Writers always seem to fall back on the “will they won’t they” relationship drama. I’ve seen it in Miraculous Ladybug and Aggretsuko season 4. It’s repetitive and annoying just lessens the characters.
Aggretsuko Season 4 Haida really was disappointing, hell I’m still kinda miffed on how he basically dumped Inui in Season 3 so the writers could have him back to simping for Retsuko again.
@@toadlord8594 all I’m hoping they work something out in season 5. Otherwise Aggretsuko will become a better version of Miraculous ladybug, because at least it treats their side characters with respect.
They also did it with Aang and Katara in ATLA literally the entire series up until the very closing scene. Like why couldn’t they progress their relationship during the show
When Callum asks her to agree to do what's necessary if he's possessed by Aaravos again (and experience which obviously terrified him), she just laughs and dismisses his concerns. That just felt so _wrong_ and out of character.
@@DragonGoddess18 That is irritating, Callum was literally possessed by the series main villain and all the characters an episode later treated it like it’s no big deal. Even Ezran.
To be honest, i took it as a laugh of 'you can't be serious.' Like take into account, Rayla lost her parents, her adoptive father and the rest of her clan. So the idea that Callum would even suggest her killing him would be laughable.
Idk what the writers were going for but it wasn't accomplished. This is supposed to be her boyfriend, the boy she loves, and when he expresses concerns about Aaravos being able to posses him again and wanting her to kill him, WHY did they think it was a good idea for Rayla to just brush it off? It should have been a somber moment and something she should try to talk him out off. I couldn't image season 1-3 Rayla doing that...oh yeah, that's because they wrote her out of character.
my biggest problem is how she left out of nowhere on his birthday HIS BIRTHDAY. but my second biggest problem is that when she came back she was just so casual about it like she expects callum to still feel the same way about her 2 years later, and while yes he does love her, he needs time to figure out his feelings and what to do next, and she doesn't seem apologetic about it like if they had a few scenes showing Rayla trying to get him a gift or something like that to make it feel like she knows what she did was wrong and she's trying her best to fix things , but instead we have a Rayla who thinks that she could just drop in out of the blue like nothing happened.
In Moonshadow elf culture, leaving to protect your loved ones is encouraged and seen as a good thing That being said, Callum's not a Moonshadow elf and her childhood is an explanation not an excuse for how she ditched him. She's gotta learn something she doesn't know and better understand human culture and respect Callum's feelings and boundaries. Point is,I agree with you
Maybe if they had an episode with Rayla similar to "Zuko Alone", maybe her two year absence could have worked They didn't and the story fails because of the unnecessary absence
Its even weirder considering Aaron Ehasz created this show and was a lead writer on ATLA. Not only that, his wife wrote Zuko Alone. So like, why didnt they do that again? Makes no sense to me
So far, from my experience watching this, the show is amazing when watching the seasons in 1 setting, so when you rematch season 4 right before season 5, it may look quite better afterwards
If you've read the graphic novel, "Through the Moon", Rayla leaves because she wants to be sure that Viren was dead. Even in the novel, there were already strains on their relationship. Rayla was stressed by nightmares and she didn't want to lose Callum. Now, all of a sudden, she comes back and seemingly thinks they can pick up where they left off. Relationships, however, can't just be automatically picked up. You can clearly see that the two still love each other, but Rayla's actions really hurt Callum and he needs time to work through the issue with her before he can fully forgive her. So, the two not coming together now might be for the best.
@@acjmonkeyaj7139 You can't require your audience to read supplemental material in order to understand the plot. When evaluating a show, I have a very simple philosophy: If it's not shown on the show itself, it doesn't exist.
@@kylewilson2819 Maybe for some other series that may be true, but one of the graphic novels, "Orphaned Queen", is about the human girl who uncovered Aravos's treachery and she's already been shown in the show itself. Zubeia and Rex Igneous both referenced her. And in season 3 Pheo Pheo, the moon pheonix died, right? In Through the Moon, she's reborn. So the novels are indeed canon and "exist". Your philosophy does not apply to this situation.
@@acjmonkeyaj7139 SHOW DON’T TELL. Universal rule of good writing. If you’re telling me that I have to go read a book to understand wtf is going on, your writing sucks
The most annoying part of the will they won’t they relationships is the fact that the writers KNOW it’s what we want, therefore it’s going to happen in the end. It just seems kinda stupid to do the will they won’t they after they already showed they “will.”
Something I would like to see more often in a series (and this has probably been done before, but to my knowledge is not very common) is having their main romantic couple(s) get together early on in the series or in the first season. Then spend the remaining seasons exploring the couples dynamic once they are actually in an official relationship with each other WITHOUT BREAKING THEM UP. Of course, I feel like this would work best if you communicate to the audience that the characters have known each other for sometime before the events they see on screen. I feel like this would be an interesting approach to take since it kind of forces writers to actually be smart and creative instead of just breaking up their characters once they are together or just ending the series once the goal of starting a relationship has been achieved. And I don't mean the couples can't have conflict. In fact, I would like to see how conflict or issues between the characters would NATURALLY arise in the relationship. But I don't want couples to always get broken up for no reason other than cheap drama.
I know what you mean. A lot of shows usually get the characters together as a finale, or have them together for a few episodes, make a big blow out/break up, then end with them together again. The only exceptions I can think of at the top of my head is Dragons: Race to the Edge where Hiccup and Astrid got together a few seasons before the end, and had onscreen conflicts, resolutions, conversations, etc. Jim and Claire from Trollhunters also got together pretty early on on the entire series, and they were quite cute together 🥰
THIS. Idk why writers pretend that a) the prospect of two characters getting together is inherently more interesting to the audience than the actual relationship, and b) that the relationship can only be equally engaging with the buildup if there is internal drama and breakups. Why can't we just have functional relationships between interesting characters who are even more interesting together?
Definitely agree. To be honest if shows did this then they could also show more love stories on screen too. Their growth could be more focused on the plot. Like developing powers, fighting bad guys, running a country, a million other things. While growing too as a couple. But not being as drama heavy as young love stories are. But there’s other characters in this story. It could for example be really cute if maybe his younger brother has a love story this time. Or whatever, there’s a lot of characters. But I’d be okay with no young love as well. To be honest it’s a huge issue to me that the story didn’t become more mature and grown up in this season. The fact that they’re literally considered old enough now to run a country-even if it’s during a supposed time of peace-that should have been taken much, much more seriously. They should be appearing more capable than the prior seasons but I actually feel like they’re somehow less capable-it’s beyond bizarre. But basically they could have had them doing all kinds of interesting things running the country, learning skills, etc. to basically show that young love wasn’t the focus. But I really wanted to feel the “calm before the storm”-that’s usually a really interesting and kind of exciting time. Because it builds tension. I was hoping that it would start out peaceful but with some very slight hints of unrest. That would build over time in the season until at the end they realize something is very wrong. But instead it’s just blah. And weird childish moments and relationship drama. Basically everything possible they could find that is the least interesting aspect of the show.
Fun fact, when Firefly first aired, Fox took issue with Wash and Zoe being married from the beginning, and wanted Joss Whedon to change their dynamic because they thought a healthy couple in a stable relationship wasn't "good drama". Thankfully, Whedon stuck his foot down. He did that with a lot of the studio's proposed changes, and it puts the show's early cancellation into perspective.
how the fuck did they manage to turn rayla from a fan favourite and relatively complex character who people can love and relate to into a stale and infuriating distraction from the main plot who cant seem to even comprehend human emotion in 9 episodes?
EXACTLY!!! She doesn't have the same traits that she used to have, and over that, her screen time is lower. Usually now, most of her parts are with Callum, and usually romantic parts. I miss the old Rayla who had more character. It just feels like they were...rebooted.@@chikannnn
Yeah this story was one of the worst parts in season 4. One of the things I appreciated about tdp after season 3 was it’s willingness to have the characters start a relationship well before the series ended. I almost never see shows that do that (in fact I can only think of one other at the moment), and it’s refreshing to see it not dragged out. However, this season just felt exactly like you said: they didn’t know what to do, so they did a poorly introduced reset. And I could talk about this for a very long time, but to keep this short I will end by saying that it was a horrible decision on the writers’ part. While it was an action that made sense for Rayla’s character in some sense (it also doesn’t at the same time), it was horrible for the story and executed so poorly that I can’t really redeem it. Here’s to hoping for a better season 5!
