We open to see Jackie climbing an Aztec pyramid. There are some statues of some bulls at either side of the stairs. Jackie consults a map before entering.
Cut to Finn watching Jackie through some binoculars. Along with Chow and Ratso are two new guys. Let's call them Wimpy and Quiet Man. Wimpy is nervous that pyramids normally have mummies inside them. Finn says that's only in Egypt. Wimpy then suggests waiting for Jackie to get the talisman and taking it from him when he exits the temple.
Cut to Jackie exploring. He opens a hidden panel by sticking his fingers in an ox statue's nostrils. It opens to a blank space where the talisman was supposed to be. Ratso and Chow jump him. Finn comes in and demands to know where the talisman is. Jackie says he doesn't know, which the Enforcers naturally don't believe. Tohru comes over and grabs Jackie, turning him upside down and shaking him.
When that doesn't work, he slams Jackie against a pillar and demands to know where the talisman is.
We then hear ghost sound effects and a mummy appears.
The Enforcers bolt, led by Wimpy. Tohru does not run, but glances away from Jackie. When he looks back, he's holding Finn instead.
Jackie then sees that Jade is controlling the mummy from behind. Tohru is unimpressed, reducing the mummy to pieces with a single karate chop. Ew.
Jackie and Jade bolt, followed by Tohru, who breaks through a wall to get out of the pyramid more quickly. He orders the Enforcers to go after them, and the Enforcers get on some motorbikes.
Jackie demands to know why Jade is there when she's supposed to be at the hotel doing homework.
Remember, kids. Doing homework early is hazardous to your health. Procrastination FTW!
Jackie and Jade arrive where a couple of people are about to go hand gliding. The two swipe the hang glider and some helmets. (Safety first!)
Finn, Ratso and Wimpy are unable to stop fast enough and plummet into a convenient body of water below. Since it's a cartoon, they're perfectly okay. Wimpy asks if there are sharks.
Tohru silently watches Jackie and Jade escape.
Cut to Jackie and Jade walking through a Mexican town. Jade says that it's very cool. Jackie is more worried about the talisman, which "could be a million miles away." Jade wants to watch some mariachis, which Jackie agrees to as long as she doesn't go anywhere. He goes to go ask some locals about the talisman. A young boy approaches Jade.
Turns out Paco is just trying to get an audience for El Toro Fuerte, an undefeated luchador who has a fight that evening. Jackie says that wrestling is fake. Paco says that El Toro Fuerte is the best, and Jade says that Jackie could take him. Paco tells her to bring "the mouse man" with her to the match that evening.
Jackie emerges from the shop with a couple sombreros. Jade says that she told a boy that Jackie was the best wrestler, and Jackie has to go prove it.
Jade tries to convince Jackie to go to the fight, but Jackie says he needs to search for the talisman. He then looks at the pamphlet . . . and sees El Toro Fuerte has the ox talisman on his mask.
That evening, Jackie and Jade are going to go see the match. The Enforcers watch them enter, wearing sombreros and ponchos. Tohru hasn't bothered much with a disguise. He stands out more than the others, so he probably didn't feel the need to bother.
Paco shows up to greet "Yade." Jackie asks him about El Toro's mask, and Paco says that it's El Toro's symbol. "Because he is strong, like the ox." Paco grabs Jade to take him to their front row seats. Jackie goes snooping around backstage, looking for El Toro.
He knocks on the door, claiming that he's from housekeeping and that El Toro's mask needs to be cleaned.
Neither do many luchadors. I don't think Jackie knows that much about Mexican wrestling.
Jackie tries to cover his mistake, but Tohru shows up. He grabs Jackie and holds him down again, this time not so off model.
After the commercial break, Jackie grabs Tohru's pants and yanks them down, revealing some blue boxers with smileys. This confuses me, since Tohru's outfit looks like it's a white shirt with black overalls. Then again, there are ten year olds know more about clothing than me.
Tohru drops Jackie and hastily pulls his pants up. Jackie kicks him in the back, knocking Tohru over. He then bolts, when the other Enforcers spot him. The Enforcers run into a couple of wrestlers, delaying them long enough for Jackie to find an unlocked door. He grabs a mask and cape, and tries to sneak out.
An announcer puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him it's time for his match. The announcer goes into the ring while a bunch of people sit motionless aside from some camera flashes. The spectators — aside from Paco, Jade and three guys in a close up shot — do not move during the first part of the fight. This wouldn't be so obvious if some of them weren't obviously mid-cheer.
I love this show, but stuff like this happens on a regular basis. The show tends to skimp on backgrounds, which are already fairly minimalistic. I'm assuming that most of their time (and money) went into animating the fight scenes, so there wasn't much left over for the backgrounds. The fight scenes are quite good, so I'm willing to forgive this flaw in the animation.
He announces that the match is El Pollo Mascado (the masked chicken) vs. El Toro Fuerte (the strong bull).
Jade realizes that it's Jackie in the match and is thrilled. Jackie says he's only doing it so El Toro will have to be unmasked and he can take the talisman. So he's basically planning on stealing it after beating El Toro up.
I thought you were supposed to be the good guy, Jackie. You could at least try to explain the situation. All you need is the talisman, not the rest of the mask.
The fight begins, and Jackie quickly gets his butt kicked and is knocked unconscious. Which makes El Toro the second person to be able to defeat Jackie so far, after Tohru.
