The Dragon Prince Season 5: Course Correction
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Oh yeah, another season of The Dragon Prince has come and gone. And, for the most part i'm actually rather happy with it. It was certainly an improvement on the last season at the very least. And so, I guess there is nothing else for it but to start talking about why. Enjoy.
Weird they added in the baby glow toads. Feels like the cast keeps adding in new pet characters like their Pokémon.
It like the writers REALLY want all these pets to be the next “Appa and Momo” of ATLA so badly, but in truth they add a bit too many mascot pets that were supposed to love them all when we could’ve been fine with just Bait and Zym.
Bait and Zym aren’t the most memorable animal mascots/ companions to our main cast but they’re decent enough
Gotta catch em all
But in all seriousness, i think it was so they would have a reason for finnegan to chase them down, i dont think adding pets specifically was the best idea but well, im just happy its not like s4
They were cute though, so I don't mind letting that slide personally
They add way too much pets... It even becomes unpractical in writing, I mean, at this point they just take Bait to adventures for the sake of it?? There really isn't any reason for them to keep bringing him into danger...
I mean Bait saved them? With his lightning?
I really liked Viren's whole psychological horror purgatory nightmare arc. Especially when they just straight up pulled a Twin Peaks. It was so cool.
Viren was the MVP of the season for me as he laments how he's lost his best friend, his son hates him, and he realized that he's likely set his daughter on the path to self destruction.
What is twin peaks?
@@oldomen3788 Twin Peaks is a kind of surreal horror/murder mystery series directed by David Lynch. It aired between 1990-91. It is considered a cult classic. It is very weird, but I would definitly recommend if you're into that sort of thing. What I was talking talking about in my comment above is the scene where Viren enters this red room in his dream and people speak backwards, there's that thing dancing and Opelie has a log... Those are all very clear references to Twin Peaks and I was very excited when I saw them.
@@dragonstormx Do you think that Soren and Viren will reconcile?
Finally someone said it, I completely agree rayla should have apologized to Callum for leaving for two years. On his birthday
The worst part is some fans feel like she doesn't need to verbally apologize.
Almost as if they love the "idea" of Rayla
out of all my problems with season 4 (and there are MANY) this was the biggest one for me. it felt so wrong that she didn’t have to apologize to him for that. she barely even acknowledged it. the rest of the _cast_ barely acknowledges it. it could just be me but there were points where it felt like everyone was just wanting him to forgive her and move on (with the one exception of soren.) it was so painful to watch 😭 especially the way the writing of the season treats him like he’s in the wrong for being upset with her. she owes him a MAJOR apology but unfortunately doesn’t look like she’s going to have to do anything like that
admittedly related to callum a lot in season 4 and rayla not having to apologize for what she did definitely ticked me off lmao. but what almost made me more upset was seeing people talk about the season after it dropped because they were _also_ ignoring it. almost no one mentioned that rayla left everyone for two years and didn’t even apologize. i literally rewatched the season after a few days to see if i missed some sort of part where she did because i thought i was going crazy 😭
also, like you said, ON HIS BIRTHDAY. yikes
sorry for the length
@@shinonomeakt no need to apologize, I also reread the book to fact check and what's even more messed up is that she gaslighted him into believing the would travel together
@@jeronimopuche8072 agh that’s even worse 😭😭 i don’t have access to the book and was hoping maybe there was some context in it i was missing that would make all of this better but… wow
@@DragonGoddess18 God the fact that she STILL hasn’t given a straight up apology for freaking leaving him for TWO. YEARS. On his BIRTHDAY, and the writers feel like she doesn’t have to Say the words “I’m Sorry Callum” straight to his face is really unfair to Callum’s feelings.
The Closest thing she gets is Aunt Amaya delivering some Righteous Mama Bear action towards Rayla for her actions.
Season 5 was pretty solid but the one thing that annoyed the hell out of me was Ezran literally getting everyone on the team almost killed just for 3 baby glow toads😭. I mean he stole them and didn’t expect the most dangerous pirate in xadia to want them back?? His Brother gets tortured along with close friends Rayla and Soren and no one calls him out, crazy
ya it would have made more sense if Rayla warned everyone to just blend in and not draw Finnergrim's attention since Ezran is a King and Callum is a powerful mage, only for Finnergrim to find out anyway and hunt them down
I was weirded out that everyone else went along with his plan without even knowing what they were stealing. That made no sense and it made them all look like idiots. Ezran, I could see making that kind of rash decision because of his compassion for animals, but Rayla at the very least should have stopped everyone to consider the potential consequences, since it was implied that she knew who Finnegrin was and that he was dangerous.
