Ninjago Season 5 Episodes 7-10

[Ptah]

Since Cartoon Network aired the last 5 episodes in a week (probably to air them before the second half with the ghost ninja) and since previous topics generated little or no response I thought I'd combine the recaps and review of the last 4 episodes.

 

 

Spoilers Ahead

 

 

You have been Warned.

 

 

Episode 7: The Forgotten Element

Alternate Title: 'Does this seem kind of familiar to you?'

 

Recap:

So Chen rounds up the remaining contestants except for Lloyd and promptly steals all their powers. (I'll get to this in the review.)  Skylor (I'm dropping the Mortal Kombat monikers since they dropped the tournament pretense).  Skylor asks that Kai be spared and Chen agrees even trying to recruit the red ninja to the dark side.  When Lloyd, Nya and Garmadon sneak in, they are betrayed by an unconvincing dark Kai.  Garmadon grabs Skylor to extort Chen, but Chen calls his bluff. This causes an Incredibles-type conversion in Skylor.

 

Elsewhere, the losers have built their jet.  It can't fly but still has weapons so they use it to bust out. They save Nya and Garmadon on their way to freedom.  It's a grand melee as Chen is about to gain all the powers.  But Skylor nicks the staff, after a mad scramble the staff breaks and everyone regains their powers.  The defeat the cultist, but Chen, Clouse and Skylor escape.  The ninja are reunited and the bad guy is defeated, so why are there 3 more episodes and why do I have this uneasy feeling that things are about to get worse.

 

Review:

First, lets settle this power stealing rubbish right here.  So Chen could steal anyone's power at any time.  Why set up this tournament?  Why not seek out each master and steal their power while they are alone and vulnerable? How is this banishment enforced?  These aren't critical questions, but still plot holes that make the ride very bumpy.

 

Kai's betrayal and act felt low stakes.  His fight for control against the staff was ok, but not much above that.  You can see scenes lifted from James Bond, the Incredibles and X-men here. The fight between the Masters and the cultists could have lasted longer. Overall, it is ok, but you can tell this isn't the finale or even the end of this particular bad guy.

[Petewa]

Review:

First, lets settle this power stealing rubbish right here.  So Chen could steal anyone's power at any time.  Why set up this tournament?  Why not seek out each master and steal their power while they are alone and vulnerable? How is this banishment enforced?  These aren't critical questions, but still plot holes that make the ride very bumpy.

 

Kai's betrayal and act felt low stakes.  His fight for control against the staff was ok, but not much above that.  You can see scenes lifted from James Bond, the Incredibles and X-men here. The fight between the Masters and the cultists could have lasted longer. Overall, it is ok, but you can tell this isn't the finale or even the end of this particular bad guy.

The tournament wasn't for the powers, it was for the theatrics of it, Duh. Because where's the fun in stealing elemental powers when you could see them in action against eachother beforehand?

[Ptah]

Episode 8: The Day of the Dragon

Alternate Title: ...And you get a dragon, and you get a dragon, and you get a dragon!"

Recap:

The Ninja and the E-warriors are mopping up Chen's henchmen (hench-chens?)  Garamadon warns them not to be overconfident, but the heroes are doing their level best to find Chen and Clouse to put the final nail in this bad guy's coffin.  Chen and Clouse bicker over how things have gone pear-shaped when Clouse hits on a clever way to still win.  Skylor has copied everyon'es powers. (When did she touch Lloyd?)  If they do the ritual in the crystal cave, it should work.  Skylor doesn't want to be sacrificed so she books on out of there.

 

The ninja are alerted to this and join the chase.  Along the way they get separated.  Kai catches up with Skylor.  Zane drops into a cave and has a panic attack involving a dragon.  Garamadon and Clouse have one last showdown.  The Clouse/Garmadon fight disappoints.  Garm doesn't even hit him with spinjitzu. Clouse opens a portal to the cursed realm, but gets sucked in by Garmadon.  Zane has his panic attack, but Pixel talks him through the fear.  Kai and Sky get captured by the goons... the third-ranked goons (sigh).

