Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13 recap “The Poison Ravine”

Things aren’t looking too good for our heroes. Po is feeling responsible for Alfie’s takeover, so it’s up to Wandering Blade to snap him out of it in Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3 episode 13.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13 recap – Po’s self-doubt

Wait, Po doesn’t want to help Wandering Blade stop Alfie? Yes, our hero known for his abundance of positivity and hope is feeling less than stellar about recent events.

Po blames himself for the situation at hand, for he was the one who couldn’t stop Klaus and Veruca in the beginning of the series and he was the one who gave Alfie all the Tianshang weapons. Po is being hard on himself and lacks any motivation nor ideas to fix this mess.

It’s up to Wandering Blade to act as herself and Po, so that perhaps she could think of an idea. However, pretending to be Po isn’t easy.

Mr. Ping offers some advice; Po is a doer and go getter, he’ll need a mission only he can complete to get him back on track. The mission: to retrieve special peppers for Mr. Ping’s noodle soup that can only be found on the other side of a river.

Although he’s feeling defeated, Po agrees to get them with Wandering Blade.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13 recap – The mission

Throughout the episode, Po sees a darker version of himself who is the embodiment of all his negative feelings. This embodiment constantly interferes with Po’s progress.

As Po and Wandering Blade arrive at the river, they discover it dried up, leaving nothing but poisonous flowers at the bottom. Another victim of Alfie’s plan to create a new Pangea.

Deciding against walking on the safe ground towards the pepper plant, Wandering Blade thinks it will be more like Po to walk across the bottom and face danger head on. When Po tries to follow after her, his foot barely touches a plant and becomes numb.

Together they try to find the pepper plant, all the while becoming increasingly more frustrated with each other. When the duo finds the pepper plant, both of Po’s legs are practically numb but he wants to prove himself and Wandering Blade wrong, that he isn’t useless and can do this.

His plan fails, resulting in both he and Wandering Blade stuck on the dry river floor, either numb or feverishly crazy from the plants. As night falls the poison seems to wear off, Po is able to successfully get the pepper plant.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13 recap – Po’s idea

Upon returning home, Po gives the pepper plant to his father who doesn’t use it for his noodle soup. He promptly throws the poisonous plant away.

Po has one last confrontation with his negative self before the dark embodiment vanishes. Free of negative thoughts, Po is able to think clearly and comes up with a plan.

Referring to his manga comic books he makes the discovery that the ancient masters weren’t gone. Their souls became trapped in the Earth.

Po believes since the Forge is no longer an option, maybe the ancient masters will be strong enough to destroy the Tianshang weapons themselves. However, they need a descendant of the ancient masters to help them.

With Veruca dead, their only option becomes Klaus. But will he be willing to help them?

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13 review

I know there are some who will view this episode as filler. However, I strongly and passionately disagree.

When it comes to Po, he’s the poster boy of positivity. He’s humorous, hopeful, loyal, and creative.

Sure, his actions might cause more trouble for himself and his friends. Sure, he might underestimate a real problem.

And sure, his plans might not always work. But overall, he has all the qualities of, at least to me, what you’d want in a true friend.

So, to have him feeling utterly defeated and depressed, to the point he doesn’t care about anything anymore, is rare, upsetting but relatable. Even the happiest people feel sad.

Even the most energetic need time to recharge. It’s normal, it’s natural.

Having an episode dedicated to Po’s mental struggle reminds audiences that there will be times where this will happen to you. But it’s important to remember that these feelings will go away.

You need to find a way to ignore the negative and see the positive. Embrace that you aren’t perfect but, more importantly, embrace yourself.

What did you think of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3, episode 13? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

You can watch Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight season 3 on Netflix.