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cave-monkey · 8 months ago

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Monkey King 2009 Episode 8 (Part 1/2)

This episode makes me scared for the future. It's so wholesome. This episode was all about what great friends these guys are, how much they care about each other, how important these relationships are to them, and I mean. It did a great job. It did a wonderful job!

They are definitely getting ready to rip them apart. They might let it ride a few episodes more only to spring it on us when we've let our guards down, but it's coming.

But!

Okay, so I already broke and talked a bit about Six Ears and Stone Monkey in this episode, so I won't go too crazy on that (maybe), but I do want to mention Stone Monkey's furiously intent expression while running to save Six Ears's life, and then how the second he was in range to attack that expression flipped to a smile. He also ripped Six Ears out of there and slipped back to a more serious expression when he asked him what he was doing out here all by himself. This entire episode Stone Monkey's kind of flipping between...really intense and then really flippant, which was interesting to watch? But also a bit whiplash-inducing. Jade Rabbit definitely took it as 100% real, and maybe it is - it's not like you can expect any version of Monkey King to not to be a little cocky - but...I dunno. I think there's some nuance there. It reminds me a bit of how he'd go from 0 to 60 when confronted with the four generals in Episode 6 compared to how carefree he might have been acting even just seconds earlier.

That smile is also only moments after he just watched the Demon King send Six Ears flying, and we got a shot of his face immediately after that too, and he wasn't happy about it. Stone Monkey, I think, can smile maliciously, but he still...hm.

I get the impression Stone Monkey doesn't really like showing that something's actually getting to him, especially when his "enemies" can see it. He'll pretend he's more confident than he is, or otherwise that it doesn't actually bother him at all, at least until he can't hide it anymore and it comes out of him snarling (we saw this in action in Episode 6, where he went from avoidance/running away at the beginning of the episode to passive-aggressive antagonism in the middle to having to be held back from squaring up to Marshal Ma at the end). Even when he's genuinely (or "genuinely") annoyed with someone, there's generally a sort of playful air of exaggeration, or he'll teasingly escalate for fun. What it looks like to me is Stone Monkey enjoys confrontation so long as it's basically harmless, but he doesn't like being actually angry. This might have something to do with the fact that when he actually loses his temper, he gets violent. We see this with the Demon King and with Ginseng Fruit.

Which isn't to say all his quick changes in mood are deliberate obfuscation. That's going too far. But I do think it's a part of his character that pokes its head out of the brush every now and then.

We also see a little of how people react to it. Stone Monkey was visibly struggling enough during his fight against the Demon King that Jade Rabbit was moved to help him a few times even though she was still very angry with him, and when she'd knock the Demon King down or trip him up (from hiding, Stone Monkey didn't know (maybe) that she was there) he'd immediately flip over to mocking laughter and confident poses like he hadn't been worried at all. This PISSED her OFF.

It also makes me kind of wonder how Six Ears perceives it. Both Stone Monkey and Six Ears will default to mocking and taunts and making fun when they can during a fight, so it's not like Six Ears isn't familiar with the tactic, but he also doesn't see how stressed Stone Monkey gets when trying to get to him before a rescue, either. He only sees the smiling entrance.

I'm feeling this out because of the part in this episode where Stone Monkey - for probably the first time ever - refuses to let Six Ears fight with him, and even throws him away from danger. (I LOVE that scene.) I have a lot to say about it, actually, and I'll get into what I think was going on from Stone Monkey's perspective there in a second, but from Six Ears's side that cannot feel good. Yeah, Stone Monkey's just trying to protect him, but he's also not trusting Six Ears to help. He's forcing Six Ears to leave his best friend alone in the middle of an enemy war party, because he doesn't trust him to help. That's got to feel like a horrible slap in the face, at least once the battle is over and Six Ears has time to process it.

And I'm sure that's not going to have any consequences whatsoever.

From Stone Monkey's side (didn't I say I wasn't going to talk about them that much? well I lied), going back to their earlier conversation where Stone Monkey asks Six Ears what he's doing out here alone, and then the look on his face when Six Ears explains (plainly and almost casually for the situation, like he doesn't realize he's rocking Stone Monkey's entire world) that he noticed Stone Monkey missing and went looking for him because he was worried that he might be in danger somewhere.

Stone Monkey's shocked.

