Defenders of Berk 209 Review

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….?

Defenders of Berk 208 Review

PLOT A: Chomp Chomp, there goes your island

While trying to keep tabs on the dragon’s migration habits, Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs investigate the mysterious flocking of all the dragons back to dragon island only to find that the Screaming Death has returned and is sinking all the islands.

Aaaaand the Screaming Death is back! I’m pretty excited about this, as I loved her in episode 204.

But, first and foremost, the group is trying to keep tabs on the migration habits of dragons…I gotta admit, at first when I saw the teens “tagging” the dragons I got a bit worried, but if it’s for purposes such as studying migration—cause that’s pretty useful to know—then I suppose it’s fine. And it’s just paint. And it offered some hilarious moments between Fishlegs and Astrid about the color correction.

That being said, this plot did give us some excellent character interaction moments between Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs.

It’s very clear—even last season—that these three were the “main of the main”. As in out of the six kids these three are most likely to take the lead in advancing the plot (as I mentioned in 206’s review), and I’m always happy to see fewer characters being focused on in advancing episodes such as these. As I mentioned a lot about last season, having all the teens together during every problem-solving adventure wasn’t necessary and in some ways hurt the story because there were too many people to keep tabs on.

But, with these three, the show has taken some careful time to push the friendship to a more comfortable level and this episode shines in showing the almost effortless chemistry between all of three of them. Well done.

Though, while on the subject of communication, I can say that while a good 75% of the communication between the three was wonderful, the other 25% was rather annoying. Why? Well…because it was all a bunch of in-your-face explaining.

One thing I really loved about the movie was its “show-don’t-tell” nature. Which seems kind of obvious for a movie, right? WRONG! This episode proved that, even when something is almost all visual…things still aren’t shown and not told. Or, more accurately, things are shown and then also unnecessarily told.

Go back to the scene in the movie where Hiccup realized Toothless is missing half of his tail and erases the tail fin in his drawing. In the commentary the directors said that they could’ve easily had Hiccup mutter to himself “oh, his tail is missing.” But, having Hiccup erase the tail was a perfect visual moment that connected with Hiccup’s perception and the audience’s perception without saying a word.

Now, let’s look at a scene in this episode, say…when the screaming death…screams and Hiccup says that the scream disorients the dragons. Well…we already knew that—it was only 4 episodes ago—that and it felt more like he was saying that to the viewer and not Astrid. There were many moments like that where Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs were “communicating” but it felt more like they were just spitting out facts to the viewer so they wouldn’t be confused…when, chances are, they got the point rather easily.

And there are other ways to tell information about dragons than just long sentences of facts in the guise of conversation. This episode had a lot of that and it was a problem last season as well so…I’m not too sure it’s going to be fixed any time soon.

But, onto the meat and potatoes of the plot: the screaming death.

Since most of its screen time was during the ending battle, I can say that…it was a little lack luster, but then comparing it to the other episode feature the screaming death—episode 204—where the ending battle was literally the entire second half of the episode…it’s a hard comparison. It fell a little flat for me, though, especially since the fight scenes this season have been rather superb most of the time.

And the “Fishlegs is the hero of the day” thing…neh. I felt like it could’ve gone without mention as it didn’t seem like a “fish-centric” episode where that really needed that to be pointed out.

Overall this plot’s bright spots were definitely in the chemistry between Fishlegs, Astrid, and Hiccup putting their heads together and solving a problem…though I would’ve hoped for a more exciting face-off with the screaming death and a lot less explaining pretending to be dialogue.

PLOT B: Insert some “airmail” joke from tumblr here

Hiccup and Fishlegs create a new way to communicate long distance, but the twins don’t seem to get the memo.

So, this is a good example of a side plot in its proper place. As I mentioned, Fishlegs, Astrid, and Hiccup were the main problem solving focus here while the others were just chilling on Berk. The tie over of having airmail so that we could go back to the island and see what the twins and Snotlout were up to was pretty clever…as well as just the idea in general.

It had a carrier pigeon feel to it, and I hope the airmail sticks because that’s a rather good means of Viking-communication.

Though, in a bit unrelated to this plot, I do wonder why Hiccup seems so put off by asking his father for help. This is like, what, the third time he’s brushed off getting help from his father to solve the problem on his own? Last season it was all about him being impulsive and not wanting help from anyone…now it seems he just doesn’t help from his father?

I could easily say it’s because he’s trying to prove himself…but I just hope that little facet about him is going somewhere. And not just in the franchise but in this actual season…

I know they’re waiting for the sequel to flush out more of his imperfections but having a show where there’s nothing but build up and no mention of resolution of said build up is…neh.

