Review: Dreamworks Dragons: Defenders of Berk “The Eel Effect”

What happens when the Great Eel Pox Epidemic of whenever this happens strikes Berk? Find out after the jump!

Spoilers!

Astrid is looking into the Great Hall, where all of the sick have gathered. Fishlegs tells Hiccup that Astrid is on her way with Goathee. I’m not even sure how to spell that. Anyway, Astrid comes back with her, right after Stoic sneezes and coughs on almost everyone. Yeah, you know where this is going. The list is rather long, and they make haste. They gather up all of the ingredients except for one. They need to go to Eel Island to get a Bloodbane Eel. The dragons are scared stupid of the eels, so they won’t be of use. Hiccup decides to go alone with Toothless. They get to the island, and Hiccup has the asinine idea to go eel fishing on top of Toothless. He loses control of his shield bola, and Toothless ends up eating the eel. From the looks of it, when a dragon eats an eel, he has a bad acid trip, because Toothless ends up with wavy vision, and red plasma blasts. Astrid makes it back, and is disturbed to find out that Hiccup hasn’t come yet. According to Stoic, the eel pox make people go nuts, and the proof is Gobber. Back on Eel Island, Toothless is all forms of screwed up. The eel is causing him to go delirious, and attack Hiccup. The eel blows past the 6 shot limit, and causes his powers to go off the charts. Back at the village, the twins and Snotlout are all sick. Astrid and Goathee go prepare everything, and sends Fishlegs to find Hiccup. Meanwhile, Hiccup is getting lit up by Toothless. Toothless seems to go in and out of it, even nuzzling Hiccup for a second before running off.

Fishlegs got to the island just as Hiccup got out of his coma. Hiccup gets a net and sets up a trap for Toothless. They head up in the air to track down Toothless. They see the marking of a Typhoomarang. They get away, just in time to find Toothless shooting wildly in a clearing. While they’re observing Toothless, a Typhoomarang appears, and it doesn’t seem very happy. Toothless sees the Typhoomarang, and tries to attack. Fishlegs runs the distraction, while Hiccup tries to get his dragon back. Fishlegs temporarily disposes of the Typhoomarang, and goes to help Hiccup. Hiccup steers Toothless to the ground, into the trap he set earlier. Toothless gets out, and is about to attack Hiccup again, when Meatlug and Fishlegs land on him. They give him the medicine, and he coughs up the eel. They make it back to Berk, get the medicine dispensed, and everyone ends up on their way back to normal.

This episode was pretty hilarious. With the Eel Pox going around, everyone is out of their minds. The twins seem to be getting smarter, Snotlout looks like he is trying to lead a draconic revolt, and Gobber starts to wear flowers and act like a dainty princess. This was classic. As for the story, I think this was one of the better filler episodes, as it shows Hiccup and Toothless at a real disadvantage. You don’t see it very often in the series. I think more could have been done with the Typhoomarang, but what little that was actually used, it worked well. The more this season goes on, the more I ask myself, “When are we going to see more of the Screaming Death or Dagger?” Those two really intrigued me, because one is just a force of nature, and the other is Hiccup’s polar opposite.  You know what they say about opposites…they make for great television.