Rise of the Snakes (Suits)

Hoo boy, this season has a lot of different outfits to go over, even if we ignore the pajamas and singer outfits for lack of relevance.

The first of these suits is the kendo armor, as seen in "Rise of the Snakes" and "Can of Worms".

These suits are pretty much identical to the training robes the ninja wore in the first couple of episodes, just with some armor added ontop of it, and a helmet instead of a hood. Lore-wise, they're something the ninja wear when training with their Golden Weapons, which makes sense, since there's a lot of danger inherent to those weapons. They look pretty good, but I do have to complain that the helmet's visor makes the ninja's foreheads look huge, given the lack of hair piece to cover it. Maybe if the helmet was designed a bit differently, I would give it full points, but as it is, the suits get a 8/10.

 

Next up, we've got the ninja's casual outfits, all of which look pretty different from each other.

Now, they are pretty generic outfits, but I do rather like that Kai got a shirt with the emblem representing his element on it. Wonder where he found it? Jay's outfit looks pretty good as well, which may be because he's the only ninja to actually have more than one color on their outfit. I don't really have anything to say about what Cole is wearing, but I really dislike Zane's outfit. Wearing an all-white outfit like that just doesn't look good at all. I'm sorry but it's true. He'd really benefit from maybe getting at least a differently colored pair of pants! All in all, I'd say a 7/10 may be warranted. Kai and Jay actually look good like this and I'm neutral on Cole, so Zane's outfit is the only one I actually dislike.

 

For our third set of outfits, we'll be getting to the ZX (Zen eXtreme), which the ninja use from "The Snake King" onwards, and will keep using until late in the second season.

Now, these suits are generally agreed to be the most iconic outfits the ninja ever had. They all look different from each other, but they do have enough similarities to look coherent. The most obvious of these are, of course, the armor plating on the shoulders and foreheads of the suits, but while they may each wear different armor, the gi underneath is shared between and Zane and Kai, and Jay and Cole respectively. Lloyd doesn't have any armor on his gi, which also doesn't fit with any of the established pairs, presumably due to the green ninja's gi not being part of the set Wu ordered. Initially, even the shared armor is missing, and it is only in "All of Nothing" that the armor plating on the forehead appears, and the shoulder armor only gets added in the next season. Despite these suits being incredibly iconic, however, there is one big disadvantage to the ZX suits; they're heavy armor. The ninja shouldn't be nearly as mobile as they were in their training robes, and yet nothing of the sort is shown on-screen. Even when it comes to individual designs, I have to say that Cole's outfits looks rather boring, because it lacks any bright colors, while Zane once again has a pretty bad outfit, both due to the colors being all over the place, with him wearing white, brown, gold and cream, but also because he's kind of the odd one out, as there's no real armor on his torso, he has a pouch with knives instead. Kai, Lloyd and Jay look absolutely fire, but that doesn't salvage the others. A 6/10 is the best I can do, I'm afraid.

 

Lastly, we're moving onto the ninja's NRG ... suits? They aren't really suits so much as a form the ninja themselves take. 

They only exist in the sets, and are meant to represent each ninja's True Potential, since translucent pieces weren't really used for minifigures back in 2012. Now, why they don't even slightly resemble the ZX suits I couldn't tell you, even though the the True Potential in the show still has the ninja in those suits, just made from their respective elemental power. I'll be frank; the only NRG ninja I think looks good is Zane. Kai, for some reason, has way less elemental effects printed on than the other ninja, making this version look less like a burst of incredible power, and more like the emblem on his chest has started leaking. Jay has bright yellow bolts of lightning, but his powers have never been depicted that way, and I really dislike it when they try and make yellow into his color, same with his Legacy Spinner and Forbidden Spinjitzu verison. Cole is pink for some odd reason? Yeah, I still don't understand that one. When was pink ever used to represent the element of earth? They should have used brown, like in the show. The Airjitzu versions released alongside season 5 are overall just a much better representation of the True Potential status, although Burst Kai and Cole may work even better, there's just the problem of there not being equivalent figures for Jay and Zane. But the NRG versions get a 3/10. That's really low, but with only one out of four ninja looking good in this version, I'd say it's fair.

 

Now, adding everything up, season 1, Rise of the Snakes, has gotten a total score of 6/10. That means the suits neither lowered nor boosted the score the season got by itself. Yeah, that seems fair enough.

Rise of the Snakes (Season)

So! Season 1, Rise of the Snakes, is generally considered to be one of the best seasons the show ever had, even rivaling the beloved Oni Trilogy of seasons 8 through 10. Of course, nostalgia would play a big part in this. After all, just how many people who grew up with this show can honestly say they don't particularly care for this season? That is not to say that it's reputation is unwarranted, however. While Rise of the Snakes has a much higher bar to clear than the pilots, due to being about seven times as long and having several plot threads it wants to follow, I would argue that it did a splendid job. The structure of the season is presumably responsible for this success in some way, as the first six episodes properly introduce Nya, Jay and Zane after the pilots failed to do so, and also devote a good amount of time of setting up each Serpentine tribe and the mystery of the green ninja, and the following seven episodes deal with Pythor's attempt to awaken the Great Devourer and resolves all the pther plot threads fromt he first half, such as Zane's past or Nya being the mysterious samurai.

The Great Devourer is also incredibly intimidating, and has been implemented in an impeccable way, if you were to ask me. Given that it being set free is the main goal of the season's villain, it falling short of expectations would have been a huge detriment to the show.

It also helps, that the inner struggles the ninja have to resolve are things that have easy paralells in the real world. Zane is literally just a metaphor for autism, I refuse to believe that all that subtext was unintentional, Jay has to learn not to be ashamed of himself, Cole has to confront his father, rather than running, and Kai has to accept that he is perhaps less important than he would like to believe. All of these are relatable, and the writers clearly put a good amount of care into resolving these conflicts, which is good, as they form the emotional core of the season's latter half.

