Series / Knight Squad

Arc: Do you wanna know a secret?
Ciara: I’m a princess whose father won’t let her become a knight. So, I use a magic ring and secretly train as Ciara.
Arc: And I’m Arc, a charming thief who has the same dream.
Ciara: But people from outside the kingdom aren’t allowed in Knight School.
Arc: So I’m pretending I belong here.
Ciara: Now, we protect each other’s secrets...
Arc: So we can achieve our dream of becoming knights!

— Opening Narration

Knight Squad is a kids comedy series that premiered in February 2018 and ran for two seasons, airing its final episode in April 2019.

The series is set in the fictional magical kingdom of Astoria. Arc wants to become a knight but is a son of a commoner thief, a secret that Ciara discovers. Ciara is secretly the princess of Astoria whose father refuses to allow her to become a knight, something Arc discovers. Both have to keep each other's secret as they become teammates along with Prudence and Warwick on the Phoenix Squad, which is a team competing against other squads to become the newest knights in the kingdom.

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Knight Squad provides examples of:

• Aesop Amnesia: Anytime Phoenix Squad learns a lesson in an episode, it will get thrown away by the next episode.
• Alpha Bitch: Sage.
  • It does become Defrosting Ice Queen in season two with Sage openly admitting she counts Buttercup as her best friend and more helpful to the main group.
• Ambiguously Gay: Sage for Buttercup.
• Anachronism Stew: The fantasy setting excuses much of it, though the main characters are all trainees at knight school and learn to fight with swords and bows and similar "medieval" style weaponry while using smartphones (called "magic mirrors") which are used for posting to social media and taking photos and videos.
• Anti-Role Model: Okay, let's get real: No one on Phoenix Squad is a good role-model for the viewers. Special mention goes to Arc and Ciara — the show's two central characters!
• Bad Liar: Ciara and Arc, constantly. Almost every time they have to come up with a lie on the spot, they're both absolutely terrible at it.
• Be Careful What You Wish For; Freeing a genie, Ciara makes a wish that her father will allow her to be a knight. Suddenly, she and Arc (with her when the wish was made) find themselves in a world where Ciara's dad is the "king" of a local diner and Sage is now the princess. The genie explains that because the king would never allow his daughter to be a knight, making him not the king was the most obvious solution.
  Ciara: But I wanted to be a knight and be princess of Astoria!
  Genie: Ooooooh....well, you should have been more specific.
• The Big Guy: Prudence, due to her stature and quarter giant strength.
• Book Ends: The series begins with an episode titled "Opening Knight" and ends with an episode titled "Closing Knight."
• Cheaters Never Prosper: In "Do the Knight Thing", the students from the sorcery school are battling with Phoenix Squad for the chance to stay at Knight School. The sorcery school students constantly use their magic to cheat and ultimately are disqualified for doing so.
• Crossover: With Henry Danger, though only main characters Arc and Ciara as well as Big Bad Ryker were featured. It ended with Ryker stuck in the Henry Danger universe. It was a Henry Danger episode.
• Deadpan Snarker: The Princess/Ciara is definitely this.
• The Ditz: Buttercup.
• Evolving Credits: The opening theme changes as of "A Total Knightmare", making the sequence longer and including an Opening Narration by Arc and Ciara.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: As the princess, Ciara's hair is long and wavy, but as a knight, her hair becomes frizzy and curled.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: The team meet Sir Swayze, who wins them over with his cool style of teaching. He boasts of being the sole survivor of a Mummy Invasion and the kids like him more then stern teacher Sir Gareth. Gareth warns them that he expelled Swayze for taking shortcuts and that his home nation "will make anyone a knight" but they ignore him. To prove their worth, the team awaken a mummy only to find it has mystical powers. They race to Swayze for help and his reaction is to immediately start packing. It turns out the only reason he survived that invasion was that he ran off and let the mummies eat his unicorn. He set up this "school" just to get back at Gareth by stealing his students and is a massive fraud. Gareth ends up saving the gang who apologize for falling for Swayze's act.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: After finding out that Warwick could use magic, his father was upset with him for doing so and felt that their family should focus on being knights, not relying on magic. However, the reason for doing so is the Knight School had a Ban on Magic for its students with magic users going to Sorcery School and the father had to keep his magic a secret when he was a student.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Phoenix Squad—Ciara, Prudence, Warwick, Arc
