We're back with more Dragons: Race to the Edge, last time we just passed the half way mark with the first of a 2-part episode. Yeah, stuff like that makes me believe it was initially ordered in 26-episode blocks and split down the middle. It’s not an uncommon practice with Netflix so…
When we last left off, Viggo tricked team Edge into providing a distraction so he could steal a very dangerous dragon, he’d been guarded by the ‘defenders of the wing’ with their leader Mala p*ssed off enough to draw her blade at the team.
Defenders of the Wing part 2
Things look to be heading to a battle, but since Hiccup’s team has dragons and could mop the floor with them, Hiccup calls a time out, explains (again) that they don’t work with the dragon hunters and offers to prove it by rescuing their Eruptadon. He even leaves behind Heather and Ruff and Tuff to delay the lava. I mean, any excuse to be rid of the twins, I guess.
Mala agrees on the condition that she accompany Hiccup on the rescue op. Just before they take off, some off-screen dragon hunters attack and Mala charges in and takes them out single-handedly, also off-screen of course, this show doesn’t have much of a budget. During the initial onslaught Snotlout took an arrow for Mala, unintentionally of course, but he’s the one she wants to ride with.
So, Mala wants him to be her husband… Yikes… Vague prophecies and whatnot, anyway, Snotlout’s cool with the idea of being king because of course he is, he’s Snotlout. They find Viggo’s ship but it’s remarkably under-defended. Viggo has an important job for the Eruptadon to do first…
Mala and Snotlout hang back as the others investigate the ship, and by investigate it I mean attacking it, not doubt springing the trap. All 3 of the guards go down remarkably easily. And of course, the ship is empty and the whole ambush from earlier was a misdirect. Because Mala’s a friggin idiot, she’s thinking about Killing Hiccup, and offers Snotlout the chance to Pardon him.
Was the subplot absolutely necessary. We know Snotlout ain’t becomin’ no King. This is a prequel to the second film, a film that was already out at this point. Thanks to Astrid’s persuasion, Hiccup is pardoned, hooray!
Back on the Island, the island’s defences are being sabotaged by the twins, unintentionally but f*ck me would it be kinda cool if their stupidity turned out to be one giant façade. I can dream! Mala tells them that the eruptadon must constantly eat or die, a piece of information that might’ve been useful in tracking him but…
And another piece of information follows, the eruptadon can activate a dormant Volcano, the team realise he’s heading to the Edge. And it may be too late, as the Hunters have already arrived and have released the Eruptadon. Thanks to Barf and Belch, the island’s been bought a bit more time. And Hiccup employs battle strategies, some of his best actually, to get past the Island’s defences that Viggo had commandeered and their own ship. Ryker is finding this most entertaining.
Hiccup had another brainwave,
using Gronkle Lava to lure the Eruptadon away from where it can do real damage.
Meatlug may be out, but he makes the call for the others to start laying out a
trail. Somehow they manage to lure it all the way back home, how does lava work
in water? And Mala officially declares them allies.
It’s now revealed that he needs the walk the pool of valour. A video game pool of lava, that’s enough to scare Snotlout off so we can put this subplot to bed.
It’s a cheap battle, but I admire at least some battle strategy
Rating 7/10
Gruff around the Edges
Oh f*ck, it’s an episode focused around the twins.
The Edge get a rude awakening from the twins, who’ve turned a listening device into a loudspeaker, and are using it to read out the mail, including a message that their cousin Gruffnut is about to pay them a visit. Tuffnut worships the guy for being a traveller and Ruffnut sees him as an aimless drifter with no sense of responsibility.
And yay, he’s voiced by T J Miller, because it’s cheaper to have him voice two characters. They barely sound distinct, it’s distracting. Hiccup decides to play along with the idea that this is Tuffnut’s base, seeing how eager he is to impress him but it soon leads to a few mishaps, so Hiccup tells Tuffnut to reveal the truth. I feel like there may be some intermediate steps you could try first but…
Gruffnut takes it well, and says he’s heard of their exploits, yeah, that’s a good point, why did it have to be owning the base? Anyway, Ruffnut relents to letting him ride, though she takes them on a wild ride that may have scarred him for life. He makes multiple attempts to steal the dragons that everyone except Tuffnut seems to see through, at least I hope Hiccup saw through that garbage he spewed, it’s a bit unclear.