This season Rayla character was cold, and just not like herself. The writers tried to do "darker" waiting. But then they undercut it with jokes for 7 year olds. It felt much much less mature in the last seasons. So much for the first 3 seasons being practice. That bing said I do love this show and I hope they can fix the issues.
The thing for me is I really can't believe this season took 2 years to make really, with so few episodes, even if someone says it was the art/animation, like idk.
I can understand it. First, they had to wait to get greenlit by Netflix for more seasons, and we all know how that usually turns out. Then a global pandemic hits and affects production. So I can accept a dip in production quality for those reasons. What I can't accept, however, is the poor writing of this season, when the writing should have been the easiest thing to do while working from home, and they had plenty of time to fine-tune it.
I mean I guess could be , could possibly be a Netflix thing, seeing as the canceled (Inside Job) now, still not over that, just can’t believe they let the writing and animation fall that low in 2 years like they still had at least one year after Covid , idk just feel like they didn’t really wanna even do the show anymore or something.
This season was shit. "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" is a good analogy here. At times it felt like the writers were INTENTIONALLY trying to infuriate their own fans.
I get how they wanted to have them understand each other since Callum and Rayla were raised differently and know different things, but a tad bit annoying to see them be mad and not a reason for why she came back.
In my opinion it actually makes a lot of Sense, like Rayla and Callum met each other and got together because they had a similair goal and were in times of war and action, but now they're back in times of peace, so it's understandable it'd be weird for them. And Rayla has been tought that leaving your loved ones to protect them is good, bc we see this exactly done with Rayla's parents. They left Rayla too
She was never taught that that was good though, in fact she hated her parents for abandoning their cause and her, so it makes even less sense for her to do it and show no remorse whatsoever for it!
I couldn't agree more with you. To me this seems a classical case of, "we have no idea how to make these two characters compelling for four seasons" So they reset the relationship so you as a fan have to come back to check the series even if there is nothing compelling there outside of your emotional attachment to the pair. Why else tip toe around the issue instead of actually resolving it? That way they can pan out the damm conflict 4 seasons instead of you know having to think about how to make them grow throughout them. Jesus this is such a sore point for me. It actually makes me angry. Very few times I remember getting angry at a series for making a decision regarding their characters. They actively ruined one of their best work!
Will they won’t they relationships are one of the most tiring tropes these days, mostly because it keeps repeating like if it were realistic. It isn’t.
They had the perfect opportunity to write Rayla and Callum in an established relationship in season 4, having their romance tested by the volatile social and political climate. Instead, they decided to butcher their relationship and use Amaya and Janai to fulfill that role instead --- which I didn't hate, but the Amaya/Janai subplot was so disconnected from the main story that it didn't feel necessary. I read the comic where Rayla leaves, and while I wasn't a huge fan, I thought there was potential. I genuinely thought based on the marketing around season four that either the season was going to be focused either on the search for Rayla, OR she was going to come back needing help from Callum and Ezran, and that would be the call to action needed to get them started on a new journey. I was shocked that they had Rayla just casually return conveniently before the action was set to start without a single thing to show for her travels. She came back with nothing --- no leads on Viren or on her family. Which says to me that the ONLY narrative purpose for Rayla leaving was to break up her and Callum, and imo that's really weak writing. Then they spent the entire season hardly speaking to each other --- and even though we got a little hug at the end, they never had an open and honest conversation once about how they felt. It was incredibly dissatisfying and did a disservice not only to their relationship, but their individual characters as well. In general, Rayla is one of my favorite characters on the show and the one I was looking forward to seeing the most. But she hardly had anything interesting to do all season and it greatly disappointed me. I hope the writers start getting their footing back in season 5.
Rayla's only lucky that Callum DIDN'T move on to someone else. Regardless of her intentions, ditching Callum on his birthday is a dick move. Whether she likes it or not, intentions don't always matter Maybe if that happened,she would understand that there are consequences to her actions She treated him like a Moonshadow elf when she should have treated Callum like a human and an equal partner. She also treats his feelings like they're no big deal. You're right,Smarty Pants. What happened to Rayla is character assassination and she does need to properly own up. Her apologizing to Ezran instead of Callum felt very insulting. Speaking of Ezran, he's not as good of a relationship counselor as he thinks he is and more importantly,their relationship is essentially none of his business
I’m kind of okay with it being like this, cause if you read the books and you listen clearly to Callum, Rayla left to find Viren on his birthday, only leaving a note, not even saying goodbye. So I kind of would been upset and confused if Callum just straight forgave Rayla cause I would be mad too if my lover left me all of sudden too. And Rayla never kept in contact with any of them while she was gone, so like in the series Callum thought she was dead or never coming back, so of course he would have conflicted feelings on how to feel, angry, sad, happy….all I’m trying to say is, I feel like this is the growth they need for their relationship and I’m fine with it. In just glad they didn’t make it the main vocal point of Season 4, especially since we waited 2 years or so for it.
I agree that callum forgiving her so quickly would be weird but i dont think people are having a hard time with how callum reacted to it i think people including me are confused and hate the way rayla came back as if her leaving suddenly for 2 years is just a little oopsie and not a huge mistake and that she cant expect callum to be the same person especially since 2 years in teenage life can change so much of a person's personality
"If you read the books-" That's the problem. Important plotlines shouldn't be kept in supplementary material, it should be in the source material. If you need to read books to understand the plot of the show, the writers have failed to tell it effectively.
Ghosting for 3 weeks is rude. Ghosting for three years no contact? Especially when elves have that convenient express mail service where they just shoot an arrow in the sky and it gets delivered? Easy to assume she died. If I wrote this, Rayla would return and Callum would have a different girlfriend by then because yeah that’s what would happen.
Honestly. Like Callum's reaction to seeing Rayla is very tame. If I was in his position I would be throwing hands and kicking her out of the castle. And the fact that she didn't even give them time to prepare for her departure doesn't help. Like Jesus, you couldn't have told everyone "Hey, I'll be leaving to fight Viren in the dream world in a week" so you know, everyone has the chance to say a proper goodbye to you. I know that Rayla is reckless and sometimes a bit rude, but this is a bit much.
Yeah I would like to see that in a Dragon Prince "What If...?" Series. It worked for Marvel,why wouldn't it work for Dragon Prince I don't think Rayla really understands that how what she did to Callum was wrong. Sure, leaving to protect your loved ones is a good thing in Moonshadow elf culture but here's the thing: Callum's not a Moonshadow elf and her culture is not the only culture that exists in the Dragon Prince universe. She wants to be a part of his life? Then she has to understand both human culture and the culture of Katolis so she doesn't stomp boundaries like that.
As someone who grew up in South East Asia, a lot of the tv shows I used to watch in Television that has romance that practically that did the same thing, it wasn't good but the shows were released practically everyday in the course of a few months. It added tension but it wasn't the best. The will they won't they got Tiring especially when time skips would occur and literally throw will they won't theys despite everyone knowing it's bull I bring that up since what if you do this, in a series with world building to be concerned about. See the fracturing of their relationship didn't just affect them, it effectively also took a toll to the characters around them, but it honestly could've been fine had we seen an immediate aftermath from the end of the comic, where we see Callum desperately coming to terms, Rayla being missing, what it would be like for these two individuals who got so close, yet so far. The time skip ruins this since it's hard to get to share their perspectives, enough time has passed for them to feel like entirely different people not only to the audience, but each other. So it feels like we are starting on some half way point that just feels lost and contrived.