But, back to the B plot here. The twins are always funny, but I liked how their plot didn’t fight for attention to the A plot like it did in 206. It was a nice side note to return to for a minute or two before heading back into the A plot. So…nicely crafted there.

And Snotlout’s “see you back on Berk suckas!”…golden.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This episode was definitely back to the good stuff…as it seems the episodes got a tad off track in quality for little bit.

But I can say that I do actually want the Screaming Death’s next appearance to not end with her leaving and Hiccup staring off to the horizon saying “it’ll be back”. They’ve done it twice already, I think that’s enough. 

What is the Screaming Death going to do exactly…? Who knows, but I’m still pretty excited to find out!

So…good characterization, good plot balance, decent fight…but perhaps just less explanation within the dialogue.

Defenders of Berk 207 Review

PLOT A: Life’s a Competition

Trying to prove who’s the best dragon trainer on a “level playing field” the teens all take their own terrible terrors and attempt to train them.

I saw a few people comparing this episode to “Thawfest” from season one, and I guess that can be somewhat true on some levels. It’s got the “spirit of competition” plotline looming around, but this time it’s more of a Fishlegs vs. Snotlout plot.

Like Hiccup in Thawfest, Fishlegs seems to be a bit of a d-bag in certain areas, mostly when it comes to paying attention to his own dragon over his new one. Though I do feel like this plot had one too many things going on. It didn’t seem entirely grounded in what it was trying to tell us.

First we had the group competition, and everyone was getting pretty rivalry against each other, but then it was Fishlegs vs. Snotlout….but then it was Meatlug getting jealous of Iggy. I feel like it shouldn’t focused on one or two of these…but all three got to be a little much.

The group competition got kind of blown out of importance after they all showed what their dragons could do, but it was interesting to see that they all really did manage to train their terrors something in a day.

The Fishlegs vs. Snotlout plot is always fun to watch just because Snotlout has a interesting way of bringing the most entertainingly worst part of every character. Fishlegs is becoming less timid and more cocky as the series goes on—which is nice character development, by the way—so it wasn’t a big surprise to see him get too caught up in proving his superiority in dragon training. Though I do wish this plot got more of a finish to it…because after Meatlug got captured, the competition between them pretty much ended, I guess…?

PLOT B: Meatlug be jellin’

As Fishlegs gets too caught up in the competition of training terrors, he starts ignoring Meatlug, much to her disappointment.

So, Fishlegs goes off the deep end and poor Meatlug gets the boot. I can say I liked her reaction to the plot she was placed in a lot better than, say, 202, and I did find the “toss the sheep” joke to be both cute and funny.

I really can’t find too much wrong with this part of the story in particular other than I think it would’ve fit in better with Alvin’s plot if Meatlug had just run away and then got captured out at sea by Alvin. But in terms of the plot by itself, the cause was clear, the effect was clear, and the aftermath was clear.

PLOT C: Alvin and Company….do evil things….

Alvin, Mildew, and Savage come back to Berk to check on their whispering deaths only to find that they’ve already hatched and Berk is still in one piece. After that they explore the tunnels until they figure capturing Meatlug is a better idea.

Okay now this plot…I just can’t even….

It was really all over the place. I really can’t even tell you the point here. It seemed like it had a point when it started…Alvin, Mildew, and Savage were going to check on the whispering deaths and the eggs are hatched and Berk is still perfectly fine. Alvin gets mad about the plan seemingly not working, blah blah blah. That was fine.

But then after that…they just walk around in the tunnels…spot the training academy…spy on the kids...capture Meatlug…leave….what’s going on here?

Alvin mentioned killing dragons, so I guess he captured Meatlug to get all the riders to come find her and then he’d kill them all…? I feel like I’m missing something, like they said something extra about their plan and I just didn’t catch it. But this entire plot seemed really misguided and random.

And it didn’t really help me like Alvin any more as a villain. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, in terms of who I feel is a “threat” to the main cast I’m more interested in what Dagur and the Screaming Death are up to than Alvin…he, Mildew, and Savage definitely got some funny “three old men” moments for sure, but they are still supposed to be intimidating villains.

Just when are they going to get a plot that advances them towards something instead of just making them seem like Saturday morning comedy villains? Especially since they have a lot in their good bag to pull out. 

They could have the whole “Mildew betrayed Berk” plot rear it’s ugly head again. Or the fact that Alvin has a potential army of ruthless dragons under his control now….? When are these assets going to be used? It is almost halfway through the season by now.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So…this episode had balance issues and just general “which way are we trying to go” issues. I think it just had one too many plots going on. It probably should’ve just focused on the Fishlegs vs. Snotlout/Fishlegs ignoring Meatlug plots for the teens, and then having Alvin find Meatlug running away and capture her after he’s sailing back to Outcast island to plan another attack…? I don’t know (I’m thinking off the top of my head) but something more…point oriented would’ve helped a lot. Because this episode was all over the place in some areas.

