During a celebrated holiday in the Pride Lands, Kion and his friends rescue a jackal pup from Janja but soon discover that he is in a family of con artist jackals and the matriarch, Reirei, manages to even dupe Kion into letting them stay.
This episode contains examples of:
- Action Mom: Reirei is pretty slick for a mother of 15.
- Adorable Evil Minions: Dogo and his brothers are this. And their mother Reirei knows exactly how to exploit it.
- An Aesop: Just because someone acts nice doesn't mean they are nice—actions speak louder than words.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Female ostriches are brown, while the males are black. Yet the female ostrich in Zazu's choir is black. Also counts as an Animal Gender-Bender.
- During "Jackal Style", one jackal cub steals a fish from a flamingo's beak. Flamingos are actually filter-feeders that never eat fish.
- Battle Couple: Reirei and Goigoi while they are attempting to feed on the Prideland animals gathered at the celebration.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Reirei. Her Villain Song is all about this trope.
- Deadpan Snarker: Bunga, when he catches Dogo while the rest of the Lion Guard is trying to catch the rest of his family:Bunga: You know what? I don't think you're cute anymore.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Dogo, though it isn't intentional because he's only acting under the instruction of his mother.
- Exact Words: The jackals abuse this to their advantage: Kion asks them not to steal anything from the aardvarks, which they comply with...only to steal from every other animal in the Pridelands.
- The Family That Slays Together: Reirei's children and husband with Reirei as the Evil Matriarch.
- Henpecked Husband: Goigoi is a victim of this. His catchphrase is, "Whatever you say, dear."
- Meaningful Name: Kupatana is Swahili for “Harmony”.
- Mighty Roar: How Simba gets the jackals to leave the Pridelands.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Subverted. Bunga and Beshte find Dogo sleeping in one of the aardvark dens and tell him to leave, which he does, but when they go the other way, they find what seems to be him sleeping in another den. They tell the jackal pup to go, which he does, but after they go the other way, they find what seems to be Dogo again sleeping in another den. Soon after, the other jackal pups wake up, revealing that it's Dogo's siblings all along who invaded the dens.
- Oh, Crap!: The Lion Guard all have this reaction when they see Reirei and her family attacking the Kupatana celebration.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: What the jackals use to trick the Lion Guard into letting them stay. It doesn't work when they're found out.
- Running Gag: How it takes multiple times for Reirei to get Goigoi to back her up and agree with her throughout the episode. Also, how Reirei feigns innocence to get out of getting in trouble for the actions of either her, her husband, or her children.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: When the hyenas are spotted chasing Dogo through the Outlands, Kion laments that it isn't happening in the Pridelands, where he and the guard would be free to do something about it. Simba points out "the spirit of Kupatana" extending to all animals, Pridelanders or not, and gives Kion permission to attack the hyenas on their own territory.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The jackals when Simba roars at them.
- Shown Their Work:
- Jackals are omnivores and do eat fruit as well as meat.
- The fruit Goigoi steals from the aardvarks' den is evidently a Cucumis humifructus, a type of cucumber that is exclusively eaten by aardvarks (hence their name aardvark cucumber). Although it is colored yellow like a galia melon as opposed to the biscuit color the real fruits have.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Simba's reaction to Reirei attempting to lie her way out of trouble is to roar at them, prompting the jackals to flee from the area.
- Villain Song: "Jackal Style" is all about the jackals swindling other animals.
