PLOT A: “Gobber the Useless”
After Vikings and Dragons have finally settled
their differences, Gobber finds himself feeling useless without the need to
make dragon weapons.
This is definitely the most powerful
plot of the episode because it deals with another understandable yet slightly
less clichéd plotline. I have a feeling that the useless feeling Gobber has in
this episode is probably being felt by a lot of Vikings since the Dragons have
moved in.
Being useless as a Viking is a fate
worse than death, especially for a veteran like Gobber who has lost two limbs
in fighting dragons. It’s good to see a more comedic character like Gobber have
real genuine feelings of regret and hopelessness within a quickly changing
world. Seeing him float from responsibility to responsibility and not succeeding
at any triggers him into a state of almost panic in that he has to face the
fate of perhaps not having a place in the village anymore.
My favorite scenes with Gobber were
definitely when Hiccup had to take him off the saddle project and you see the
face he made that he just doesn’t want to accept the fact that he still isn’t
needed. And of course when Stoick came to get him and he said “no body needs
me, no body needs any of us”. It’s an interesting thought to play with the fact
that he might actually be jealous and bit resentful of Hiccup for bringing
dragons into Berk.
It’s nice to see, though, that it all
ended up well for Gobber. He has a new occupation as a dragon dentist (though I
think he’s just an all around dragon doctor), and his talent’s and knowledge
aren’t wasted.
PLOT B: “Professor Hiccup”
After the events of “How to Start a Dragon
Academy” Berk’s Dragon Training Academy is finally in session, and it’s
Hiccup’s duty to teach what he knows about dragons to the other teens.
Even though Hiccup being a
teacher/authority figure isn’t the part of the episode, it opened the episode
and was a pretty consistent factor throughout it.
I suppose Hiccup was written down all
of his observations on dragons in the sketchbook he carries around, and has
taken quite a talent to teaching. It highlights the leadership that is
obviously in his genes and the other teens still do listen to him, even to the
point where Snotlout goes to Hiccup when he can’t control Hookfang.
But not only is Hiccup a teacher
authority, but he’s also a mediator. His success in the previous episode has
seemed to heighten Stoick’s faith in his son to handle things, so he
immediately dumped finding Gobber a new occupation on his son without a second
thought. But, unlike the situation in the previous episode, Hiccup seems less
than happy to go around finding a job for Gobber alongside running the academy,
so he makes it easy on himself and tries to combine the two…but that doesn’t
work out too well either.
His little tantrum of “Why do I have
to say something to him?” still shows Hiccup’s newness to really being a figure
who has to solve problem having to do with his peers. Plus it’s interesting
that they placed Hiccup not knowing how to handle firing Gobber right next to
Hiccup readily going up to go control Hookfang.
Hiccup favors his comfort zone—which
is obviously Dragon related matters. So I’m interested to see how he handles
more problems that have to do with dealing with the villagers.
PLOT C: “The Old Ways”
At the end of the episode Gobber and Stoick
feel it’s necessary to go back to killing dragons in order to control Hookfang.
Everything about this decision rubs me
the wrong way…but for all the right reasons, as it does for Hiccup and the rest
of the teens.
They’ve all fully adjusted to having
dragons around. They have dragons of their own, they’re getting taught how to
train them, but the adults of the villager might be a little more either or,
especially since this episode is coming right off the reigns of situation in
“How to Start A Dragon Academy”.
Seeing Stoick and Gobber go back to
the “old ways” so quickly, shows that they still have a long way to go before
even they have fully accepted the dragons, and that violence isn’t always the
answer. But I couldn’t help but feel like this was just a plot device to make
an ending conflict resolution to everything the episode had set up.
FINAL WORDS:
So, overall, this episode shines both
with plot and emotion as it takes a comic relief character and brings him
through an almost midlife crisis of motions, as well as highlighting Hiccup
strong and weaker points as a character and a leader.
This episode finally breaks away from
the norm of the problem of Vikings vs. Dragons and gets deep into something a
lot bigger…the aftermath’s toll on the characters.
