering this lesson home in one kid and suddenly having the other immediately forget all his good sense and go sneaking off to single-handedly fight an enemy army.)

(The moment you realize these kids have one rational brain cell between them and by giving it to Stone Monkey he may have forcibly evicted it from Six Ears. Like magnets. They cannot both possess impulse control at the same time.)

(Really funny the whole 'kid sneaks off to single-handedly fight an army' thing happened twice in one day though. Literally can't turn your back on them for a single second, huh?)

#mhw09 personal #watching stone monkey's character develop since episode 2 has been pretty interesting #have some thoughts about how his solitary nature can probably at least partly be a consequence of the troop's keeping him at arm's length #like - why would he look for or assume cooperation with the troop when six ears has so far been his only reliable ally? #(and six ears is the only one he doesn't ever really argue with when six ears wants to go along with him haha ow I hurt myself) #(the only time he ever prevents six ears from helping him is that time he outright threw him to safety rather than let him fight with him) #(still my favorite scene btw) #(and that could be argued to have been a very extreme situation) #(six ears is pretty much the only one trusted to keep up but even that's got its limits) #stone monkey's got a major protective streak that mostly manifests as wanting to do everything by himself for people #and it can easily look like arrogance - in some ways it HAS morphed into arrogance #and it's pretty fun to watch #super frustrating to deal with probably though lol