This Episode Does A Good Job at Showing This Season's Setting

Each season of The Lion Guard has its own specific setting. Season 1 takes place in the wet season of the Pride Lands. Season 2 takes place in the dry season of the Pride Lands. Season 3 takes place outside of the Pride Lands altogether.

We'll get to Seasons 2 and 3 when we get to it: We'll focus on Season 1 and how this episode relates to it.

Season 1 has no ongoing narrative or story arc. It has continuity of previous characters and events being referenced, and further seasons will attempt to built on this, but for the most part every episode is self-contained which makes sense considering it's the first season of the show and everything needs time to set in.

So having it take place in the wet season works because it still allows for conflict in certain episodes. It also gives Season 1 its own identity, which will allow Seasons 2 and 3 to stand out more. This episode is the first of many episodes that encompasses that, which is a huge plus to the season and the overall series. Having it be the first episode to air after the double-premiere also helps set the stage.

Another thing to note: This episode, much like the previous two, were also aired out of order on Disney Junior. It's production code is 104 - after Return of the Roar and The Rise of Makuu and before Never Judge a Hyena By Its Spots.

This is just an overanalysis of mine, but if you watch the first four episodes based on their production order, you might actually get a stronger viewing experience. The flash flooding in this episode would explain why the river currents in the Outlands were so bad by the time of NJaHBIS - the Lion Guard doubting Bunga's "leadership" skills and Bunga's attempts at overcompensating for Kion's absence in that episode now has greater context if it came after the events of this one.

Barring that, the season's setting in the wet season is now impressed upon the viewer much earlier on if you view it as Episode 2, which arguably better sets the theme for Season 1.

Of course, that isn't lost by it being aired as the third episode, and again, that above interpretation is, subjective to say the least. The point I'm trying to get at is that this episode, whilst being the very definition of filler, is an example of a filler episode done right.

Also!

This scene is by far my favorite in the entire episode and I'm going to use my one-video free card to show this.

In 38 seconds (yes, I timed it) we get-

Clarification that Kion's Roar can't solve every problem in an easy manner, and has restrictions by the Circle of Life which keeps him from being too overpowered.

Foreshadowing for this episode's climax (Kion using the Roar to blast away a flash flood)

Foreshadowing for Season 2's conflict involving the dry season.

Auditory foreshadowing: Listen closely to the background music: That is the same music that plays right before the "Fujo" song sequence in Season 2's "The Rise of Scar," - which has the exact opposite conflict to this episode that this scene foreshadowed.

Already we're starting this episode off to a great start.

This Undercuts The Episode

Ok so the episode's moral is that easy solutions do not always equate to the best solutions. Bunga's solution here is presented as an "easy one," one that inspires him to try other ones which is this episode's conflict.

I can see the idea of what they wanted to go for but it fails because... what other way could the Guard have blocked up the lake? What Bunga does in the rest of this episode, yeah it's irresponsible, but this inciting incident is legitimately a good idea that the rest of the Guard don't give enough credit to and that kinda muddles up the message.

If the rest of the Lion Guard saw another way of blocking the dam, but Bunga opted for this one, you could have something more from that, but instead, what the episode critiques as an "easy solution" winds up being the "only" solution, and those two things are not mutually exclusive.

This Works

Narratively, I mean. For exactly the reason the episode later confirms this plan of Bunga's is utter dogsh*t.

And it works for the episode's "Easy does not equal better" moral.

I Really Wish The Show Explored This More

All throughout Season 1, there are so many opportunities to give Ushari an actual introduction and character besides the "butt monkey," and they just.. don't. Which sucks because that's sorta what you need to give a character if we're going to take them seriously as the secondary antagonist.

Kion mentions "Ushari and the cobras." Are the cobras his family? Is Ushari considered a "leader" to them like Makuu is for the crocodiles? What do they think of the Lion Guard?

I'm not gonna expect this episode alone to dive into all of that, but I do think that it was a missed opportunity for the show to not explore that at all in relation to the broader storyline.

And this will not be the last time I bring this up.

Remember the Timon & Pumbaa Episode With This Plot?

The episode in question is Season 3, Episode 31, Guru-Some

Our protagonist (Pumbaa/Bunga) who is mistaken for a wise sage when the populace begins to pay them attention.

Said protagonist continues to play the role, gaining more and more attention from said populace despite their evident lack of wisdom

...much to the annoyance of their friend(s) (Timon/The Rest of the Guard)

Their self-imposed role ultimately results in chaos in the community by accident (the animals taking Bunga's terrible advice, and the jungle animals going to war over how they choose to interpret Pumbaa's advice - no I am not kidding, that is how the fucking episode goes)

The "sage" role of the protagonist dissipates when the community realizes that said "sage" is not as wise as they used to be.

And this might not even be coincidential considering the connections between the two shows! Ford Riley was a writer on the Timon & Pumbaa series years before developing The Lion Guard as a series creator (no he did not have any involvement with the episode I'm referencing, as far as I've done my research).

This doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of this thoughtpost, I just wanted to point it out. But for relevancy's sake, both episodes, I think manage to get humor right because of how self-aware they are (also, I might start watching the T&P show again after this because jesus christ this is the funniest shit I have EVER seen)

Because this episode's plot is genuinely dumb. It could've EASILY been bad but it isn't, and we'll get to why that is.