 

Chen completes the ritual without Clouse and everyone who bares the anacondrai mark becomes a snake including Skylor and Garmadon. These snakes are a tougher, faster, stronger breed than the average Serpentine.  The new Anacondrai bust free and take the aircraft back to Ninjago. 

 

Things are looking grim when Zane arrives on an ice dragon.  He teaches the E-warriors how to master their fear and unlock their own elemental mounts and they fly off to catch up with Chen and his goons.

 

 

Review:

A big plus for this episode: "More dragons!"  We got metal dragons, smoke dragons, speed dragons galore.

 

ON the minus this is a wasted opportunity between Garmadon and Clouse.  It seemed like this whole season arc was about building up this rivalry and it happens and it's....yawn.  It would have been cool if Garmadon had to use spinjitzu and was get to see Spinjitzu that isn't Wu.  If would have been too awesome for words if Garmadon had to choose between using the dark magic or losing to Clouse.  A wizard's duel between two dark magicians would have been epic.

 

I also was hoping Clouse would double cross Chen and take over ala Destro.  Oh well, I lost the Tournament pool, a double cross that never domes I can live with.

 

I genuinely feel sorry for the Ninja.  They did everything right and still lost the round.  They didn't just leave Chen on his island and call it a day.  They went after him.  They didn't let down their guard. 

 

I like that each E-warrior has a dragon.  So many names to give them. Though I am curious what a dragon of Forms looks like or a Dragon of the Mind.  Given the diminishing returns on dragons on Ninjago: from valued companions to flying mounts, I won't get too attached to them.  But yeah more dragons.

[Petewa]

The dragon of form obviously looks like whatever it wants to look like,

[Ptah]

Episode 9: The Greatest of All Fears

Alternate Title: Is that a Snake in Your Pocket?

 

 

Recap:

The E-warriors fly to the rescue of Ninjago.  Between gathering up Dareth and teaching the others to summon their own dragons, they are a day behind.  They rush into... a peaceful and unaware Ninjago City. (Is it still New Ninjago City?)  Chen hasn't made his move yet.  The spell begins to fade on Garamadon and Skylor and the heroes realize the spell isn't stable so Chen won't attack until he's at full strength. To figure this out they go to the one snake in Ninjago who knows something about Anacondarai: Pythor.

 

The ninja go to Arkham Sands prison where past season villains make a cameo.  Pythor is still bite size (and not in a robot eagles gullet).  Pythor won't help the ninja for free.  He wants to be super-sized.  While they haggle, Chen's snake-men attack the prison.  They need the essence of a true Anacondarai to make the spell permanent.  So weaponless and soon outnumbered (when the cultists open all the cells) the ninja fight a running battle to keep Pythor out of Chen's clutches and the prisoners from escaping.  We also learn both snakes and humans were played by Chen into fighting the first war.  Ultimately, Chen snags Pythor and uses his sweat to stabilize the spell.

 

Chen rolls out and the E-warriors fly out to meet them.  Chen's trucks then split up going all over Ninjago.  The warriors split up after the trucks only to discover most of them are empty.  This was Chen's plan.  With the warriors divided and out of communications range (somehow?), they cultists score their first victory by capturing the quaint mountain village.

 

 

Review:

This is a set up episode for the finale so I'll save most of my criticism for the end. But I will give a shout out to the prison scene.  First, it was good seeing some of the other villains they have fought.  Plus it was a nice measure of how far the ninja have grown that they can take most of these guys on without weapons. (despite Jay's whining.  Positive thinking didn't last long with that one!)

 

One glaring nitpick: The Trojan trucks really meant one of the E-warriors would hit the jackpot.  They should have shown one of the warriors overwhelmed by dozens of snakes while the rest open empty. (I believe Lloyd's truck isn't the same one that invaded Jamonicai.) And while this is a setback it's hardly the Sum of all Fears. As we will see in next episode.

[Ptah]

Episode 10: The Corridor of Elders

Alternate Title: Line in the Sand

 

Recap:

The Anacondarai have scored their first victory.  Nya is trying to call the E-warriors back, but her transmission is intercepted by Chen who calls to gloat and rat out Garamadon for stealing Misako from Wu. Looks like Neuro hit the jackpot with a truck full of snakes.  Lloyd runs into him and he asks to send a telepathic message to the others to regroup.