I absolutely wouldn't have been upset if the broken relationship had developed in an interesting way and been explored in the series. Maybe Callum and Rayla were naive teens who mainly loved the ideals that the other represented during their stressful adventure, but simply didn't function as a couple. Maybe they split up with bad blood, went on to pursue their own paths and make new friends and now have to find it in their hearts to trust each other again. (tying into the theme of overcoming the past for a better present and future) What I do not want is a question of whether Callum and Rayla will come back together, especially if it's handled like in season 4, where it doesn't have any plot relevance and they just don't talk to each other for a while, essentially pausing this issue. That's a general problem of the season though, it felt like filler with almost nothing changing significantly in the story.
It was rough. It could have been OK if they had animated the through the moon tie in book as a series of flashbacks - perhaps replacing or alternating with the janai/amaya b plot. I agree it was a bad decision from the get go though. I would have preferred if both callum and rayla had left together and left ezran behind. S4 could then have reintroduced callum first as a gandalf esque entrance returning to katolis. Rayla could have reappeared a little later. Could even have opened more tie in books that way to chronicle their adventures on their own.
They could've easily created drama by callum maybe using dark magic secretly because he doesn't want to lose her, her finding out, big fight, promise, fixing the relationship slowly, he leaves to the sky pillar to get stronger, she's hurt but understands, they have a time skip break, they return, many up, aravvos influences Callum, he asks rayla to kill him if he's possessed, he is, she doesn't, they kiss, he's free.
Many people say that " Oh writers are afraid to do relationships" but I gave writers the benefit of the doubt because the show this was said were in fact bad written or bad concluded. But you can't defend this, I'm not a super fan of this series but even I felt this was a backstabbing and a step back by a million. They knew how to biuld a relationship but did not knew how to maintain it, which ironically could have been a character arc for Callum and Raylla that season
I used to ship them so hard until this season came out. I think I'm just gonna ignore it exists and pretend like season 1-3 is what their relationship is still like :(
Honestly if they wanted Rayla to leave, I think it would've made more sense if they did something similar to what Toradora did with Taiga right at the end. That being that she goes away to fix her village. That would make sense since as far as we know, she's still banned from her village. And considering how the moodshadow elves are like, I could buy that Rayla would need to be on her own for that. Another factor could be that seeing as Callum and Ezran are royalty, maybe they were both just unable to leave their town to visit Rayla because of everything that has happened. Plus if Rayla fixed everything in her home town, it could result in us getting more lore about Moodshadow elves, Rayla's parents, or even Aaravos.
And that they talk, they still can talk and fight and talk apart. Its out of caracter that they not even try to talk. And maybe shee needs to do a traditional moonelf journey to fuigure that our, reconnect with her village and do think about herself, but callum disagrees and really doent want, so that both can be shown reflecting on it. Apart. And he has an actual cultural reason to deal with th recent cvhanges.
And then maybe leave Callum some clues and letters telling him that she’s alright or that she’s doing well and keep in contact but then the letters stop coming which is a sign that she’s either in trouble or she home
Actually, I don't think Callum and Rayla were originally intended to be a couple in Season 1. That developed over time because Aaron Ehasz and his writing team are the kind of writers who let the characters take control of the story. Even they weren't sure what Callum and Rayla's relationship would turn into when they started. It's like the characters took on a life of their own and the writers suddenly had to catch up. George RR Martin has a similar writing technique.
Because woke Hollywood required Rayla to be a strong independant woman. Not only did they have to change the relationship between her and a guy and make her lose her bubbly personality, they even redesigned her to lose much of her femininity. Covered to the neck with clothing that shows no womanly curves at all (that could be a guy at 2:43). Even her new hair style looks like short, manly hair style from many angles.
Yeah, this relationship is bungled. From the backstory that isn't properly explained (go read a related media to become clued in) to the constant and inexplicable failures of communication (it felt as if they weren't even trying because the writers told them not to) and the many weird moments. I agree that it feels as if the writers don't know how to write a functioning romantical relationship so the just reset to will-they-or-won't-they, even though that made no sense. And yeah, we've seen that in other shows. The one thing I disagree with is that this would be the worst part of S4. There are other things that, in my opinion, fail harder.
I have plenty of faith, this is a new saga, which means one part of the story is finished, and season 4 was the beginning of a new saga. And personally, I thought even the first 3 seasons weren't the greatest separately, the best is watching all 3 seasons in 1 setting so the story doesn't feel like it ends awkwardly, same may be said for season 4 onward
it will. at the start of season 4, callum refuses to even talk to rayla, but in the final scenes of the season, he hugs her, indicating that the relationship will come back soon.
If anything Callum was being cold this season, which is understandable. Rayla was being very sweet considering she spent two years on a mission that did nothing. I think it had to take this turn to build up for season 5
I think it would've been better for Rayla to stay behind at the Storm Spire for the past 2 years with her and Callum writing letters but drifted apart since long distance relationships can be difficult
Exactly! But i don't get WHY they had to take away Rayla for TWO YEARS (in TDP time) just for the plot of s4-next upcoming seasons to start.. they could've brought her back sooner, or maybe show us her journey in searching for Viren and then maybe even showing us the reasons for her character's change (in traits, or even her looks change, like a scene where she changed her clothes, or hair to a bun, similar to Mulan vibes.)
I hated the idea of them breaking up and reseting the relationship mainly because to me IT MAKE NO SENSE You could of make thing where there characters grow plus not only that but like it felt like it was unneeded and unwanted drama like they ruin the ship and destory into millions of pecies just to rebuild it like srsly SRSLY. My Rayla x Callum heart was destory and I need to rewatch the other season just for me to get over the fact the damn writers ruin my ship
I think we all agree that the robot of the problem of The Dragon Prince's S4 is that darn Throught the Moon Book. If it never happened, things might have been better in S4...
I think Callum deserves better than a person that can just disappear, throw him and his fillings for some bigger more important stuff without telling. I think they should not get back together.
I liked season 4 but it wasn’t as good as previous seasons and the writers breaking up Calum and Rayla for stupid unnecessary relationship drama was one of the reasons it was soap opera levels of bad and it reminded of me when the writers of avatar didn’t know what do to with Mai and Zukos relationship in the comics so they them broke up over something dumb and then they did a dumb love triangle where Mai has a new boyfriend but still loves Zuko and can’t admit it was soap opera levels of awful and let’s hope they repair Calum and Raylas relationship before they do a dumb love triangle with them too or strain their relationship even farther
I 100% percent agree with you. I had really enjoyed the other three seasons and was looking foreword to the 4th season hoping Rayla and Callum's relationship would keep developing. Lets be honest here, I think that was one of the best parts of the show so far for most people, it definiltey was for me. Their ship was amazing in general and I became invested in it while watching the show. I started the first episode of season 4 the night it released, and 10 minutes in I turned my tv off and never revisited the show again. I was so upset and taken back by the poor writing of the first episode that would go on to establish what the rest of the season would be like for Rayla and Callum that I didn't even want to try watching the rest. Just from the pained lack of communication, mostly from Callum, was so bad in the scene where Rayla came back and saw Callum again for the fisrt time in 2 years. It completely discouraged me from watching the rest of the show because I was convinced that there whole arc would just repeat, and probably be slower than their previous one which I was right about. I'm still bummed because I feel like the show could have been so much better if Wonderstorm put a bit more effort in. When season 5 comes out I think I'll give it a chance but my hopes aren't high.
Hey, are you going to review season 2 of Kung Fu panda dragon knight? I enjoy hearing your views on different shows and animations. Also out of curiosity, if you had a chance to develop the Kung Fu panda dragon knight series, how would you go about it?
Have you read blood moon huntress it's Rayla's culture to leave the ones they love to protect them. Like how her parents left. I Do not know why she left for so long.
I never liked Rayllum. I think I read somewhere that the writers/creators didn't expect Rayllum to be endgame and you can tell. They had so little romantic chemistry in the first two seasons, were rushed together, and now the writers have so little of an idea of how to write them as a couple, that they've been relying on cliches and tropes ever since season 3. Definitely preferred back then when I had hope that main guy and main girl wouldn't be forced into a relationship.
