Defenders of Berk 211 Review

PLOT A:  "Double-O Berk"

Having found the twins, Hiccup sends Tuffnut to spy on the Berserks and the Outcasts to find out what they’re planning

So I was pretty excited when it seemed that the twins and Hiccup were going to be working side-by-side in this episode. It seemed like it would be a nice touch after the previous episode establishing that the twins finally came to terms with themselves not being completely useless.

Though, unfortunately this episode fell into a pit hole that all the twin-centric plots seem to.

It was all about Tuffnut.

I’m not going to lie, Tuffnut’s hilarious. Everything he says he pretty much funny. But there’s a time and a place for Tuffnut’s comedy act and a lot of places in this episode is slowed down the plot and brought back the first season’s problem of “lollygagging” in the second act only having to make up for it in the third act.

This episode had a pretty pressing issue, two of our main villains were working together, they had a skrill, and were planning an invasion. And yet…pretty much all of the second act was given to Tuffnut being funny. He is a rather dominating character and it’s easy to get caught in the “rhapsody of it all” with his funny lines. But I felt a lot of his scenes could’ve been shortened and cut out and the plot would’ve faired the same.

Why? Because the last act felt rather crammed.

Think about it, we had three battles in the last 7-5 minutes of the episode. Why couldn’t some of that have been resolved in the second act as well? Cause the second act was all about Tuffnut being funny.

Plus, again, Ruffnut was there…and what did she do…? Nothing.

I don’t know, I just felt it focused a little too much on the funny aspect of Tuffnut being a spy than the strategy of him being a spy. They should’ve taken notes on what they did in “Heather Report, part 2” or 

“Defiant One” for the spying aspect of being on Outcast island.

Still, it was nice to see the twins in a tag-team mission with Hiccup yet again. Though I just wished the whole second act hadn’t been slowed down so much to unnecessarily add funny stuff in.

That being said…at least Tuffnut did do his job and got information and successfully got it back to Hiccup. So, that’s something.

PLOT B: "Outcast vs. Berserkers"

Alvin has captured the skrill and is making a plan with Dagur that they both attack Berk in exchange for handing over the skrill to the Berserkers. But Dagur’s got other plans.

Now this plot was surely interesting. Alvin vs. Dagur. Almost like the good villain vs. the villain who’s falling flat. And with how the ending battle between those two was handled I’m thinking that maybe Alvin’s lack of…exciting-ness was actually intentional.

Was he supposed to be a failed villain…? Who knows, but if it was supposed to be intentional than…well, that’s rather interesting.

Though there is the pressing question of did Dagur kill Alvin…? I’m not too sure because getting struck by lightning in the water could kill him believably. But, I would say no, even though I saw on tumblr that there might’ve been official confirmation on twitter that he actually did die. Though I haven’t looked into anything so I don’t know.

Taking the surprising road and killing Alvin off in such a way—after failing and being humiliated only to have his tribe barely mourn him and switch over to the Berserkers—that’s pretty depressing…makes me feel sorry for him.

But, if he’s not dead and they’re planning to bring him back, I think it would be interesting to have him ride in on the screaming death, wanting revenge and then we’d have a three-way battle between Berk, the Berserkers and Alvin and the Screaming Death. Now that would be interesting, but we shall see. Still, if they are going to bring him back, they’d better do something interesting with him to make up for his rather lack-luster performance lately.

And as for Dagur…he continues to impress me as a villain. He’s entertaining to watch, has a personality, an established history and motivation, and has the intimating factor to make him a threat to our heroes. All of which was perfectly shown in this episode. I absolutely loved the little moment about him hating people who smack because his father used to smack. Always calling back to that past of his…nice establishment.  

I only wished we had more time focusing on the tension between Alvin and Dagur before their battle. Which would’ve happened if a certain twin hadn’t hogged a lot of screen time….

But the end battle between Alvin and Dagur was very good even if it was short. They’re both skilled fighters so it was really just a matter of who would get the upper hand first. And Dagur had a skrill at his disposal so…we all knew how that was going to end….

Still, aside from this plot not being as present as it could’ve been and the ending battle being perhaps a tad too short—probably cut for time—this was a very good show down, and should’ve taken up a majority of the screen time instead, in my opinion.

PLOT C: "Brotherhood, the Reunion"

Finally with the skrill to himself, Dagur and Hiccup face off, Night Fury vs. Skrill

I was kind of disappointed how this fight was literally left to the last 5 minutes of the episode as it was one of the main buildups since the previous episode.

Hiccup vs. Dagur, that’s what we’ve all been waiting for. But, like I said, they basically crammed all three of the ending battles—Daugr vs. Alvin, Dagur vs. Hiccup, and Hiccup vs. the Skrill—into the last act. So each battle could only last about 2-3 minutes each.

Which was a bit of a letdown, especially after the previous episode’s wonderfully choreographed fight.

Still, it seems a little clearer now that Dagur definitely wants to capture Toothless and have him for himself…and I suppose kill Hiccup…? What he wants to do with Hiccup is still a bit unclear. But Dagur seems pretty bent on just having every fleet he can get his hands on. And so far he’s successfully taken over the Outcasts so, he’s got the odds in his favor.

Still, the ending battle between these two was left on a good cliffhanger, but the battle was still…just too quick. I wouldn’t say it was rushed just…quick. Quicker than I would’ve liked.

Now the ending battle with the skrill seemed alright, even though that was crammed into the remaining minutes of the episode. And I have heard some complaints that re-freezing the skrill was anti-climatic. I suppose it was…but Dagur gained a whole extra fleet, so it’s not like he left this whole mess with nothing. He’s still more intimating now with twice the number of soldiers, so…it evens out. And it was nice to see the twins helps out in freezing the skrill.