@@TheDarkLordoftheSiffagree 100 %
The only reason I think ezran is justified is because you have to remember that he can talk to Animals. And from the context clues in the show, when he talk to Animals it's indistinguishable from talking to a human, ergo to ezran Animal lives have the same value as human lives. So him leaving the glow tadpoles to die would be like leaving human infants to die.
@@shredx7169 that’s a good point but given we the audience don’t know if Finnigan actually stole the glow toads, Ezran shouldn’t be stealing someone else’s property, especially someone who he was warned was dangerous. Just because he’s the king of Katolis doesn’t mean everyone should do what he wants .
are we gonna ignore the fact that they literally found the prison? aaravos may not be free just yet, but like, they are gonna be literally carrying him around with them. thats gonna be stressful mannnn
Hopefully there are some consequences to having it and it doesn't just stay a macguffin
I think he's gonna get out and get to Claudia
The Star Arcanum can bend reality and I think he'll get back to her quicker than anyone can blink
i was literally screaming at the tv ‘WHY ARE YOU BRINGING IT WITH YOU AAAAAA’
@@feralcowb0y92 fr. Who's thought process thinks carrying around Satan's cage is a good idea
I thought so too im the beginning, but on the other hand could they really leave the prison in that lake? If she searched the lake, eventually Claudia would find it. She just has to open a shell. It's not that hard. So in conclusion taking it is dumb but leaving it there is even dumber.
The worst thing about the sunfire elf plot is how easy it would have been to make it plot relevant. Just make it clear that Aaravos was manipulating Karim into stirring up a conflict to distract the arch dragons from his return. We know he targets mages and starts wars to benefit himself, this would be a great opportunity to show that again and the fact that he was aware of the situation with the sunfire elves and humans would cause the audience to question how much he sees and put into perspective just how dangerous he is. I mean we already saw that in the first 3 seasons but since it has been 4 years and they're using him less now it would be a good idea to make his influence seem further once again. Unfortunately I think the storyline is past the point where they could have introduced that in a believable way, missed opportunity
Well we have the sunfire priest that was bitten by aaravos worm in s3 and is now following karim...
@@kalzium8857 I forgot that!
@@kalzium8857 oh thats what that wound was? Okay that makes sense, but i think the karim plot of the season actually started going somewhere, trying to get sol regem back to his prime is i think a cool element to the story, and if we got that, who knows what wouldve happened, it could spark another war between humans and dragons
@@patrickzalatoris3206 I thought this season we will see Raylas story more she doesn’t feel like the Main character anymore. They are too obsessed with the other side characters and ruined Raylas character. She even was a better character than Katara from Atla. In the next season I wanna see more of her and Callum they are the main character and couple.
@@Melis-dz8ey I'm sure we will, but we also have the reflections short stories, and one of them is a 3 parter that focuses on raylas journey
When I saw the monster eating the horse.... I audibly gasped. And then they did it TWICE!
Oh and by the way, did you liked this fifth season ? I really hope so..
I liked it, I binged the whole season, lol
The worse thing I think is that twice horses died with nobody caring at all, whilelater in the show, the protagonist do not hesitate to put their utmost important mission in great danger just to save three little glowing baby frogs from smugglers... In a place full of smugglers
@@spaceking36Seriously. Who cares about the baitlongs? This sounds really bad writing it, but I hope they get squashed or something next season
S5 SPOILERS:
This season was very frustrating, in my opinion. It was annoying to see questionable
character choices that seemed only to be there to force the plot forwards.
For example: Callum's obsession with books and helping Rayla at the wrong time keeping the group at the bookery for longer than necessary. It was frustrating because they could always come back the following day, or sometime in the future. Right? I understand he wanted to help Rayla and they were on a time crunch to stop Claudia from reaching Aaravos, but putting everyone in danger ended up being his fault. Rayla, Amaya, the Sunfire cleric, Gren, Callum, Zubea, Ezran, Zym, Soren, Corvus, and the Dragon Queen ZUBEA was put in danger because of Callum’s arrogance.
Don't get me wrong, the stress of the situation and tension of the rest of the episode was one of my favorites in the entire series because you didn't know what would happen. The stakes were high, but I felt they could have written why the group was stuck in the situation very differently and much more purposefully.
