Thinking about Monkie Kid S4 and need to share my thoughts n’ theories on something before I explode with excitement.
Spoilers of course, so click the read more if you want to see. It ended up being A LOT.
This first part is about Azure Lion’s actions in the last three or so episodes compared to what we’ve seen with Sun Wukong.
When Azure Lion accidentally cuts the piece of the scroll Wukong’s sealed in due to PTSD flashback triggered by MK diving for the scroll piece, his immediate reaction is regret and remorse, but he tells MK that they were planning to release him once they took over heaven. An interesting and awfully convenient detail to admit after you accidentally sliced your former sworn brother’s prison in half!
Most likely he was going to release Monkey King, I think. The thing that sticks out to me is his shifting the blame to MK. If he hadn’t acted, hadn’t tried to save his teacher and friend, Wukong would be ok and Azure Lion would’ve tooootally let him go after! Because his word has been faithful to that point and he hasn’t already double-crossed, totally.
Which is also pretty damn dirty on his part. For what little he knows of MK, he hit him where it hurt with that, and poured salt on the metaphorical aggravated wounds. He then proceeds to take away the pieces and put them on his belt as some kind of messed up memento. Wukong is dear to both of them, but Azure Lion decides that he should be the one to take his tiny maybe-not grave, and MK has to see Monkey King be taken away from him for a third time.
Where this compares to Wukong’s actions is how they would’ve handled the situation. Past Monkey King would’ve shifted the blame away from himself too- because hey, everyone should’ve known what to do, not his fault! But the Monkey King we know now, whose grown and lived long enough to see all of the consequences of his past actions, would’ve taken responsibility. He would find a way to fix things and make it his sole problem to deal with. (Not a completely healthy way to go about it, but by comparison he has more self awareness)
Azure Lion has had the same amount of time as Wukong to see how his actions affect the future and affect those around him, but his takeaway is completely different. He’s been stuck on what happened to him and their brothers, how they “failed”, and doesn’t bother to think about what could happen if/when they did overthrow heaven. Revenge against his former friend and everyone in heaven has just about narrowed his focus, and thus clouded his judgement. He’s stuck in the past and in many ways stunted his own growth.
Which brings me to some bullet points.
“Sun Wukong isn’t that great either“- No, he’s 100% flawed and still reaping what he sowed over his lifetime, but he’s had growth, like a lot of growth. Taking partial/a whole lot of responsibility with MK and interacting with his friends more has helped him relearn what it means to be a part of a group, and MK has had a positive influence on him. As the lead(?) writer said on Twitter, he’s actively working on being more honest with MK, and is going to tell him everything. He wants to change and is trying to not let himself be held back from that by his past. Also he’s working on undoing everything’s he’s done that’s both directly and indirectly hurt others.
(Almost) everyone’s motivations against Monkey King- As I’ve seen several people point out, all the characters that have had a valid reason to hate Sun Wukong have shared their side of events, Wukong hasn’t. Presenting a very black and white picture on things.
(1) Macaque was scorned and abandoned, and wants his former sworn brother and best friend to feel even worse and be tortured by what he did. We know what he said happened, we saw how he saw Wukong delivering the killing blow, but we don’t see the strike connect, and he was shortly taken out of the afterlife/hell/the underworld by Lady Bone Demon. Revived to serve under her and give him a chance to get back at Monkey King- keeping his motivation going so he follows her game of chess to a T. It’s still very possible that Wukong didn’t kill him- the way he acted in Ep.9 in the first season when he sees Macaque suggests to me he thought Macaque slunk away after their fight to nurse his wounds and lay low for a loooong while. Macaque has also been pretty damn deceitful and used MK as his own pawn to secure his freedom (and also get back at Wukong.)
(2) Spider Queen wanted him to die and get him out of the way of her world domination, pretty simple revenge plot there. Dunno what else could be said for that.
(3) Lady Bone Demon was a person who sought to give mortals salvation from heaven’s actions and negligence, which twisted into wiping out everyone who walked all over those less fortunate and did not have the same privileges, and then just straight up total annihilation because everyone, at some point, would hurt others and make the world worse.
(4) Azure Lion, Golden-Winged Eagle, and Yellow Tusk Elephant. Sun Wukong’s brothers and former family. There’s a WHOLE lot there that Azure Lion is definitely leaving out on purpose (like his brothers were sealed away in the scroll to atone for their actions, but we don’t know what they did besides rebelling against heaven to earn such a punishment). He and his brothers make most of their hate about their leader turning their back on them and becoming part of the system/people that oppressed them. Valid reason to be upset and never forgive Wukong, because he either never told them what happened or he also withheld information. That said, the flashback of Wukong coming back with the JttW group is framed in a similar way to Macaque’s flashback- Monkey King comes in, there’s a fierce battle, and it ends with Wukong bearing down and hitting them with the staff. It’s even mirrored with MK’s fight against him, but we know MK was coming down to grab Monkey King and leave with his injured friends. Azure Lion could only see Wukong coming back to hurt him, and lashed out in the worst possible way, leading to destroying his friend and unable to take the blame.
