• Introduction
• About the Characters
• Pirate & Protege
• What Plunder & Lightning Revealed
• Seeing Through Kit’s Deception
• Betrayal, and Consequences

            Reflecting upon a series such as TaleSpin, with its characters and unique universe crafted from what I can only consider imaginary genius, there may be many aspects that are attractive to both the casual viewer and the die-hard fan, be it from adventurous treasure hunts, high-acrobatic dogfights, or simply just falling in love with the characters for all they brought to your heart. And, of course, if you’re the more technical fan, you’ve likely attained an appreciation for the fine animation, acting, and writing that was put into the series to make it what it was.

            Before I digress, however, I should best sum TaleSpin’s appeal by saying it was fun to watch. Fun, because it was enjoyable, inspiring, and wholesome. It was lighthearted without being skimpy, and emotional without being sappy. It had heart. Sometimes that heart meant happiness, sometimes it meant hurt, but nonetheless it was always good for you as the viewer to enjoy.

            Its entire universe was saturated with that kind of heart, even where you would not have expected it. For instance, perhaps its not so easy to explain why you would laugh when Colonel Spigot remarked in The Golden Sprocket of Friendship, when he was faced with the threat of being fed to polar bears, “I don’t want to go like grandma!”

            If heart could saturate TaleSpin’s present in such a manner, why not its past?

            I admit, I understand how odd it may seem that my greatest affection for TaleSpin is a part of it that was never really even seen on the show. That is, when Kit Cloudkicker was with Don Karnage and the air pirates. But it’s not so odd to me... not when you consider the notion that the very heart TaleSpin was founded upon could extent to “K&K” as well.

            It was revealed in Plunder & Lightning that, before he (quite literally) ran into Baloo, Kit was an air pirate for about a year’s time. A closer look showed that he was not a mere pirate, but Karnage’s own protege.

            While the original premise (Higher for Hire) of the series was good—indeed, great—the unexplored premise of Kit’s history with the air pirates was even better. I say that with all due respect to Jymn Magon, et al, who created the show; it was outstanding as it was. Still, to imagine what the series had alluded to as a brief explanation of Kit’s life leaves me to believe that the most exciting potential of the show was in its near past.

            I saw the concept of Kit growing up with Don Karnage and the air pirates not only as intriguing, but I also began seeing a particular beauty behind it, and that affection grew as I studied the episodes for clues behind understanding the relationship of the two characters. I saw a friendship, even a kinship, that—dismissed as it was during the course of the series—answered every pending question regarding why Kit would want to be an air pirate, and why Karnage would take him in as his own in the first place.

            That said, this editorial consists of my best explanations for why I see the characters the way I do. My staunchest critics have always contested that Kit and Karnage never had the kind of benevolent relationship I speak of, or at least, if they did have any kind of relationship, it was a lousy one at best. The thing is, since we never saw any part of Kit’s past with the pirates, we can only judge what his life was like then by taking a look at what we did see in the series, and then make sense out of it. I like to think that I’ve done just that... I’ve made sense out of K&K.

            I feel this is a worthwhile subject for TaleSpin fans, especially those of the more diehard fashion, because it hopefully brings a deeper appreciation and better understanding of the characters. Superficially, Kit is the hero of the show (I hate it when people call him a sidekick), while Karnage is the villain, and typically that will give most people a preconceived notion that they are as far apart from each other as east is from west. The trouble with that perception is that there are so many holes in it, things that contradict and flat-out don’t add up.

            I also feel it’s important to stress that nothing you’ll read here is made up on my own accord... all the points listed here are canonical facts from the series, things we actually saw the characters do and heard them say. I’ve received letters and comments from various people who think I’ve somehow tried to reinvent TaleSpin—not so at all. Again, I like to think that I’ve just made sense out of it, at least where Kit and Karny are concerned.

            I’ve always loved the character of Kit Cloudkicker, literally from the first second I saw him, back when Plunder & Lightning aired for the first time on television in 1990. I suppose one could argue that the orphan angle has been far overdone, especially in Disney features, and that’s probably true—but Kit was a mark higher above the rest. Here was finally a child character who pulled his own strings. At the time, I was only about nine or ten years old myself, and I saw Kit as something of a role model; independent yet responsible, caring and cunning, loving and refusing to live life to anything but its fullest. I still revel in episodes like Flight School Confidential and Stormy Weather, where he would dare enough to take his hopes and dreams into his own hands to make them real, even when the consequences were rather unpleasant.