But on a positive note, the jokes in this episode were hilarious and extremely…mature in some places. The show does split in some I suppose “adult humor” very slyly every once in a while, but this episode…it’s cup runneth over with them.

Like come on…Tuffnut saying Fishlegs finally “grew some….” We all know how that sentence was going to finish. I’m actually pretty surprised they got away with that one, to be honest. That was very close to the fence. But still hilarious.

So, this was an odd episode for me, as it really was all over the place. Some of it was good, some of it great, some of it extremely…odd. Hopefully the next one has a bit better of a directional sense.

Defenders of Berk 206 Review

PLOT A: "Frozen: Dreamworks Style"

After the Hofferson family name was ruined when the Frightmare killed “Fearless Finn Hofferson” 10 years ago, Astrid has sworn revenge on the Frightmare, and with its arrival coming soon she’s finally going to get that chance.

This is probably the first “Astrid-centric” episode we’ve gotten since the mighty Heather Report duo last season and while I enjoyed Heather Report a lot more than this episode, it had some good points.

First off, it was interesting to see an actual flashback in show since I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the show wasn’t really for flashbacks. But it seems they tactfully skimped around having to pay for making a younger model for Astrid by using one of the little girl models already used in the show and re-coloring her hair. I’m pretty sure it was the same little girl that was in episode 202 wanting Fishlegs’ autograph.

But still, this episode just might have a lot more depth in backstory than anticipated. If there really is some kind of embarrassment of dishonor of the Hofferson name after Finn was killed by the frightmare, that might explain Astrid’s continual drive in the movie and so forth to be the best at everything. Because she doesn’t want to be an embarrassment or add more dishonor to her family name….?

It’s an interesting thought to chew on.

Still, irrational and impulsive Astrid is always entertaining to watch as she usually thinks things through before jumping into stuff, she had a tunnel vision goal of defeating this dragon, so it was an odd turn of events to see Hiccup be the non-impulsive voice of reason.

And the end was good as well, though I think it would’ve benefited with maybe Astrid saying something about her uncle and not Hiccup. I know he was doing her a solid, but it was “Astrid’s” episode, after all.

But, onto the Frightmare. It’s a very pretty dragon. Very nice light effects and design, if I do say so myself. And the twist—if you wanna call it a twist—that it paralyzes it’s prey before striking it is….interesting to say the least. Though a bit gruesome when you think of poor Finn being frozen while it watches a dragon hurling towards him before it brutally murders him….

Lucky for Astrid, Hiccup was there to get her out of the way.

And the other “twist” that the Frightmare comes to Berk every year because it’s following a glowing river algae ignited by the aurora felt very national geographic, but it worked…and was a perfect thing for Fishlegs to solve.

I did enjoy how they only used the characters that were necessary to this plot, and I’m continually liking Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs as the main problem solving trio of the show.

The ending battle was…it was good. I wouldn’t say it blew my mind but it wasn’t bad. Just your standard good fight. I do grow tired of the dragon commands, though. Still, I get their purpose, but I think Toothless knows to roll over during a fight without Hiccup telling him to.

So, this plot was mostly just a bag of “good but not great” things here.

PLOT B: "Mission Impossible….for Snotlout"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut have a “exclusive bunker” made for taking refuge during the Frightmare’s arrival and Snotlout wants in, but he first has to complete a list of outrageous errands for the twins.

This plot is basically the definition of a comedic sideplot. This episode had a more serious tone to it with its main plot, so I suppose they wanted something lighter to balance it out, and thus we get this plot with the twins and Snotlout.

It was cute and funny, I can say that, so there was nothing wrong with the plot itself. Just how much screen time it got. It got way for much for something that was a sideplot, and it ended up using time that could’ve 

been used to flush out the A plot better.

Now the A plot was in no way rushed, so to speak, but there was more than one time in this episode where when this comedic sideplot came up I was tapping my fingers waiting for it to get back to the main point of the episode.

Comedic sideplots are perfectly fine as long as they stay on the side, and this plot started pushing too much in terms of how much screen time it got when it didn’t advance the plot whatsoever.

So…while it was good and funny and all, it needed a little less time because, again, it wasn’t the point of the episode.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So, this episode had a lot of hype behind it and I already anticipated it wouldn’t live up to it…mainly because the hype was all Hiccstrid.

I wasn’t expecting any romance in this episode so I wasn’t disappointed or shocked like I know some of the fans were.

That aside, I do think this episode had a bit of an issue with balance between the A and B plot, but managed to still have that issue and not let the episode seemed rushed. So, I praise it on that.

It was a nice look back into Astrid’s past and motivations, and offered a lovely new dragon.