The implications of Azure Lion taking the Jade Emperor down and becoming the new ruler of the Celestial Realm- Azure Lion and his brothers succeed at the current end of season 4, and he asserts himself as the new ruler. When he does, reality between all of the realms nearly tears itself apart, and we see Macaque, Nehza, and MK feel the effects of the sudden power shift. What that implies could possibly means their individual powers are affected, orrrr since they’re all celestial beings, their souls are linked to the Celestial Realm and they have some kind of sixth sense that alerts them to these changes. Now that Azure Lion has control and all of the powers of the Emperor, he might just attempt a total party wipe like Lady Bone Demon tried to do. Most definitely going to try to manipulate and take advantage of MK’s slew of commplicated feelings with his true origins, and what Monkey King has done to MK in the time they’ve known each other.
Now for theories/guessing what’ll happen in the S4 special.
Wukong tells MK very early on that his body can’t handle him overexerting his powers, and now that everything is on the line, again, and he’s lost Wukong, again, he may just tear himself apart to set everything right, and sacrifice himself so his friends survive and Monkey King can come back. We can see it happening now, after fighting his literal demons and intrusive thoughts personified, and triggering his transformation from a mortal to the celestial monkey he’s (possibly) always been. I’ll say along with that he might be having a hard time adjusting because he’s been away so long- from Monkey King, from Flower Fruit Mountain, his birthplace- and even though the staff unlocked most of it, his powers have laid dormant for a very long time, and he’s had a short time to train plus very little time to adjust having so much back all at once. Like a muscle that’s atrophied, he’s got to build it back up.
One of MK’s flaws is his tendency for self sacrificing, and while he does think of what’s important for his wellbeing, he still puts others before him, to his detriment. Carrying the trauma from everything that’s happened over the past year, he may feel that giving up his powers or his own life is what he has to do to set everything right and atone for the accidents he caused.
Azure Lion has literally gone godmode, and there’s not gonna be much he and his brothers can do to make up for taking it too far. It’s also very muddy, some morally grey areas, super emotionally charged. Also didn’t know where else to fit this but damn was he selfish for taking Wukong’s broken pieces away and threatening to break them even more if MK tried to fight him again. Like dude, wow.
MK won’t be alone, but he’s going to be facing a hard choice to make. If Azure Lion & co. walk away, he may just attempt everything again, and then they’re all gonna be living under the fear of brutal revenge for undoing someone’s very big mistake that they feel they had every right to do; Monkie Kid team doesn’t stop the cycle, and Azure Lion can continue to be willfully ignorant
Putting them all back in the scroll is a temporary solution and would be a little antithetical to everything our heroes have done so far. A punishment sure, but that also continues the cycle, and very little is learned. No matter what, Azure Lion will have to be kept from perpetuating the cycle of hurt and I don’t think they’re going to nuke him out of existence a la LBD. That would also not line up with everything they’ve done.
I sincerely hope we do see Monkey King bounce back like he did in the final fight against LBD, though there’s the chance if S5 happens, it’ll be the quest to restore Monkey King and MK has to figure things out on his own/with the assistance of a slightly calmer but still rogue Macaque. Angst, solving mysteries, and bonding galore! (but really Flying Bark, I will not be able to handle that. I want my cheesy but still very good resolution of Wukong coming back at the end and further paving the way for him and MK to bond and discover why he was created, and by who. I want to see these two catch a break and be happy! And grow as a family!)
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I was watching a clip from the Other Guys, cuz my partner loves that movie, and it was the scene when the guys go back to Alan's place to review their case and the hot wife steps out and Terry is instantly in love while Alan is just, oh yeah look at my plain wife, nothing special about her, but then at dinner they just get progressively grosser and grosser about their possible sex life and the whole time Terry's like, I love you why are you with him (points at Will Ferrell).
Then later on it's revealed that hot wife Sheila might actually be into the demeaning because their sex life is just that fucking weird, and it honestly cracks me up, but anyway!
The whole point of this, because I have the brain rot, is that I now need a buddy cop blackice fic, where Pitch is the kinda weird 'loser' cop to cover up his shady past who's been partnered up with - let's say Bunny because the comedy potential is so high there - and they go back to Pitch's place to review the case, and out comes Pitch's hot husband Jack and it plays out just like the movie because I need these two to just be total freaks in bed. Because it's funny. And I am weak.
But also the image of Bunny looking between these two like "How?!" while crying on the inside is always hilarious to me.
But so is Jack saying, "I needed to see a specialist to get my hips realigned."
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