The writers were in rush for season 3 and made rayllum happen too soon. I remember that it got criticised for being too soon. I think that the writers did a bad job by splitting up rayllum off screen. It just add unnessecary drama to the show. Season 4 has the problem that the relationship drama take too much screen time. Look the big bad evil guy can take control of callum. But no lets talk more about relationship issues. I mean we all know that rayllum is endgame, but we dont know how our heroes overcome aaravos. Another thing is that raylas return is not utilized well. Aside from gaining a pet and new clothes she didnt accomplish much. Wouldnt it more interesting if the plot starts moving because rayla delivers the bad message that something goes on in xadia than a dying message from ibis? I mean they set this up with claudia doing some horrible things in the two year time skip.
I feel like if I ever get in the position to make a cartoon (if only), I'm making a list of what the writers are NOT allowed to do for the relationships. 1. No love triangles. 2. If they must have a will they, won't they, make the reasons they don't commit legitimate and understandable (there are more important things going on, low self-esteem prevents them from taking action, its a fantasy series and they're different races and prejudice, etc.) 3. Once they are together, either do not break them up (especially offscreen) or, if you absolutely must, don't get them back together. 4. Whatever issues they have cannot be the result of them not talking to each other.
I think it’s strange how they basically did a repeat of how their relationship began 3 seasons for them to get together Then 3 more seasons for them to get back together I still like their relationship story like for example when Amaya apologizes to Rayla for nearly killing her then suddenly says she will kill her if she breaks Callum’s heart again but the way they did that repeat was a bit weird maybe they just didn’t want to constantly make episodes filled with them kissing or maybe they were just more interested in the gay romances one thing I think would’ve made it better would be if they had a flashback episode of when Rayla left I mean I think we can all agree that it was strange how she left on Callum’s birthday hopefully season 7 gives us a good conclusion
Ngl they should've pulled an owl house, end the plot and add credits to show what happened next with their lives or make a season or something to show their lives afterwards i get aaravos and people wanting to know more but like at what cost do we get the knowledge?
It's annoying. Nothing narrativly was gained by it. The writers just didn't want them to have been in a relationship the last 2 years. Cheap drama in place of real drama. Kinda like the sun elf strife plot.
I watched up to the 3 season when it was still called the dragon prince an then stopped watching it then came back and I needed to find more information an now I look at the comments an I just feel bad for Callum
If they don't show us what Rayla went through on her journey to searching for Viren (even at the comic, they only showed her reason, but it ended with her leaving, without showing what happened to her), maybe they could've make a spin-off of just Rayla searching for Viren.. but it still won't feel complete. I think that the writers messed up a bit. They got new writers (along with the old, i think) for these seasons, and i LOVE this serie, but Rayla's my favourite all time character, and now she just feels...wrong. she feels like a new character. But Callum and Ezran still have their spark, and Rayla is just..blank. now she just feels like Callum's love interest, nothing else. I'm pretty sad.
in my opinion the only good,funny prts of seson 4 was Callum jumping out a window Sorin's reaction was hysterical, Callum being possessed & Rayla getting those coins
damn lot views but only 600 likes uuuuuuh well in the comic they explain why she left but i do think its bad to have off screen explaine in othe media stories
Their relationship always felt super unnatural and awkward to me. It always felt tacked on just to literally make the story more cliche which is weird. But hey I'm in the minority here so as long as everyone is happy I'll go along with it.
Tbf, a relationship established this early in a show will have some conflict in the end. I personally believes it works and rayla already lost her parents and father figure and she knows viren had something to do with it. She wouldnt want to have lost callum as well especially after what she saw in the moon nexus
I didn't read the comic book but from what I saw the art looks cheap and the story is still not convincing. Like it doesn't make sense for Rayla to leave Callum behind after he succesfully took part in the battle at the end of the season 3. He proved himself and she witnessed that. Then she goes away and achieves nothing. And then they meet again, they spend 2 seasons together in this weird friendzone and they don't get one kiss. Not even on the cheek. Maybe writers secretly hate this ship but are afraid of the fandom so they don't finish it off as they secretly wish to?
Because aaron ehasz didn't write it xD bro is a genius writer, i think the writer was george samiliski the guy who made dragon ball evolution the live action...
After avoiding it for a while just due to the topic, I have finally watched this vid cuz I actually DO enjoy your videos on TDP. But allow me to offer a controversial opinion: the fandom is putting way, WAY too much into this relationship. It is NOT the focus of the series. It is a side story. TDP is not a romance. It is an adventure. It is not and SHOULD not follow romance tropes... and honestly, that's way better for me. Romance tropes are awful and usually unhealthy. I actually ENJOYED the state of their relationship in season 4, because - as two TEENAGERS - the state of their relationship was realistic, even though it was still set in a fantasy setting. I am likely older than most of the fandom, and I feel like I need to inform y'all - high school romances that have actually lasted for decades still tend to go through turmoil. More often than not that turmoil tends to disintegrate the relationship, but sometimes they come out the other side stronger. The ones I know of that have actually lasted (into their 40s/50s+?) are going strong... but they still went through some VERY rough periods... and I'm not saying "they had a bad week." The Rayla and Callum relationship is closer to real life than I've seen in most fiction, and y'all should be grateful for it. Two teenagers growing into adulthood without turmoil is completely unrealistic. Young people make crappy decisions, and they also can change dramatically in a period of two years. Kids grow up and change. Usually, they find out they're not compatible anymore. If they're lucky, they'll go through those changes and find out that they ARE still compatible. (And sometimes they will change enough that they will find themselves compatible AGAIN after not being compatible!) But more than anything, I want to reiterate - Callum and Rayla's relationship is NOT the focus of the series, nor should it be. As much as people like it, it isn't the most interesting part of this world... not by a long shot. But even though it's not the most interesting, I'm still fairly interested in it because of how they're handling it... which is to say, they're not handling it with kid gloves. They're making it more real than most fictional relationships I've seen... and I've been around for a while. (Maybe it's worth noting that I was ONLY interested in Rayllum as of season 4 because of what the decisions were?) Their relationship isn't ruined. It's realistic. I'm actually thankful for the glimpse of REALITY in relationships that 99% of shows just don't show. Perfect happiness in romance isn't real (ever), especially when you're not even 20. They bungled nothing. They did it right, and they did it right in a way that I haven't really seen done before. I APPRECIATE how they've handled this relationship. It made me a shipper of them when I wasn't before. While S4 had issues, this relationship absolutely wasn't one of them. These two are still children. Let them treat the relationship like children would.
I say you're valid on your points but anime should be anime and manga should be manga. I came to TH-cam to see what happened in between because I was lost for some reason lol.
Writers always seem to fall back on the “will they won’t they” relationship drama. I’ve seen it in Miraculous Ladybug and Aggretsuko season 4. It’s repetitive and annoying just lessens the characters.
Aggretsuko Season 4 Haida really was disappointing, hell I’m still kinda miffed on how he basically dumped Inui in Season 3 so the writers could have him back to simping for Retsuko again.
@@toadlord8594 all I’m hoping they work something out in season 5. Otherwise Aggretsuko will become a better version of Miraculous ladybug, because at least it treats their side characters with respect.
They also did it with Aang and Katara in ATLA literally the entire series up until the very closing scene. Like why couldn’t they progress their relationship during the show
i hope they dont do it
please just get them togother n just...do stories
Stable relationships are boring in stories.
When Callum asks her to agree to do what's necessary if he's possessed by Aaravos again (and experience which obviously terrified him), she just laughs and dismisses his concerns. That just felt so _wrong_ and out of character.
Yeah
That part made me really angry at her
It makes me wonder if she really does respect him as an equal at all
@@DragonGoddess18 That is irritating, Callum was literally possessed by the series main villain and all the characters an episode later treated it like it’s no big deal. Even Ezran.
It was that point I just kinda gave up and watched the rest of show with nonchalance.
To be honest, i took it as a laugh of 'you can't be serious.' Like take into account, Rayla lost her parents, her adoptive father and the rest of her clan. So the idea that Callum would even suggest her killing him would be laughable.
