The Last Hope

After my most rewatched episode, it is rather ironic that the next episode would be the only pre-movie episode I only ever watched once, and even that was years after it originally aired, due to me missing it at the time.

While the ninja are now powered up and ready for the Final Battle, Misako reveals that there is another way things could end; by returning the Helmet of Shadows to the clock, the countdown can be stopped, avoiding the Final Battle altogether.

Misako does actually manage to steal the helmet, but she and the ninja are soon pursued by the Stone Warriors, leading to a showdown at the clock after Lloyd refuses to end things by killing his father, where Misako puts the helmet back just a second too late, causing a beam of light to herald the Final Battle and finish the Overlord's ultimate weapon. To make things worse, the Stone Warriors also abduct Nya.

Various Observations: 

-Aw, the intro didn't change. I would have liked to see the ninja's new robes.

-The Overlord states that only a scant few hours are left on the clock, before the Final Battle will begin, which seems odd to me. I always just assumed that the countdown progressed whenever either side took steps to bring about the Final Battle, but it's just time based? But what if, say, Garmadon fell off a cliff and died in the interim? The Overlord wouldn't be able to fight, as he doesn't have a body, so how could there be a Final Battle?

-Alright, we got an excellent performance from  Mark Oliver again. Does the guy just flip a coin to decide the quality of his performance?

-The central dilemma of this episode, Garmadon and Lloyd not wanting to fight and "defeat", or rather kill, each other is established well and is once again something surprisingly mature for a cartoon designed to sell toys. 

-That aside, wow the Overlord sucks at manipulating people. He's always so pushy, and when Garmadon expresses doubts about fighting Lloyd, the Overlord just doubles down, saying that fighting won't be enough, and that Garmadon also has to defeat Lloyd. It's like magically turning people evil is the only way he has to manipulate their actions. I'm getting Danganronpa 3 flashbacks, and not in a fun way.

-The ninja are goofing off, and it's an excellent way to show that they are back to full strength, even if it is rather tonally inconsistent after the beginning of the episode.

-Wu says only Lloyd has the power to defeat Garmadon ... but why? Yeah, I know, the prophecy said so, and only the power of Creation was able to revert the influence of the Great Devourer's venom, but what if Garmadon fell off a cliff, like I just suggested. Or was stabbed with one of the Elemental Blades? Surely he'd still die?

-The running gag of Jay not knowing what "bequeathed" means amuses me. Even if it is a pity that he is once again relegated to the role of comic relief.

-I like Misako deciding to subvert what the prophecy says. The clock starts counting down once the Helmet of Shadows is removed - so she decides to put it back to stop the clock. Gerson would approve. Although I do have to wonder what would stop Garmadon from just taking the helmet and restarting the clock.

 -Wait, we're still going with the assumption that the Final Battle will start early if Lloyd and Garmadon meet? But then what's the point of the clock? And if the timer doesn't matter, why do the ninja even need to retrieve the Helmet of Shadows? Besides, the Garmatron will finish construction no matter what the clock says, right? It's a bad sign when the prophecy the entire plot is built upon being true contradicts everything that happens.

-And now the Stone Warriors are running away in a panic. How sentient are these guys supposed to be, exactly?

-Kozu is suprisingly accomodating. His clearly terrified "prisoner" is demanding to see Garmadon, who ordered them to leave him alone ... and he complies? Maybe he just figures that it's not worth putting up with another demanding presence when he's already got the Overlord flying around.

-The ninja are now rebels? Rebels against what, exactly? Garmadon's no ruler and he won't be for many more seasons!

-And now Kozu just walks off after untying Misako and leaving her alone with Garmadon? It's like he wants the guy to be assassinated! Speaking off, what if Misako actually had a weapon on her? She was never searched! Now I want to read a story where she kills Garmadon here to spare her son from having to do so.

-And we're back to the bad kind of Mark Oliver performance with Garmadon's "If you don't mind, I'd rather not." If you put any less emotions into your lines, I'd think you were a Cyberman! One that's mumbling a lot, because he doesn't care about his own evil plots.

-Zane's trying to think up puns? That's an amusing cutaway gag. 

-Wait, did ... Cole just reference that one Batman movie with the terrible ice puns? The one everyone hates?

-The "bequeath" gag is still funny to me.