  • Kracken Squad also has two males and two females.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Or rather a quarter giant, which describes Prudence.
• Hero Academy: Basically what Knight School is.
• Hidden Depths: Sage isn't as mean as the students say she is. She actually wants to protect the people of Astoria as much as Ciara/The Princess does.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode has "Knight" in its title, usually as a pun.
• Impact Silhouette: Discussed in "A Knight's Tale" when Prudence and Warwick recall the last time they played a role playing card game and Prudence launched Warwick through the castle wall, leaving a Warwick shaped hole.
• Instant Costume Change: Ciara can change back and forth from her princess and knight identities with a touch of her pixie ring.
• Internal Reveal: In season two, first Prudence and then Warwick discover the truth about Ciara being the princess.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Buttercup is constantly happy and cheerful, and doesn't just have it in her to be against Phoenix Squad.
• No Name Given: The princess (Ciara's alter ego), is only ever referred to as "the princess". It isn't known if her name is actually Ciara.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Ciara is the only one who can use her pixie ring without a problem; it has a security feature that turns a user who isn’t her into a hideous beast and stops working temporarily.
• Overly Long Gag: Hogancross's fifteen spins in "Knight in Shining Armor Day".
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Played with. Given she looks and sounds exactly the same and that the only difference is a wilder hair style, it seems odd no one realizes Ciara is the Princess. However, it's hinted that the magic spell prevents people from seeing the details (Arc only found out when he saw her change first-hand) and lets Ciara get away with it.
  • Indeed, when Ciara uses it before Warwick, Warwick is utterly baffled at how he could never have seen any resemblance between the two. He'd even been infatuated with the Princess but feels nothing for Ciara.
• Secret Identity: Arc and Ciara have to keep their identities a secret from everyone, or they'll be kicked out of Knight School.
• Secret-Keeper: Arc and Ciara are this for each other. Arc knows Ciara is the princess and her father won't allow her to be a knight while Ciara knows Arc is not of noble Dragon Blood, nor is he from Astoria, and thus is ineligible to be a knight.
  • In the second season, Prudence and Warwick discovers the truth and keep their secrets.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: In the series finale, Ciara finally reveals herself as the Princess to the entire kingdom, daring her father to punish her. The king's reply: "How can I punish you when I've known the entire time?" After all, he knew full well how stubborn his daughter was and easily figured out her disguise. He also knew about Arc but let it slide because he was Ciara's friend.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Sage serves as one to Ciara.
• Token Good Teammate: Buttercup is the least mean of Kraken Squad, and is more on good terms with Arc and Ciara.
• Tuckerization: In "Two Knight, Tonight", the two elderly former members of Unicorn Squad who were cuffed together were named Jack and Kira, after the actors playing the twins on The Thundermans, another Dworkingham production, where three Knight Squad regulars had guest roles prior to the series.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The a-plot focuses mostly on Ciara, Arc, Prudence and Warwick. The b-plot often involves Sage and Buttercup with their own conflict when not competition against Ciara.
• Two-Person Love Triangle: Platonic version in "Little Knight Lies". After Prudence befriends the princess, Ciara starts to get jealous at that friendship, especially as Prudence lies about how much she hangs out with the princess.
  • Also, Ciara is jarred when Warwick claims "The Princess" is into him, mistaking her nice words for professions of love. When he discovers they're the same person, Warwick is jarred to realize he feels nothing for Ciara.