Another example of questionable character choices was when Ezran stole the glow-toad tadpoles. It struck me as very arrogant, stupid, and un-kingly. It also felt as if they only did it to give the Pirate Captain a reason to hunt them down. I believe it would have been more compelling if the captain just hunted down the group for Bait after Ezran refused to sell him, cause, ya know, HE’S A PIRATE! Then after everything settles (because the capture of the group was well done), the baby glow-toads’ freedom would feel like they had won a reward alongside defeating the pirate captain.
Last but not least, RIP Rayla for pulling a Thor from infinity war and not going for the head in the final episode... Smh. If someone was strangling my friend or family with monstrous octopus legs that could suffocate them, why would I hesitate by shooting their leg to free my friends? I would just take out the threat if I had the accuracy Rayla had at the end, literally hitting the legs just left of Ezran. Plus, then you get rid of at least one of the dark mages trying to release the great evil. I mean, she wanted to kill Viren and truly end the threat of his presence, but Claudia isn’t on her list? If the writers went with this darker route, it would have carried much more severe consequences and much heavier decisions for Viren and Terry to explore. It would give Viren a reason to continue down his dark path, or it could be the reason Viren doesn’t use the butterfly thing to revive himself, but instead uses it for Claudia. If he did that, then it could be used as the tipping point for Claudia becoming the villain of the show and she could be much more dangerous because of how much more unpredictable and manipulative she is.
Regarding Nyx, I felt like she was there exclusively for a ‘cameo appearance’, so to speak. She did absolutely nothing to change or alter the plot whatsoever and only gave me reasons to dislike her. They could have given all of her lines to Rayla, who in the two years she was absent, was involved with the pirate port and came to learn about it. It was disappointing because of how well done they wrote Sol Regem back into the story and how they used his presence to give the Sunfire elf prince a reason to continue his treasonous actions. With Nyx, there was no real reason for her to be there. I would have just enjoyed the blind pirate alone so much more.
Regarding Rayla, I am upset that the writers are overlooking her decision to leave for two years and the impact it had on her relationships. I’m frustrated there hasn’t been an apology either, or an explanation to Callum to widen his understanding of Rayla’s culture and how she was raised. They developed Rayla’s horizon’s with Amaya’s scolding, but they never developed Callum’s understanding of the Elven culture. Everyone in the Moonshadow elf village ‘left’ their loved ones to protect them (Rayla experienced it with her parents leaving for the dragon guard), and that was seen as ‘an act of love’ in their culture. It would open up reasons to explore the different cultures, similar to the starry night scene with the two of them or similar to Amaya’s time with Rayla. They were able to show differences in cultures in that manner and I feel as if more screen time dedicated to understanding the two different cultures would be beneficial. They could even explore that using the sunfire elf story.
Speaking of the Sunfire elves, I feel indifferent on the story they’re trying to tell. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. I think the issue is that it’s not relevant enough to the threat of Aaravos. Sure, I understand that Aaravos caused their predicament, but the consequences have been mostly hidden from the viewer until the bookery episode; but the issue was that the devastation to the sunfire elves was still not fully shown to the viewers. Imagine if they showed more than just glimpses of what Aaravos’s destructive nature caused.
I also believe that a few episodes could be completely restructured or removed entirely and replaced. I mean think about it - is episode one even necessary? You can learn of Ezran’s mission another time and could use an entire episode to explore Callum and Rayla’s relationship because of Rayla going behind Callum’s back and stealing the key. I hated how Callum reacted to that situation. I hated that Rayla didn’t just ask if she could explore the dark mage tunnels because Callum would have totally just gone with her and let her. The writers could have explored that!
Finally, I wish they didn’t jump around the different plot points as much. Sometimes, it felt like I saw story A for 5 minutes, story B for 2, story C for 8, Story A for 2, Story B for 5, story B for 2, then the episode ended.
