PLOT A: On that Midnight Flight to the
Isle of Night
Hiccup and Toothless discover a map to a
mysterious Island filled with Night Furies, and Hiccup is determined to find a
herd for Toothless.
So this was the plot that they used as
the selling point for the promotion of this episode. Hiccup and Toothless are
looking for Night Furies!!!! I was part of the half of the fandom that was
pretty convinced that the chances of Night Furies being found outside the main
movies was a one in a million chance, so I wasn’t too surprised that the Isle
of Night was a trick.
Either way, this plot deals with
Hiccup trying to, once again, make up for Toothless’s lacks. In Gift of the
Night Fury and What Flies Beneath he felt guilty because he is, technically, to
blame for Toothless not being able to fly very well on his own. But, in this
episode he’s thinking more about Toothless’s family. He obviously didn’t come
from an egg that fell from the sky…so he has a family somewhere…but where?
It is rather depressing knowing that
all the other dragons have their own herds to hang out with and Toothless just
chills with his human all day. Though, as Astrid pointed out, Hiccup is kinda
all Toothless needs and he’s pretty happy…but Hiccup’s guilt and want for
Toothless to have friends of his same species to hang out with keep fueling him
on.
It was interesting the depths of the
tricky going on with the clues, but nonetheless they had to go find a cave with
the “map” to the Isle of night….
Now this part of the plot is where I
think the episode went a tad south…the whole
second act was pretty slow. I don’t know…they could’ve cut that scene down
to size a bit and added a little more character moments, especially since Part
2 is gonna be very fast paced action and escape…there’s not going to be time to
mess around with overly long scenes. That being said…I loved the part with the
changewing hugging Snotlout. That was cute!
But, let’s talk about Toothless’s new
power! Again…not too surprising but still….extremely useful. And this show is
always funny…they know what plasma is (in the 11th century…?) but
not echolocation? Haha!
Either way, I like Toothless’s new power…he’s like a
bat. I really hope to see that used very soon!
Moving on, I wasn’t surprised that
Hiccup decided to go alone…he didn’t want his friends to get hurt. And for
those wondering why he didn’t at least tell Astrid he was leaving while he did
in “When Lightning Strikes”, does anyone really think Astrid would’ve just let
him go alone? And Hiccup knows that, so he just left. Typical Hiccup if you ask
me.
Anyways, this plot’s cup runneth over
with good starting points but felt unfinished in a lot of areas. Which…it’s
supposed to be. It’s only part one, and for a set up it’s looking good!
PLOT B: Happy Bork Week!
During a special holiday on Berk—celebrating
Bork, the Viking who wrote the Book of Dragons—Hiccup is entrusted with all of
his archives as well as given the task of rallying up a special dragon air show
for the event.
Remember the Book of Dragons short we
all thought was gonna suck last two years back? Well it rocks…so go watch it if
you haven’t.
It’s nice when installments of the
franchise all mix together, it gives a sense of seamless continuity, which is
exactly what we all felt when Bork was mentioned! I like the idea of praising
Bork and giving him a holiday…and it even kept the fact that Bork is Gobber’s
Great-great grandfather. (Which, by the way, Gobber’s lines in this episode….beyond
perfect!) And did anyone catch the “stump day” line…? Is that about what I
think it’s about…?
I did like the “Giving Hiccup more
responsibility” tone this episode had…which was a reoccurring theme in the
beginning of the season, but it’s nice to have it back in a more profound
manner. It was nice to have a break from the “it’s Hiccup’s problem” plots in
the second half of the season, but Hiccup’s been running the academy for quite
some time now, so it makes sense to bring that theme back. It’s cool how all
the archives are entrusted to him, as well as being in charge of the dragon air
show—which we’ll probably see at the end of the next episode. (And totally
unrelated but anyone else think of the pokemon Dragonair when they kept saying “dragon
air show”?)
Another aspect of this episode….dragon
calls. Which is probably an indirect callback to dragonese from the book
series. This show has never been subtle
when new tricks are introduced…the teens learn some new dragon trick….they use
it to get themselves out of trouble by the end of the plot….it’s never not happened,
so I’m guessing in part two there’s going to at least be a separation between
Hiccup and Toothless and they find each other by using a dragon call.
I don’t really see anything wrong with
the calls…hearing them might get a tad annoying but still, in theory, it’s not
a bad idea. Just more ways for them to be in contact.
PLOT C: Deception, Betrayal, and all
the nouns in between
In a surprising twist of events when Hiccup
and Toothless are captured by Outcast once arriving to the “Isle of Night”,
Mildew is found to be working with Alvin.
Et tu, Mildew?
So it’s been a theory since episode
101 and especially since the convenient timing of the events of episode 105 and
106…is Mildew in cahoots with Alvin? Well…I guess that’s a yes. I’m not too
surprising by this….but it did take me off guard for some reason. Which is good
writing and directing if I was expecting it yet still surprised!
