With this episode, the second "half" of this season begins!
The ninja are called to the museum to deal with Stone Warrior statues that have come alive after being eexposed to the Great Devourer's venom, while Garmadon searches for the fabled Dark Island, and is cast out by the Serpentine.
At the museum, the ninja meet Lloyd's mother, Misako, who explains that the Stone Warriors were created by an ancient evil counterpart to the First Spinjitzu Master, known as the Overlord. In order to win, the First Spinjitzu Master seperated a large landmass, the Dark Island, from Ninjago itself.
Together, the ninja and Misako defeat a giant Stone Warrior, while Garmadon encounters the Overlord, and raises the Dark Island from the bottom of the sea.
Various Observations:
-Garmadon talks about the Mega Weapon as though the Serpentine would know what it is, and none of them contradict this, so why did Lloyd forget about it in the last episode?
-So Garmadon wants to go to the Dark Island to obtain unspecified powers of darkness. I guess he's assuming it'd work like the Realm of Madness, and just give him a boost?
-I like the gag with the alarm clock. It's also a neat little callback to "Snakebit".
-Hey, look, Lloyd has his own bed. But didn't he sleep elsewhere in "Never Trust a Snake"?
-Also, this is the first time we see Lloyd properly using his green power (or energy, if you prefer that term). And he uses it to blast an alarm clock. Yeah, I feel like there should be a bit more significance attached to it.
-Ooh, Lloyd has a matching pajama now, that's cool.
-I like the "Let's settle this like men! With Rocker, Paper, Clip!", bit. It's a fun running gag. Also, I appreciate that they switched the name, since a minifigure hand doesn't have fingers to form the sign for scissors.
-The Ultra Dragon is now a "pet dragon"? That doesn't seem right. They're clearly sentient!
-Kai sounds really confused at the concept of a mother leaving her child. Shouldn't this line have gone to literally any other ninja? Kai and Nya are both orphans as well, they should understand this.
-Alright, Lloyd pushing his chores onto Nya and her subsequent realization are also really funny.
-So the Great Devourer's venom is in the museum, alright, I can buy that, we saw the thing explode into a shower of venom a couple of episodes back. But, in that case, why wasn't there any venom in the museum two episodes ago?
-What, exactly, was the point in creating Stone Warriors that are permanently attached to a base? Like, what did the Overlord expect them to do?
-The museum's curator assumes that the toxicity of the venom was responsible for awakening the Stone Warriors? Why? The venom has literal magical powers, as seen when it bit Garmadon in a flashback, shouldn't it's magical evil properties be everyone's first guess?
-Hey that's a bust of Kozu! Neat foreshadowing.
-Ooh, look at the raptor and the triceratops! Those are actual Lego models. Lots of nice details in this episode.
-Zane's little "Oops" is also golden.
-Oh my, Wu is flustered at seeing Misako again. Even though season four wasn't planned yet, this does, even if only by accident, foreshadow the fact that he also had feelings for her.
-Wait, wait, wait, I just remembered Garmadon broke into the same museum recently. Oh man, can you imagine if he had stumbled onto Misako by accident? That would have certainly been something.
-"There is no land outside Ninjago"? Er, Skales, what are you talking about? There's Chen's island, the one with the giant spider from Skybound, the lighthouse island, the island of the Keepers, and probably a whole bunch of others I'm forgetting.
-Skales attempts to assassinate Garmadon, and finally becomes more than a sidekick for the actual bad guy. Good job!
-Misako found "the ancient Stone Warrior", presumably the big one, given that she speaks in the singular, at in a hole that doesn't have a bottom? How? It can't have been a bottom, if there is none! I guess maybe it was halfway buried in a wall, but then how would they have gotten it out?
-Misako dropped Lloyd off at a boarding school designed to raise "bad boys" so that she could study the prophecy? And she can't have studied it without abandoning Lloyd ... why exactly? It's not like she had to explore dangerous ruins, or anything! And couldn't she have picked any other school in all of Ninjago? So far, she's not exactly convincing me that she deserves to be forgiven.
-What's that painting? A golden figure fights the Great Devourer, but who? Back when the Great Devourer was sealed away, it wasn't as huge, so it can't be the First Spinjitzu Master. I guess maybe the snake is meant to be Wojira? The First Spinjitzu Master did actually fight that one, so it would make a bit more sense.
-The First Spinjitzu Master is portrayed as a dragon! That fits what we later learn about his background surprisingly well.
-I do have to question, however, why the First Spinjitz Master is shown using the Elemental Blade of Fire. Shouldn't he have his own, Creation Blade?
-I have no clue what the giant Stone Warrior is saying. Maybe he's just blabbering nonsense, or maybe they went a bit too heavy on the special effects.
-Kai's commentary got me. I guess by now they're a bit too used to fighting giant enemies.
-Hold on, the Stone Warriors are created from "an indestructible Material found only on the Dark Island"? But the Dark Island was severed from the rest of Ninjago after the Stone Warriors were created! Shouldn't there be some of that material in Ninjago as well?
-The giant Stone Warrior just walked all over the ninja! Good work on building him up as a threat.
-Man, the banter between Jay and Cole is top notch! This episode has some really good laughs.
-So, is there a reason why the Overlord can see heat signals? That doesn't really fit the theming, right? I mean, I suppose Garmadon has, like, a dozen different superpowers depending on what the plot needs him to do, so I guess the same would go for the Overlord.
-Well, regardless of what the reason is, I do appreciate the fact that the bone on Garmadon's helmet shows up as colder than his armor, which is, in turn, colder than his actual body. That's a small detail, so it's amazing that the animators thought to add it in.
-So Garmadon's great plan was to just ... show up and demand that whoever he finds give him great power? Seriously?
-The Overlord introduces himself by name, and Garmadon still doesn't recognize him? We know that the First Spinjitzu Master told his sons about the Overlord, so why would Garmadon think he can boss the guy around?
-Where'd Lloyd's shoulderpads go?
-Lloyd's plan is pretty cool. He'll become the team's leader much later on, so I appreciate seeing him coming up with some of the team's plans.
-Why is a large part of the Dark Island underwater? It was seperated from the resto of Ninjago, but there was never any indication of it being flooded, up until now!
-For the first time, we get to see all of Ninjago, and it took me until now to realize that it, and by extension the Dark Island, is shaped like a dragon.