And that’s about all I have to say about that.
can they please make you a writer on the show 😭
@@chikannnnyes please write the show 🙏🏽
First, please be a writer for the show. They need someone like you
Second, I think Rayla won't kill Claudia because she remembers that Claudia was Ezran and Callum's childhood friend for ten years. If Rayla does kill Claudia,there is a good chance that either Ezran,Callum,Soren or all three of them will resent Rayla for the rest of their lives. Ezran may be a very forgiving person but I think there are some things that he won't forgive. Soren, obviously, because he loves his sister in spite of what's going on. Callum, I think he does care about Claudia as a friend but is a tad "iffy" about her even before their fight in the season 5 finale. Claudia probably will get redeemed but I think part of that has to do with Rayla (maybe)
I agree with you on all of this. My only thought is on the sunfire elves plotline is that I think that situation is still being manipulated by Aaravos since we saw the priest he possessed with the caterpillar bite return and support Karim, with emphasis on the bite still being there. It makes me think that giving Sol Regem his sight back and starting a new power struggle for king of the dragons is part of Aaravos's plan to divide and conquer his enemies.
But if that's the case, they are still handling that part of the story pretty poorly and could have given it a lot more gravity by revealing sooner the problem with Luxauria (sorry idk how to spell it) and revealing Aaravos's involvement in the continuing conflict sooner instead of just hinting at it. All last season I kept wondering what was actually wrong that the sunfire elves couldn't go back to their city, but they never explained it until that great bookery episode this season, it was waaaay too long a wait for information like that.
It's like people forget the first 2 seasons of the dragon Prince, nothing really happened, it wasn't until the last 3 episodes that anything truly happened. Everything else was just character building, so until we have the entire rest of the seasons I don't believe we can really say how good it is.
It's the same as the people who said season 4 is bad, but it's the same as season 1-2 lol
Yep, thank you. TDP works best as a single story. It wasn’t until s3 dropped that s1&2 could be fully appreciated. I have zero doubt that everyone’s gripes will be addressed in seasons 6&7.
I disagree. What made the first 3 seasons of TDP good compared to season 4 and 5, is that not only do things happen before the last 3 episodes, but they have satisfying conclusions that make them good standalone seasons.
Season 4 is practically filler and season 5 doesn't really progress much of anything, except that they find Aarovos's prison. But it was in a really contrived way that made season 4 even more useless.
@skytiger215 what happened?
We meet the cast they find the egg and then spend 3 seasons to bring it to the spire
Viren becomes obsessed with power
Claudia's motives are fleshed out (she wants her family to stay together)
Soren breaks free from his father to follow his duty
Ezran it is shown he's empathetic and able to talk to animals
Callum he becomes more confident as he studies Magic
Rayla an assassin who's never killed and family who supposedly abandoned there post to finally honoring her parents to become a dragon guard
Season 1 they have to force Zim hatch
Season 2 introduced to aravos callum learns Arcanum that's it
I'll grant you Season 4 is set up for the next 3 seasons they had to explain the character development in the time jump
Season 5 they find aravos prison callum learns ocean Arcanum how's that different from Season 1,2
Also none ended cept Season 3
1 Zim had just hatched they're half way to xadia
2 they just made it to xadia
One thing that still perplexes me is: Has Rayla actually apologized to Callum for leaving? The closest thing I have seen is the library scene and that wasnt an apology, that was her trusting Callum with the coins.
Yes, they seem to be moving in the right direction, but i cant stop thinking about that.
Edit: Well thats fucking great. Now one of my favourite ships is ruined because even if she apologizes in season 6, it will feel too late.
Finely someone who noticed it 2 yeah she never daid sorry or something, still idk i think this rayla is a spell of aravos bc : she is acting really strange since season 4 and she didn’t notice that callum used dark magic in season 5 isn’t that strange? bc that captin said if u uses dark magic u can escape from the cains save rayla, and aravos wants that callum uses dark magic so he can take control over him like in season 4 in the dragon queen cave--- sorry ab the bad English
No
Considering the first episode of season 5, she never will because of what happened in season 4. What I mean is that Callum was treated like the bad guy for being rightfully upset about Rayla ghosting him. Now,in this season,he feels like he needs to be a "yes" man to her because he loves her and doesn't want to lose her
No matter how anyone slices it, Rayla is being unfair to Callum and this relationship isn't healthy right now. Rayla's not a baby, she's old enough to be aware of what she's doing. She's old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong and her childhood is an explanation not an excuse to mistreat others, regardless of her intentions. Rayla needs to own up and shape up
For real, I don't think she's ever outright said that
She has not. But we did get Callum apologizing to her for...something
For what we've been seeing, I don't know if she will ever apologize with words
Right now what happened it's like a no-words-conversation
They both know the mistake she did but since Callum it's already getting over it they silently decided to re-build their bond instead, to gain trust again and that
But it's right that by doing that, there will never be an apologize said out loud from her and might be seen as a communicative problem since it's not directly talked about
Tho this things actually happens in real life but still
I think season 5 is hit and miss. Virens dream sequences were great and the best part of the season. Claudia and Terry spent too much time on the river and Terry needs still a backstory. I mean we are two seasons in and we haven't got an explanation, why Terry supports a dark mage. The sunfire plotline still seems out of place aside from the bookery. Callum and Claudias group don't even have a sunfire elf in their group. Karim is a weak antagonist and the sun fire priest will be the true antagonist of this story. I think season 5 is a step up from season 4, but still not good. The show runners want to create a franchise with games, novels and comics. But the current quality of the show isn't good enough for it and the show will be forgotten after season 7.