            Arguably the most critical moment of the entire series occurred in Stormy Weather, when during a heated argument Kit essentially told Baloo he had no right to tell him what to do because he wasn’t his father. Even though it was understood that Kit and Baloo were somewhat father and son, the issue of parental-like relationships was often touchy with Kit, probably for many reasons. Since he had been an orphan for so long, he was likely too used to being the captain of his own ship, and thus had great difficulty in conceding his independence to a more formal parent-child relationship (let alone to someone who wasn’t much more mature than he was, if even at all). However, I would add something further, that during the time of the series, Kit was weary of having a surrogate parent because the tear from his first father figure was too near a memory... for Baloo was not his first.

            Enter one named Don Karnage... the (heavily) Spanish-accented, ‘suave and dashing’ pirate who’d believe the only thing better than cooing at his own reflection would be to step outside of his body and adore himself in person. Karnage didn’t have to have air piracy for an official occupation for him to be easily categorized as a villain... aside from having an unshakable ego the size of the Crab Nebula, he derived a good amount of rapture by watching things blow up, stealing (especially), and generally putting others through misery---usually in a hysterical way for us to witness, but misery nonetheless.

            He was ruthless, but not horrific. For all his villainy, you could still pick his words and deeds apart enough to spot a genuine conscience, and a heart inside him. He had an essence to him that went beyond your archetypical bad guy with a cookie-cutter evil persona... he was more like a person, with a realistic range of feelings. As apparent simply by the sheer wealth of acquisitions he “owned” (e.g., the Iron Vulture, the construction of Pirate Island), he had been incredibly successful as an air pirate, and obviously held many adventures under his belt. He had a lot to share about his life, and yet no one to share it with. Somewhere along the line, chance permitted that he cross paths with a young, scruffy-haired orphan who needed the exact same thing.

            As Mark Twain noted in his day, “No love, no friendship, can cross the paths of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.” That ‘mark’ between Kit and Karnage was evident, even in the midst of their antagonism. Actually... especially in the midst of their antagonism.

            There was rarely a moment in the series when Kit and Karnage didn’t have a bickering hostility toward one another. They liked to insult one another. For instance, recall what Kit smarted-off to Karnage in Polly Wants a Treasure: “Baloo told me never to talk to strangers, and I’ve never met anyone stranger than you!”

            And consider Karnage’s more subtle, but still malignant remark to Kit in A Bad Reflection on You, when the pirates had just downed the Sea Duck, and the Captain was mocking Baloo’s worthless trophy that read, ‘Best Pilot in the World.’ So said Karnage, who was gloating exceptionally, “... if it is not the best pilot in the world’s best friend in the world, Mister Cloudkicker!” I say it was subtle, because Karnage was actually calling Kit a loser for choosing a bigger loser to befriend.

            It seemed to me time and time again, considering their past, when they were engaged in these exchanges, that they had somewhat of a hidden agenda in their insults. Karnage wanted to show himself to be better than Baloo, thus making Kit look bad for leaving the pirates and staying with such a worthless loser. Kit, on the other hand, wanted to sting Karnage by making it perfectly clear where his loyalties now were... all to rub Karnage’s nose in it.

            In short, they were both sore at each other for splitting up. Staying true to their character, I doubt they would care to admit it, but it would explain a great deal about their attitudes. Let’s face it, sometimes it seemed like they were acting as if they never even had a history together, which was a pretty snide move on either’s part (also, this is complete, satisfying explanation---and far more agreeable with the series’ canon---than to merely say that the episode writer’s were unaware of K&K’s past).

            They were angry at one another because they were friends, and cared for each other as friends do. Moreover, they had a father and son kinship together, which really would have made it smart when, by the time of Plunder & Lightning, their relationship had somehow taken a fatal turn and Kit decided to run away. Regardless, the evidence of their words and actions shows that they indeed valued each other, and that their friendship, though diminished by the run of the animated series, was not forgotten.

            Though the series itself never offered us any flashbacks into Kit’s past with Karnage, or gave the explicit story as to why he left the pirates, TaleSpin’s introductory episode Plunder & Lightning served as a great reference to the K&K relationship, as it even offered a brief, literal glance into Kit’s life as an air pirate, and much more about their friendship.

            Quite some time ago, I sat through the entire episode of P&L and listed several points and explanations that solidly support a bond between the two that rivaled anything we saw regarding Kit’s relationships at Higher for Hire. The following is that list, sectioned up into the four quarters of P&L.

1.             The very first time we saw Kit Cloudkicker, he jumped down from a ventilation shaft onto the table on the Iron Vulture’s bridge, and swiped Karnage “treasure” out of the Captain’s hands.

               Kit: "For me? Ah, you shouldn't have!"