Finn sees that it's Jackie and orders the Enforcers to get him. Tohru stops them, saying that Jackie doesn't have the talisman. In case you haven't noticed, the pecking order in the Dark Hand is as follows: Shendu > Valmont > Tohru > Finn > everyone else.
Jackie has a dream where Uncle's head is floating nearby, telling him that each talisman has a different magic. The two talk for a bit, and the dream Uncle speculates that the ox talisman gives its user super-strength which is why Jackie got "such a whooping." Then dream Uncle delivers a two-finger strike and Jackie wakes up. The arena is empty aside from Jade.
Jade is crushed that El Toro beat Jackie, sounding near tears. Jackie tells her that the ox talisman gives El Toro superhuman strength. Jade immediately cheers up saying that she knew wrestling was fake.
Cut to Paco getting an autograph from El Toro. Finn arrives, and introduces El Toro and Tohru.
Tohru demands the mask, and El Toro says that he never removes his mask. Tohru says that he'll remove it for him. Tohru reaches for the mask, but El Toro grabs his wrist and tosses him onto a car, totaling it in the process.
The Enforcers take one look at Tohru and bolt. Jackie tries to talk El Toro into giving him his mask, telling him that the Dark Hand are after the talisman. El Toro says he doesn’t know what Jackie’s talking about.
The Shadowkhan then arrives, a few armed with swords, but most with staffs. El Toro immediately removes his suit jacket. El Toro just throws the Shadowkhan around with super strength while Jackie uses pottery and a staff he swipes. During the fight, El Toro accidentally hits Jackie, too, sending him into a wall and knocking him out.
One of the Shadowkhan uses some sort of device to grab the mask off El Toro's face. El Toro tries to go after the Shadowkhan but is tripped.
The Shadowkhan bows and offers the mask to Tohru. Tohru rips the talisman off and tosses the mask aside. He then grabs the unconscious Jackie. Jade tries to stop him by hitting him, but he just flicks her in the forehead with one finger to knock her down. I guess Tohru doesn't see the point in murdering ten-year old girls unless ordered to.
Tohru puts Jackie into the Enforcers' Jeep, calling him a souvenir. They drive away.
Paco tearfully says that El Toro is a fake and leaves.
Jade goes to ask El Toro for help.
Jade tries to convince him to leave, pointing out that El Toro owes Jackie. Jade tries to snap El Toro out of his angsting by repeating a lesson from the last episode
^_^
I love this show's approach to Aesops. Jackie delivers them to try to teach Jade, while Jade happily ignores them or warps them as she sees fit.
Cut to the Dark Hand getting ready to take off in their plane. Tohru is sitting in the copilot's chair with the talisman. Quiet Man is the pilot. Finn and Chow are tying up Jackie, who has already had his mouth taped up. The rope they are using is attached to the plane.
Jade knocks on the door. Finn goes to teach her some manners, and finds out that she was sitting on El Toro's shoulders. El Toro seems less than thrilled, and grabs Finn, throwing him out of the plane. Jackie then kicks Chow out the door.
When the tape is removed from Jackie's mouth, he tells them to get the talisman. Jade jumps in the plane, and El Toro follows. Then the plane starts moving. Jackie ends up dangling behind it. Quiet Man sees Jackie dangling behind the plane, and then he gets an actual line!
Tohru goes to investigate, leaving the talisman in the cockpit. He runs at El Toro, and their rematch consists of trying to overpower each other by pushing each other out of the way. Not the most exciting rematch.
Jade opens the plane door to try and help Jackie. She realizes she's not strong enough, and then goes to get the talisman. The pilot tries to stop her, and she reflexively kicks him.
One of the knots in Jackie's rope comes untied. Jackie narrowly manages to grab the end of the rope rather than plummeting to his death. He climbs up the rope, closing the plane door behind him. El Toro and Tohru are still locked in place when the unconscious pilot slides into view. The fight ends when they all realize who must be flying the plane.
They all scream when they see Jade is the one flying the plane.
Cut to Paco looking at a poster of El Toro and crying. The plane crash lands. A couple seconds later, El Toro, Tohru and Jackie are outside the plane, ready to fight. Jade tosses El Toro the ox talisman, but he tosses it back to her.
El Toro, he's a criminal who has no problem fighting you by using hordes of ninjas. And this isn’t some wrestling match. This is life or death. Screw fighting fair.
And Tohru disables both El Toro and Jackie with a single blow, knocking them both into a wall. I guess Tohru fights much better in open arenas than enclosed spaces.
Jade jump kicks Tohru into the wall so hard that the entire building collapses.
Paco comes out from his hiding place. El Toro looks ashamed, but Paco takes his hand and asks him to teach him "the ways of the wrestler." D'aw . . .
El Toro agrees, and Paco calls him the greatest. Jade says Jackie is the greatest. The two get into an argument about it, and the episode ends.
Trivia
- The announcement poster in the background changes between shots, with at least two different sets of typos appearing.
- El Toro Fuerte translates as "the strong bull." "El Buey Fuerte" would be the strong ox.
- In Spanish, the letter J is pronounced like an H, which explains why Paco and El Toro can't pronounce Jade's name right. No clue why they pronounce her name like "Yade" instead of "Hade" though.
- Masks are very important
in lucha libre (Mexican wrestling), and losing a mask to an opponent is "an ultimate insult." (You can get disqualified for removing an opponent's mask in a match that doesn't have the masks wagered.)
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