Idk what the writers were going for but it wasn't accomplished. This is supposed to be her boyfriend, the boy she loves, and when he expresses concerns about Aaravos being able to posses him again and wanting her to kill him, WHY did they think it was a good idea for Rayla to just brush it off? It should have been a somber moment and something she should try to talk him out off. I couldn't image season 1-3 Rayla doing that...oh yeah, that's because they wrote her out of character.
my biggest problem is how she left out of nowhere on his birthday HIS BIRTHDAY. but my second biggest problem is that when she came back she was just so casual about it like she expects callum to still feel the same way about her 2 years later, and while yes he does love her, he needs time to figure out his feelings and what to do next, and she doesn't seem apologetic about it like if they had a few scenes showing Rayla trying to get him a gift or something like that to make it feel like she knows what she did was wrong and she's trying her best to fix things , but instead we have a Rayla who thinks that she could just drop in out of the blue like nothing happened.
In Moonshadow elf culture, leaving to protect your loved ones is encouraged and seen as a good thing
That being said, Callum's not a Moonshadow elf and her childhood is an explanation not an excuse for how she ditched him.
She's gotta learn something she doesn't know and better understand human culture and respect Callum's feelings and boundaries.
Point is,I agree with you
Maybe if they had an episode with Rayla similar to "Zuko Alone", maybe her two year absence could have worked
They didn't and the story fails because of the unnecessary absence
Agreed
Its even weirder considering Aaron Ehasz created this show and was a lead writer on ATLA. Not only that, his wife wrote Zuko Alone. So like, why didnt they do that again? Makes no sense to me
So far, from my experience watching this, the show is amazing when watching the seasons in 1 setting, so when you rematch season 4 right before season 5, it may look quite better afterwards
The "reason" of her absence is that Rayla was searching for Viren, but I agree that it was unnecessary-
Yeah when you hear she left on his birthday you’d think they’d put in a flashback episode
If you've read the graphic novel, "Through the Moon", Rayla leaves because she wants to be sure that Viren was dead. Even in the novel, there were already strains on their relationship. Rayla was stressed by nightmares and she didn't want to lose Callum. Now, all of a sudden, she comes back and seemingly thinks they can pick up where they left off. Relationships, however, can't just be automatically picked up. You can clearly see that the two still love each other, but Rayla's actions really hurt Callum and he needs time to work through the issue with her before he can fully forgive her. So, the two not coming together now might be for the best.
It's good that the graphic novel exists and all, but it's still a bit annoying we have to read a graphic novel to understand the plot of the series
@@IronTrickster That's really the whole point. The novel was written as a plot setup. The other novels explain the lore behind Dragon Prince.
@@acjmonkeyaj7139 You can't require your audience to read supplemental material in order to understand the plot. When evaluating a show, I have a very simple philosophy: If it's not shown on the show itself, it doesn't exist.
@@kylewilson2819 Maybe for some other series that may be true, but one of the graphic novels, "Orphaned Queen", is about the human girl who uncovered Aravos's treachery and she's already been shown in the show itself. Zubeia and Rex Igneous both referenced her. And in season 3 Pheo Pheo, the moon pheonix died, right? In Through the Moon, she's reborn. So the novels are indeed canon and "exist". Your philosophy does not apply to this situation.
@@acjmonkeyaj7139 SHOW DON’T TELL. Universal rule of good writing. If you’re telling me that I have to go read a book to understand wtf is going on, your writing sucks
The most annoying part of the will they won’t they relationships is the fact that the writers KNOW it’s what we want, therefore it’s going to happen in the end. It just seems kinda stupid to do the will they won’t they after they already showed they “will.”
Something I would like to see more often in a series (and this has probably been done before, but to my knowledge is not very common) is having their main romantic couple(s) get together early on in the series or in the first season. Then spend the remaining seasons exploring the couples dynamic once they are actually in an official relationship with each other WITHOUT BREAKING THEM UP. Of course, I feel like this would work best if you communicate to the audience that the characters have known each other for sometime before the events they see on screen. I feel like this would be an interesting approach to take since it kind of forces writers to actually be smart and creative instead of just breaking up their characters once they are together or just ending the series once the goal of starting a relationship has been achieved. And I don't mean the couples can't have conflict. In fact, I would like to see how conflict or issues between the characters would NATURALLY arise in the relationship. But I don't want couples to always get broken up for no reason other than cheap drama.
I know what you mean. A lot of shows usually get the characters together as a finale, or have them together for a few episodes, make a big blow out/break up, then end with them together again.
The only exceptions I can think of at the top of my head is Dragons: Race to the Edge where Hiccup and Astrid got together a few seasons before the end, and had onscreen conflicts, resolutions, conversations, etc. Jim and Claire from Trollhunters also got together pretty early on on the entire series, and they were quite cute together 🥰
THIS. Idk why writers pretend that a) the prospect of two characters getting together is inherently more interesting to the audience than the actual relationship, and b) that the relationship can only be equally engaging with the buildup if there is internal drama and breakups. Why can't we just have functional relationships between interesting characters who are even more interesting together?
Yeap, it's this
Definitely agree. To be honest if shows did this then they could also show more love stories on screen too.
Their growth could be more focused on the plot. Like developing powers, fighting bad guys, running a country, a million other things. While growing too as a couple. But not being as drama heavy as young love stories are.
But there’s other characters in this story. It could for example be really cute if maybe his younger brother has a love story this time. Or whatever, there’s a lot of characters.
But I’d be okay with no young love as well.
To be honest it’s a huge issue to me that the story didn’t become more mature and grown up in this season.
The fact that they’re literally considered old enough now to run a country-even if it’s during a supposed time of peace-that should have been taken much, much more seriously.
They should be appearing more capable than the prior seasons but I actually feel like they’re somehow less capable-it’s beyond bizarre.
But basically they could have had them doing all kinds of interesting things running the country, learning skills, etc. to basically show that young love wasn’t the focus.
But I really wanted to feel the “calm before the storm”-that’s usually a really interesting and kind of exciting time. Because it builds tension.
I was hoping that it would start out peaceful but with some very slight hints of unrest. That would build over time in the season until at the end they realize something is very wrong.
But instead it’s just blah. And weird childish moments and relationship drama. Basically everything possible they could find that is the least interesting aspect of the show.
Fun fact, when Firefly first aired, Fox took issue with Wash and Zoe being married from the beginning, and wanted Joss Whedon to change their dynamic because they thought a healthy couple in a stable relationship wasn't "good drama". Thankfully, Whedon stuck his foot down. He did that with a lot of the studio's proposed changes, and it puts the show's early cancellation into perspective.
how the fuck did they manage to turn rayla from a fan favourite and relatively complex character who people can love and relate to into a stale and infuriating distraction from the main plot who cant seem to even comprehend human emotion in 9 episodes?
i will never understand how they managed to erase 90% of her personality and turn her into the love interest, i really can’t
Different writer not sure why
EXACTLY!!! She doesn't have the same traits that she used to have, and over that, her screen time is lower. Usually now, most of her parts are with Callum, and usually romantic parts. I miss the old Rayla who had more character. It just feels like they were...rebooted.@@chikannnn
Yeah this story was one of the worst parts in season 4. One of the things I appreciated about tdp after season 3 was it’s willingness to have the characters start a relationship well before the series ended. I almost never see shows that do that (in fact I can only think of one other at the moment), and it’s refreshing to see it not dragged out. However, this season just felt exactly like you said: they didn’t know what to do, so they did a poorly introduced reset. And I could talk about this for a very long time, but to keep this short I will end by saying that it was a horrible decision on the writers’ part. While it was an action that made sense for Rayla’s character in some sense (it also doesn’t at the same time), it was horrible for the story and executed so poorly that I can’t really redeem it. Here’s to hoping for a better season 5!
This season Rayla character was cold, and just not like herself. The writers tried to do "darker" waiting. But then they undercut it with jokes for 7 year olds. It felt much much less mature in the last seasons. So much for the first 3 seasons being practice. That bing said I do love this show and I hope they can fix the issues.
Will they Won’t They Relationships are one of the most unrealistic and irritable tropes in television.
The only time I've seen the trope done right was Farscape.
