Review: Dragons: Defenders of Berk “Cast Off Pt. 1”

So, how many questions were answered in the first part of the season finale? Find out after the jump!

Spoilers!

Gobber and gang helping with training. The exercise is knowing when to retreat. Hiccup calls for it, and Snotlout disobeys. His fire causes the catapault to misfire, and causes Astrid to fall off Stormfang. The riders go to help her, and Snotlout doesn’t understand what he did. Hiccup says the group can’t rely on Snotlout, so he is suspended. Logical speaking states that if he can’t rely on Snotlout during practice, he can’t rely on him during missions. Dagur is talking to a picture of Toothless, where he hatches a plan to plant dragon root on Berk. Speaking of Berk, the twins take over Snotlout’s pen at the Academy, saying that since Snotlout disregarded Hiccup’s suspension, he should be expelled. Elsewhere, Snotlout takes up an island as home, but has an outcast island. Back on Berk, Hiccup and Stoic talk about Snotlout, with Hiccup trying to become the leader of his father is. This is a theme between the two that may carry over until the movie. Meanwhile, Snotlout investigates the ship, when the Screaming Death reemerges. Snotlout is saved by a shadowy figure, who brings him to the village. Surprise, it’s Alvin.

Alvin is put on trial for a whole bunch of counts of Treachery. He is remanded to a cell, trying to get a proposition from Stoic. Snotlout wakes up, and tells the group that the Screaming Death is on his way. Hiccup upholds the suspension, even though Snotlout found the Screaming Death. Dagger is overlooking the arena with a huge piece of dragon root, waiting for the right time. Hiccup makes it to the pen holding Alvin, and Alvin proposes that he helps get his fleet back from Dagur. He brings this back to Stoic, bringing up the past between Stoic and Alvin. Dagur makes it into the arena, and he plants the dragon root. All of the dragons go crazy again because of it.

Snotlout now takes a trip to Alvin. Alvin is trying to get Snotlout to believe they aren’t too different from one another, and Alvin is playing the martyr to Snotlout, until Dagur is spotted. They see the dragon root, and Fishlegs make a dash to the door. Dagur blocks the door, however, and this causes a battle between Berk and Dagur’s forces. Alvin is freed, and he makes it into the battle. He saves Stoic, who gets the door to the Arena open. Stoic gets bowled over by Fishlegs on his way out, which opens an attack by Dagur. He captures Stoic, Alvin gets locked in one of the dragon pens, and the Screaming Death is destroying its way through the islands.

Well, that all happened, didn’t it? So far, everything is still building up to something HUGE. This would be a lot more interesting if Cartoon Network didn’t spoil a major plot point for next week. Yes, we know that Alvin is trying to destroy Berk, and it’s with the Screaming Death. After tonight, it seems more like Dagur is going to. This is something they are going to have to write really well to connect the two. One thing that struck me as odd was that Snotlout getting suspended from the Academy was downplayed. There was an opportunity to play off Alvin trying to get back in the good graces through Snotlout and develop a kinship to burn. Just a bit of wasted potential there. They teased it when Snotlout let him out late in the episode, but nothing came of it here.

So far, having Alvin in the fold is weird, especially since he was rarely used this season. He is definitely a better villain than Dagur, because Dagur just comes of as a whiny brat. Alvin is the polar opposite of Stoic, and that’s compelling to me. Imposing and mean are villainy to me.  Too many villains in these types of shows are bratty, and it needs to stop. All in all, this was a good episode, but those bits I mentioned just nag me a bit. Hopefully, the set up of Alvin coming back, the prospect of Dagur and Hiccup teaming up, and the Screaming Death add up to something explosive. The payoff should be huge, but I’m left skeptical.