Sheesh, this episode already marks the halfway point of Rebooted. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?
In New Ninjago City, PIXAL is reuinted with Cyrus Borg, while the ninja investigate the white scale, leading them to find that the Serpentine have been living under the city, rehabilitated.
Acidicus tells them that someone with the power of the First Spinjitzu Master, the Golden Master, will conquer all of reality according to an old prophecy, implying that it is Lloyd he's talking about. Suddenly, the ninja are attacked by nindroids, which are now powered by the electric eels the mysterious stranger stole from the aquarium.
After the battle, Skales reveals the mysterious stranger to be Pythor, just as the Serpentine in question reveals this to Lloyd after capturing him. With Lloyd captive, the Overlord has Garmadon thrown into the ocean and heads back to the city, ready to drain Lloyd's power.
Various Observations:
-I love that the seeming post-apocalyptic civilization is actually just the result of the people of New Ninjago City roleplaying because they're bored. I guess when you have the ruins of a cyberpunk city all around you, it does make sense to go for a postapocalyptic, loss-of-civilization theme.
-The people getting upset that Borg doesn't stay in character implies that he actually went along with the rp before this scene. That's a funny mental image.
-Oh, I almost forgot to mention it, but Cyrus Borg is still clearly a cyborg, meaning that the Overlord most likely permanently altered his body. His right arm, at the very least, has almost certainly been amputated.
-How does Cole know that the Serpentine are locked in the Stone Army's former tomb? Only the Overlord and the Serpentine should know that part.
-You know, the ninja should probably think to retrieve the Elemental Blades from wherever they stashed them after the last season. Actually, they might just be at Wu's school. The ninja probably took them with them, right? There was just no reason to take them along on a field trip, and they never went back to the school afterwards.
-Jay and Cole's bickering gets tiresome very fast.
-The Overlord seeks the power to "rule this world - and beyond!" I know the existence of other realms has already been established, but it's still interesting to see it acknowledged like this before season 5 fleshes the concept out a bit more. Of course, maybe he's just referring to other planets, since the ninja go to space pretty soon, but I prefer to imagine otherwise.
-The interactions between Lloyd and his father continue to be the best part of the season. Both of them do have a point, and they can see that the other is not neccessarily in the wrong, merely too immature or too pessimistic. It also helps that you can feel their love for each other in every line.
-Wait, how old is Skales Jr.? He seems like a four- or five-year old. Assuming that Serpentine pregnancy takes nine months too, and that Skales got busy right after being sealed away, at least four years and nine months must have passed since "The Day Ninjago Stood Still", giving us a rough estimate of how much time has passed between the seasons.
-By the way, why is Skales Jr. the only Serpentine until Dragons Rising to wear clothes? It wasn't weird for them to be naked until one turned up with clothes. Now it is. Are they all nudists?
-"We may not have power ... but we still have sharks!" Funniest line of the season? Quite possibly.
-Brad wants to take a field trip to the toxic bog? Wasn't that the place where the Venomari were sealed? If so, nice callback. Of course, I do have to wonder why Brad apparently hasn't aged a day in what must have been at least four years!
-Oh, having someone invisible pass by is nice foreshadowing. Invisibility was the Anacondrai's power, after all.
-Wait, that's the cop that arrested four random children for the theft of giant golden sarcophagus! I'd recognize that face anywhere! Looks like he got fired for it. That's how you know this is fiction.
-Ah, he continues to be completely inept. I guess I have been asking for more consistency, haven't I?
-Wow, Dareth actually got a win for once. Granted, it's probably because the shark realized he isn't a seal, and therefore not something it wanted to eat, but still.
-Now Pythor's hiding out in the sewers? But isn't there a risk of another Serpentine encountering him?
-Whoa, the Serpentine sure fixed this place up nice. Hard to believe it was originally a completely flat and empty chamber.
-Ah, Kai's comments on Serpentine-rehabilitation once again puts me in an allegorical frame of mind, but I'll shelve that for now. Instead, I would like to point out that Kai suspects the mysterious stranger of being a Fangpyre because of their white scales ... while talking to a Hypnobrai with white scales.
-Acidicus is the expert in mythology? But the Constrictai have already been established to be the ones with the most knowledge of Serpentine mythology! Shouldn't this role go to Skalidor?
-Ew, his staff looks like a cheap knockoff! Where'd Acidicus' actual staff go?
-Wait, hold on a moment! This is some serious revisionism! Most of the stuff I'm fine with, it makes sense, but the Great Devourer was unleashed to scare the humans underground? That's total BS! We all went through season 1, and there the Great Devourer was always meant to be a tool for revenge against the humans! And it's not like this episode is trying to say the Serpentine we saw had always been good people like their ancestors, they literally have to learn to be good people, so what's with this weird Devourer story?
-I love that Borg is a supportive dad, immediately understanding that PIXAL is her own person and telling her to be free.
-The Nindroids just charge in and attack everything in their path? Why not use their invisibility mode?
-Nya's fan is now made of steel. More sensible than fighting with a paper fan, that's for sure.
-The ninja shutting off a battallion of Nindroids should feel triumphant, but they're just not threatening enough for it.
-Why does the Overlord suddenly gloat to Zane specifically? I guess he hasn't been obnoxious enough this season, since he couldn't fly into incredibly suspicious and unsubtle fits of rage at Garmadon all the time. And what's up with his weird non-temptation to Zane? How is Zane "fighting for the wrong side" when he was never affiliated with the Nindroids? It's not like this is a robots versus humanity situation, this is very specifically an Overlord versus all of reality situation.
-I do love that Zane just rips off the electrocobrai tank. Garmadon never shut the Overlord up, no matter how annoying the guy got, so this is cathartic. Plus, it's pretty badass that Zane just casually shut off the embodiment of evil's physical body.
-Pythor has a history of "being fond of using electrocobrai"? Since when?
-So, Lloyd manifested a bike from his powers. I don't think he used Creation, it's clearly themed after his green energy, so that's probably the power he used, but how? The other ninja needed the Golden Weapons to do the same with their powers, but back then I theorized that it may be a proccess similar to the creation of an elemental dragon, with the Golden Weapons' power of Creation helping out. Since Lloyd possesses the power of Creation as well, I suppose it does make sense he would be able to do the same. With Creation acting as a crutch, the user seemingly does not have to be free of fear, like when summoning an elemental dragon, so it might even be the superior option.
-Eh? The snake-shackle-thing blocks Lloyd's powers? So is it made from Vengestone? Can it block the power of Creation itself? That seems ... unlikely. Particularly given that both Creation and Destruction work on Vengestone in season 15.
-Man, Pythor's return was a huge shock back when I was little. Although I don't recall him sounding quite so breathless in the German dub ...
-Garmadon promising to find Llyod is hype. Nothing else to be said. Just hype.
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