Definitely agree on the Terry part, he should get more backstory to justify his support of Claudia, it is clear he loves her and I love many parts about their relationship, but it seems to hint that he doesn't even really support dark magic (he seemed a little taken aback when he thought Claudia would kill the dragon at that river scene and seemed a little scared or hesitant she declared that the dragon would not follow them because they are afraid of her). So, it just feels like there should be more conflict between them on those aspects instead of the continuous support he gives her.
The mushroom elf is for sure something for this.
They spend too much time with bad written romance (Callum and Rayla) to actually think how easy is to get everything more interesting
I don't think a proper backstory for Terry is necessary. It's implied that he was rejected y the other elves for being trans, and now he finally found people who accept him, and that blinds him to their flaws. All they ever needed to do was make that clear.
@@benjaminbaer9712 Disagree. Terry desperately needs either a backstory or to decide whether he wants to be really evil or really good quickly. Right now his passive endorsement of Claudia's willingness to kill things, hurt people, and torture makes Terry weirdly evil by extension. On top of that, terry is generally written as a terrible lolsorandom character, which is a waste of potential and makes him generally really annoying.
Season five was, for me, leaps and bounds ahead of season four as far as enjoyability goes, but it also made me realize how quickly some of these arcs need to be wrapped up in season six. Assuming every plot line needs to be concluded neatly by the end of season seven, with some extra wiggle room in the later episodes to put more emphasis on Aaravos and the big final battle, some of these story threads really need to be ended for the most part during season six or to have more focus put on them during the next season to make the last season bear more weight. For example, if Callum’s dark magic plot line isn’t going to be ended in the season six finale, then it really needs to have some real attention and achieve new depths to make it worth having an arc spanning across the entire franchise. They seemed to have started to have a plot line more focused on Ezran needing to be more of a kid and him having to grow up super quickly, but it was squashed as soon as it started. Rayla and Callum’s relationship, in particular, really needs to have some focus during the next season. You can get away with less time with Terry and Claudia (just have a couple cute scenes intermixed with Terry’s reluctance and regret as he watches Claudia go down a darker and darker path), but not with Rayla and Callum. There needs to be some scene where the two actually have a full on conversation about Rayla leaving and how it’s negatively affected all of those around her, complete with an actual confrontation and apology before the two inevitably restart their relationship. I also think it would be wise if Amaya and Janai went ahead and had their wedding at some point during season six, because the sun elf plot line needs to dedicate more time on Karim.
I don’t think the dragon prince is a bad show. I think it’s a WEAK show. As far as I’m aware, there’s currently no stakes. Aaravos, the big bad of the show has been locked away since the beginning so he can’t do nowt. Claudia had her brother walk away from her and now her dad is dead. I left this season feeling bad for the villain. Why should I feel bad for the main characters if they’re always able to take down every obstacle? The worst thing that happened to Callum was that he used dark magic and was knocked out for a bit and Rayla left him and now she’s back. I wanted Aaravos to be freed this season so the story could take an interesting turn but it’s been 2 seasons since they put his name in the title and he still hasn’t done much. I don’t know if I’ll continue to follow the show. Again, I don’t think it’s a bad show it just hasn’t intrigued me and I don’t know if it’ll be worth my time.
It's also weird that other couple kissed more times than Rayla and Callum. And it just happens these couples are gay only.
@@viki7268 If Aravos won't be free next season, then IDK what to think about the show. It's clear now his prison is discovered and took somewhere else. I think it would be good if the pearl will be stolen.
@@LukiKrukiIgnoring what seems like blatant homophobia, Rayla and Callum aren’t a couple anymore
@@LukiKruki I completely agree with you. They are so obsessed over the other side couples that they write Rayllum the main straight couple so out of character.The writers forgot Rayllum is the main couple when almost everyone watch the show because of Rayllum.
