Thursday, January 9, 2014

Defenders of Berk 212 Review



PLOT A:  Gustav gets his head in the Game

When Snotlout starts seeing the “Five signposts of Valhalla” he thinks he’s going to die and recruits a willing Gustav to take his place in the Academy.

So I was surprised when it seemed like we’d get an episode centered around a minor character. Gustav’s been well received among the fans, and we so rarely get to see the younger generation on Berk so it was a refreshing change of pace to see what the kids on the island do…which is apparently strap fake wings and flame throwers on sheep and ride them around (that was insanely adorable by the way).

On the other side of the plot, Snotlout seeing the “5 signposts of Valhalla” was a smooth way to throw in some culture and make the “I’m gonna die” plot more believable. Because I was getting a bit worried that it was going to be one of those poorly played “the character thinks he’s deathly ill and stays in bed when it turns out being something harmless”. And the speech Snotlout made about everyone’s “imperfections” and the “Oh, Astrid, what might’ve been” was arguably my favorite moment in the whole episode. (I know I’ve mentioned this before but I love what Zach Pearlman does with Snotlout’s character).

Still with those two plots coming together and focusing on Snotlout training Gustav to be a rider was great character development for both of them especially near the end during the fight where Gustav wants to leave but Snotlout says if he wants experience staying and fighting is how he’s going to get it. That was a great teacher moment for Snotlout (because it’s always nice seeing someone other than Hiccup teach someone something).

And I hope with Gustav being a junior, trainer, fourth-class whatchamawhooey that it means we’ll see him working around the academy sometimes, it would be a nice continuation to have a junior trainee around, but I’m not really expecting it….I’ll just be happy if that does happen. Or at least see a little more of him and Fanghook, because those two do seem to have a bond already as a dragon and rider (which makes me question why did he have to let him go back in the woods….?)

And as for the other riders in this episode. They were all perfectly in place. The twins were hilarious as always, and it was an expected but not degrading touch that they were simply messing with Snotlout. Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs were the golden trio as usual (I just love those three together so much). And no one really overshadowed the main focus of this episode, which was Gustav and Snotlout who really have formed an endearing bond.

Gustav was cute following Snotlout around before but I just really like that it really is Snotlout that he admires and wants to be like, which gives Snotlout a chance to be a little mature. Nice stuff going on with this plot, I couldn’t really find too much wrong with it. It was nicely paced, wasn’t overshadowed, and had a clear and satisfying start and end.

(Also Gustav is voiced by Lucas Grabeel from “High School Musical”…that seems like a fun fact to me.)



PLOT B: Dagur being…Dagur

Dagur is seemingly planning a new weapon to use on Berk…but it winds up simply being a trap to get the riders on Outcast Island.

So I really do have to get used to now when they say “Outcast Island” they mean Dagur.

But this was a standard third act conflict throw in (enhanced because DAGUR!) Dagur is “as crafty as he is crazy” as Stoick puts it and I guess he was talking up this big weapon while Trader Johann was  doing business knowing he’d leak it back to Stoick.

Which makes me wonder why is Johann even allowed back there after he clearly picked a side in the season 1 finale? But, either way, there’s a trust issue there since they all clearly knew he’d go blab to Stoick about what he saw and used that to their advantage.

Still, there wasn’t too much substance in this, but then, the episode didn’t really call for it. It was more of a set up simply to get Gustav to get experience, which is fine cause they didn’t built it up like it was going to be something big in the first place. I do wonder what his next big plan is going to be to get the night fury? Or Hiccup…or whatever he wants these days.

But all and all it was a decent third act conflict that served it’s purpose and produced a decent fight. There might’ve been one too many unrealistically long pauses during the fighting. Like Gustavs and Snotlout’s talk (though I can let that slide cause that was important). And the fact that Hiccup and Toothless just floated around and didn’t move as Dagur was shooting them down. And when they were trapped they didn’t just burn the net. Seriously why does everyone always forget that? Fanghook and Gustav didn’t forget it.

Though did Dagur kill more people at the end? Cause he raised his sword, was talking about execution, and then at the scene cut we heard a scream in the background.

Umm….



FINAL THOUGHTS:

So this episode was solid. It did a good job developing a minor character fully in one episode, set up a good potential reoccurring theme in the riders having a trainee (Which I really hope they follow up on).

It only had a few bumps and bugs but nothing too jarring to make the episode less enjoyable past making a few “huhs?”

It’s odd how Snotlout-centric episodes usually end up being the ones I like. As far as characters go, I think they’re doing a good job with his when he has episodes that focus on him, and as I mentioned before, pairing him with Gustav gives Snotlout a way to mature while still being in character. I can’t wait for more Snotlout-centric episodes (hopefully) in the future!


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