While Cole suffers from not having his own focus episode in the vain of "Home" or "Snakebit" to build up his relationship with his father before "The Royal Blacksmiths" attempts to resolve an arc that was never properly built up, he does get some good characterization as the main voice of reason. Sure, Zane is technically more logical than Cole, but at the same time he also has issues with a number of social norms, leading Cole to be the straight man to most jokes. Tragically, that is just about all he does get, however, until the love triangle in season 3. Perhaps "All of Nothing" could have been cut to instead seperate the Venomari and Constrictai being freed into two seperate episodes, with one of them being focused on Cole, and the other being an expanded version of "Can of Worms".

"But what about Kai?", you may ask, "He also only got one episode to be the main character!" True, technically he was only the main character in "The Green Ninja", but his arc had already been built up throughout the entire season by that point, and he was the main character in the pilots. No, if anyone needed focus even more than Cole, it would undoubtedly be Nya. 

Despite not being a ninja, Nya contributed just as much to the team as the main four. And yet, the narrative still treats as her as somehow being less important than the ninja, and she is basically considered to be unit with Wu, rather than a competent fighter on her own. Her running theme of wanting to make her own choices should have been built up this season. Heck, that could've even been why she became a mysterious samurai, rather than a mysterious ninja; she didn't want to do things the way Kai already did! There are two very different ways I could see to improve her role in this season, one being to basically keep things the same, but replace "All of Nothing" with an episode where the ninja try to take the already stolen Fangblades back like in canon, but Nya, preferably joined by Garmadon, heads out to beat Pythor to the last Fangblade. The ninja can do their thing off-screen and either suceed or fail, it's not really important. Either way, the episode focuses on Nya's and Garmadon's relationship with their respective brothers, and contrasted by the theme of choice, as Nya wants to be different from her brother and became a samurai because of it, while Garmadon wants to be better, like Wu, but doesn't have a choice. As long as either the ninja or Nya and Garmadon succeed, the next episode can proceed like in canon.

The other way Nya's arc could have been better is by not revealing her secret identity. She would seem like the token girl that just makes a couple of sassy comments, but is otherwise reduced to being the love interest for one of the leads, while the mysterious samurai consistently does a much better job than the ninja, frustrating them. Then, while fighting the Devourer, have it's tail hit the samurai, not Zane, shattering the armor and revealing them to be a Nya. While I would prefer the first of the listed approaches, the second approach would mean that the samurai would actually get to be relevant after "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which, you know, would be kind of neat.

Now, the next character I have a lot to say about is Skales, given that he guy is built up as a major antagonist for the first couple of episodes. Granted, he is just your classic scheming underling that betrays his boss (Slithraa) and becomes the true enemy, but it worked nice enough. Starting from "Can of Worms", however, he is reduced to being Pythor's willing sidekick, which goes against all previous characterization. If he had been scheming against Pythor all along, that would be one thing, but he is legit just a sidekick, only regaining his ambition in the second to last scene of the season! Maybe it would have been interesting to have the Serpentine opposing each other? The Hypnobrai and Fangpyre on one side, with Pythor and the two tribes he freed on the other? That could have been neat, particularly if the ninja would team up with the anti-Pythor groups later in the season. As is, Skales sadly failed to even come close to his true potential, pun intended.

Now, Fangtom, Acidicus and Skalidor basically don't have a purpose as far as I can tell. They're just there so that every tribe has a leader, which is a pity. There's a lot that could have been done with them too.

Speaking of the Serpentine, I mentioned this in multiple episodes, but they kind of seem like an allegory for oppressed minorities. And, in true lovecraftian fashion, they lash out at their oppressors by unleashing an eldritch being unto the world, only for it to be even more devastating than realized. Truth be told, most of the Serpentine, discounting Skales, Pythor and maybe Fangtom, actually seem sympathetic because of this. They were always hated and discriminated against, so they attempt to get back at those who hurt them, something which Pythor uses to manipulate them into going along with his plan to rule Ninjago by controlling the Great Devourer. When the skeletons or the people at the Take Back Ninjago rally recite Serpentine-phobic paroles, it's not they who seem sympathetic, it's the Serpentine, aka the villains. And this is all just baffling to me, because either the Hageman brothers were horribly blind to the fact that they wrote an oppressed to be their main villains, or the allegory was intentional, and they instead failed to realize just how bad this made some of the good characters look! Ed and Edna are now canonically racist! And Wu's whole "Never trust a snake" motto just brings to mind the antisemitic stereotype of the swindling jew!

 

Another weak point of the show is it's value as an advertisement which is - not that great, in all honesty, although I would more inclined to blame the set designers, because there's like a billion Serpentine vehicles, despite them only really appearing "Snakebit" and "The Rise of the Great Devourer"!

If about half your product range only ever appears in two episodes of a show designed to advertise them, you're probably doing something wrong. Why not release the guardian robot Zane fought in "Tick Tock" or the Hypnobrai's Slither Pit from "Home", rather than releasing a bunch of sets depicting the same two episodes? The Spinner sets once again also depict far more characters doing Spinjitzu that what is actually shown, but those gimmick sets aren't exactly canon anyways, since we've never had Wrayth using Airjitzu or Kai using the Spinjitzu Burst either.

Lastly, the mystery of the green ninja is built up a lot in the first couple of episodes, but once things get serious, Kai is the only one who really cares about it anymore. I really like that they didn't make the "main character" the chosen one, and Lloyd being chosen comes completely out of left-field, subverting everyone's expectations in a good way, as all the seeming foreshadowing beforehand turned out to just be a bunch of clever red herrings, but none of them feel like they were tricking the viewer. It's hard to turn foreshadowing around like that without it feeling like you just lied to the viewers for the sake of a surprise twist, but the Hageman brothers pulled it off spectacularly.

All in all, the season is great, no doubt about it, but it does clearly have some major flaws. Still, aside from "All of Nothing", every episode is just fun while you watch it. Sure, there are some hiccups, but in the moment you are watching it, none of that matters. I know I can't give this full points, but it's flaws aren't enough to make it any less enjoyable while you're watching it. I guess ... maybe 6/10 points would be fair? I really don't want to put it lower than the pilots, but you do have to measure a full season by different standards than a short special. It just has too much missed potential, I'm afraid. When watching the show itself, it would probably feel more like an 8 out of 10, but the flaws do become more apparent once you think about it a bit more. Maybe it can earn some points back with it's suits, though!

Day of the Great Devourer

 The final episode of season 1 is here, and it picks up directly where the last episode left off.