Definitely an improvement over last season. Although a few things still bugged me.
-I can’t believe it but they are actually starting to make me hate Rayla which sucks because she was my favorite character the first 3 seasons. And honestly kinda Callum too at this point, they really should have had the talk Rayla and Amaya had
- Amaya , Janai, or Corvus should probably be dead. Lots of characters in danger and not a lot of consequences.
- The animal characters are really getting on my nerves. Bait literally puts them in danger THREE times because they forget him THREE times. We also don’t need more useless animals putting everyone in danger on a mission to save the world.
- Soren and Ezran felt like secondary characters that honestly didn’t do much, especially Ezran
-I feel the Claudia and Terry scenes were pretty boring especially when they were on the boat doing…….bee dances? Honestly think I liked the sun elf plot more than their scenes.
- Really hope they didn’t kill off the king pirate guy, best villain we’ve had maybe all series?
Well he is capable to freeze blood and breathe underwater
Oh how much do I want Janai to finally die, one of the worst characters
I don't disagree with your first point. However considering the previous season, Callum probably feels like he has no choice but to be a "yes" man to Rayla because Rayla doesn't think she did anything wrong and Ezran yelled at him for being rightfully upset about Rayla ghosting him
@@DragonGoddess18 What would have to happen to reverse this whole mess? Amaya about to kill Rayla this time?
@@LukiKrukiI think maybe either Aaravos or Claudia or both of them calling out Rayla.
Aaravos can show Rayla multiple universes where their relationship becoming worse because Ezran and other people let her get away with everything and how Callum was during the two years she was gone.
Aaravos strikes me as an "a-hole with a point" and will push Rayla into understanding that her pride will hurt more than help. He'll help Rayla to realize that regardless of her upbringing, she still has free will and needs to improve from her mistakes,not pretend that they don't exist.
I don't think Callum giving Rayla space with her personal business is the main issue with their relationship this season. I think the problem I had, personally, was that she was intentionally deceitful and even stole from him, and he then acted like that was okay because... "trust," I guess. It's one thing to trust that someone has good intentions and let them open up to you in their own time, but another thing entirely to accept blatant disrespect. So while I liked their dynamic this season better than the last and I thought they had some really sweet moments, I still wish the series would let Rayla start accepting a bit more accountability in the rift between them. I guess her deciding to start being more open and honest with Callum in episode 4 after that talk with Amaya was a step in the right direction at least.
In general though, I do think this season was much improved from the last and I had a ton of fun with it. Personally I LOVED the focus on Viren. While I wish maybe he hadn't been basically catatonic for the entire middle of the season, I liked that we finally got some payoff with his character where he realized how much damage he'd done and decided it had to end. I also just generally enjoyed that there was a better balance between the drama and the levity, and that the creators weren't afraid to take this season into darker territory. Apparently they've even changed the rating on Netflix, which doesn't surprise me given some of the disturbing content and imagery in season 5.
For a series with only 9 episodes a season though, I still feel like the show has an issue with getting too sidetracked and straying away from the main plot. IMO it felt like season 4 and 5 should have been condensed into a single 13-episode season or something rather than two 9-episode ones. I worry that we're going to get closer to the end of the series and have a situation like season 3 where, while it was good, it felt like the writers were trying to do TOO much at once and certain things didn't get explored as much as I would like. The uneven pacing continues to be one of my biggest issues with TDP as a whole.
Callum could have covered for her "Oh my key? Ah its- Oh yeah I gave it to Rayla, she said she had something she wanted to find. Ah she found the bow in the study? Is that what you needed to find? Let her go, she is my friend and has proven her loyalty to us countless times...." then after they get out of ear shot, at least...shooow he has some real problems with her stealing from him and hiding things from him. That he can tell and wants to know, but the longer she'd make him wait the more disappointed he'd get. Maybe leave without the key to show he still has some trust in her as he gets out a spare to lock up his room.
Even though what Rayla did in 5x1 wasn't okay, I understand why she did it. It made sense for her character because she has always been the last person to share her problems with anyone, and that has probably been made worse by being alone for two years. Callum understands this and knows she wouldn't have ill intentions for hiding anything, which is why it was easy for him to forgive her. He knew she was dealing with something she wasn't ready to open up about. Plus, I think Rayla knew what she did was wrong because she didn't defend herself, and she knew that Callum deserved an explanation, which is a step in the right direction. Amaya's talk with Rayla was a good push for her to start changing her behavior, and I think a big part of her upcoming character growth will be learning how to open up to her loved ones and accept help (which makes sense considering these issues contributed to her actions in TTM. She needs to grow from that in order to have a healthy relationship with Callum).