-Oh, that's the theme! Garmadon only prepares to fight Lloyd and follows along with the Overlord's ridiculous demands because it has been foretold! He blindly follows the prophecy even though he dislikes it, because he believes it to be inevitable, whilst the ninja are trying to "read between the lines" so to speak, and subvert the prophecy. 

-Misako can just ... walk out of the Stone Warrior camp? I think Kozu is actually trying to sabotage the Overlord.

-At least Jay gets some good sass in. He deserves to bite back.

-The ninja blow their cover rather than sabotage their enemy's ultimate weapon, but it's so funny that I can't be mad.

-The ninja never used to make puns while fighting, but I think they're still riding the high from getting their powers back.

-Stone Warriors have bones? I thought they were magically animated statues! Well, I guess, it was never explicitly stated, but I was so sure ... 

-Finally someone other than Jay gets to be the butt of the joke. And Cole completely missing the Stone Warriors after dropping a oneliner is funny.

-Why - Why did Garmadon turn into a gag character? He feels that evil is underappreciated? What about the main-fucking-conflict?! Hageman brothers, Joel Thomas, whoever is behind this, why? You had something seriously meaningful and compelling, why throw it away? The tonal inconsistency in this is off the charts!

-There are sirens in the Stone Warrior camp? I would have thought their tech level was more so medieval, aside from the vehicles.

-That mech is cool! Why was it never released as a set? 

-Continuing the trend of Nya being far more effective than the others, she was actually able to fight back against Garmadon's mech and saved the rest of the team.

-It's funny how Jay could have instantly won the fight against the Stone Warriors if Nya wasn't sensible enough to be wary of evil magical artefacts. 

-What's up with the lightswitch scene? It's not a gag, and it serves no narrative purpose. Why is it so important that Jay tried to turn on the light? 

-Holy crap, Lloyd's gotten way stronger since the last episode! A single blast of his power destroys Garmadon's hyper-powerful mech!

-Garmadon ... accepts his death at Lloyd's hands, huh? It's sad, but I can see it. He believes that only one of them can survive and so desperately wants to protect his son, despite being literally cursed to be evil. That Lloyd chooses not to kill him and defy what was foretold means that every season until Hands of Time can be atributed to this, but at the same time, it also means that Garmadon gets freed of the Devourer's venom, and therefore still has good in him when he comes back in season 8, and helps the ninja during seasons 10 and 15. Had Lloyd followed the prophecy as Garmadon does, the Oni would have won and conquered all the realms. 

-You know, I do have to wonder why Wu and Nya know where the clock is, but I suppose the falcon could have found it off-screen.

-Nice touch having Nya be interested in the mechanics behind the clock. She and Jay are both inventors, after all.

-Why would Misako think the Helmet of Shadows needs to be put on a random gear? That's clearly not the pedestal!

-Are you serious, Wu? This is the third time you lost the central MacGuffin to a villain! I dearly hope his track record improves in the coming seasons ... 

-Wow, Kozu is suddenly much more verbose. 

-While I appreciate Wu knocking the Stone Warrior out of the way, couldn't Misako have done the same? She knows Spinjitzu, after all!

-While it's a nice climactic fight and all, wouldn't it have made more sense for the ninja to destroy the clock? Surely Cole and Lloyd alone could do it, nevermind all five of them together.

-Ooh, I like that the clock uses reflected light, it mirrors the Temple of Light nicely.

-Oh, wow. I completely forgot just how bad things stood at the end of the episode. Not only does the Final Battle approach, with Garmadon obtaining Garmatron and Nya kidnapped, but the ninja team is fracturing, with Jay assaulting Cole, Kai wanting to run off, and Lloyd blaming himself for everything.

-Wait, Garmatron needed the clock's light to be finished? I completely forgot that part. But why does the ultimate weapon of darkness need light? I mean, that seems kind of strange. 

-This episode is ... odd. It can't decide on it's tone, but it goes to some delightfully dark places and has things to say about prophecy and predestination, a theme that is depicted through Garmadon and his family. But whereas Garmadon believes in the inevitability of fate, Lloyd, Wu and Misako try to change it, only to fail. Lloyd, however, is of particular interest, as he had the option of fulfilling his destiny and killing Garmadon, but refused to do so, a decision that will lead to four seasons worth of trouble, but will in the end come to be what saves all sixteen realms.