PLOT A: "Tuff Luck"
Trying to prove that they are useful, Ruffnut
and Tuffnut pull their weight and help rid the forest of old dragon traps, only
Tuffnut ends up getting stuck in one himself.
So..another Twin-centric episode? We
were all wondering if this was really going to be twin-centric and not just Tuffnut-centric…and while it wasn’t as “Tuffnut
only” as episode 115, the playing field of writing was still more in his favor.
While Ruffnut is more prevalent this
season, Tuffnut still seems to be the favorite twin of the writers, but still,
at least she got a little independence and some funny lines in this episode as
well.
But, the majority of this plot really
was Tuffnut stuck in a tree talking to dragons. Which sounds kind of boring but
he said some rather interesting stuff. I was pretty impressed when they brought
up him coming to realization that Ruffnut might be angry because the world she
lives in is male-oriented. That was a nice touch for feminism. As well as him
talking to Barf about how they never talk because he rides Belch. That was
funny.
I also liked the initial set up for
the episode on two fronts. First off being the clearing dragon traps…that was a
good mission for the teens, and a nice callback to the “old ways” that the
movie had.
On the other front the line that got
the whole episode started, which was basically Hiccup saying that he didn’t
know if he could trust Ruff and Tuff out alone, that was wonderfully condescending.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t go off the deep end with rage because
Hiccup isn’t perfect. He’s smug and can same things that easily land him in the
“condescending prick” territory sometimes. That’s just a flaw of his, everyone
has them, and it’s a rather nicely done, and realistic, human flaw at that.
And Torch’s triumphant return! I liked
his character even if I really didn’t like the episode he was introduced in, so
it was a very nice touch to have him back, and all grown up to boot! I
definitely wasn’t expecting that, so points for surprising me. And I liked the
little fight Torch and Toothless had, also a nice touch. Though it was
interesting to pair Torch with Tuffnut, but I guess Torch remembers everyone
even if he mostly interacted with Hiccup and Toothless.
And on one last note, But, after this
episode I do expect to see the twins trying a little harder sometimes to not be
“useless” now that they’ve halfway tasted victory.
PLOT B: The Forest is getting…Torched (haha…get it?)
A brush fire is quickly spreading through the
forest, and right for a trapped Tuffnut.
So I think they mentioned “fire
weather” at least three times before the fire actually started so…that wasn’t
much of a shock.
And the fire effects were just…geez,
they were good! A+ on that stuff.
As for the actual problem to be solved
I do wish in the end had been left exclusively for the twins. Hiccup seemed to
kind of ambush their plot near the end, when I think the twins could’ve pulled
of the fire problem on their own with Torch. Or maybe even have the twins
having to save Hiccup and Toothless from the fire…? I’m not sure, but for all
the buildup of the twins finally being useful—while they did suggest a good
idea at the end—I think it could’ve been pushed a lot more to really solidify the
point of the episode.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This episode was pretty straight
forward, well written, and had a good moral too it. As well as some amazingly
done fire effects.
My only beef was, the twins didn’t
really “save the day” as much as I would’ve liked them to. And the episode did
build it up so that it seemed like they would perhaps get a solo save. But…Hiccup
kind of did his usual “main character” thing and…yeah.
This twin-centric episode was heading
more in the correct direction more so than last season’s was, but it still had
a few bugs to work out…so, maybe next time….?
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