 

They regroup at the Samurai cave and the news isn't good.  The snakes have struck swiftly taking several villages since the first one. They are making their was across Ninjago. (Now the maps have shown Chen's island and his forces coming from the left side of the map.  But Nya says Chen's forces have captured the East Coast and are moving west.  so either the maps got flipped in production, or Ninjago reads maps differently)  Anyway, the snakes will have to go through a narrow canyon to get to the rest of Ninjago, the Corridor of Elders.  That's where they will make their final stand.

 

To prepare, the ninja go out and wrangle everyone who can fight for this last ditch effort; serpentine, skullkin, comic book guys, parents, the works.  It all comes down to the Corridor of Elders.  As epic battles go this is pretty decent.  The cultists attack, the Ninja fight back.  Things take to the air, where Nya and the Bounty 'drop it like it's hot'.  But Chen's cultists are starting to break the line.  The 'miracle' (all final battles need a miracle) comes riding on a swamp rat.  Pythor, recent escapee from Chen, has the spellbook and a way to win the battle.

 

The spell, which will bring in the True Anacondarai generals for some deus ex machina action, requires Garmadon to sacrifice himself.  Lloyd is understandably upset with this wrinkle.  He jumps into the fray to work out his frustration, but returns in time to say good bye to his father before he casts the spell.  The ghost generals arrive, take care of Chen, lift the curse on Skylor and Garmadon and restore Pythor to full size.

 

All that's left is the clean up, which the E-warriors begin with gusto.  Skylor leaves to restore her family's good name by running the noodle houses. (Boy that season long romance went nowhere) And we get a g-g-g-g-ghost as our last visual to hint next season's direction.

 

 

Recap:

I'm lumping Episodes 9 and 10 together so if there is a bit of back and forth-ing between those episodes, that is why.  The strongest criticism I have against Ninjago as a series is that it is too much of a boy's club.  As a result, these final battles don't mean so much because the stakes are abstract.  Think back to the Great Devourer or the Shadow Army, we knew people in Ninjago, we knew what was at stake.  Now compare, that with this finale or Rebooted where everyone is absent for most of the series.  It doesn't carry the same stakes and worry.

 

A couple of missed opportunities: The E-warriors in the fight.  I would have loved to see them fight with their dragons.  I would have loved seeing them fight with each other instead of showing one power at a time. Like Zane playing the flute song for Sound Guy and using that against the snakes.  Or have the Serpentine talks smack to these pretenders.

 

This whole Wu, Garmadon, Misako love triangle needs to go. Hopefully we won't see it again.  But they keeps bringing it up like they are going to do something with it and then drop it just as randomly. Wu hates his brother for it the betrayal, but then gets over it in the next scene.  Misako is horrified by the turn, but it doesn't register before the battle. This is one story line that has never paid off because the show never allows its characters to change.

 

Overall: this season introduced a lot of new characters that we will probably never see again.  (Sadly there will be no spinoff where Skylor and Turner open and eatery/delivery service called Diner Dash.)  That's par for the course, but I would like them to still be a part of the Ninjago universe.  The E-warriors could call on them to handle an adventure or two and maybe the ninja can call on a warrior to help out in their next season.  Please, leave Dareth home next time.  As I said before Tournament arcs are the worst. While roller derby and Hunger Games were nice twists,  they dropped that ruse too soon.

 

I give this season a B-. Good effort but feels rushed and put together at the last minute.

[Smitty]

I think this season wrapped up better than most, the Snake people arch just kind of stopped with no real closure and they just hung around until the stone army showed up. The ending with the stone army seemed rushed and they never explain where they went. The last we saw of them Derith was in charge of them, then when we jump to rebooted they are gone and Derith just pops up when the writers need a joke. The rebooted ending was ok, but it too seems a bit rushed and the lead up to it was all over the place with the snake people and going to space and getting their powers back.

 

As for this season it seem better paced than the rest, even with the red herring tournament.