               DK: "Well, it was nothing really—"

               By his initial response, which came about quite naturally, I think this implied that Karnage did, in fact, give Kit a lot of things, and was quite proud of his generosity. Is Karnage noted as a generous person? Hardly. But without reading too much into this brief exchange of dialogue, it was evident he was quite pleased in providing for Kit. Where’d that green sweater come from? (don’t tell me Kit had it before he joined the pirates, and still wore it throughout the series... he’d be going on two years in the same outfit) Or how about that red scarf? Perhaps a compass, or a watch or two? (Kit had both a wristwatch and a pocket-watch, probably a little out of Baloo’s spending capability).

               Also of significance in this scene is the fact that Kit is stealing, a very piratical thing to do. Now, this isn’t surprising when you recognize he had been a pirate for a year, and has already contributed to a great deal of crime, but I have run across many TaleSpin fans who seem to have this impression of Kit as being morally impeccable, and thus breaking laws as a pirate would do would be beyond his character. I find that impression unreasonable and unfounded; Kit proved you can have a lot of heart and still not have a halo on your head.

               We should also recognize the significance in Kit’s choice of departure. If he wanted to merely leave the pirates, he could have ran away quietly at any time. However, he chose no subtle method; he instead chose to take the opportunity when he could figuratively slap Karnage in the face by stealing a very precious treasure right out of his hands.

               Conclusively, there were two reasons why Kit chose to steal the “jewel” from Karnage and split: one, obviously, the treasure offered a means to get rich once he was on his own again, and two, more importantly, it was an ingeniously effective way to get under Karnage’s skin. I say the latter reason was more important because being a pirate, Kit would likely know of other caches of loot that Karnage had plundered over the years, and if Kit was primarily concerned with the money end of it, he could have helped himself to that instead at his discretion. Yet, Kit chose to take what was the most important possession of Karnage’s... little did he know just how important, for that jewel was the key to Karnage realizing his long-dreamt ambition of pillaging the city of Cape Suzette.

               Whatever had conspired between Kit and Karnage that broke their friendship, the stealing of the jewel was, in my estimation, Kit’s retribution for it. He didn't want to just leave, he wanted to leave in a way that somehow hurt Karnage.

   
   

   When Kit jumped off the Iron Vulture with Karnage’s treasure, a seemingly suicidal move at first, why was Karnage only concerned about losing “the box”, and not about Kit falling to his doom? Karnage knew Kit was in no danger. Kit could not have remained a proficient cloud surfer without practicing this daring talent as an air pirate. It was, after all, a year’s time.

   
   
   

2.             When Kit soon wound up in Cape Suzette with Baloo, the following exchange occurred where Kit suddenly demanded to go back to Louie’s, from where they just arrived from:

               “Uh, didn’t we just get back from there?” asked Baloo.

               Kit replied, very snappily, “Yeah, and I want to go back, okay?”

               “This tough-guy act work on all your friends?”

               At that point, with his head ducked and back turned to Baloo, Kit suddenly fell very glum, as if he had just been reminded of the saddest thing in his life, which wouldn’t be far from the truth. He quietly admitted, “I... I don’t have any friends.”

               It was Kit’s sudden sad reaction that stood out in this scene. By his usually cheerful, playful, and lighthearted nature, it’d be impossible to say that he never had any friends... by the time of the series, his general attitude supported that he was quite used to being happy.

               Kit’s wistful reaction was not based on a longing he held to have a friend in his life, as if he had never had one before. More reasonably, his reaction came from a aching reminder that the friendship he did have was in shambles. I think it would be fair to say he was missing it.

   
   

3.             In his search for Kit and the jewel he stole, Don Karnage and the pirates mange to track down the Sea Duck and force Baloo to make a crash landing on an island laden with heavy jungle. During that time, Baloo finally figured out that it was Kit who the pirates were after, and demanded to know why, because as he put it, “they’re shootin’ up my plane, son!”

               At that, Kit grew angry and stormed off, saying, “You’re plane, you’re plane! That’s all that matters to you!”

               Kit was obviously miffed because all Baloo really expressed concern about was how his plane was being defaced, not the fact that his well-being was in danger.

               Kit’s reaction indicated that he was sick of people overlooking his feelings, which was likely the reason he left the pirates in the first place, because he began to feel neglected. Keep in mind that Don Karnage had been scheming up the most daring and fantastic plunder of all time, and for as long as Cape Suzette’s pillage was being planned, he was likely obsessed with idea... almost as Baloo was obsessed with the Sea Duck. In both cases, Kit had quite enough of playing second fiddle to things that simply didn’t matter as much as he did.

   
   

4.             Shortly after tromping away from Baloo, Kit was snagged by the air pirates and tied upside down from a tree. From there, Don Karnage interrogated the boy as to the whereabouts of the jewel he stole. When Karnage asked what happened to his friend (Baloo), Kit replied:

               “Friends? I don’t have any friends!”