While I do believe this was a step up from last season. I still think there were a few missed opportunities and weird choices. Viren dies without trying to stop Claudia from making the same mistake he did and I would have liked a scene where he spoke to Soren and said he was proud of him for choosing a different path and apologizing to him for commanding him to kill the Prince's. I also think he could have asked Terry to save Claudia since he was running out of time and couldn't do it himself. As for the Sun Elf I do think it was a little out of character for Miyana to side with Karim when last season I got the impression that she didn't side with him at all.
Fully agree. It frustrates me that the writers just made him lie there and accept his fate: he could (at the very least) have written a letter to his son and daughter
We actually haven't seen him die - so given the way this show is reticent to actually kill characters (literally every important dead character has a potential of coming back through magic right now), I'd be surprised if he's really gone. But I could be wrong.
@@zappernapperhe could of been crying in the last scene because he did actually kill the bug creature
Me and my friend's biggest grip with the season was... The situation at the "bookery". And no, not because Callum decided to stay. He had an undestandable reason. It was the fact that Amaya and Corvus almost died and Zubeia got infected because... they were saving Bait. Freaking Bait that somehow ended up surrounded instead of, idk, sitting on somebody? Why did nobody carry him? Why was he with Callum and Reyla in the first place? They couldn't leave him at the camp?
In the end, there wasn't any direct bad consequences (Amaya and Corvus are fine, Zubeya is probably being healed) but THEY COULD BE DEAD. Not because some important character was in danger, but because of Bait of all things. It could at least be Stella, because I think she used her portal to hide the page Callum needed and I don't think she can tp herself. Everything that happened after that felt like Bait's fault to a large degree. Ezran and stealing the glow toads was kinda dumb too, but they wouldn't be in that sutuation if it wasn't for Zubeia's infection.
I have a weird relationship with this season. Yesterday I thought "eh it was alright." But today I think it's really good. I'm really conflicted on how they handled Rayla and Callum. Like you stated, the show kinda just pretends it never happened, personally I'm a firm believer that you have to stick with the decisions you made in a show or movie and not backtrack, because Rayla and Callum could work. In episode 4 they were so SO close to having a talk or an apology between those two characters but they just didn't do it. Their are other things here and there that are a bit strange but overall I think it's solid. I don't think its as good as the first three seasons but its a good step up.
The whole rayla and Callum thing pissed me of because it’s absolutely nothing like how they were portrayed in the early seasons
Frankly, I liked Viren in this season more than I liked Rayla.* (Loved that Amaya called out Rayla,it felt cathartic)
Viren acknowledged that he made mistakes while Rayla pretends that she doesn't make any, almost as if she thinks she's a goddess. And I can't respect that of Rayla.
Viren does care about Claudia and wants her to be better than him,which I think any parent would want
*Edit (August 8th): This is more popular than I gave it credit for
I loved Viren a lot in this episode more than Rayla too.
Viren has consistently been the most based character of the show except during season 3 where he caught bland, generic, X-ist, villain syndrome but he got better during season 4, as boring as that season was
Viren is the best character at this point
Viren has pretty much been the most interesting and compelling character in this entire series, by far, and especially so in this season. We get back to the morally ambiguous character we had in the first two seasons, where his motives and reasons for doing a lot of what he's done were done for very complex reasons, both good and bad.
He loves his family, his children... but he is _not_ a good person in spite of that. Others are absolutely correct to point out how Viren always seems to choose the options that will result in more power for him, even if his desire to have that power could have a good or noble motive behind it.
Yet that's what makes him interesting... his motives and desires are actually believable and on some level relatable. Sure, it's nice to just follow heroic characters doing heroic things, but Viren is a more interesting character because he's a villain who legitimately _wants_ to be a hero. He wants to make a difference, he wants to be important, but most of all he wants to do right by the people he cares for, whether it be his friend Harrow, his children, and his people. And yet he is also a flawed man who thinks that the only way he can be useful to others is if he has power, and thus seeks it out.