 As the Great Devourer is unleashed, the ninja attempt to flee on the Destiny's Bounty, but the beast destroys it, stranding them in the desert. Luckily, Kai has a plan and leads the the ninja to the junkyard where jay grew up. Together, they build a vehicle using the Tornado of Creation which can Zane's recording of the Sacred Flute. Despite their best efforts, the devourer destroys the newly built Ultra Sonic Raider as well, before ehading towards Ninjago City, but not before Kai observes a weak spot on it's head..

Catching up to it, the ninja attempt to fight alongside the Ultra Dragon, a fusion of their four dragon, who have also reached theor True Potentials by combining into one being. Still, they fail to actually do anything to the Great Devourer until Garmadon arrives, telling them to give him the Golden Weapons so that he may combine their powers and kill the Great Devourer. Under Kai's lead, the ninja agree, but agter Garmadon fulfilled his part of the agreement, he disappears alongside the Golden Weapons.

On a happier note, however, it turns out that that Wu survived being swallowed by the Great Devourer, and has now returned to the ninja.

Various Observations:

-Why don't the ninja use their elemental vehicles to escape the Great Devourer? Surely it'd be faster than just running!

-Huh, I just noticed it right now, but look at Lloyd's outfit. His gi is still too big for him, so he rolled up it's sleeve, that's a nice detail. I wonder if it was also there in the last two episodes. Probably so, yeah?

-You know, this is the first time the Boutny itself was ever in danger. It has been a reliable home base for ten episodes, and now the Great Devourer just casually tore off one of it's two main thrusters.

 -I appreciate that they show the Great Devourer shaking off it's old scales as it grows. It is still a snake, after all.

-Even knowing that this is far from the last time someone destroys the Bounty, it still shocking to see it crash to the ground after all the time we spent on it. Zane's sadness at it's destruction only makes it even more tragic. When the Great Devourer snaps the wreckage in half with a single bite, we know that it is a creature far beyond anything the ninja have faced before.

 -While we've seen it before, Jay's clearly the most pessimistic of the ninja. Unlike Kai or Zane, he has already given up on actually defeating the Great Devourer. Because of this attitude, however, he does have the good idea of having the people of Ninjago hide in the Serpentine tombs to keep them safe. The Serpentine apparently had the same idea, as seen in the next scene.

-I feel like it would have been even more impactful if the phrase "Ninja never quit" had existed when Kai told the other ninja that they cannot give up. Benefits of hindsight, I guess.

- Speaking of the next scene, we never actually see the Great Devourer here, we only see trees falling all around the Fangpyre tomb. Not being able to see it actually makes the Great Devourer even scarier.

-Apparently the people of Ninjago are holding a Take Back Ninjago rally against the "Serpentine problem". Alright, I gotta ask; is the subtext intentional? Because there's absolutely no way the Serpentine aren't supposed to be an allegory, right? 

-I'm still not sure why the Devourer even has a convenient weak spot on it's head. This feels kind of video game-y. Get up on the Devourer's head, attack it's weak spot, repeat the process a couple of times. Wait a second, that's just the dragon boss from Mario Odyssey!

-Beginning the trend of Zane always being the one to get grievously injured, he lost half of his face. If literally any other ninja had been sitting with him, this wouldn't exactly be age-appropriate anymore.

 -Also, why are his insides a different color than in "Tick Tock"? They were bronze or copper colored back then, but now they look more like steel. His arm panel, which is seen in this episode as well, is also still bronze-colored. Granted, it's possible that his head is just made of a different material, but that'd be kind of odd.

-Yup, there's no way that subtext is unintentional. The rally even has signs and it's own slogan, and it sure sounds racist. "Hey, heay, what do we say? We want snakes to slither away!" I'm disappointed in Jay's parents and Cole's dad for participating in this. I guess the producer guy from Ninjago talent too, but I don't really know him.

 -Nuckal suddenly boos the rally, but he was in agreement with their message only two epsiodes ago. Kruncha looks just as confused at this as I am.

 -Hey, it's Vinny! I thought the guy didn't appear in the first season!

 -The build-up to the Great Devourer arriving in Ninjago City is really good. You can just feel the dread building.

-Man, those additional fangs look really goofy on a giant snake. I know the Great Devourer is no regular snake, but still. It actually kind of lowers the intimidation factor somewhat.

 -Hm, Mystake seems to respect Garmadon more than she did Wu. That's interesting.

-I love the news guy just advising people to wildly panic. It's funny.

-Wait a second, I just realized this, but the Ultra Dragon controls all four elements of creation! That means that it could also access the golden power of Creation itself! If that's the case, Garmadon and the Golden Weapons shouldn't even be needed to defeat the Great Devourer, no?

-With the added hindsight of season 8, seeing the Ultra Dragon slam the Great Devourer into a building and Cole cheering feels like much less of a triumphant moment.

 -The ninja baiting the Great Devourer would be much more epic if we also saw Cole and Kai use their elemental powers, not just Jay and Zane. Also, Kai is now the only ninja to have not used his True Potential outsid eof the episode in which it was unlocked.

-I'm fairly certain that Wu's inhuman heritage is the only reason he survived the Great Devourer's stomach acid unscathed, given that even Pythor had his scales bleached.

-Interesting that Cole phrases his words to Lloyd as "good will always stand up to evil". Perhaps his own mother's words came to mind. 

-It feels kind of unfair that Nya doesn't get to be shown with the ninja. She more than pulled her own weight, so she should also get to be in the group shot.

The Rise of the Great Devourer

 With the season finale upon us, it is time to watch the two episodes I have only ever watched once, due to me being terrified of the Great Devourer.

 With all four Fangblades in their posession, the ninja head for Torchfire Mountain, the only place in Ninjago where they can be destroyed. Just before they can throw the weapons into the fire, however, Pythor reveals himself and steals the Fangblades, before escaping on a tour bus turned Serpentine truck.

Together, the ninja dispatch every Serpentine in their way, but Wu disconnects their cart, deciding to face Pythor himself, as he believes it to be his destiny. Not having the learned the lesson he himself taught Kai about needing to work in a team, he loses rather quickly, leading Pythor to reach Ouroboros and awaken the Great Devourer, just as the ninja catch up. Realizing that he can't control the Great Devourer, Pythor attempt to flee but is stopped by Wu, whereupon the Great Devourer swallows both of them.

