Recap / The Adventures Of Puss In Boots S 06 E 11 The Moving Finger Writes

It is Time.

Directed by: Johnny Castuciano

Written by: Doug Langdale

The world is going to end in less than a day. And given that the gods themselves were unable to do anything about it, all hope seems lost. Puss has one last idea though, and that is to find the Great Mage Sino. Remembering what Orange said, Dulcinea decides the group need to find a Tulpa and hope that they know where Sino is.

Fortunately for them they don't have to look far because the Duchess has already brought a Tulpa to San Lorenzo: Cleevil! Although she does not appear to know she is a Tulpa and initially has no idea on what to do to find him, the phrase "the world needs him" causes her to activate and she turns to Artephius:

Cleevil: Artephius, is it time?
Artephius: Time for what? (Artephius goes into a trance, too) It is time.
Cleevil: Then we must go to the Forbidden Citadel

Puss, Dulcinea, Artephius and Cleevil waste no time in journeying to the Forbidden Citadel, where they find it guarded by a Red Sheevrah. While she happily lets the group in, she admits she does not intend to let them out, and uses her powers to take on forms derived from the group's memories to attack them.

After passing the Sheevrah's trial though, what they find in the central chamber does not appear to be Sino, but an evil twin of Artephius locked up. The group wonders what to do next while Artephius begins freaking out.

Artephius: Oh, don't free him Puss! Don't do it, he's evil! Can't you see?
No: No!
Artephius: Can't you see??
No: No!
Artephius: See?
No: No!
Puss: See... No... See. No! Can it be? They are like two halves of a single whole! I must free him!

Puss frees the twin and he wastes no time in attacking the group with his dark magic. Despite their best efforts to fight back, the evil twin easily overpowers them. Puss begs Artephius to help but he refuses. But as the evil twin is about to finish the group off, Artephius suddenly attacks the twin with his own magical powers. The twin becomes terrified of Artephius and attempts to destroy him, but his attacks have no effect. Artephius approaches the twin and gives him a hug. In a flash of light, the two figures disappear and only one figure remains...

Dulcinea: Si... Sino?
Sino: Yes.

Tropes:

• Arc Words: Once again, Cleevil asks "Is it time?" and this time, the answer is finally yes.
• Call-Back: Forms the Sheevrah takes include the Golem, Pigmalion and Malaranea.
• Compound Title: With the next episode: "The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on". This notably also breaks the Idiosyncratic Episode Naming of the season, as these titles are more than three words long.
• Empathic Shapeshifter: The Red Sheevrah can shape shift into multiple forms, but only into things from her target's memories.
• Foreshadowing: When the Sheevrah fails to trick Dulcinea by pretending to be Puss, she admits it's because Dulcinea's mind is unusual, in that it is overflowing with memories, most of which are hidden to her.
• Funny Background Event: When Cleevil is told she's a Tulpa, not a Goblin, she admits that makes sense given that she doesn't seem to be able to curse people the way goblins can. She attempts to curse Toby and after she claims it didn't work, Toby can be seen off in the distance suffering a string of bad luck.
• Godzilla Threshold: Who can San Lorenzo turn to when not even the gods can help? Great Mage Sino. Fortunately, he's left behind a Tulpa specifically for such a situation.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: With No about to finish the others off, Artephius demonstrates the same Psychic Strangle power No had been using.
• No Name Given: The evil twin is never given a name on screen, but is referred to as "No" in the credits.
• Obviously Evil: Even with no context for what No is, Puss is quick to judge him as looking like an evil twin.
  No: "Evil"? Is it evil to want to change the world for the better? Is it evil to impose order? To bring about peace at all costs? To bend the world to my iron will?! Is this evil?? (Evil Laugh)
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: The Sheevrah attempts to do this to everyone, but Puss and Dulcinea surprise her by being willing to strike her down anyway and Artephius has Cleevil with him, who is more than willing to strike down the Duchess if Artephius can't.
  Sheevrah: Ugh, I should just stick to turning into monsters.
• The Reveal: Cleevil is a Tulpa, Artephius is half of Sino.
• Took a Level in Badass: When Dulcinea confronts the Sheevrah, she demonstrates extremely powerful hand to hand combat. When the Sheevrah questions Dulcinea on where she learned to fight like that, Dulcinea admits she doesn't know.
• Wizards Live Longer: When Puss insists they need Sino, Dulcinea questions if he would even be alive after hundreds of years, and Puss simply retorts there's no way a mage as powerful as Sino is said to be can just die of old age.