               The boy’s tone confirmed that, albeit subtle, this was actually a harsh insult on Kit’s part, and perhaps would only have been understood completely between him and Karnage. Though Kit’s ship-jumping actions had already spoken louder than any words he could say, this was a clear and spiteful retort letting Karnage know that their friendship was through.

               I also found it interesting that Karnage referred to Baloo—who, at this early junction, he wasn’t at all familiar with—as Kit’s friend. He might have suspected that Kit, before he ran away, had somehow been in cahoots with a pilot to help him make an easy getaway with the “treasure” he stole... after all, the only two facts Karnage had up to this point were that Kit mutinously stole the stone from him, and somebody in a yellow seaplane was helping him escape capture.

   
   

5.             While Kit was hanging from the rope in the aforementioned scene, Karnage turned his back to him, smugly contemplating aloud all the rotten things he could to Kit. Little did he know that Kit was swinging back and fourth, inching closer and closer to the seat of Karnage’s pants, until....

               *chomp!*

               “Ow! You bit me!”

               Instead of being the least bit intimidated, Kit defiantly responded to Karnage’s threats and frightening talk by treating the Captain’s rump like it was a candy apple. (Karnage wasn’t so smug after that, by the way) It's one thing to be defiant in the face of danger, but it's another thing to bite your captor in the butt while he's wielding a deadly weapon.

               Why wasn’t Kit scared? Likely, because knowing better, he didn’t have to be afraid. Karnage’s bark is a lot worst than his bite, and Kit might have known that better than anyone. While the rest of the pirate crew often tremble in terror at their Captain’s temper, this scene was one example of how Kit knew Karnage in a different, benevolent way.

               (As a follow up on discussing this scene, Karnage was scandalized by Kit’s insults raised his sword at the last second of this scene as if he was going to slice Kit in half, but then he was suddenly interrupted by Baloo and a charging group of gorilla birds. If he had intended to kill Kit, he would never have seen the stone again, and his plans to plunder Cape Suzette would have been ruined. Would he have killed Kit if he had the chance to swing his sword? I think the more fitting explanation is that he would have cut the rope and dropped Kit on his head to teach him some manners.)

1.             When Kit told Baloo that Don Karnage had stolen the ruby-like stone from Shere Khan, the bear-pair agreed to pay Mr. Khan a visit the next morning and discuss a reward for returning the stone.

               In the gloom of Khan’s office, as the corporate icon and Baloo began talking, Kit did something rather odd... in a playful spirit, he snatched a wicked-looking letter opener from Khan’s desk. I only assume Khan used it as a letter-opener because it was on his desk, but in actuality, it was a dagger with a dangerous, winding blade. (Or a darn good replica thereof, but since when is Khan poor enough for replicas?) Other than slicing envelopes open, I wouldn’t speculate what function this weapon could have served.

               In any event, Kit actually started to play with the dagger, tossing it from hand to hand with bravado and jabbing it at an imaginary opponent, until an annoyed Shere Khan grabbed him by the wrist and wrenched it from his hand.

               There are two excellent points to consider from this scene. Firstly, Kit was showing off some weaponry moves that he was no doubt trained to do under Karnage (who else?). Secondly, Kit was enjoying it. He was having a good time! I believe this coincides with him having good times, and even fond memories, as a pirate, doing pirate things.

               Granted, in all sensibility, it’s not unlikely that any boy could see an interesting item like Khan’s dagger and play with it like Kit did... but considering Kit’s conspicuous pirate history, if he had any real qualms about enjoying the criminal activity alongside Karnage, it would reasonably stand he would think twice before pretending to fight with a dangerous knife, especially since he only left the pirates less than forty-eight hours beforehand.

               Following that thought, did Kit ever show regret that he was a pirate?

               The answer is, not until Karnage kidnaped Rebecca and Molly in the third quarter of P&L. Even then, he was not regretful for the things he had done as a pirate, but because he felt a huge burden of guilt for that his plan to run away with the stone had inadvertently put these nice people in grave danger.

               As for the pirate life itself, Kit liked it, hence why he stayed with them for an entire year. After all, how long would he have stayed if he didn’t like it?

1.              “I got sick of ‘em.”

               This was the only reason Kit gave for leaving the pirates, and it was never elaborated beyond those five words. Though it was very vague, it was a simplified summation of a complex explanation, just as you would expect an eleven-year-old to give.

               While it didn’t give us a specific reason why Kit left, it did tell us why he didn’t leave... he didn’t leave because he was mistreated. Fed up by their general imbecility, perhaps. Hurt because he eventually felt neglected, likely. He might even have left over a specific situation or altercation that we don’t know about. Whatever the case might have been, he didn’t leave because he was bullied or otherwise treated badly.