It isn't that I think he didn't realize Six Ears cared about him before this moment; it's that this is the moment where I think it really clicked. That Six Ears will notice and miss him when he's not there, that he'll worry about him, that Stone Monkey has someone who will come try to find him when he's lost and help him when he's hurt. Six Ears has been doing this for him since they met, even outright scolding him for always vanishing without telling anyone, so Stone Monkey's definitely been a little slow on the uptake here, but I also think this is the first time Stone Monkey's heard Six Ears actually spell it out like this.

The progression of Stone Monkey's face during this conversation.

Six Ears also tells him not to apologize or say anything about always getting Six Ears into trouble, since Stone Monkey's always having to save him anyway. I mentioned before that I thought the sworn brothers thing was really important to Stone Monkey at the time, just because of how rough things had been with the troop and how nice it probably was for him to have someone willing to claim him and to let him claim them in turn, and I think this is something very similar. Confirmation that he's as important to Six Ears as Six Ears is to him. That they'll take care of each other.

Then fast forward a couple minutes and Stone Monkey throws Six Ears to the top of the cliff instead of letting him fall with him. I think this conversation is definitely a huge part of that.

It's not that I think Stone Monkey wouldn't have wanted to save Six Ears even before it, but I do think his emotions are running a little high at that moment. He saw Six Ears get flattened by the Demon King not long ago, they just had a very important conversation for Stone Monkey, and I think in that moment the thought of losing Six Ears when he probably feels he just got him (or had just allowed himself to believe he really had him, not much difference) was probably overwhelmingly horrible. He's already proven himself protective of Six Ears in the past, and I think that feeling is probably dialed up to a million at that moment, and so it's probably not surprising if he panicked and took a chance to shove him up on a high shelf for safekeeping. (Maybe Stone Monkey's mystic universe powers make him capable of recognizing narrative death flags and he said NOT TODAY.) (I kid.) (Or do I?)

There's also a possibility - way more of a stretch, not sure how I feel about this idea one way or another honestly - that he maybe now feels he can trust Six Ears to come back even if he isn't right next to Stone Monkey. That Six Ears won't leave him for dead, but will go get help and bring it as fast as he can, or will return to help on his own.

Or it's just that Stone Monkey 100% would have thrown Six Ears to safety in the past, but this is just coincidentally the first time there's been an opportunity. (Stone Monkey, shrugging: If you don't want to be tossed out of the fight, don't be so tossable.)

This ties into what I was talking about above (way, way above, oops) that Six Ears isn't always privy to the times Stone Monkey isn't confident. Maybe Stone Monkey didn't like even their combined chances and chose to save Six Ears because he genuinely thought they were going to die there when that tree went down, maybe he really did think he had a better chance of holding out longer than Six Ears, maybe he was going full big brain and knew that if he went back and tried to bring the army, there was a good chance the four generals just wouldn't listen to him, and it's just good luck that sending Six Ears lets him get his best friend safely out of the way. Maybe it's a weird mashup of many different reasons.

I don't think he genuinely believed he could single-handedly fight his way out of that canyon. I'm not sure if Six Ears knows that.

I'm not finishing this thought now, but I'm stewing on it.

And anyway, on a lighter note, most of Stone Monkey's intentions are totally moot because Six Ears - the universe's favorite trouble magnet - manages to either run immediately into another division of enemy soldiers (tiger guy probably had a grudge and went looking for him, actually) who bailed out of the canyon for their own reasons and gets tree-ed again for awhile.

There's also the possibility he took it upon himself to guide off some of the army from the canyon so Stone Monkey wasn't overrun while also handling the Demon King!

Anyway, I love these monkeys. This also totally derailed from being about Episode 8 so I'm going to do a part 2 to get things back on track.

#mhw09 personal #monkey king 2009 #images under cut #this is...this is ENTIRELY about six ears and stone monkey #I'm sorry I failed #the next part will be about more of the episode lol #this is what happens when I fall asleep halfway through writing these things they grow to monstrous size #anyway I just love how much these two love each other #platonic romantic whatever #on my own note while I do think peachbuds is very cute and I DO ship it #(sometimes - you know. headcanons. fluid and endless etc etc.)#I prefer to watch the series through the lens of it being entirely platonic #mostly because I don't really think adding a crush would actually change their interactions much at all #I think for these two the fact they're best friends is and always will be the first priority #even when they're older

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