The thing for me is I really can't believe this season took 2 years to make really, with so few episodes, even if someone says it was the art/animation, like idk.
I can understand it. First, they had to wait to get greenlit by Netflix for more seasons, and we all know how that usually turns out. Then a global pandemic hits and affects production. So I can accept a dip in production quality for those reasons. What I can't accept, however, is the poor writing of this season, when the writing should have been the easiest thing to do while working from home, and they had plenty of time to fine-tune it.
I mean I guess could be , could possibly be a Netflix thing, seeing as the canceled (Inside Job) now, still not over that, just can’t believe they let the writing and animation fall that low in 2 years like they still had at least one year after Covid , idk just feel like they didn’t really wanna even do the show anymore or something.
This season was shit. "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" is a good analogy here. At times it felt like the writers were INTENTIONALLY trying to infuriate their own fans.
I get how they wanted to have them understand each other since Callum and Rayla were raised differently and know different things, but a tad bit annoying to see them be mad and not a reason for why she came back.
In my opinion it actually makes a lot of Sense, like Rayla and Callum met each other and got together because they had a similair goal and were in times of war and action, but now they're back in times of peace, so it's understandable it'd be weird for them. And Rayla has been tought that leaving your loved ones to protect them is good, bc we see this exactly done with Rayla's parents. They left Rayla too
She was never taught that that was good though, in fact she hated her parents for abandoning their cause and her, so it makes even less sense for her to do it and show no remorse whatsoever for it!
I couldn't agree more with you.
To me this seems a classical case of, "we have no idea how to make these two characters compelling for four seasons" So they reset the relationship so you as a fan have to come back to check the series even if there is nothing compelling there outside of your emotional attachment to the pair.
Why else tip toe around the issue instead of actually resolving it? That way they can pan out the damm conflict 4 seasons instead of you know having to think about how to make them grow throughout them.
Jesus this is such a sore point for me. It actually makes me angry. Very few times I remember getting angry at a series for making a decision regarding their characters. They actively ruined one of their best work!
Will they won’t they relationships are one of the most tiring tropes these days, mostly because it keeps repeating like if it were realistic. It isn’t.
They had the perfect opportunity to write Rayla and Callum in an established relationship in season 4, having their romance tested by the volatile social and political climate. Instead, they decided to butcher their relationship and use Amaya and Janai to fulfill that role instead --- which I didn't hate, but the Amaya/Janai subplot was so disconnected from the main story that it didn't feel necessary.
I read the comic where Rayla leaves, and while I wasn't a huge fan, I thought there was potential. I genuinely thought based on the marketing around season four that either the season was going to be focused either on the search for Rayla, OR she was going to come back needing help from Callum and Ezran, and that would be the call to action needed to get them started on a new journey.
I was shocked that they had Rayla just casually return conveniently before the action was set to start without a single thing to show for her travels. She came back with nothing --- no leads on Viren or on her family. Which says to me that the ONLY narrative purpose for Rayla leaving was to break up her and Callum, and imo that's really weak writing. Then they spent the entire season hardly speaking to each other --- and even though we got a little hug at the end, they never had an open and honest conversation once about how they felt. It was incredibly dissatisfying and did a disservice not only to their relationship, but their individual characters as well.
In general, Rayla is one of my favorite characters on the show and the one I was looking forward to seeing the most. But she hardly had anything interesting to do all season and it greatly disappointed me. I hope the writers start getting their footing back in season 5.
Rayla's only lucky that Callum DIDN'T move on to someone else. Regardless of her intentions, ditching Callum on his birthday is a dick move. Whether she likes it or not, intentions don't always matter
Maybe if that happened,she would understand that there are consequences to her actions
She treated him like a Moonshadow elf when she should have treated Callum like a human and an equal partner. She also treats his feelings like they're no big deal.
You're right,Smarty Pants. What happened to Rayla is character assassination and she does need to properly own up. Her apologizing to Ezran instead of Callum felt very insulting. Speaking of Ezran, he's not as good of a relationship counselor as he thinks he is and more importantly,their relationship is essentially none of his business
I’m kind of okay with it being like this, cause if you read the books and you listen clearly to Callum, Rayla left to find Viren on his birthday, only leaving a note, not even saying goodbye. So I kind of would been upset and confused if Callum just straight forgave Rayla cause I would be mad too if my lover left me all of sudden too. And Rayla never kept in contact with any of them while she was gone, so like in the series Callum thought she was dead or never coming back, so of course he would have conflicted feelings on how to feel, angry, sad, happy….all I’m trying to say is, I feel like this is the growth they need for their relationship and I’m fine with it. In just glad they didn’t make it the main vocal point of Season 4, especially since we waited 2 years or so for it.
It's annoying they writers wrote it that she just leaves on his birthday its just unnecessary drama.
@@gadio16I will agree with that, that I was definitely unnecessary, they could have chosen any other day but you know…✨ANGST✨
I agree that callum forgiving her so quickly would be weird but i dont think people are having a hard time with how callum reacted to it i think people including me are confused and hate the way rayla came back as if her leaving suddenly for 2 years is just a little oopsie and not a huge mistake and that she cant expect callum to be the same person especially since 2 years in teenage life can change so much of a person's personality
"If you read the books-"
That's the problem. Important plotlines shouldn't be kept in supplementary material, it should be in the source material. If you need to read books to understand the plot of the show, the writers have failed to tell it effectively.
Ghosting for 3 weeks is rude. Ghosting for three years no contact? Especially when elves have that convenient express mail service where they just shoot an arrow in the sky and it gets delivered? Easy to assume she died. If I wrote this, Rayla would return and Callum would have a different girlfriend by then because yeah that’s what would happen.
Honestly.
Like Callum's reaction to seeing Rayla is very tame. If I was in his position I would be throwing hands and kicking her out of the castle.
And the fact that she didn't even give them time to prepare for her departure doesn't help.
Like Jesus, you couldn't have told everyone "Hey, I'll be leaving to fight Viren in the dream world in a week" so you know, everyone has the chance to say a proper goodbye to you.
I know that Rayla is reckless and sometimes a bit rude, but this is a bit much.
Yeah
I would like to see that in a Dragon Prince "What If...?" Series. It worked for Marvel,why wouldn't it work for Dragon Prince
I don't think Rayla really understands that how what she did to Callum was wrong. Sure, leaving to protect your loved ones is a good thing in Moonshadow elf culture but here's the thing: Callum's not a Moonshadow elf and her culture is not the only culture that exists in the Dragon Prince universe. She wants to be a part of his life? Then she has to understand both human culture and the culture of Katolis so she doesn't stomp boundaries like that.
As someone who grew up in South East Asia, a lot of the tv shows I used to watch in Television that has romance that practically that did the same thing, it wasn't good but the shows were released practically everyday in the course of a few months. It added tension but it wasn't the best. The will they won't they got Tiring especially when time skips would occur and literally throw will they won't theys despite everyone knowing it's bull
I bring that up since what if you do this, in a series with world building to be concerned about. See the fracturing of their relationship didn't just affect them, it effectively also took a toll to the characters around them, but it honestly could've been fine had we seen an immediate aftermath from the end of the comic, where we see Callum desperately coming to terms, Rayla being missing, what it would be like for these two individuals who got so close, yet so far. The time skip ruins this since it's hard to get to share their perspectives, enough time has passed for them to feel like entirely different people not only to the audience, but each other. So it feels like we are starting on some half way point that just feels lost and contrived.
I absolutely wouldn't have been upset if the broken relationship had developed in an interesting way and been explored in the series. Maybe Callum and Rayla were naive teens who mainly loved the ideals that the other represented during their stressful adventure, but simply didn't function as a couple. Maybe they split up with bad blood, went on to pursue their own paths and make new friends and now have to find it in their hearts to trust each other again. (tying into the theme of overcoming the past for a better present and future) What I do not want is a question of whether Callum and Rayla will come back together, especially if it's handled like in season 4, where it doesn't have any plot relevance and they just don't talk to each other for a while, essentially pausing this issue.
That's a general problem of the season though, it felt like filler with almost nothing changing significantly in the story.