               The series showed us that air pirate camaraderie went only as far as one’s loyalty to the group. When Kit returned to the pirates later in this episode, he was welcomed back, and it seemed by the way the others interacted with him, his betrayal was forgotten, as if it never happened. During Karnage’s assault on Cape Suzette with the lighting gun, Kit approached Dumptruck and asked him what was happening. There was not a hint of hostility toward Kit in Dumptruck’s demeanor—in fact, just the opposite—Dumptruck seemed quite jovial.

               Mind you, Dumptruck is the same pirate who chased after Kit with a lead pipe in A Bad Reflection on You, with every intent to clobber the boy into chicken feed. While Kit was “good” with the pirates, he was treated well... when he was their enemy, he was treated as their enemy.

   
   

2.             After discovering that Rebecca and Molly had been kidnaped by the air pirates for the ransom of Shere Khan’s stone, Kit led Baloo to the secret location of the pirate’s hideaway, Pirate Island. They manage to spring mother and daughter from their cell, but are eventually their cover is blown, and they are caught. In order to buy time and try to get Baloo and Rebecca out of the Island with their hides intact, Kit suddenly jumped in and announced—to everyone’s surprise—that he had only pretended to leave the pirates, in an effort to somehow acquire ransom money from Shere Khan with it.

   The hug...? ;-)

               When Karnage skeptically asked what he was talking about, Kit replied, “I was just doin’ what you taught me... the ol’ Karnage hustle!”

               What I liked about this scene—aside from Kit aptly calling Baloo “Rudder Rump”—was the inference that Karnage taught Kit. I suppose it’s not earth-shattering news, given that Karnage was his mentor, but the time Karnage must have personally spent with Kit remains, in my estimation, the most sorely missed of all “on-screen” events we saw in the series. Mentor and progete—father and son—they were part of each other’s lives in this way.

   
   

3.             During the same scene, Kit, in an effort to show how cruel he could be, snatched Molly’s doll out of her hands and ripped its head off. Molly gave out a small protest, to which Kit quelled by shouting, “Shut up!” Molly was left in tears, turning to Rebecca for comfort.

               Karnage, meanwhile, was reveling in what he had just seen. “Ooh! He is even mean to children!”

               Don Karnage is someone who would take great pleasure in taking candy from a baby... just to be mean. He has no fondness of children to speak of, yet he liked Kit, and took him in as his own. Being so young and small, Kit couldn’t fly for the pirates, or offer any use to them as far as muscle or intimidation go. Kit had to have meant something special to the Captain, otherwise Karnage wouldn’t have wasted his time and resources on him.

   
   

4.             After Baloo and company escaped Pirate Island, sans one bear cub, Kit retreated to a quiet cavern on the island that overlooked the sea. Glumly, he watched a brilliant sunset fade behind the horizon, thinking of the friends he had just lost. Don Karnage caught up with the boy and walked up behind him, with Kit’s red scarf in his hand.

               While the entire scene only lasted approximately twenty seconds, what followed was the most precise, literal glance the series exposed of Kit’s actual life as an air pirate, and how Don Karnage had a place in his heart for him.

               Karnage hung the red scarf back around Kit’s neck, then stood by him with his hand on the boy’s shoulder, in an embracing gesture. There was never seen in the entire series a moment where Karnage was so calm and serene, or as noted in another editorial (Devil, Clown, or Something More), “downright nurturing.” He simply had never treated anyone else so gently as he did Kit.

               “You have done well, my puny protege. Happy?”

               Karnage was very pleased throughout the entire scene, and it begs the question, why was he so happy with Kit? What exactly was it that Kit had “done well”? It wasn’t because he believed the boy’s “Karnage hustle” story... in fact, even though Karnage acted like he bought Kit’s story, it would have been quite impossible for him to have believed it. (Read Seeing Through Kit’s Deception for a detailed explanation on that).

               By his actions, Karnage was essentially letting Kit know that he was being welcomed with a second chance, despite all the trouble he had caused. The fact that someone as ruthless as Karnage would be willing to forgive Kit so completely is remarkable, and shows just how much he desired Kit’s loyalty. In his mind, Kit had made up the story in hopes of making amends for the mistake he make by leaving the pirates, and Karnage was quite pleased at his effort to come back to him. The only thing Kit had “done well” in Karnage’s eyes was show that he truly wanted to be a pirate after all.

               Scarlet perhaps summed it up best:

   

               “The only time in the entire series Karnage showed genuine interest in the feelings of another person was in P&L part 3, returning Kit's scarf. He was unusually calm, and when he asked if Kit was happy, he was quiet so he could hear the answer. If no other moment in the entire series shows that K&K had a bond, this one does. Granted, Kit does not reciprocate at that moment, but the simple fact that Karnage initiated the exchange leads one to believe previous meetings were warmer, or why would he bother?”