 Various Observations:

-We literally open on a dark and stormy night. Can't go wrong with the classics, I guess.

-Can I just say that spoiling the end of the episode in a spirit smoke-induced vision is a really bad decision? Heck, this doesn't even work in-universe, as back in episode 1, the smoke only showed Wu what was happening as he was meditating, not the future.

-Apparently the only place in all of Ninjago with enough heat to destroy the Fangblades is Torchfire Mountain. I would've thought throwing them into the Golden Peaks would also suffice. I mean, we know that the Great Devourer can't withstand the power of Creation, so why should it's teeth be any more difficult to destroy? Then again, maybe the Golden Peaks are just even farther away, and that's why they head for Torchfire Mountain.

-Also, if the Fangblades can be destroyed, why were they only hidden away, rather than being cast into the fires of Mount Doo - er, I mean Torchfire Mountain? Was the guy who designed the tombs involved with this?

-I like the little gag with the salt. Jay's wink really sells it.

-Jay apparently has fun teasing a nauseous Cole. I guess their relationship really is the weakest out of all the ninja. 

-By the way, why is Jay suddenly talking about how surprising it is that Lloyd's the green ninja? He learned that three weeks ago, I'd say that's enough time to come to terms with it.

-Knowing what's about to happen, I really want to scream at the ninja to just yeet the Fangblades overboard. You can cheer Sensei Wu up later, guys! First, destroy the relics that unleash an ancient evil upon Ninjago! It'd take maybe two seconds at most!

 

-I like how Pythor is visibly afraid of Nya. He probably still remembers "Can of Worms".

-Alright, Pythor's fall should definitely have at least griveously injured him, but I guess people in Ninjago are just built different when it comes to falling down.

-So a Rattlercopter is to slow for Pythor ... but a tour bus is faster? I know I'd choose the helicopter, just saying.

-Alright, the scene where the ninja head out on their elemental vehicles is hype.

-For some odd reason, Skales keeps referring to Pythor as "Sir". I guess he really has just become his sidekick. 

-No clue why Pythor does this whole tour guide thing, but I like it.

-Wu blows up two bikes and the Serpentine riding them. His only comment? "This is fun." Are we sure Garmadon's the evil brother?

-I love the interaction between Pythor and the tour guide. It's funny. His parting comment of "I hate snakes" does, once again, seem somewhat racist. Are we sure that the Serpentine aren't meant to be some kind of allegory? If he existed in the real world, I think that tour guide would be wearing a different red hat.

 

 -Why, exactly, wouldn't the ninja just walk all the way to the front of the bus? I mean, if Kai can do it, why do Zane, Jay and Cole go through the inside, where there are a whole bunch of Serpentine?

-We should thank Fang-Suei for demonstrating to us why people shouldn't fight on moving vehicles. That sudden bit of realism is really funny.

 -The bit with Chokun holding Wu's teacup for him is something straight out of a Lego videogame. Those always have some fun humor.

-Good to know, the Samurai X mech can't duck ... but couldn't it just have flown out of the way? Also, Mezmo and Fang-Suei are dead, they should just be a smear on that sign now. 

-Speaking of the sign; what the heck kind of sign is that? It's not even grammatically correct, nevermind it's message being totally redundant. Do they also have "You are now leaving forest" signs in Ninjago? Also, it's written with the latin alphabet, which is unusual.

 -Skales just got hit by a missile from pretty much point blank. I know he's immediately shown to be alive, but I don't buy it. Unless the Serpentine are maybe just more resilient than humans in general? Actually, that would make a surprising amount of sense, given the things we have seen them survive so far.

-Once again, Wu prevents the ninja from following him, so that he may fight the main villain by himself. Kai's right when he says that this is turning into a habit with him.

-Now, putting all my usual humor aside, what the heck Wu?! You know that Pythor will awaken the Great Devourer if you face him alone, that was the whole point of the vision earlier! Why would you leave the ninja behind? They can beat Pythor if they work together, he's just one guy, and both Nya and Cole have already been show to be at least capable enough to make Pythor afraid! Forget my comments about Misako or Kai, Wu is way more responsible for the Great Devourer being freed than either of them, given that he knew what would happen, and still went ahead with it! That makes him probably just as culpable as Pythor himself! I get why Lloyd is considered to be innocent of the Great Devourer's rampage, given that he didn't even know that thing existed, and believed he could trust Pythor, but if Harumi were to go after Wu, I don't think that grudge could be considered irrational or unjustified in any way! Heck, I'd probably cheer her on! Wu's strange obsession with fighting enemies by himself has lead to Garmadon getting the ability to wield all four Golden Weapons, everything the Great Devourer did, and, as a consequence, Garmadon getting the Golden Weapons and turning them into the Mega Weapon, which in turn lead to him discovering the Overlord, and being possessed by him, as well as season 3 and Zane's death, which in turn lead to season 4, which lead to season 5, which lead to season 6, which lead to Day of the Departed. Even season 7 only happens because Wu tries fighting Acronix by himself, and seasons 8 and 9 happen because of the Great Devourer, while season 15 once again only happens because of the Overlord! Everything that happens in those seasons is Wu's fault.

-Ahem. Sorry for that outburst. Lloyd figuring out the Bounty's controls and taking the ninja to Ouroboros is really cool.

-Wait a second, Wu's Spinjitzu wasn't always this bright golden golden color, was it?  Yeah, I just checked, and it was quite a bit less, well, luminous in the pilots.

 

-The scene of Pythor releasing the Great Devourer, once again, feels very lovecraftian. We also learn why he wants to free the great Devourer. Allegedly as revenge for the humans locking the Serpentine away, but actually as revenge for not getting to rule over humans. I would assume that the other Serpentine are more so in it for the former reason than the latter.

-The slow reveal of the Greta Devourer is really unsettling, even now that I'm older. First, the statue breaks apart, only to reveal that there was nothing inside. Only then, as the floor breaks apart and giant glowing eyes appear in the darkness, does Pythor realize that the Great Devourer has been underneath them all this time, slumbering untile the Fangblades awoke him. Unlike what Pythor imagined, it is not 'merely' a gigantic snake, but rather a gargantuan behemoth that will swallow everything it sees, not unlike the Aztec beast Cipactli. In true lovecraftian fashion, the beast turns against those who unleashed it, swallowing Pythor and Wu. Man, that scene terrified me as a kid.