Where is Fishlegs at this point, I think Meatlug would be an easier target, he’s trying Stormfly now. Tuffnut catches him in the act and he confesses that he owes gold to some rather unsavoury characters and intends to use the dragon to pay them off. With that scheme out of the bag, his text ploy is to take Tuffnut’s place, ah, so that’s why he’s voiced by TJ Miller, it’s not just some obvious attempt to save money.
Of course there’s one comic-relief chicken that Gruffnut didn’t count on. His next attempts on the dragons are foiled by the chicken. One of Smidvarg’s fellow dragons stops by to help Tuffnut. Meatlug’s been fed some unsavoury rocks and is unable to patrol, Gruffnut volunteers himself and Ruffnut to do that patrol, which certainly has Ruffnut suspicious.
Tuffnut reveals himself to Hiccup, proving his identity with stories of his various fowl-ups. They quickly catch up, as Ruffnut has rumbled the entire thing anyway. Tuffnut jumps from Toothless, using the glider he fowled up earlier as a surprise attack. It’s one of the show’s better fist-fights but it has the same stiffness a lot of CG fist-fights have.
With Ruff’s help, Tuffnut defeats Gruffnut, and they drop him off with the catastrophic Quaken.
It certainly didn’t go in the direction I was expecting, but ended up being kinda rushed as it skipped through all the motions. Still, for a twins episode, it could’ve been a lot worse
Rating 6/10
Midnight Scrum
So, we’re off to a flying start as we find that Hiccup is a wanted man, as Viggo’s put a price on him. Hiccup has no intention of hiding though, it’s Berk’s 400th year celebration and he needs to be there, at the very least to make amends after losing Berk’s gold.
Yeah, that’s an awkward talk and it’s time listen to Nolan North trying his absolute best to persuade us he’s Gerard Butler and failing miserably, again. Stoick holds his temper, first time for everything I guess and imparts some Spock wisdom. Hiccup elects not to tell his father about the bounty.
The festivities begin and it’s about as impressive as you can expect for a town with 12 residents and no gold. Hiccup almost attacks some guys he doesn’t recognise but is stopped as they’re in fact friends of a Berkian. But a couple of Bounty Hunters have just popped out the clone factory and have Hiccup in their sights.
Hiccup still doesn’t want to tell his dad, and the next thing we know, he’s been kidnapped by the world’s dumbest bounty hunters. They’re boarded and taken down by Savage, a guy with a long history with Hiccup but we last saw as Dagur’s lieutenant back in season 1.
Stoick is mounting a rescue, and finds and interrogates the worlds dumbest bounty hunters. Meanwhile, Savage does the smartest thing anyone could do to Hiccup and removed his leg. But Hiccup is saved when Throk suddenly shows up out of thin air. Meanwhile the cloaked guy we last saw the dragon auction shows up again out of nowhere and knocks them both out.
Stoick interrogates Savage and gets nowhere, I guess he just knows who Throk is, go figure. Anyway, they get the intel they need. Ryker for some reason decides not to honour the gold offer because he’s a moron, the masked man is less of one. But decides to try and take Hiccup to Viggo directly but their tustle brings them over a cliff, and Hiccup releases his leg, letting him drop. Ryker nearly has him but as luck would have it, Stoick and the gang have arrived. Stoick and Toothless easily knock down Ryker, with Stoick giving him a message that a bounty on a Berkian is a bounty on Berk and they will defend. Ryker is about to launch a final surprise attack but he’s knocked out by the cloaked figure.
So the day is saved but there’s a lot of intrigue for what could be to come down the line, for what it’s worth, it’s certainly got me interested
Rating 8/10
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