So…all of this was good stuff, just…too crammed into a short period of time. Everything was too quick. Though I did love the ending scene. Dagur just looked scary…..in a good kind of way, of course.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So, really this episode was filled with good stuff. Had a really great set up…it’s problem was really just time management.

And, sorry, but I’ve just gotta blame the Tuffnut stuff. There was just too many long scenes with Tuffnut being funny…that were hilarious but not needed to advance the plot. They should’ve allowed more time for the pressing matters of the plot. Like Alvin vs. Dagur, and Hiccup and Dagur’s battle. Because those plots—even in the short time they were allotted—were very well done.

So…it’s always so odd how the second parts to these two part episodes never seem to meet the great set up they’re given. Though hopefully the finale (that probably going to be another two-parter) will fix this streak.

Defenders of Berk 210 Review

PLOT A: "Frozen Fire"

Having found a skrill frozen in ice after being attacked by the Berserkers, Berk tries to figure out why the Berserkers have broken their peace treaty.

So, we all knew that it was going to be some kind of plot like this eventually. Dagur clearly wasn’t going to pay attention to the treaty, and while Hiccup and everyone else knew about that since episode 203—and never told Stoick again—the rest of the village has finally caught on.

A frozen dragon is certainly interesting, but I do wonder how it got there. That’s an unnecessary detail to the plot but does make you wonder….

Still, this plot really just took up the first act of the episode as the second half was left for the action, but it provided a decent set up for the second episode without a doubt. We have a dangerous skrill awakened and wandering around, the Bersekers are after it, and so are the riders.

But alongside the main plot set up, the character interactions here were so good! I love how the main group of six has broken down into lately. With, as I keep saying, Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs being the main problem solvers and plot advancers and Snotlout and the Twins being more of the comedic side-characters who are the ones who usually have a lesson to learn.

But definitely out of the two groups Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs are the ones with the most appeal, there’s so many little moments of great interaction that call to their friendship and the three definitely have natural chemistry. The way their dialogue is written really makes me believe that these three spend time together off camera and have a relationship that continues even after the credits role, which might sound easy but it is a lot harder than it sounds. So, nice characterization as usual.

And I even didn’t mind how they decided to have the skrill being released Snotlout and the Twins—though probably mostly the twins—fault. It seemed very in character for them, but what made it work was probably their reaction afterwards, as they were kind of scared of getting in trouble with Hiccup because they knew he left them there putting some kind of trust that they wouldn’t screw up. Which ties in nicely with the previous episode’s outcome.

So yeah…this was a good set up to the action that would happen in the second and third acts.

Also, Bucket and Mulch came back! They haven’t been around much…

PLOT B:  "Berk vs. Berserkers"

While the riders try to catch the skrill before the Berserkers find it, they realize this dragon might be harder to catch than anticipated.

Everyone’s been waiting to see a skrill in action. At least I know I have, and this episode really did not disappoint.

A skrill’s probably one of the few dragons that can really go toe to toe with a night fury in a fair fight, and it’s always nice to see the riders face a challenge in battle rather than come out on top every time. Losing is essential to heroes, believe it or not.

But this episode heavily reminds me of another great one this season: 204. Mostly because the action sequence took up both act two and three, and it was good action. The fight scene between the riders and the skrill were just great, and once again, even though it was a long fight scene it didn’t lose my interest. They kept it moving, and added appropriate pauses for the teens to strategize and then get right back into the action. So, more nicely done pacing in the action department.

And the special effects…oh man…they were excellent. I know clouds and whatnot are hard to render and light but those were some really amazing clouds, some awesome lighting, and just overall good animation going on in that scene. Well done for the team who worked on that, and on a tv show budget.

I also did like how Hiccup was using the twins to help out here, and how everyone just seems to be coming together as a formidable team, all working their strengths during battle and bringing back techniques we’ve seen them working on throughout the season. (Like Fishlegs’ drop and hove trick…is that what’s it’s called?).

And…of course…the triumphant return of Dagur! We haven’t really seen him leading a battle up until this point so it’s nice to see him being the chief and not just running around going crazy (not that seeing him like that isn’t enjoyable). But it makes him all the more intimidating to know that he’s as insane as he is and still can strategize and lead a fleet properly.

Though I wonder what really he wants to do. Last time he seemingly wanted to capture both Hiccup and Toothless. Now it seems he only wanted the skrill so he could capture just Toothless as a means to simply take him away from Hiccup.

Does he want Toothless just to take him away from Hiccup, or because he wants to have a night fury from himself…? Both options are both equally exciting since it is Dagur, but hopefully the next episode will shed a little light on that because I am a tad confused on that now.

Still, this episode set up a great plot for episode two as well. The Skrill has been captured by the Outcasts—who I figured would show up and it was a nice touch adding them at the very end—and the twins are off on their own and actually doing something helpful by following the Outcasts to see what their up to. Hopefully the next episode plays it’s cards correctly and uses the twins to its advantage, because the set up here is great!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This episode was pretty near perfect for me. I could barely find anything wrong with it. It was a great set up, had great character moments, and nicely done and paced out battle scene with a beautifully animated dragon.

And Dagur!

What’s not to like…?

If I had to get nitpicky maybe with the twins a little too much of Tuffnut’s jokes…where I felt like some non-joking dialogue would’ve made it a bit more…serious? But then that is simply Tuffnut’s character, but, like I said, if I had to get nitpicky…then yeah. Cause in hindsight there really isn’t too much wrong with this episode.

Though I am a tad hesitant to give it a perfect score, though, but its came pretty darn close.