All of Nothing

 After the huge revelation we got last episode, this episode is the last regular episode before the two-part season finale.

At the begiining of the episode, the ninja track down and defeat a Serpentine in order to question him about Pythor's whereabouts. Realizing that they can't catch up to him before he colelcts the last Fangblade, they decide to instead steal the other three Fangblades, leading them to break into an underground Serpentine fortress through the Constrictai tomb alongside Wu and Nya. Despite their best efforts, however, they get captured when Pythor gets back with the last Fangblade. 

When Lloyd tries to help them, the Serpentine merely laugh at his attempt, and Garmadon and his skeleton army show up to help the ninja, leading Cole to take all four Fangblades.

That evening, Garmadon leaves the ninja, but tells Lloyd how proud he is of him. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Pythor has snuck aboard and now plots to take back the Fangblades.

Various Observations:

-Wow, the ninja look genuinely intimidating in the scene at the beginning of the episode. 

-Erm, maybe don't put the Golden Weapons so close together? That seems like a seriously bad idea, just saying.

 -Alright, Zane pointing out the obvious hole in Pythor's plan, and Spitta immediately doing a 360 was hilarious.

-Like in "The Snake King", the beginning of this episode feels very lovecraftian. Spitta even sort of follows the classic archetype of the mad cultist that works to free an eldritch being which will turn on it's followers.

-Hm, Wu tells us that three weeks have passed since the last episode. That's way more than I was expecting, to be honest.

-The Bounty's systems are now voice-operated. I don't think that will ever be the case again, so one has to wonder why they didn't just show Nya typing something into the computer.

-Wait, wait, wait. Why are Fangtom and Acidicus not shown alongside the other generals? And why are Fangdam and Spitta shown in their place?

 -Zane's pun made me chuckle, I'll admit.

-Each ninja trained to counter a specific tribe of Serpentine, but what if, say, a Constrictai attacks Jay? Or a Hypnobrai goes for Cole again? This plan doesn't seem all that thought out. 

-I like Wu's joy at getting to come along with the ninja.

-Skaildor, Acidicus and Fangtom finally get to appear again. It's been ages since they last showed up!

 -So what sort of files is Garmadon stealing from the ninja? There's nothing I can think of that would give him an advantage. Well, maybe the Bounty's blueprints, so that he could find it's weakspots, but even that doesn't sound all that convincing.

-I love the conflict between Lloyd, who's angry that his father abandoned him, and Garmadon, who didn't want his son to be like him. Both of them have valid points, and clearly love each other. That is why they are even having this fight, after all.

-Why did Fangtom think it was a good idea to bite Jay's armored arm? His left arm is still vulnerable, why didn't he go for that one?

-The fights are really good. They show just how far the ninja came, compared to when they first fought each tribe.

-How, exactly, did the Serpentine seperate the ninja from their equipment? If any of them entered the cage, surely the ninja would have beat them, no?

-Wait, Wu claims the chamber was built from Vengestone. Doesn't he mean the cage? Because if this huge underground fortress was built from Vengestone, I do have to wonder why the Overlord ever needed to buy it from Vangelis, if he could have just used the one the fortress was built from. 

-So ... abiut Kai's plan ... He got onto the chains dangling around the room, yeah? So why didn't he, oh, I don't know, try to grab the Golden Weapons? If he had the Sword of Fire, he could've used his elemental powers again, since earlier the ninja were able to use their powers through the Golden Weapons, even though the chamber is allegedly made from Vengestone.

-I love that Zane and Jay's greatest concern is that they can't play checkers/chess.

-Garmadon and his skeleton army coming to the rescue is hype and all, but I do have to point one thing out. When asked why they would help Garmadon, even though, according to Pythor, he betrayed Samukai (and when did that happen? Samukai betrayed Garmadon, not the other way around), Kruncha states that it's because everyone hates snakes. So because of racism?

-Cole being the one to retrieve the Fangblades and save the day is a neat inversion of what happened to him in the first two episodes, where it was because of him that the Serpentine managed to raze the monastary. 

-Aww, Garmadon's farewell to Lloyd is really touching. 

-I'll be honest, this episode really isn't my favorite, and that may be because it's purely filler. Just try to imagine what would happen if the ninja didn't get the Fangblades. That's right, they'd still have to try and stop the Serpentine on their way to Ouroboros, just from a different starting point. Yeah, Garmadon would still be around, but you could write him out of the plot in a different way. I guess it's nice that the ninja get to show how much they have learned in the past ten episodes, but that doesn't feel like it justifies the existence of an entire episode, and the emotional conflict between Lloyd and Garmadon is the main focus of season 2, so the two scenes we got here could have been put there.

The Green Ninja

 The identity of the green ninja ... A mystery that has been built up for the entire season up to this point. Now, it will finally be revealed! 

The episode opens with Kai dressing up in the green ninja's robes to try and get a clue to his identity, while the other ninja are training. Then, Wu returns alongside Garmadon, leading the ninja to form an uneasy truce with their former enemy. Kai, however, still harbors suspicions about Garmadon, and believes that fighting him will finally unlock his True Potential and make him into the green ninja.

This leads Kai to become obsessed with getting to fight Garmadon, completely missing the Serpentine moving to get the next Fangblade at the Temple of Fire. When the ninja finally get there, Kai's recklessness causes the volcano to be close to erupting, causing both ninja and Serpentine to flee, while Kai has to choose between getting the Fangblade and saving Lloyd. When he makes the decision to abandon his obsession with being the greatest ninja of all and instead save Lloyd, he unlcoks his True Potential, and also realizes that it is Lloyd who was always meant to be the green ninja.

 The Fangblade, in the meantime, lands near Pythor, who promptly makes sure to take it.

Various Observations:

-The episode's title would appear to foreshadow Kai being the green ninja, as he's obviously the one to reach his True Potential in this episode.

-It's kind of odd to see the green ninja's robes with the hood from the pilot episodes, particularly since this design only ever appears in this episode. I wonder why they didn't use a ZX hood yet.

