Recap / Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts S 3 E 07 Requiem For a Dave

As everyone regroups, Kipo blames herself for the damage done and springs into action. Enter Dave with a tale about fanatics- and one awesome fan.

---

Tropes:

• An Aesop: If you try to end a war by keeping it going, there won't be anyone left. Sometimes, it's better to go with communication rather than confrontation.
• Backstory: It’s finally explained how Benson and Dave met each other and became friends.
• Been There, Shaped History: When the handheld fan is stolen from him the first time, Dave retaliates by unleashing a pack of MegaBeavers on the entire city to get it back. Said Megas would tear down the various buildings and build them into a dam that would become "Skyscrapper Ridge".
• Character Development: Zane starts to realize that not all Mutes are bad.
• Cycle of Hatred: Dave tells Kipo a story about how his species and a group of humans were at war with each other for two hundred years over a handheld fan. Eventually both sides wiped each other out until only Dave and Benson were left. This is to teach Kipo the lesson that if you try to end conflict with violence rather than communication, all you will accomplish is more violence later.
• Disapproving Look: When Emilia is about to leave Zane on the boat to fend for himself, Greta can be seen frowning at what Emilia did.
• Disproportionate Retribution: If Dave's story is to be believed, he single-handedly caused the destruction of the city by leading a colony of Mega Beavers into it... because some guy stole his handheld fan on a hot day.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The humans do not understand why Kipo is attacking and is upset at them for attacking and curing mutes, for they believe what they went through in the previous seasons makes them the victims.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: Kipo sets out to kill Emilia and her former burrow-mates in revenge for their attack on the Timbercat Village, disregarding her loved ones begging her not to go through with it until Dave manages to talk her down.
• Gory Discretion Shot: As Dave reached down to pick up a donut hole, two Fanatics killed the two Daves that were with him. We don't see how, but it was crunchy.
• Heel Realization:
  • This is what leads to Dave and Benson's friendship, as they both realize how pointless the fight for the fan has been.
  • Zane is gradually coming around to Kipo's way of thinking. Once he makes it clear to Emilia he is starting to disagree with her, she darts his outfit to the ship's surface when it looks like Jaguar Kipo is about to attack them.
  • Some of people in Emilia's army, at the start of the episode, are starting to question what they're doing.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Invoked when Wolf and Benson argue that if Kipo goes through with killing the humans who were once her friends and neighbors, she will lose the kindhearted part of herself that brought the previously-warring Mute factions together in the first place.
• Horse of a Different Color: When Dave flips through his memory to continue his story, he remembers the time he rode a Mega Beaver like a horse, complete with reins strapped to the beaver and a cowboy hat on Dave’s head.
• Identical Grandson: If Dave's story is to be taken at face value, then the leader of the Fanatics looked exactly like his grandfather.
• Irrational Hatred: One of the Dave clones named David was really hated by the main Dave even though he looks and acts no differently than the rest of the Daves.
• It's All My Fault: Kipo blames herself for what happened in the last episode so much, that she decides to sink the boats and kill the humans as punishment for joining Emilia's cause.
• Killed Offscreen: A Death of Personality variant. Around the beginning of the episode, we learn that one of the Fitness Raccoons, Carton, has been cured into a regular raccoon even though she was not seen getting hit with the cure in the previous episode.
  • The Dweeb’s grandson and most of the Fanatics aren’t seen dying, yet judging by how Benson is the last of member of his group still alive, it is more than likely they all died off on the dangerous surface world.
• The Last of His Kind: Dave is the last of his Mute people.
  • Downplayed with Benson. While he’s not the last human on Earth, he’s the last of his people.
• Oh, Crap!: When the humans see Kipo coming after them in her Mega Jaguar form, they panic assuming she's coming to kill them in revenge for attacking the Timbercat Village. This was her original intent, but she's talked down by Dave at the last minute.
• Planet of Steves: Apparently, there used to be other bug mutes like Dave that were all named Dave.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to the movie “Requiem For A Dream”.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Baby Dave gives young Benson these eyes once they are free from their trap, which forces him to bring the bug with him.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kipo sets out to sink Emilia's ship and kill the other humans in retaliation for what they did to her Mute friends. Dave expositing his backstory causes her to realize that this would only perpetuate the Cycle of Hatred, and while still angry she decides to give the humans another chance for redemption.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: In Dave’s story, he brings a horde of colossal Mega Beavers to get back his fan, tear down a city, and build Skyscraper Ridge.
• Silly Reason for War: The war between the Daves and a group of humans is for a fan.
• Tastes Like Friendship: After Dave and Benson helped each other escape from their traps, Benson made a pot of chili. The two bonded over it, officially ending the war between the Daves and the Fanatics.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Dave’s story is what convinces Kipo to break the Cycle of Hatred, and Benson and Wolf even congratulates him.
• Unreliable Narrator: Given Dave's habit of going off into his own little world, it is never clarified exactly how accurate his Backstory is. Given how straight the part when he meets Benson is played, it can be surmised that that part could be the most accurate.
• Unreliable Voiceover: Dave says that he bravely lead his army of Daves against the Fanatics. The flashback shows that he actually ran off.
• The Unreveal: Apparently, Dave can definitively die. How is never revealed, but it can't be a pretty sight based on the crunchy sounds two other Daves made when they were killed.
• Villainous Breakdown: Emilia's starts here.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The group are shocked to discover Dave can die, and he admits the way to kill him is dumb but he's not going to tell anybody... again.
• When It All Began: You can see the origins of a few of the Mute tribes during the beginning of Dave's tale; a giant skunk throwing a moped rider off and jacking his ride, a couple of frogs sheepishly stealing fancy suits from a store...