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, Episode 25. This time I'm talking about the
episode Brimstone Alley. Here's the copy written by Greg Taylor.
A pyromaniac is preying on the slums and tenement buildings of the city, bringing danger and
misery to the lives of some of its most vulnerable citizens. The police are searching in vain
for the firebug who holds the city in a grip of terror. But if a certain mass duo is right,
there may be more to this arson spree than meets the eye. Can even the red panda and
the flying squirrel withstand the flames of Brimstone Alley?
Again, that copy was written by Greg Taylor, as was the episode. It originally aired September
22, 2007. This is the start of Season 3. Every season of Red Panda is only 12 episodes long,
and there's typically some sort of arc or some sort of overarching narrative for that
season. I think there's a couple seasons where it's ongoing and they connect much more to
each other. In this season, in particular, this episode is kind of a palate cleanser.
It's kind of a fresh start. It shows you something a little bit different. We're not seeing a
super villain we're seeing instead. You should have listened to this already, but it's a
wealthy individual who wants to burn down the slums and the tenements so he can build
a new city, a new Toronto that will last into the future. He wants to have his name on it
and he wants to profit off of it. He knows who Red Panda is because they have an association
with each other. They've known each other for a long time because they're both some...
They're a pair of the city's wealthiest men and one of them dies and one of them lives.
The fact that there's more Red Panda episodes, I'm guessing you can figure out who that is.
But anyway, it's an interesting episode because it's a lot more grounded and there's a lot
more of a serious tone to it, I would say. In some ways, it's less fun and it's more...
I don't know, a little more real, a little more desperate, a little more gritty almost,
you could say. A flying squirrel, nobody's breaking anybody's fingers and nobody's beating
anybody to death or anything like that. But still, it's a grittier episode because it
really is vile what this guy's doing. I think what really helps ground it is in the beginning
of the episode, there's this fantastic set of vocal performances and great direction
and great sound design, really, where there's firefighters putting out a fire in a building
in one of these places, in one of these slums. And there's a lady who left her children at
home because it was the 1920s and you could do that sort of thing overnight or for long
periods of the night, leave your baby home with your son. I think today that sort of
thing would be frowned upon, but it's a very normal thing for people to have done. And
she comes home and her building's on fire and there's another guy who lives in the building
and he says, hey, you police, you firefighters have to put this fire out, otherwise we're
going to lose our building. And the firefighters say, no, we can't. We basically have to...
Well, I don't think they decided they're going to abandon the building, but they're not going
to go inside because they don't want to risk anybody dying to possibly have more corpses
than just the people who are left in the building. And it's really intense and the performances
are great. Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel show up and they help out and they end up
going into the building and there's a boy there. This is one of the guys, one of the
regular cast members trying to make himself sound youthful. But anyway, there's a boy
in there and then there's a baby crying and it's the boy and his little sister, little
baby sibling, and they are rescued and taken out of there. And anyway, it's really intense.
It's cool. Flying Squirrel puts a harness on, which I don't know if she has extra harnesses
or if they're talking about something that they have. I don't know if that's part of
her equipment or if they're talking about something that is there in the house for the
mom to wear the baby or what, but she puts a harness of some sort on, puts the baby in
and flies out of there. And we don't know how Red Panda gets out of there, but the gas
main blows, so the building's gone, so are most of their possessions, but they have people
survive and this particular family, all of them survive and that's good for them. But
it takes a lot out of Red Panda and Flying Squirrel and he kind of gives a, you know,
firefighters are superheroes, don't wear capes kind of statement there, which is kind of
funny. But you know, there is a great nobility and a great honor in doing something like
that that saves people's lives. It's funny how it gets played up sometimes, but definitely
I love the classic vibe of it here. And I thought it was really well done and it's kind
of funny. I mean, it's a difference of specialties. You know, Red Panda and Flying Squirrel can
fight super villains, but they can't put out fires so easily. They don't have the equipment
for it really or the experience versus the firefighters couldn't really take down, you
know, Mad Monkey. Although I'm sure he'd like it if they tried. Anyway, so yeah, we
have that part of it. That was really good. That really brought the stakes and it really
made it like a personal story. Even though we don't see these characters later on, you
get to hear what's at threat. It's these, you know, the little people, the people who
live in the slums, their lives are ruined basically by the fires and by what's going
on with this guy. And we learned that it's this old associate of Red Panda who he hasn't
seen in five years. And all this guy's doing is he's trying to burn down the city so he
can buy this part of the city so he can buy all the property for cheaper and rebuild Toronto
into something bigger, but that he'll profit off of specifically. And he claims to be a
god and he says, you know, all of the rich people of Toronto are basically gods and everybody
serves them at their will. And he ends up Red Panda tortures him with his psychic power
with his hypnosis because the guy says, I know who you are and I'm going to tell and
you and your little girlfriend are going to die and all this stuff. And he hypnotizes
him to see what he fears. And he says, I'll make it stop if you confess. And the guy runs
and he refuses to, he refuses to confess and he dies. And the episode ends with something
like, what is it? Pandas? You know, and us Brimstone Alley has claimed its last victim
and that's it. And I like how abrupt the ending was. I like how kind of hardcore the ending
was. It was very reminiscent of shadow. There's a lot of episodes of the shadow that just
end with the criminal dying or the bad guy dying in it. And this is reminiscent of that.
And it was good. It was a lot of fun. It was very effective. Not much safer kitten and
Red Panda, but I will say something that cause I've read the books. I know that kits, she
mimics the voice of this lady criminal and she's able to do that because, well, you know,
what is it? Well, anyway, in one of the books, Red Panda gives her something in her cowl
that can cast her voice somewhere else. But I think he also gives her a voice changer.
And I think that's exactly what she's using there, which is pretty darn cool. Either that
or Red Panda was hypnotizing the guy actively because he was there the whole time to make
it him hear his criminal associate as opposed to hear the flying squirrels voice. I'm not
sure how that works. It's one of the two. It's either the technology or it's the hypnotic
effect. But I like that we get a return of the line. Never tell the bad guys your powers,
basically. Never explain your powers to the bad guys, which is great. It's a lot of fun.
It's a great idea and it's something that makes a lot of sense. I like the attitude
that it's said with here. So anyway, it was a great episode, a great way to start off
a season. It's nice and clean. There's nothing hanging over us that's going to go on. It's
just like a solid adventure and it kind of helps to characterize the desperation of Depression
Era Toronto and how people will do bad for bad reasons, just for money, just for a few
dollars more, as they've said before in the Red Panda. And it's good. It's good stuff.
I like rich bad guys and I like rich good guys too, to counter them. Anyway, that's
all I have to say for now. So please go ahead and subscribe and you'll get weekly Red Panda
episodes. If you visit MJMunions.com, you can see the show notes and you can see all
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and see what I do with my own character who hands justice to people in alleyways. Anyway,
until next time folks, take care, be well, and hold high the lamp of justice.
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