Review: Tigtone “Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge”

Overview:

Tigtone’s empathetic gesture to help educate Helpy soon goes terribly awry and the pair are faced with a danger that puts all of humanity at stake. Tigtone learns that Helpy doesn’t know how to read, but their journey to a library unfortunately introduces the newly avid reader to an evil book. This crafty book’s manipulation of Helpy leads to an apocalyptic threat that splits Tigtone and Helpy through time and space in their efforts to put the world back to normal.

Our Take:

Tigtone’s second season is nearly over and by now the series has been able to deconstruct many of the most popular tropes and genres that fit with the fantasy genre. What makes an episode like “Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge” work so well is because it seems like it’s going to be a reasonably straightforward adventure, but the wild decisions that it makes is proof of how much the series has grown in terms of the scope of its storytelling. “Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge” uses both Tigtone and Helpy in atypical ways and it leads to one of the series’ most enjoyable episodes.

“Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge” is quite elegant in its design and the action is divided between Helpy and Chap-Tor’s onslaught of evil books in the present and Tigtone’s adventure within the book, which is from the past. Both of these are equal threats, but they involve opposite styles of problem solving. This also reinforces how much Helpy has become his own character this season and his side of this story is just as fundamental as Tigtone’s journey. Tigtone’s scenario in the book is pretty fantastic. He’s faced with a disaster of huge proportions that’s exactly the kind of excitement that he enjoys. However, Tigtone’s mission here requires him to be passive. He’s not supposed to solve the problem, but merely witness how it goes down, which allows him to just kick back and be flippant to those around him as he waits for the problem to solve itself.

There’s a lot of action that goes down here, but Helpy’s interest in reading is a really nice element throughout the episode. Of course, this is Tigtone, so this ultimately turns into the twisted of moral of how “not reading” is the major lesson. Tigtone pushes the ideal that “knowledge is not power.” Only Tigtone is power. Helpy is forced to remain held down, but it’s hard to feel bad for the character considering the crazy note that the episode goes out on. “Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge” sneaks in one more complex joke where Helpy holds a snake baby ransom, which is such a dark and unexpected visual to randomly throw at the audience. It’s a joke that’s tonally appropriate for the rest of this episode, but it almost feels like it’s also the episode’s way to rebel against what’s otherwise a very contained entry of the series.

“Tigtone and the Prison of Knowledge” is a well-plotted episode that finds different uses for these characters and successfully divides its action. It continues to turn Helpy into more of a reluctant hero and it’s a refreshing change of pace that this isn’t another episode where Tigtone just brute forces his way to victory. Tigtone’s strength is very secondary to his success and it’s an encouraging sign that Tigtone episodes are willing to get a little more ambitious with their stories. All of these glimpses of creativity as this season comes to a close bode very well for Tigtone’s future.