-You know, I wonder if someone caught a glimpse of the scene with Kai wearing the suit, and then thought that Kai is the green ninja. 

 -As I've come to expect from Wu, his return has great comedic timing.

-Wait, where did Garmadon come from? He wasn't in the aerial shot, but then he's suddenly behind Wu?

-Oh, the falcon also helps the ninja look for the Serpentine and therefore the Fangblades. That's cool, I completely forgot it.

-Wu is completely in the dark about Zane and the falcon, and his reactions are great.

-"The Lord of Darkness just became our Roommate" ... sounds like a light novel, no? I'd check it out.

 -Apparently condensed evil is edible. And looks like worms. It even crawls around! I guess that means worms are the embodiment of evil. Now what does this mean for the Overlord ...

 -Garmadon laughs at a horror movie. A slasher movie, judging by the chainsaw. That's fair, I guess. Those films do have the potential to be cheesy enough to be funny, rather than scary. After all, you can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter".

-Also, this means violent horror movies canonically exist in a Lego property. Just wanted to point that out.

-Ah, Garmadon aqquired another power. He can apparently summon lightning bolts now, which seems rather odd, given that lightning is an established elemental power. 

-Garmadon's apparently not playing a video game right, because he's just shooting and destroying things. Oh dear, don't let Kai watch CallMeKevin, RTGame, LetsGameItOut, or any other Youtuber channel with similar content. Jim Pickens would break his mind. Garmadon would probably enjoy it, though.

-Kai's obsession with becoming the green ninja makes him miss the falcon reporting the Serpentine moving to the Temple of Fire. Perhaps the Fangblade wouldn't have fallen into the hands of the Serpentine if Kai paid attention. If so, you can also blame Kai for the Great Devourer being unleashed. 

-Wu seriously considers the possibility that Nya could be the green ninja. I'd probably think the same in his place, honestly. Nya got no particular training from him and doesn't even know about her elemental power, and yet she's still more effective than the main four ninja for the most part.

 -Kai makes a nice callback to Wu's words of wisdom from "Snakebit" when confronting Garmadon.

-With Nya declining to learn whether or not she's destined to be the green ninja, she's actually still left as an option, until the end of the episode where we learn that it's Lloyd who will be the green ninja. I'd like to see a a world where she really was the destined green ninja. Like the What If comics from Marvel. Well, I guess we saw her wearing the suit for a bit in season 5, but that wasn't her being the green ninja, that was just her dressing up to surprise Morro. 

-Cole is steering the Bounty. Usually it's Nya behind the wheel, no?

 -Garmadon gets his hand hurt by a single punch from Kai? Wow, maybe his constant stream of new powers is actually necessary to make him an actual threat.

-Alright, I call BS. Why can Cole immediately control his True Potential and only break down a door, rather than wrecking the whole ship, but Zane, who's constantly meditating, can't maintain the required amount of focus?

-Hm, when Wu talks about how maybe it would be better if Kai does not reach his True Potential, do you think he's thinking about Morro? Kai is getting similarly obsessive about being the green ninja.

-Why exactly is Nya staying back on the Bounty? Surely she could also help out! 

-Whoa, Wu is just knocking Serpentine into the lava! I kow Mezmo apparently just has his butt set on fire, but I'm pretty sure Wu is going for the kill!

-And here we have Jay using wind. He even calls it out like it's his element! This would be weird, even if wind wasn't later revealed to be a unique element, as this is the only time Jay ever uses any power but lightning.

-Neat, the Golden Weapons, in this case the Sword of Fire, once again cause devastation by being handled carelessly. In this case, the volcano erupts only because of the sword.

 

-Kai's obsession with proving his strength and becoming the green ninja leads him to use the Sword of Fire, making the situation far worse, leading the ninja to be forced to abandon the Fangblade. If you think about it, Kai is way more culpable for the Great Devourer's release than Lloyd.

-Wait a second, two versions of Bytar and one version of Chokun turn into two Chokuns and one Bytar! What's up with that? This seems like it should have been caught before the official release, no?

-Garmadon also throws Serpentine into the lava, but him trying to kill them feels perfectly in character.

-When Lloyd falls down, Cole immediately tries to reach for him with his scythe. Quick thinking there, I like it.

-The way Kai uses Spinjitzu to hop around with Lloyd reminds me a bit of Airjitzu. Many elements from season 5 here, huh?

-How, exactly, did Lloyd survive being in a fireball with Kai? Just because Kai unlocked his True Potential, doesn't mean that Lloyd is suddenly fireproof! Heck, even touching Kai should burn him, given that the ninja all turn into their element when they are using their True Potential.

-Gotta say, Kai's True Potential had probably the best build-up of the four. We had an entire season worth of foreshadowing about the green ninja, but the other three became less interested in proving themselves to be the greatest as the stakes rose, while Kai grew ever more obsessive, until he had to make a choice of whether to continue chasing his ambition, or save Lloyd, a former enemy that technically got them into the situation in the first place. By finally choosing to do what's right, not because it makes him a hero, but rather just because it is right, he is finally able to accept that he is not the green ninja, and reaches his True Potential.

 -All that praise aside, the way Pythor gets the Fangblade is really dumb. It just floats past him by pure random chance. Wow.

 

The Royal Blacksmiths

 Finally, an episode focused on Cole. For some reason he didn't get one at the beginning of the season, so this episode will have to do quite a bit of heavy lifting.

 As usual, the Serpentine try to get a Fangblade, but it's missing. The ninja, in the meanwhile, already have a lead on the very same Fangblade, as it has been incorporated into the trophy for a performance competition Cole's dad won multiple times, called Ninjago Talent.

Cole's dad doesn't, however, know that Cole is a ninja, instead believing him to be a performer, like himself. So, the ninja pretend to be a quartet of performers that wants to train under the guy to win Ninjago Talent. 

The Serpentine also learn of the competition, and take part, but Cole has a falling out with his dad, when he reveals that he's actually a ninja, and only wants to get the Blade Cup to keep the Fangblade safe.

