Pirates vs. Ninja

 And we're back for another episode, this time featuring the debut of Soto's crew, as well as Dareth.

 As Lloyd's training progresses, the ninja try to find a place better suited for training, leading them to "Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo-Dojo", a dojo lead by a pompous braggard by the same name. 

In the meantime, Garmadon accidentally uses the Mega Weapon to revive a crew of pirates, who promptly lock him and the Serpentine away in the brig of the Bounty, as he realizes that the Mega Weapon can only create, never destroy.

When the pirates attack Ninjago City, the ninja (plus Dareth) try to defeat them, but have to be saved by Nya, who manages to fight the pirates off, leading Garmadon to steal the Bounty back, while Nya and the Ninja bring the pirates to justice.

Various Observations:

-Whoa! Captain Soto's voice doesn't even remotely resemble the one I'm used to from the German dub! I think I prefer the one I'm familiar with.

-Also, the pirates used the Bounty 200 years prior to the show's events, which makes the level of technology we saw back in "Snakebit" rather odd, wouldn't you agree?

-Just why is Captain Soto looking for the Island of Darkness? There's nobody there to rob! Well, I guess you'd have the Overlord, but I don't think he has anything worth stealing, on the account of currently being a disembodied wraith.

-So the Bounty sunk when it crashed into a cliff ... but there were no cliffs in the desert back during "Snakebit". Well, I guess the currents might have carried it away, but even so, it was still in a remarkably good condition, when you consider what usually happens to wooden ships that crash against solid rock. 

-I like No-Eyed Pete. He's a fun spin on the pirate tropes of having an eyepatch and/or a parrot.

-Wait, Zane's pillow looks like his apron from "Home"! That's a great callback! Also, why is Cole wearing a pot on his head?

 -Speaking of callbacks, Kai makes a neat callback to the pilots, when he tells Lloyd what Wu once told him about not even being ready to face his toe.

-Lloyd's training doesn't begin with the ninja teaching him Spinjitzu, and yet that was the first thing Wu taught them, even if they didn't realize it at the time. I wonder why there's a difference? While Kai may already have had some experience with fighting, given that he was actually able to fend off the skeletons for a bit, Jay, Cole and Zane still started with the same combat skills as Lloyd, meaning none.

-Nya refers to the Ultra Dragon as though that was their name, "Ultra Dragon". Shouldn't it be the Ultra Dragon? The individual heads were still adressed by their actual names just two episodes ago.

-I like the bus token gag. Makes sense that the ninja wouldn't be used to public transportation, given that Kai and Cole are from small villages, Jay lived in the desert, and Zane grew up in a tree.

-I also quite like Garmadon's banter with the Serpentine generals, even if I'm unsure as to why they suddenly follow him.

-Soooo ... why doesn't the Ultra Dragon try to attack the Dark Bounty? It rammed into them, and Garmadon is clearly trying to harm them! 

-I love the running gag of nobody respecting the ninja, because Garmadon did the flashiest part of the work when it came to fighting the Great Devourer.

-By the way, why did Garmadon know how to create the Mega Weapon, but not what it does? And in that case, why would he want to create it? Also, why does the Mega Weapon lose the ability to wield the four elements of creation?

-I wonder what the pirates think of the Bounty's new paintjob.

-When Samukai was erased from existence as a consequence of holding all the Golden Weapons, he exploded, so why is this pirate fading away instead?

-Hm, Captain Soto doesn't recognize the big map screen, which answers my question from way back when we first saw it. Of course, now I have to ask where the ninja got that screen from, in the middle of a bloody desert!

-"Just wait 'til they get a load of us"? That seems ... highly anachronistic. I doubt a pirate captain that has been dead for two centuries would talk like this.

-Erm, Jay? What, exactly, is the Staff of Quakes? Don't you mean the Scythe of Quakes? 

-Hey, Lloyd's classmate is back again! Only this time, he's not wearing his uniform, so I guess they maybe just reused his head and hair, without realizing that an actual character uses the same combo.

 -What's up with that pirate, and what he's saying to the woman he's robbing? "It surrenders and gives us it's loot"? Is that Gollum? Has he taken up a new career path? And here I thought he'd try and host a quiz show.

-Wait, the bus driver is the tour bus driver from "The Rise of the Great Devourer"! I'd recognize that cap everywhere!

-I love the gag with the old woman crossing the street, it's funny.

-Do the pirates not know what a ninja is? That feels very odd. I'm pretty sure ninjas already existed two hundred years ago. 

-The ninja get their pirate outfits from "Wong's Costumes". I'd love to imagine that Doctor Strange's friend just runs a costume shop on the side. It wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen in Marvel comics ... That'd probably be that really weird pseudo-incestual and dubiously consensual plot with Carol Danvers. 

-Since when does Kai's katana have a sheath? It never has one in the other episodes, right?

-Well, the guy Jay threw overboard is definitely dead. Man, the ninja really don't hold back, huh?

-I love that Nya gets to save everyone again. She barely gets to do anything this season, so I'll have to treasure any moment I get.

-Man, this episode was just all-around fun. It may not be the most memorable, but it's super entertaining.