Unlike a lot of reoccurring themes on
the show…this one really was hinted yet hidden very carefully throughout the
entire season. It was never too obvious…but it was still there enough to get
theories going.
I like the idea of Mildew and Alvin
working together, Mildew obviously has a lot of dragon hate…a lot of Hiccup
hate…and lot of just…hate. This is a perfect betrayal for him.
And quite crafty
if you think about the whole plan…they forged Bork notes and placed them in the
chest before Hiccup got to them…went in Bork’s cave (or made up Bork’s cave?) and
drew a map there, and to sweeten the deal so that Hiccup definitely went there
alone they added that night furies were hostile to other dragons. I’ve had my
share of complaints that Alvin’s not the smartest villain who ever lived…but
that plan was pretty darn brilliant! Though that probably had to do with the
fact that Mildew was helping…and let’s get real, as annoying and “crusty” as
Mildew is…he’s crafty.
Though I’m getting tingles that him and Hiccup
will have to team up in part 2 and somehow Mildew will be redeemed, but still…once
it’s found out that Mildew willingly gave Hiccup up, Odin knows what Stoick
will do. Or Astrid for that matter….she does like to punch.
I’m probably the most excited to see
how this pans out…the two main villains of the season working together! This is
getting good….!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This episode was a lot of set up, but
it was good set up! Out of the two other two part pairs of episodes we’ve
gotten this one really feels like an honest “Part 1”…because it really just
leaves everything kind of open…practically all the plots are unfinished,
everything’s a cliffhanger, and it’s all exciting!
As I mentioned in the A plot
discussion, the second act was a little…eh. It caught the first half of the
season pacing issue again. Which makes me a tad worried for the finale’s pacing.
It has A LOT to do in 22 minutes and it’s going to need a strong second act,
but I’m pretty excited so I’m going to hope they pull out some brilliant
pacing.
I’m also interested that they only
seem to have Stoick, Gobber, Astrid, and Fishlegs going after Hiccup. I guess
Astrid’s line of “we don’t have to bring them every time” had some meaning…They
are the ones who will pull out the biggest emotional worry for Hiccup’s safety.
But, since this is the finale, I doubt Snotlout and the twins just won’t be in
it…so I wonder what they’ll be doing…?
So…I usually don’t make a list like
this but seeing as how next episode is the last of the season here are some things
I’m really hoping to see in the finale that have been leading up to throughout
the season:
-Hiccup’s cocky attitude. We’ve all
noticed it…even Snotlout’s called him out on it. At the end of this episode I
think we got a genuine look of “oh man…I’m screwed” on Hiccup’s face…but
hopefully this situation will bruise his ego a bit. He’s gotten on a pretty
high horse (dragon?) lately and needs to realize that he’s not immortal. Just a
realization, or the beginnings of a realization would be fine…cause I have a
feeling it’ll be more towards working on it in season 2?
-Hiccup/Mildew teamwork. I’m kind of
going off spoilers that were found over the summer…but I have a strong feeling
this might happen. Though I don’t want Mildew just to magically be a good guy….but
some teamwork would be cool!
-Stoick vs. Alvin. We all know that
Stoick’s gonna be breaking through hell and back to get Hiccup safely home…and
I’m hoping for some more Stoick and Alvin showdowns. I’m kind of hoping Stoick
is the one to “defeat” (or at least beat in this particular fight) Alvin
instead of Hiccup…which goes back to my wanting to bruise Hiccup’s ego a bit.
Alvin seems like Stoick’s fight given their past…but we’ll see….
-Astrid biting Hiccup’s head off. I
like that this episode had her immediately going off after him once she put two
and two together quickly that he went off alone. Hiccup’s pulled these stunts
before, he’s always thinking pretty impulsively, and it’s been building up a
lot that it worries Astrid to no ends. I’d like to see her mentioning that to
him. He can’t just always run off without back up and put himself in danger.
But, of course, this will probably move into shipping territory…and I’m not
sure there’s going to be time for that in part 2 since there’s more important
things to wrap up. But this plot would be a nice pretty bow on the episode if
there’s time.
-And finally….Hiccup/Toothles “we are
family”. Cause the title just goes there already. Hiccup and Toothless have
never exactly been separated on a count of someone taking Toothless away…so I’d
like for the episode to really stress how much they need each other. Toothless
can’t just fly away on his own…and it’s obvious he’s not really going to just
blast away and kill everyone like he used to. Hiccup can’t physically defend
himself so if it’s him against an outcast, he’s gonna lose. I’m going to be
interested in what/who bails them out, and of course that sappy reuniting moment
we all know is coming!
So…TONS of good stuff to happen in the
finale! I’m very excited. My only fear is…I hope that the second act (or really
just the whole episode) is paced out well…cause if not, we might have a
problem. The set up is all finished…so hopefully they just dive into things and
don’t waste any time.
Still…I can’t wait for the action, the
escaping, and yes…the feels!
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