During their performance, the ninja don't pretend to be professional performers anymore, and instead put on their own show, while also fighting off attacking Serpentine. They actually win the Blade Cup, and Cole's dad finally recognizes that doing what is right is more important than his own legacy, apologizing to Cole. Pythor, however, drops a bunch of equipment on Cole and his dad, stealing the Fangblade in the proccess, but Cole frees them with his True Potential. 

 Various Observations:

-The second Fangblade was hidden in an ancient Serpentine pyramid? I wonder if this is a remnant of Aspheera's kingdom.

 -Apparently the Bounty has some kind of 3d hologram generator? This doesn't really fit the established tech level, right?

 

-Cole recognizing the Fangblade ties neatly into his backstory, but I feel like there should be a bit more foreshadowing. Like, at least have him mention that the Fangblade in the last episode looks familiar.

-Alright, the Blade Cup looks kind of silly. And why is it so tall?

 

-Wait, hold on. Cole's dad thinks he's in Ninjago City? But when he wrote a letter to Cole way back in "Home", he sent it to the monastary! Maybe that was when the school Cole supposedly goes to had summer break, or something?

 -With Cole having run away, Lloyd's dad being magically evil, and Kai, Nya and Zane being orphans, Jay is the only ninja that's actually in contact with his parents. It's still about a season until Misako shows up to change this.

-Aww, I like how supportive Kai is of Cole. These True Potential episodes give us a lot of nice moments between the ninja.

-Garmadon actually sounds good in this episode. Neat!

-Apparently Wu's Spinjitzu has changed color since the pilots. It used to be white and bronze, if you remember.

-Wait, what is this? Why is the village where Cole's dad lives surrounded by a city on at least three sides? Do places like that even exist? I'm pretty sure it would've been subsumed into the city by now.

 -Sheesh, Cole's dad already sounds like real piece of work.

-Oh dear goodness, who in the world designed the posters for The Royal Blacksmiths? They look like something straight out of a nightmare!

 -This is the first appearance of the ninjas' casual outfits. I like 'em, though I do have to wonder why Zane would wear white pants. Those are going to get dirty pretty much the moment you step outside.

 -Oh dear, Cole's dad already makes everything about himself. Narcissism, much?

-Ha, I like that they found a way to tie a record scratch sound effect into the scene. Nice job!

-I like how both Kai and Cole look absolutely flabbergasted by Cole's dad. Their look just screams "Is this guy for real?".

-Huh, Kai already figured out how to work with Cole's dad. He just fed the guy's ego, and all suspicion disappeared. 

-How does Snike know that the Blade Cup is the price for a singing competition? The advertisement doesn't mention what sort of competition it is. Also, that's a pretty useless advertisement. It doesn't mention the date, location, or even what it's about!

 -Alright, I love the feedback Zane got. That's funny.

-Man, Cole's dad just keeps racking up points against him. Why would he even expect a seven year old to be able to pull off a dancing move that nobody has ever managed to do correctly? And now he demands it again. This feels like an ego thing, right? He wants to prove that he, or someone he trained, is better than everyone else by pulling off the Triple Tiger Sashay.

-I like Cole's frustration. He's not often allowed to be emotional, he's usually more grounded, so this is a nice change.

-Man, Jay's a real jerk to Cole. I guess their fight in season 3 did have plenty of build-up.

 -Skales is weirdly hyped about the Fangblades in this episode. You'd almost think it was his plan to free the Great Devourer, not Pythor's.

-So why did Garmadon push Wu into the portal back to Ninjago if they were both going to enter it anyways? It's just a really cheap fakeout that  doesn't make any sense in-universe.

-Why is this Lady juggling? I thought Ninjago Talent was a singing competition! I guess it being a talent show would make more sense, but in that case, why would the ninja and Serpentine sing, instead of showing off their actual talents?

 -Why are the ninja suddenly talking about their plans to steal the Blade Cup in front of everyone? And why does no one but Cole's dad hear it? Where'd everyone else go? To the toilet?

 -Man, why does Cole have to have such a stubborn dad? The public should know about the Fangblades by now, given the ads the ninja put up two episodes ago, but all Cole's dad focuses on is Cole "dishonoring his family's legacy". Like, sorry, but the literal world is at stake here! I'm pretty sure stealing the prize of a random talent/singing competition is permissible in these circumstances!  Of course, the real issue here is that Cole's dad is so damn fixated in his reputation as a great singer, that he can't bear to have it be "tarnished" by Cole not following in his footsteps, even if that means forcing Cole into a career that brings him no joy.

-Aaand Pythor ate a judge. I know the dude's still alive, but for how long will that remain the case?

-Wait a second, some of Lloyd's classmates are in the audience, behind the judges.

 

-Why are obviously false beards all that's needed to make sure the Serpentine aren't recognized? Just last episode, the people in the restaurant were quick to attack Jay, who looked way less conspicious, given that he, at least, had legs instead of a tail!

-The joke with Zane having butterflies in his stomach was funny. Jay's reaction actualy made it even better.

-Even Mezmo is a fan of the Weekend Whip. Can't blame the guy.

-I love that the guy cleaning the stage just brushes Fang-Sui away.

-Alright, I love the way Cole reconciles with his dad. Season 13 makes this scene far more powerful, as Cole's dad recognizes that Cole stands up for what is right, and that that's more important than being a performer. This echoes Lily, who made Cole promise her to always "stand up against those who are cruel and unjust". Maybe there's still hope for their relationship. 

-By finally showing his father who he truly is, Cole also reached his True Potential, which ties in to the conflict of this episode, but sadly not into any major arc for Cole, which is a pity.

-Alright, I love that Cole's dad hangs up a picture of Cole and the ninja on his wall. That's a nice way to close out the episode.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Just like last episode was a continuation of the themes introduced in "Home", it is now time to progress Jay's arc from "Snakebit", but is it handled as well as Zane's? Let's see, shall we?

Nya explains to the ninja that an accelerated heart rate could potentially reverse the effects of a Fangpyre's bite, and Jay asks her on a date, while the Serpentine have followed their map to the location of the first Fangblade; the Mega Monster Amusement Park.

