Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight – Season 3 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Black Steel of the Equinox

Episode 8 of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight Season 3 begins with the breathtaking site of Tianshang as Blade’s mother stares into the abyss. Veruca reaches the spot where she had seen the storm wheel for the first time in Alfie’s hands.

Po and the others stare at the city of Tianshang as it stands, however, there is no way to get there except the floating rocks. Akna isn’t able to fly and check how stable the rocks are so Po steps up to the plate takes a deep breath and begins to hop across the stones followed by Akna and Rukmini.

Lady Lucinda tries to stop Blade, but Blade refuses to turn back. She decides to hop onto the rocks and make the journey with them but struggles to hop across. She lands on a stone and begins to drift away. Rukmini offers to lend her a hand but ends up getting dragged by Blade’s mother. Blade, Po and Akna decide on a plan to rescue the two of them.

Meanwhile, Veruca arrives at the bog to find out about the bears. A fight erupts between Duncan and Veruca as both use magic to control the fauna around them. Veruca manages to win the fight and holds Duncan in the vines to question him. He tells her that she is the descendant of the ancient masters.

Po and the others hop along the stones to reach Lady Lucendra and Rukmini. Po realizes that tilting the stones enables them to move. Meanwhile, Blade’s mother cries her problems out to Rukmini about losing Alfie and Blade not living up to her expectations, but Rukmini tries to show her the good side. They realize they are heading straight for a huge rock and scream for help.

Po and the others hop onto a rock and tilt it to move toward Blade’s mother and Rukmini. Unfortunately, the ladies’ rock collides with a larger rock, but the ladies are safe. Po and Blade push their rock against many other rocks to gain speed and manage to obstruct the ladies’ rock and they all fall onto a larger rock.

On arrival, they realize how far they are and Blade yells at her mother. Rukmini tries to calm the fight, but just then her mother spots a reflection of the symbol coming from right beneath them. She reveals to Blade that it’s possible to just walk around the rocks without being affected by gravity.

Duncan clarifies that they aren’t related to the Ancient masters who created the weapons. Instead, they were descendants of the people who opposed the ancient masters. Veruca threatens Duncan to tell her where the weapons are hidden, but Duncan refuses to do so.

Blade’s mother calls the others out to come over to the other side of the rock. Blade and the others find the molds used to create the weapons. Po climbs up the structure to find out how it works while Blade explains the gravity of the situation. Po finds the wrapping of the storm wheel and tells Blade that the storm wheel has been melted but Blade finds the forge of a sword. 

They realize the storm wheel has been melted into the sword which means Alfie’s soul is still inside that sword. Blade’s mother is delighted to hear Alfie is alive. She offers to help them retrieve the sword as she is expecting Drake to arrive at their residence the next day. She also makes it clear that she expects Alfie’s return to which Blade reluctantly agrees and Po supports.

The Episode Review

This season focuses on exploring Tianshang as the Dragon Knights look to find the forge to destroy the weapons. Along with this comes multiple shocking revelations, the fact that Luthera’s shield has been the second storm wheel being the top of them all.

The best part of the season is the twists it keeps adding by bringing back characters from the past. Episode 8 by far takes this to the absolute next level as it opens up to the possibility that Alfie might be brought back to life.

The episode also has a bit of a non-fight action sequence where Po and the others try to rescue Blade’s mother from the floating stones. For a second Po uses a bit of kung fu, but not enough to live up to the show’s name.

With most of the series being recorded outside China the series missed the opportunity to have serene scenic views the movie version is able to offer. But the show claims the opportunity to portray scenic beauty through Tianshang and the visuals are breathtaking, to say the least.