               An interesting detail in this scene is the presence of the red scarf itself, which is the obvious symbolism of Kit’s pirate life. In the beginning of P&L, when Kit leapt off the Iron Vulture, he removed the scarf from his neck, and from there it blew away in the wind. Yet, somehow, the wind had blown it back right into the possession of Don Karnage, as if fate had planned it so. The best part is, not only did destiny return the scarf to Karnage, but he kept it with him until Kit came back.

               It was only a kerchief; there was no reason in the world why Karnage would have grabbed it and kept it if it didn’t hold sentimental value to him. Perhaps he was waiting for or hoping that Kit would come to his senses and come back.

1.             With the electric stone once again in his possession, Don Karnage had the necessary energy source to power his newest toy, a devastating giant lightning gun. Now that his most ambitious plan was finally in place, he wasted no time to get to Cape Suzette, where from the safe height of the Iron Vulture he unleashed a ferocious display of firepower that decimated the city’s primary defenses, and for the first time ever, the pirate’s dreaded airship was able to pass over the cliffs and into the city. Life was going good for Don Karnage.

               In his berth, Kit had already fallen asleep reading a comic book (or flying manual?) on the way to the Cape, but was suddenly startled awake by a riveting blast from the lightning gun.

               Kit jumped out of bed and ran down the decks of the airship until he met Dumptruck in a hall, who told him, “Der Captain is blowing the stuffing out of Cape Suzette!”

               “What? Is he crazy?” It was as if Kit couldn’t believe what he just heard.

               The strange thing about Kit’s response is that he’s surprised. Even though he was present at Pirate Island when Don Karnage revealed to his crew his plans to fire the lightning gun on Cape Suzette—and he was there when they boarded the gun on the Iron Vulture and took off for the city---Kit somehow expected that Karnage actually wasn’t going to go through with it. Perhaps he thought that the gun wouldn’t work at all and the pirates would have to retreat, or perhaps he thought that Karnage was only going to use the lightning gun on the city’s defenses... but considering that Dumptruck had told him that the gun was being used on the city itself, what Kit likely found it hard to believe was that Karnage was being so vicious.

               Because Kit was the only crewman surprised by Karnage’s actions, this was yet another instance of how Kit knew Karnage differently than the other’s did—and certainly didn’t actually expect him to go so far as to lay the city to waste, not to mention all the lives that were at stake. (Honestly, though, I don’t think Kit would have cared if he had not stayed in the city at Higher for Hire beforehand, but that’s a rabbit trail good for another discussion)

   
   

2.             While the pirates were busy blowing things up and celebrating their success, Kit ran up behind the Captain and tugged on the tail of his coat, which struck me as a very familiar gesture. After all, Karnage doesn’t like to be touched by anyone, much less have his clothes tugged on to get his attention. Karnage would have at least shoved anyone else to the ground, but then, Kit got away with it just fine; and he did it in a way so unabashedly that he had probably done it hundreds of times before, and you would think Karnage would have been annoyed by it, but he wasn’t. To the contrary, he turned around and was jubilant to see favorite protege there.

               “Ah, my boy, there you are!” What I also liked about Karnage’s response is that he was looking around for Kit in particular... this was one of his most triumphant moments as a pirate, and he wanted Kit there to share it with.

   
   

3.             As the attack upon Cape Suzette continued, Kit sat on a crate by the lightning gun, looking sad (everyone else, in contrast, was having a ball). Karnage noticed how glum his expression was, and jovially slapped him on the back, trying to cheer him up. The first thing that struck me was that this was another sign of Karnage’s affection... he saw Kit sad, and wanted to make him feel better.

               The other significant part of this scene was what Karnage said to Kit: “Are you not glad to be up here on the winning side? Instead of with that loser pilot?” Why would Karnage ask Kit if he was glad not to be with Baloo anymore? The reasonable answer would be that Karnage knew Kit was friends with Baloo, therefor he never bought the “Karnage hustle” story Kit made up back on Pirate Island. (Again, go to the section “Seeing Through Kit’s Deception” for more on this).

   
   

4.             The pirates dropped down on ropes from the Iron Vulture and began looting various buildings. When it became apparent that Don Karnage wasn’t going to ease up on the lightning hits, Kit decided to make a drastic move and stop the destruction himself. He grabbed a big rubber glove from Ratchet’s toolbox, snuck toward the gun, and snatched the electric stone out from its place. Karnage angrily ordered Kit to put it back instantly, but Kit instead ran inside the airship, with almost the entire crew chasing after him.

               Kit locked himself inside a radio room, where the heavy steal door was strong enough to buy him several minutes to call for help, as the pirates would have to cut the door down with a blowtorch.