Kai, Zane and Cole head there to fight the Serpentine, while Jay, concealing that he had accidentally infected himself with Fangpyre venom, goes on a date with Nya at the amusement park. When the effects grow to severe to hide, however, he excuses himself, while Nya decides to fight the Serpentine as Samurai X. Unlike the ninja, she manages to take the Fangblade, but is eventually beaten by the Serpentine, who tie her to a roller coaster cart, which is heading for a broken track. 

When Jay gets there, he tries and fails to untie her, confessing that he had lied during their date to impress her, and kept his infection hidden, while Nya confesses to being Samurai X. After Nya kisses Jay, however, he reverts to normal, and after Nya also tells him that she likes the regular Jay, he unlocks his True Potential, stopping the cart and saving the day.

 

Wu and Garmadon, in the meanwhile are heading for the Mountain of Madness to return to Ninjago and save Lloyd.

Various Observations:

-Nya states that an increased heart rate can counter the effects of the Fangpyre venom. So why didn't Ed and Edna get cured by their fear when they were locked in the fridge? Fear causes an increased heart rate, after all.

-Zane has a panel in his arm he can use to quickly turn his sense of humor on and off. But what do the other switches do? Give him a different sense of humor? Would he start making puns if he flipped the right switch?

-In Wu's absence, Nya becomes the funniest character, as seen by her incredibly unconcerned comment on having to leave before she goes into an allergic shock. Of course, I'm assuming that the severity of her allergy is overstated, as Kai would never endanger her in such a manner.

-The fly turns immediately after being exposed to the Fangpyre venom, unlike humans, but that can be chalked up to the quantity relative to it's size.

-A skeleton that has been dead for centuries contains enough venom to infect Jay. Sounds kind of unrealistic, but I will admit that I'm no biologist.

-Ooh, another power Garmadon uses exactly once, and then never again. In this case, the ability to summon his weapons via telepathy.

-Also, why is Garmadon able to summon mud monsters? I'm not sure if this is a new ability, or if he just allied himself with creatures already living in the Realm of Madness.

-I thought Garmadon's voice actor got better, but as soon as he saves Wu from the mud monsters he summoned, he sounds like he doesn't give a danm about anything that's going on. It sounds like he's talking about the weather, rather than his own son's fate!

-Why did Wu only bring enough tea to get to the Realm of Madness, but enough to get back? What was the plan there?

-The way back is at the Mountain of Madness. Boy, this realm sure has some pretty consistent theming, no? Also, are they going to find a Shoggoth there?

-Jay is canonically the type of guy that would hide a zombie bite. Good to know, although surely he could get rid of the infection, simply by accelerating his heart rate via some Spinjitzu training, now that we know that that's a possibility.

-Jay covers himself up with a scarf to hide his infection, and I kind of love that his movie design incorporates a scarf as a reference to this episode. I may not have many good things to say about it, but that is one of them.

-Jay's flaw is incorporated pretty nicely into this episode, as he hides his infection to facilitate his date with Nya, and lies about the reason why they relocated their date, so as to not hurt her feelings, effectively taking both of them out of the fight. This ties well into his overall arc of learning to be truthful with people.

-Man, the Realm of Madness is atmospheric. The fog and the huge plants create some awesome gothic ambience.

-I really like the interactions between Wu and Garmadon. Neither of them want to fight, but Garmadon is cursed to be evil, and it is conveyed wonderfully.

-What on earth are Jay and Nya eating here? And how would you eat it? There are utensils provided, but it's clearly some kind of burger. Also, apparently they split their dish, meaning that everything on that table is a single portion!

-Jay is clearly making up stories about himself to seem cooler, once again neatly tying into his arc.

-The folks at the ghost train saying Pythor and Skales look stupid was funny. This episode has some good lines.

-Jay gets a tail as his transformation progresses, and yet Ed and Edna didn't get one. Odd, no? Also, "Lots of girls like tails". So furries exist in Ninjago? Or scalies, given that we're talking about snakes. Wait, is that like how some, usually racist, people find different ethnicities to be more attractive? Man, the subtext writes itself, doesn't it?

-And now Jay gets publicly beaten up for being a "snake". Not Serpentine, mind you. Is snake some kind of Serpentine-phobic slur?  Also, by now I'm not even sure the subtext isn't actually there intentionally.

-Nya can just put on her armor in a flash of light? But we repeatedly saw her putting her armor on and taking it off in pieces, not as a whole. 

-The Fangblade is way prettier than I remember.

-I love Cole's reaction to Kai's line. The gag does overstay it's welcome a touch, however. Brevity is the soulf of wit, after all.

-Wha- Why is Spitta upside down? Is he trying to imitate Claude von Riegan?

-Again, the folks riding the ghost train have some fun lines. 

-Sheesh, Zane randomly losing control of his powers is such a plot contrivance. He was able to use his True Potential just fine in the last episode, so what changed?

-Alright, Spitta should definitely be dead after being hit by a roller coaster cart and then being thrown off.  Also, is that one of Lloyd's classmates on the coaster?

-Interesting that Jay, like Kai, is given the choice to either try and get the Fangblade, or save someone. It's not really focused on, since he didn't really hesitate before going to save Nya, but it's an interesting thing to note. I have to wonder if it was intentional.

-Side note: Why does this roller coaster have a burning ring installed? That seems like a serious safety hazard!

-Wait, what's that noise Jay makes when Nya reveals that she's Samurai X? Was that intentional on Michael Adamthwaite's part? It sounds like a fly just went into his mouth!

-Aww, look at Jay's expression when Nya tells him she likes him best when he doesn't pretend to be someone else. It's like nobody ever told him that. The camera lingers on it, so it's definitely intentional. And, come to think off it, if he was a social outcast as a kid, it would make sense for him to develop this over-the-top joking personality as a way to try and make some friends. Now I feel really sorry for him. It also makes sense that the realization that there are people that like him as just Jay would be what makes him unlock his True Potential.

-It is, however, ridiculous that Nya's words and her kiss raised his heartrate enough to counter the venom, but the fricking rollercoaster and their impending deaths didn't do anything.

-Wow, Jay gets a whole bunch of new powers during his True Potential. True, Zane did levitate a bit, but Jay can fly, teleport himself, and gets super strength. Plus, he also obviously has greater elemental power in that state.

-And, finally, we get some fake foreshadowing for Kai being the green ninja. Been a while since the öast time that plot point was touched on, huh?