Directed by: Jim Hull
Written by: Doug Langdale
Things are not well in San Lorenzo since Puss' Exile. The Great Mage Sino has locked everyone up in their homes until the spell can be prepared, and impatiently rushes Artephius to work on it, even though Artephius is beginning to doubt the spell is actually going to do what he says it does. Dulcinea shares his suspicions, and decides to test Sino by seeing if he remembers the Magical Incantation that had kept the city safe:
Dulcinea: [to herself as she leaves] It was "Mystic treasure". The real Sino would know that.
Realizing the town is in danger, Dulcinea goes to find Puss in boots, who has been living in depression with the Guild of Darkness since his exile. Excited to have a purpose again, Puss quickly rushes with Dulcinea back to town to fight "Sino". Dulcinea worries that Puss might not be a match for him, as even though Sino is fake, he clearly has real magic power. Puss simply pulls out the Key to the San Lorenzo vault that he still has and retrieves the Lorenzo Lapis Lazuli.
Meanwhile, there is only one ingredient left for the spell, and Artephius is still reluctant to add it. Fortunately, Puss calls Sino out at that moment, and the battle begins. After exchanging some blows, Puss and Artephius together manage to use the Lapis Lazuli to expose Sino as... Fartholomew Fishflinger! After he was eaten by Dulcinea, instead of being killed, Fartholomew's spirit was simply freed to roam the land, collecting power until he was capable of reforming into the shape of the Great Mage Sino and trick everyone.
Puss declares the fight over, but Fartholomew has one more secret weapon up his sleeve, a magic ring known as the Anulus Sceletus that allows him to summon a skeletal army to fight for him. The entire city puts up their best fight, but all the defeated skeletons simply put themselves back together and more keep appearing. All seems lost until the Guild of Darkness appear to lend a hand, helping clear a way for Puss to confront Fartholomew directly.
Fartholomew: As long as I have this ring, I still have a chance!
Puss: That is good to know.
With that handy bit of knowledge, Puss wastes no time in picking the ring off of Fartholomew's finger and then throwing it out of the city. The skeletons all collapse and everyone combines their power into the Lorenzo Lapis Lazuli to seal Fartholomew away. The day is won!
That is, until Uli completes the spell which turns out to be a summoning spell to awaken the Blood Wolf, a massive powerful beast that Sino had sealed away. Uli reveals he was the one who convinced Fartholomew to pose as Sino, and he was the one that planted the fake spell to restore the barrier to San Lorenzo. Puss can only look on in horror as the Blood Wolf rises up from under San Lorenzo.
Tropes:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Puss has to get a lift from the Sphinx to get a good view of the Blood Wolf. It is so massive the entire city of San Lorenzo fits on its back.
- Back from the Dead: Despite having been eaten by Dulcinea, Fartholomew's soul escaped his old body and traveled the world gaining power in search of revenge.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Guild of Darkness joining the battle after initially refusing to come. All to a triumphant reprise of "Puss and the Black Cats".
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Phillip eats carpet tacks.Phillip: They taste like bleeding!
- Blatant Lies:
- This instance:Baltasar: I made it the way Puss likes it because he's... depressed.
Puss in Boots: I am not depressed. I am merely very interested in this ant colony. For instance, I have noticed that they never... [starts breaking down crying] banished any of their members into the cold, lonely darkness! - After Dulcinea comes to see him, Puss acts like he is completely fine and all is well. The moment Dulcinea states that she believes Sino is a fake he jumps back at the chance to return to San Lorenzo.
- This instance:
- Bluff the Imposter: How Dulcinea realizes Great Mage Sino isn't what he appears to be.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: Puss arms himself with the Lorenzo Lapis Lazuli before challenging Sino. As Artephius was the one that knew the most about it, he demonstrates that it is capable of additional abilities besides the previously seen energy blasts.
- Comically Missing the Point: An ancient evil awakens threatening to destroy the entire world, and Toby is thrilled because if Uli is evil, that make Toby Puss' best friend by default.
- Compound Title: "Si" and "No?" are fairly simple titles that could have a multitude of meanings, but if you put them together you get "Sino?" with the question mark foreshadowing that Sino is not really who he says he is.
- Continuity Nod: Sino mixes up "mystic" with "magic" in the Magical Incantation the exact same way Puss did.
- Deflector Shields: In addition to the cutting energy blasts demonstrated earlier, the Lorenzo Lapis Lazuli can also create barriers.
- Dem Bones: Fartholemew uses a magic ring to raise a skeleton army. They fall apart easily, but just put themselves back together.
- Disc-One Final Boss: "Sino" was just the beginning.
- Evil All Along: Uli reveals he was the mastermind. Revealing he planted a fake scroll to revive the Blood Wolf rather than to return the barrier, and made Fartholomew take on the guise of Mage Sino.
- Logical Weakness: When fighting the skeleton army proves to be impractical, Puss prioritizes attacking the one controlling them.
- Names to Run Away From: The Blood Wolf.
- Opening Shoutout: The "Puss and the Black Cats" sequence mirrors the extended opening from the first episode, just with the addition of the Guild of Darkness and a mopey Puss.
- Ornamental Weapon: The Guild of Darkness start carrying around rapiers identical to Puss's, but seemingly only because they idolize him so much. In actual combat they still only use their luck blasts.
- Prophetic Fallacy: As the scroll was a fake the whole time, instead of motivating everyone to complete the spell to protect San Lorenzo from disaster at the eclipse, the prophecy served to get everyone to complete the spell to summon disaster at the eclipse.
- This Is Gonna Suck:Puss: A dog. Why did it have to be a dog?
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: The prophesied disaster heralding eclipse occurs.
- Wham Episode: An ancient evil has risen from beneath San Lorenzo to consume the world.