               “I have been too easy on that boy!” Karnage said. It was only then that he finally realized what Kit’s real intentions were. Despite treating him better than any of the other crewmen, despite being his mentor, trusting him, and even forgiving him for running away with the stone for the first time, it was finally obvious to Karnage that Kit didn’t come back because he wanted to be a pirate again, but just to save his own skin, and the skin of his cargo-hauling friends.

   
   

5.             After the pirates managed to cut the door down, Karnage barged in the room and searched for Kit, even getting on his knees to look low, and he couldn’t find the boy anywhere! Utterly annoyed, Karnage had his fists clenched and was shaking in anger, but then did something rather uncharacteristic from what we’re used to seeing of him. With no other pirate in the room to see his face, Karnage’s angry expression suddenly faded into a sad, despondent look. He first glances up toward the ceiling, as if asking, “Why?”, then begins to hang his head sorrowfully.

               The expression only lasted for a second or two, because he suddenly spotted where Kit was hiding. I only noticed it on accident myself, and then paused, rewound, and played it in slow motion frame-by-frame several times. Here are a few screen grabs provided by Scarlet:

   

               If you watch the scene yourself, frame-by-frame, you’ll notice his expression grows even sadder than the grabs above, just until he finally sees Kit’s hiding place.

   
   
   
   Seeing Through Kit’s Deception

               Kit pretended to rejoin the Air Pirates in P&L part 3, telling Karnage that he only took the stone to collect ransom money from Shere Khan and that his plan was to return to the pirates with both the stone and ransom money, and hand everything over to the Captain.

               Now, Karnage may be a lot of things to some people, but he’s not stupid. Right away, there was a glaring hole in Kit’s lie that Karnage likely caught: how was he going to steal the stone and ransom money? Even, hypothetically, if Kit did show up in Khan’s office and present the stone in exchange for a ransom, before he saw one cent of the money he would have first been forced to hand the stone over to Khan, and certainly he would never have been able to steal it back again.

               Afterwards, Karnage said a couple peculiar things to Kit that proved he knew better than what Kit told him. The first part was in the caverns of Pirate Island, where he said, “You are back with the pirates now, yes-no?”

               It was a contradicting question. How could Karnage ask if Kit was back if he believed the boy’s story about never really leaving in the first place? If Kit wasn’t so despondent at the moment, he might have realized what the Captain had said.

               Secondly, during the attack on Cape Suzette, Karnage asked Kit, rhetorically, “Are you not glad to be up here on the winning side? Instead of with that loser pilot?”

               Karnage clearly recognized that, despite what he had been told, Kit liked Baloo and was missing him. Karnage felt that the boy should have been over it by then, because everything was going so wonderfully for the pirates. Again, though, if Karnage really believed that Kit never liked Baloo in the first place—as he had claimed—then there would be no reason for him to pose such a question.

               When you consider the totality of the circumstances—Kit’s story making no sense, Karnage’s pleased reaction being entirely exaggerated, Karnage forgiving the boy despite all he cost him, the rhetorical statements made by the Captain—there’s really no better way to justify it all than for Karnage to have not believed Kit’s lie, and that he let the boy back in the pack because he wanted him there.

               Concluding with Scarlet’s thoughts on the subject:

               “The way I see it, in P&L part 3, Karnage knew Kit had really stolen the stone and (literately) jumped ship, and believed the boy was now back, asking for forgiveness in his own, proud way. Karnage still accepted him back into the fold. Baloo only came back to save Kit when he realized Kit had never truly betrayed him. But he was so mad at Kit he left him there [Pirate Island] anyway. Granted, he was fleeing for his life, but it was clear as P&L part 3 drew to a close that as far as Baloo was concerned, Kit was gone from his life, and good riddance, if the kid was a backstabber.

               He had no intention of dragging the kid kicking and screaming to a nice, quiet foster home, (stop screaming, Ted! ;-) where he could be raised in a more wholesome environment (stop gagging, Ted! ;-D Or, if he judged it too dangerous to do so himself, he could have at least alerted the proper authorities. But no, Kit (seemingly) betrayed Baloo, and the bruin dropped him like an old shoe. Not without regret or heartache, of course, but nevertheless he erased Kit from his list of friends. (Erasure ref to P&L part 4 is intentional.) At least Karnage gave Kit a second chance. I acknowledge that this point is hinged on the belief that Karnage didn't buy Kit's story about the ransom money for the stone.

               “Even if you assume Karnage believed Kit's story about the ransom money hook, line and sinker, there's a problem. Even if Kit's intentions were 100% benevolent toward DK, as he claimed, the kid's still a problem. DK can't have pirates just going A.W.O.L. all the time, second-guessing him and taking off with their own plans before consulting him. Karnage would probably be better off without such a loose cannon on the crew. He needs pirates who will follow orders unquestioningly. It's like the military; don't think for yourself, just go with the flow.