Foreshadowing or Not: This is Pretty Funny

Unlike the scene with Kion and Mufasa, I'm less sure if this is intentional foreshadowing but given later events in the show (see: Season 3) and how long it takes to produce a show, one could interpret it as such. Little things like these, even if it's accidental, make for a much more entertaining watch.

This is Also Very Funny:

Ostriches burying their heads in the sand to avoid predators is an urban myth. They actually just flop to the ground and remain still to try and blend in with the territory.

I did not know that until I first saw this episode when it came out. For a show that leans into very heavy animal stereotypes despite being quasi-educational, they get a lot of suprising stuff right and it's like seeing a fawn in the woods.

Also while we're ahead, everyone and their grandma has pointed this out but Mbuni's model looks like a male ostrich instead of a female's. I'm not bothered by it, largely because sexual dysmorphism in ostriches isn't that common knowledge (look at any animated piece of media with ostriches, even the OG film gets this wrong).

trans Mbuni headcanon truthers, I see your vision.

Bunga's Not That Bad This Episode:

The reason this episode is very much disliked is because of... well Bunga himself. And initially Iagreed until watching this.

He's a kid that is trying to do the right thing but gets INCREDIBLY full of himself, before later on getting his karma right in the face.

The pilot episode as well as The Rise of Makuu highlighted a very big problem with him in early Season 1. How the writers tried way too hard to make Bunga the Gen Z. T&P instead of giving him his own character. This episode actually manages to succeed where those episodes fail, which is what makes him much more tolerable even if he's still annoying.

There are a couple of episodes where he has his moments (and that's if you discount Season 3) but here, he was way less insufferable than I was expecting him to be.

Plus there wound up being some really funny jokes here. How on Earth do I find him more funny at age 20 than I do at age 9?

I Can't Be The Only One Who Sees This, Right?

Again, I do not know if this was an intentional reference, but if it is... fucking genius. The references to the original trilogy are consistently the most joyful thing about this show, you can tell the writers and animators did their homework.

Also, just gonna juice this out now while we're ahead. One of the many, MANY wasted opportunities of this show was not having an episode where the cast of the 3rd movie (Timon's Ma and Uncle Max) show up. They provide several easter eggs (Timon's Ma is later mentioned in Episode 19 and even appears in a book!) and they give the Simba's Pride cast two cameo episodes... it was RIGHT FREAKING THERE!

Good Pay-Off:

Like I said, this moment becomes way more awesome when you catch onto the episode's foreshadowing of it earlier. And thanks to that said scene, this moment is much more badass when you know that Kion can't always do this.

Also I personally find this to be 10x more impresisve than anything Season 3 gives us.

This Saves The Episode:

Bunga learning his lesson here makes the episode easier to stomach. The episode's self-aware attitude makes it less frustrating to watch. The episode's moral gives you something to take away. And this episode's humor distracts you from the stupid of it all.

Even if you discount EVERYTHING I just picked apart here, this episode still manages to be entertaining, and it has at least one layer to keep it from falling into the "bad" territory.

CONCLUSION:

Much better than I remember it! I've always said that Bunga is a character who gets better as Season 1 progresses, I just did not know how quickly that happened. We're at Episode 3 (technically 5 if you count the pilot as a two-parter), and they gave us a decent plot with him. There are much better Bunga-centric episodes than this one, but it's still good. Also the two songs were catchy.

Final Ranking: 7.5/10

One of my favorite things in the world to do is make life easier and fix things. Anybody who knows me personally, will tell you that I am really annoying when you have a problem because I just want to get to fixing it.

So let's talk about what went well for my writing retreat (I want more of) and what didn't go (what to fix).

What went well

Avocado on a bagel with strawberries on the side for lunch every day is the best thing ever 10/10

Having more planned than I assumed I did. Always better to have more than you need.

Having all my meals planned. Not a single thought about cooking.

Consistently writing about one chapter or around 1.5 to 2k words per 45m-1h. Nice because it's very easy stat to track.

Having the writing discord server was so lovely and nice to keep motivation by checking in with everybody.

Having a delightful sleep schedule. I woke up around 7:00, started working around 8:00, and then write for most of the day and crash around 10 pm. Ideal really.

Having daily checklists for daily habits. Can't forget anything.

What didn't go well

Overdoing it a little on the 'all day writing' and trying to cold-turkey approximately 12 hours a day of writing with 1-hour breaks for lunch and dinner.

Not having something to break up the endless writing and distinguish days apart. On day three I noticed uncomfortable 'how long has it been' feeling from the hours of unbroken writing that was a little spooky.

Lasagna is delicious but too heavy to have for dinner and then proceed to try to write directly after.

Sitting for hours without some sort of break or stretch.

Cat feeder not being set correctly. So it went empty, and they woke me up at 5:30 in the morning.

Messing up dates. For those who missed it, the retreat was originally only meant to be Wednesday to Sunday, but I wrote the dates wrong on the announcement post. Because it was my mistake I just made more post, not big deal.

What I will be doing in the future

More avocado bagels every single day.

Lighter dinners.

Already fixed the cat feeder problem.

And stretching and/or writing on the treadmill.

Taking an actively non-writing, non-meal break daily. A craft or maybe watching a show while on that treadmill. Something that breaks up the days and doesn't make the days run together.

Adding more dopamine checkboxes. Who doesn't want more motivation?

The next retreat is going to be similar to this one for me where I'm only going to have 2 or 3 days where I'm going to be fully able to write, BUT when it comes to the 14 days in the August retreat I will be completely locked in. So these are just test rounds.