Rayla is kinda like my dad, leaves to find the milk and comes back when no longer needed
It was rough. It could have been OK if they had animated the through the moon tie in book as a series of flashbacks - perhaps replacing or alternating with the janai/amaya b plot.
I agree it was a bad decision from the get go though. I would have preferred if both callum and rayla had left together and left ezran behind. S4 could then have reintroduced callum first as a gandalf esque entrance returning to katolis. Rayla could have reappeared a little later.
Could even have opened more tie in books that way to chronicle their adventures on their own.
They could've easily created drama by callum maybe using dark magic secretly because he doesn't want to lose her, her finding out, big fight, promise, fixing the relationship slowly, he leaves to the sky pillar to get stronger, she's hurt but understands, they have a time skip break, they return, many up, aravvos influences Callum, he asks rayla to kill him if he's possessed, he is, she doesn't, they kiss, he's free.
Many people say that " Oh writers are afraid to do relationships" but I gave writers the benefit of the doubt because the show this was said were in fact bad written or bad concluded. But you can't defend this, I'm not a super fan of this series but even I felt this was a backstabbing and a step back by a million. They knew how to biuld a relationship but did not knew how to maintain it, which ironically could have been a character arc for Callum and Raylla that season
Why did they do this? Its Miraculous all Over again!
I used to ship them so hard until this season came out. I think I'm just gonna ignore it exists and pretend like season 1-3 is what their relationship is still like :(
Honestly if they wanted Rayla to leave, I think it would've made more sense if they did something similar to what Toradora did with Taiga right at the end.
That being that she goes away to fix her village.
That would make sense since as far as we know, she's still banned from her village. And considering how the moodshadow elves are like, I could buy that Rayla would need to be on her own for that.
Another factor could be that seeing as Callum and Ezran are royalty, maybe they were both just unable to leave their town to visit Rayla because of everything that has happened.
Plus if Rayla fixed everything in her home town, it could result in us getting more lore about Moodshadow elves, Rayla's parents, or even Aaravos.
And that they talk, they still can talk and fight and talk apart. Its out of caracter that they not even try to talk.
And maybe shee needs to do a traditional moonelf journey to fuigure that our, reconnect with her village and do think about herself, but callum disagrees and really doent want, so that both can be shown reflecting on it. Apart. And he has an actual cultural reason to deal with th recent cvhanges.
I hope season 5 isn’t like this they must have a big TALK and for the reason she came back after 2 years
MLB writers watching this: "Folks, we know what we should do to Adrienette!"
And then maybe leave Callum some clues and letters telling him that she’s alright or that she’s doing well and keep in contact but then the letters stop coming which is a sign that she’s either in trouble or she home
I first liked them saying but then now that I think about it, them dating comes out of nowhere and it doesn’t bring anything to the characters
I was really looking forward to this season, and honestly the trailer seemed more interesting then what we got imo
Actually, I don't think Callum and Rayla were originally intended to be a couple in Season 1. That developed over time because Aaron Ehasz and his writing team are the kind of writers who let the characters take control of the story. Even they weren't sure what Callum and Rayla's relationship would turn into when they started. It's like the characters took on a life of their own and the writers suddenly had to catch up. George RR Martin has a similar writing technique.
Because woke Hollywood required Rayla to be a strong independant woman. Not only did they have to change the relationship between her and a guy and make her lose her bubbly personality, they even redesigned her to lose much of her femininity. Covered to the neck with clothing that shows no womanly curves at all (that could be a guy at 2:43). Even her new hair style looks like short, manly hair style from many angles.
I felt like if their was a scene or scenes of Rayla explaining to Callum or Soren or Ezran why she left and had to see if Viren is still alive.
That's what writers always do, they have a perfect character love relationship and frick it up by next time they show up again
Yeah, this relationship is bungled. From the backstory that isn't properly explained (go read a related media to become clued in) to the constant and inexplicable failures of communication (it felt as if they weren't even trying because the writers told them not to) and the many weird moments.
I agree that it feels as if the writers don't know how to write a functioning romantical relationship so the just reset to will-they-or-won't-they, even though that made no sense. And yeah, we've seen that in other shows.
The one thing I disagree with is that this would be the worst part of S4. There are other things that, in my opinion, fail harder.
I hope season 5 would save this.
I have plenty of faith, this is a new saga, which means one part of the story is finished, and season 4 was the beginning of a new saga. And personally, I thought even the first 3 seasons weren't the greatest separately, the best is watching all 3 seasons in 1 setting so the story doesn't feel like it ends awkwardly, same may be said for season 4 onward
it will. at the start of season 4, callum refuses to even talk to rayla, but in the final scenes of the season, he hugs her, indicating that the relationship will come back soon.
If anything Callum was being cold this season, which is understandable. Rayla was being very sweet considering she spent two years on a mission that did nothing. I think it had to take this turn to build up for season 5
I think it would've been better for Rayla to stay behind at the Storm Spire for the past 2 years with her and Callum writing letters but drifted apart since long distance relationships can be difficult
Exactly! But i don't get WHY they had to take away Rayla for TWO YEARS (in TDP time) just for the plot of s4-next upcoming seasons to start.. they could've brought her back sooner, or maybe show us her journey in searching for Viren and then maybe even showing us the reasons for her character's change (in traits, or even her looks change, like a scene where she changed her clothes, or hair to a bun, similar to Mulan vibes.)
I hated the idea of them breaking up and reseting the relationship mainly because to me IT MAKE NO SENSE You could of make thing where there characters grow plus not only that but like it felt like it was unneeded and unwanted drama like they ruin the ship and destory into millions of pecies just to rebuild it like srsly SRSLY. My Rayla x Callum heart was destory and I need to rewatch the other season just for me to get over the fact the damn writers ruin my ship
I think we all agree that the robot of the problem of The Dragon Prince's S4 is that darn Throught the Moon Book. If it never happened, things might have been better in S4...
rayla had far more chemistry with soren in season 4 and 5
you and i have the same exact opinion
Give us back what we earned!
I think Callum deserves better than a person that can just disappear, throw him and his fillings for some bigger more important stuff without telling. I think they should not get back together.
You make some very valid points.
I don’t really care about the aunt’s relationship. If Raylum was still a thing. Marriage would be possible for them
I liked season 4 but it wasn’t as good as previous seasons and the writers breaking up Calum and Rayla for stupid unnecessary relationship drama was one of the reasons it was soap opera levels of bad and it reminded of me when the writers of avatar didn’t know what do to with Mai and Zukos relationship in the comics so they them broke up over something dumb and then they did a dumb love triangle where Mai has a new boyfriend but still loves Zuko and can’t admit it was soap opera levels of awful and let’s hope they repair Calum and Raylas relationship before they do a dumb love triangle with them too or strain their relationship even farther
Will you ever make a Q&A video?
I 100% percent agree with you. I had really enjoyed the other three seasons and was looking foreword to the 4th season hoping Rayla and Callum's relationship would keep developing. Lets be honest here, I think that was one of the best parts of the show so far for most people, it definiltey was for me. Their ship was amazing in general and I became invested in it while watching the show. I started the first episode of season 4 the night it released, and 10 minutes in I turned my tv off and never revisited the show again. I was so upset and taken back by the poor writing of the first episode that would go on to establish what the rest of the season would be like for Rayla and Callum that I didn't even want to try watching the rest. Just from the pained lack of communication, mostly from Callum, was so bad in the scene where Rayla came back and saw Callum again for the fisrt time in 2 years. It completely discouraged me from watching the rest of the show because I was convinced that there whole arc would just repeat, and probably be slower than their previous one which I was right about. I'm still bummed because I feel like the show could have been so much better if Wonderstorm put a bit more effort in. When season 5 comes out I think I'll give it a chance but my hopes aren't high.
even though this season was horrible, I still want another one, I think its salvageable
Hey, are you going to review season 2 of Kung Fu panda dragon knight? I enjoy hearing your views on different shows and animations. Also out of curiosity, if you had a chance to develop the Kung Fu panda dragon knight series, how would you go about it?