               Kit's sudden theft and departure upset the whole workings of the Air Pirates. Even the 100 G's wouldn't quite compensate for the trouble, embarrassment, and the loss of several planes as the pirates tried to pursue Kit. Karnage showed up at Louie's and in Cape Suzette, in the gondola, in the search, and could easily have been arrested. If Kit had towed the line like a good little pirate-in-training, none of those risks would have been necessary. So, to recap, even if Kit really had been planning all along to turn the stone and ransom money over to Karnage, he caused a lot of trouble in the process, and DK would NOT have been pleased with him, if he was just any pirate. My point is, Karnage was fond of Kit, and so he let the boy's transgressions slide.”

   
   
   
   Betrayal, and Consequences

               With little options left, Kit ditched the stone and made one last effort to escape the Iron Vulture. He had opened his airfoil and was just about to leap off the ship when Dumptruck abruptly caught him by the sweater. Kit then had his airfoil taken away by Karnage, who shattered it across his knee, then made a snide joke about Kit Cloudkicker “kicking the bucket instead of the clouds,” and announced that Kit was henceforth erased from his “list of noble pirates.”

               Kit retorted to his remarks by calling him a cheap crook, and hurling the broken pieces of his airfoil at the Captain’s head. Karnage then turned around (holding the back of his aching head!) and angrily ordered Kit to be dropped overboard, and Kit was sent plummeting toward the bay.

               There has been some discussion on what actually pushed Karnage to do away with Kit, as if perhaps he wouldn’t have done it if Kit hadn’t insulted him and cracked his head with his board. It seemed to me, though, that Karnage was fed up with being betrayed, and was planning on tossing Kit overboard before Kit lashed back out.

               There are no excuses for what Karnage did—it was awful, the worst thing he could have possibly done. There are things to consider from his perspective, though.

               Firstly, throughout the episode we saw how Karnage reacted to Kit as both friend and foe. Considering how much better he treated Kit than anyone else while Kit was on his good side, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise how fierce he was when he realized Kit was a traitor. Just look at the following screen grab:

   

               This is a shot of Baloo, from P&L part 3, just as Kit tells the pirates that he was only pretending to be Baloo’s friend, and that he had merely used the big oaf to try to make some money. Baloo had a look of sheer murder in his eyes as he twisted Kit’s cap in his hands, as if wishing it was the boy’s neck instead! If betrayal can set off a normally jovial and friendly person like Baloo in such a manner, it can’t be shocking news that it made Karnage want to tear Kit into little pieces and sew him back together with a dull needle.

               How does a Captain deal with a mutineer? In pirate life (even in real life, when pirates sailed the seas), when a member committed a “crime” against his fellow pirates, the crew was often without pity or remorse in punishing him. (see a great web site on pirate life: http://www.piratesinfo.com/pirate_fact.html).

               When Kit took the stone that night and betrayed the Captain’s again, it was more than the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Karnage had been entirely forgiving the first time when Kit came back. Whatever Kit’s reason was for leaving the first time wasn’t of any matter... he had been good to the boy and expected nothing in return but his loyalty, and that’s exactly what Kit had denied him of.

               It’s fair to say that Karnage had snapped. Even though when Kit was first caught by Dumptruck, Karnage acted very smug and uncaring in front of everyone, inwardly things were different. He was livid, and at the moment where Kit smarted off to him, his real feelings were unleashed. For those few moments, he had totally lost his composure, to the point where he was absolutely seething when someone saved Kit from falling in mid-air.

               While it all seems pretty harsh, what Karnage did simply doesn’t negate all the many good aspects of his relationship with Kit, and it’s difficult to say how much of Karnage’s action was spurred by his swelling anger, as opposed to any rational thought of what Kit was really worth to him. Although, it also stands that a betrayer can’t be worth anything to him, so there wasn’t much going for Kit to save his neck.

               In all, it was an unfortunate incident that cut a great rift between the two, and the series continued as Karnage went on his piratical ways and Kit began a new life in Cape Suzette. Despite all they had been though—the good and the bad—they continued their lives as if little to nothing had ever happened, as if their past didn’t exist... as if it would be that easy to forget. Whatever the future of the series would hold for them, Karnage would always know that despite Kit’s strange moral convictions and choice of friends (well, strange to Karnage, at least), and acts of disloyalty, he was a boy that would have made a fine pirate, companion, and son. And despite Karnage’s ruthlessness and egotism, Kit would always know that Karnage saved him from the vagrant life and believed in him.

   
   
   
   
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