This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer.
You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
Welcome to Red Panda Report.
This time I'm talking about Red Panda Adventures episode 13 called The Hand of Fate.
It was originally aired October 7th, 2006, written and directed by Greg Taylor of Dakota
Ring Theatre.
And I'll read to you the synopsis or the intro for the episode, the copy for the episode.
A mysterious stranger dies in the street in front of the fashionable club Macaw.
Were his claims of membership simply the sad ravings of yet another victim of hard times?
Or is there something far more sinister at work?
Could he truly have been the son of a wealthy house long thought dead?
Can even the red panda and the flying squirrel succeed in a struggle with the hand of fate?
So I love that this was a cool episode.
It was fun, it was simple.
There wasn't too much for me to go on about so this might end up being a shorter episode
which I don't think is a problem for you or me.
So anyway, I will just go ahead and get straight into it.
There was some interesting banter that Kit had with some of the drivers of the other
wealthy men who frequent the club Macaw.
And her banter with them was interesting for a couple reasons.
It kind of revealed a little bit about her character and it revealed, I mean there were
some personal details that I don't really care to recount at the moment.
Go listen to the episode, it's good stuff.
But it revealed an interesting dynamic between her and Red Panda where she is a salt of the
earth woman.
She grew up, I don't know if she grew up poor, not necessarily, but she grew up as a lower
class person and her dad had a big impact on her.
She comes from a loving home and her mom still cares about her.
She's very comfortable talking to these, not toughs, but just these normal guys who are
very much blue collar.
And it's interesting because it kind of shows how well rounded she is and the fact that
she is also able to interact well with Red Panda.
Mostly because I think that we can all agree that the idea of being a masked vigilante
of running around beating up bad guys at night, that's more of a blue collar thing than a
white collar thing.
Yes it takes money and as Kit says in the episode, it takes money to keep in grapple
guns and gas grenades, but also you could just go out there and use your fists to beat
people up and stop primes and things like that.
I get the feeling that being from that more blue collar world, that's what gives her the
edge that she needs in order to be the flying squirrel and to have the interactions with
Red Panda that she does.
I think that's why there's that attraction to that pole there and partly why he has garnered
her interest.
I'll just leave it at that.
And I think that's pretty cool.
There's a funny bit where, like I said, I kind of spoiled this for myself already.
He brings up, hey, you'd like me if I was one of these blue collar guys, wouldn't you?
You'd like me better.
And she says no because then you wouldn't have the money to provide me with the awesome
panda mobile and everything else that we have.
So like I said, that's kind of interesting.
And that divide between them, I don't know that too much is made of it or that something
is made of it throughout the entire series and it's like a thing that needs to come up
time and time again, but it is definitely kind of present here.
And it's just, it's kind of fun.
I mean, he is a have and she's from the have not.
So I guess it makes sense that it would be talked about.
And I guess I appreciate the realism of that in this crazy fictional world.
And yeah, that's about that.
It is interesting that they bring up the money and the divide and the wealth because it turns
out that this episode is about people being consumed by greed and wanting money and being
willing to do just about anything to get it.
And red Panda in his secret identity uses his hypnosis to a small degree to interrogate
a woman who's the relative of the guy mentioned in the beginning of the, well, he's in the
beginning of the episode and he's mentioned in the copy.
He's the long clock dead guy who ends up dying in front of the club, club McCall.
And one of his relatives, I believe it's his sister is interviewed by red Panda.
Excuse me.
And he only uses a light hypnotic spell on her because he calls it a spell.
That's kind of weird, you know, like a lore and world building stuff that I hadn't remembered.
And he actually calls it a spell despite the fact that it's more science and technique
than, you know, actual magic.
Anyway, he gets this lady to talk to some extent, but he won't push the spell because
he doesn't want to reveal who he is or tip his hand too much, I guess, and give a hint
to the fact that he might be that marvelous mass mystery man.
So that was kind of cool.
And I like his interactions with people in his secret identity.
Actually, I mean, yeah, yes, I like his interactions with people as his secret identity, not just
him being in a cover ID, but when he's interacting with others of his class, let's say, and he's
not trying to let them on to who he is or what he can do.
It's interesting, especially because the contrast, you know, you know who he is as Red Panda,
and then seeing him be this other person is, you know, it's dynamic.
So that's fun.
And again, I'm bringing up the fact that these wealthy people, excuse me, I guess I'm not
giving away the plot quite yet.
So basically, wealthy people are coordinating with a scientist at a, I guess, an insane
asylum.
And they're basically doing that in order to secure themselves the fortunes of their
families while having their relatives squirreled away, so to speak, and hidden from public
view with the excuse that they're insane, or the claim that they're insane.
Is it true?
Is it not?
Again, you had to listen to the episode to find out the intricacies of that.
And I guess I'll spill a little bit of it now, because, you know, we get to see this
interesting, this interesting interaction where Kit goes to the jail, or to the asylum,
rather, and it's been four days, apparently.
And Red Panda thinks it's only been a few hours, but he was so drugged up on some, I
just spilled it right there.
He was so drugged up on this concoction that was made by the people at the asylum that
he was mollified, he was pacified.
He was basically in a cage of his own mind, and she was able to use a clever trick to
fix that for him and get him out of there.
But yeah, I mean, and then things resolve themselves, basically.
They help the people who are there under false pretenses, and justice or revenge is done
to the bad guys who put them there, to some extent.
And that's basically it.
It was a pretty simple, straightforward episode, and I know there was a lot of neat stuff in
it, so definitely one that I enjoyed.
Something that I really enjoyed was that there's a little bit of Chief O'Malley maybe coming
around to them, that's mentioned, and there's also, well, and the reason Chief O'Malley
might be coming around to them, and he has closed down the crime scene so they can check
it out, he's apparently informed, a flying squirrel, of this, is because there's a new
villain who's mentioned but not seen, he doesn't appear here, called the Genie, who robs
banks with the aid of a flying carpet, and there will be more Genie to come.
So you know, I actually need to check my notes now and find out if I need to pause in talking
about all these different episodes and actually get into one of the books.
I might have to do that.
Yes, I might.
Let me see.
Maybe I won't.
If the books reveal Red Panda's name, his secret identity, then I don't necessarily
want to do that.
I don't know, I'll have to think about that again.
And anyway, if you see a book review, a book analysis, whatever, coming out of Red Panda,
then you'll know my decision and you'll learn his name early, but we'll see.
We'll see what happens.
Anyway, with that, I'm going to go ahead and get out of here.
If you enjoyed this, check around the website for more stuff.
I've got other Red Panda episodes.
I've got episodes covering the shadow and I'm going to leave it at that.
So check that stuff out until next time, folks.
Take care.
This is MJ signing out.
I hope you enjoyed that.
Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments or other feedback you might have.
There you can find all of my analysis, art and fiction.
I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime and more.
Look around.
You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well.
This has been a story over everything production.