Have you read blood moon huntress it's Rayla's culture to leave the ones they love to protect them. Like how her parents left. I Do not know why she left for so long.
The cov made a great video about why rayllum is great in s4 and s5
I never liked Rayllum. I think I read somewhere that the writers/creators didn't expect Rayllum to be endgame and you can tell. They had so little romantic chemistry in the first two seasons, were rushed together, and now the writers have so little of an idea of how to write them as a couple, that they've been relying on cliches and tropes ever since season 3. Definitely preferred back then when I had hope that main guy and main girl wouldn't be forced into a relationship.
It's not your fault that you have bad taste and suck at reading "chemistry"
And they gave us that cringe homosexual relationship between Amaya and Janna. I hated that!
Ikr
@Maryam Salah Not to mention it was forced! Even if the elf was male, it would have still been a forced romance.
The writers were in rush for season 3 and made rayllum happen too soon. I remember that it got criticised for being too soon. I think that the writers did a bad job by splitting up rayllum off screen. It just add unnessecary drama to the show. Season 4 has the problem that the relationship drama take too much screen time. Look the big bad evil guy can take control of callum. But no lets talk more about relationship issues. I mean we all know that rayllum is endgame, but we dont know how our heroes overcome aaravos.
Another thing is that raylas return is not utilized well. Aside from gaining a pet and new clothes she didnt accomplish much. Wouldnt it more interesting if the plot starts moving because rayla delivers the bad message that something goes on in xadia than a dying message from ibis? I mean they set this up with claudia doing some horrible things in the two year time skip.
I think their relation was the best thing about this series, now it is like they barely know each other…
I feel like if I ever get in the position to make a cartoon (if only), I'm making a list of what the writers are NOT allowed to do for the relationships.
1. No love triangles.
2. If they must have a will they, won't they, make the reasons they don't commit legitimate and understandable (there are more important things going on, low self-esteem prevents them from taking action, its a fantasy series and they're different races and prejudice, etc.)
3. Once they are together, either do not break them up (especially offscreen) or, if you absolutely must, don't get them back together.
4. Whatever issues they have cannot be the result of them not talking to each other.
Right next to him
Maybe it would have made sense if they mentioned rayla leaving at the end of season 3 🤷
How do u have 68k subs
I think it’s strange how they basically did a repeat of how their relationship began
3 seasons for them to get together
Then 3 more seasons for them to get back together
I still like their relationship story like for example when Amaya apologizes to Rayla for nearly killing her then suddenly says she will kill her if she breaks Callum’s heart again but the way they did that repeat was a bit weird maybe they just didn’t want to constantly make episodes filled with them kissing or maybe they were just more interested in the gay romances one thing I think would’ve made it better would be if they had a flashback episode of when Rayla left I mean I think we can all agree that it was strange how she left on Callum’s birthday hopefully season 7 gives us a good conclusion
Ngl they should've pulled an owl house, end the plot and add credits to show what happened next with their lives or make a season or something to show their lives afterwards i get aaravos and people wanting to know more but like at what cost do we get the knowledge?
It's annoying. Nothing narrativly was gained by it. The writers just didn't want them to have been in a relationship the last 2 years. Cheap drama in place of real drama. Kinda like the sun elf strife plot.
I watched up to the 3 season when it was still called the dragon prince an then stopped watching it then came back and I needed to find more information an now I look at the comments an I just feel bad for Callum
If they don't show us what Rayla went through on her journey to searching for Viren (even at the comic, they only showed her reason, but it ended with her leaving, without showing what happened to her), maybe they could've make a spin-off of just Rayla searching for Viren.. but it still won't feel complete. I think that the writers messed up a bit. They got new writers (along with the old, i think) for these seasons, and i LOVE this serie, but Rayla's my favourite all time character, and now she just feels...wrong. she feels like a new character. But Callum and Ezran still have their spark, and Rayla is just..blank. now she just feels like Callum's love interest, nothing else. I'm pretty sad.
in my opinion the only good,funny prts of seson 4 was Callum jumping out a window Sorin's reaction was hysterical, Callum being possessed & Rayla getting those coins
damn
lot views but only 600 likes uuuuuuh
well in the comic they explain why she left
but i do think its bad to have off screen explaine in othe media stories
Their relationship always felt super unnatural and awkward to me. It always felt tacked on just to literally make the story more cliche which is weird. But hey I'm in the minority here so as long as everyone is happy I'll go along with it.
Cool
i just really hope later season are way better season 4 was made during covid and proberply why season 4 was a bit meh
Tbf, a relationship established this early in a show will have some conflict in the end. I personally believes it works and rayla already lost her parents and father figure and she knows viren had something to do with it. She wouldnt want to have lost callum as well especially after what she saw in the moon nexus
I didn't read the comic book but from what I saw the art looks cheap and the story is still not convincing. Like it doesn't make sense for Rayla to leave Callum behind after he succesfully took part in the battle at the end of the season 3. He proved himself and she witnessed that.
Then she goes away and achieves nothing.
And then they meet again, they spend 2 seasons together in this weird friendzone and they don't get one kiss. Not even on the cheek. Maybe writers secretly hate this ship but are afraid of the fandom so they don't finish it off as they secretly wish to?
Because aaron ehasz didn't write it xD bro is a genius writer, i think the writer was george samiliski the guy who made dragon ball evolution the live action...
3:54 she had PTSD. But yeah they could have made it better in s4
After avoiding it for a while just due to the topic, I have finally watched this vid cuz I actually DO enjoy your videos on TDP.
But allow me to offer a controversial opinion: the fandom is putting way, WAY too much into this relationship. It is NOT the focus of the series. It is a side story. TDP is not a romance. It is an adventure. It is not and SHOULD not follow romance tropes... and honestly, that's way better for me. Romance tropes are awful and usually unhealthy.
I actually ENJOYED the state of their relationship in season 4, because - as two TEENAGERS - the state of their relationship was realistic, even though it was still set in a fantasy setting. I am likely older than most of the fandom, and I feel like I need to inform y'all - high school romances that have actually lasted for decades still tend to go through turmoil. More often than not that turmoil tends to disintegrate the relationship, but sometimes they come out the other side stronger. The ones I know of that have actually lasted (into their 40s/50s+?) are going strong... but they still went through some VERY rough periods... and I'm not saying "they had a bad week." The Rayla and Callum relationship is closer to real life than I've seen in most fiction, and y'all should be grateful for it.
Two teenagers growing into adulthood without turmoil is completely unrealistic. Young people make crappy decisions, and they also can change dramatically in a period of two years. Kids grow up and change. Usually, they find out they're not compatible anymore. If they're lucky, they'll go through those changes and find out that they ARE still compatible. (And sometimes they will change enough that they will find themselves compatible AGAIN after not being compatible!)
But more than anything, I want to reiterate - Callum and Rayla's relationship is NOT the focus of the series, nor should it be. As much as people like it, it isn't the most interesting part of this world... not by a long shot. But even though it's not the most interesting, I'm still fairly interested in it because of how they're handling it... which is to say, they're not handling it with kid gloves. They're making it more real than most fictional relationships I've seen... and I've been around for a while. (Maybe it's worth noting that I was ONLY interested in Rayllum as of season 4 because of what the decisions were?)
Their relationship isn't ruined. It's realistic. I'm actually thankful for the glimpse of REALITY in relationships that 99% of shows just don't show. Perfect happiness in romance isn't real (ever), especially when you're not even 20. They bungled nothing. They did it right, and they did it right in a way that I haven't really seen done before. I APPRECIATE how they've handled this relationship. It made me a shipper of them when I wasn't before.
While S4 had issues, this relationship absolutely wasn't one of them. These two are still children. Let them treat the relationship like children would.
I Left get milk son
They didn’t ruin it it’s called character growth
I say you're valid on your points but anime should be anime and manga should be manga. I came to TH-cam to see what happened in between because I was lost for some reason lol.
Expecting a girl to behave reasonably, let alone teenage one... ahem... Did you ever had a girlfriend? xD
First
They saved Rayllum in S5 tbh
Reeks of woke propaganda