I really hope (and strongly suspect) that Viren is not dead... there is still way too much potential with this character and way too many lose ends to tie up for him to just die. And the end of Season 5 makes it pretty clear, at least in my opnion, that they are setting up a 'Psyche! He's still alive! We foooooled youuuu!', because all it ends on is Viren trying to go to sleep fully believing he's never going to wake up... which would make the perfect cold open for Season 6 when Viren suddenly wakes up. Calling it now
@@DelightfullyMADD "I really hope (and strongly suspect) that Viren is not dead..."
First,I agree with you. I don't think the writers are done with him yet (in spite of their questionable decisions)
Second, I'm also calling out this: I think Aaravos was messing with him about the time limit and that's one of the reasons he was imprisoned: he took his jokes/pranks too far,like Discord from MLP
Possible Convo: Viren," What's going on? You said I only had 30 days to live"
Aaravos: "Naa, I just said that to mess with ya, LMAO"
*Viren and Claudia glare at him*
while i do get that Rayla didn’t want to Callum to get hurt if he came with her, but she should’ve had some communication with him throughout those 2 years. She also hasn’t fully apologized to Callum and while i do like their relationship, Rayla needs to do something extreme for an apology or else it just will feel too late but i hope season 6 does bring that
I honestly feel that this season of the show suffered from something many streaming shows suffer these days: lack of episodes. I saw it start with Kipo & the Age of Wonderbeast, and now I notice it in almost every animated series made for a streaming service. Some are able to tell their stories well in the limited time available, but even then I feel they needed one or two more episodes to flesh it out better or explore their world & lore
Na I disagree, the could've easily cut out of 40% of the cringe jokes, and we could've had more plot and character development. Like the part where Calum and Ray went to an inn and spent 5 minutes joking about soap and nonsense? Waste of time.
Or they could've cut down the fire elves sub story, made it happen off screen.
Their problem was making the main character cast too big
Kipo was a good show. It felt like what the dragon prince wishes to be. Did it need more episodes? Maybe. But the Dragon prince has other problems than the lack of episodes. Season 4 and 5 can be one season and we wouldn't miss much.
The largest complaint I have is that the seasons definitely feel too short. Instead of 9 episodes each, it should be 12.
honestly, season 4 and season 5 could’ve been morphed together into 1 season with 12 episodes if they could actually pace properly
First of all, I was waiting to hear this review, secondly I do think one of the best arcs this season was Virens I loved going into his mind and exploring his conflicts . I still think these seasons 4,5 are transitional to the last one and building up to that point. But overall this was a good watch
Things I like:
1. Viren's story by far how to be the best part about this season. It basically was the only thing that kept the villains relevant.
2. Callum learning and using more Magic. It was nice to see him being creative and showing us more spells of the sky Arcanum.
3. It might just be me but I love dragons. I love the fact that we saw more of the Ark dragons. The writers and producers are very creative with their designs and they just look awesome.
4. Less fart jokes
5. Claudia's fate this season really raises the stakes. It makes me feel that the plot armor isn't as strong for the main characters as we think it is.
Things I didn't like:
1. Terry is quite literally there because Claudia needs a sidekick. He is basically the "Pinky" to her "Brain".
2. It felt like Callum learned the sea Arcanum just a little too easy. Learning the sky Arcanum damn near killed him. Yet solve a riddle and boom ocean power?
3. I honestly don't like Amaya and Jaina's story. Not because I don't like the conflict but because it's just too much lore for this current series. It feels like everytime we go to their story. It takes away from the main plot and from our main Heroes. It's honestly something that should be explored in the dragon Prince two or something. That way you can fully explore the plotline and also delve deeper into Xadia. A story like that could tell us why humans can't use Magic.
4. As with number 3 there is too much Focus on-site characters and not enough on our main heroes and villains. I mean the villains were pretty much just there. They did not affect the heroes until the very end of the season and to me that was simply a waste.
As for the heroes, most of their story was just unimportant. There was some danger but I didn't really feel like anything that they fail that would have dire consequences. Moreover, I really didn't like the fact that Ezran who as the king should be the most responsible out of the group. Yet he risked their entire mission to save glow toads that weren't even his nor were they relevant to their mission.
5. Maybe I'm not up to speed with all the side if so forgive my ignorance. That said, why are we not dealing with the direct aftermath of the battle in season 3? I mean shouldn't all those other kingdoms be kind of angry that they lost valuable military force and some members of their royalty in that? Better question, how is it that the little King is able to be gone from the kingdom so long?
For 5 on the dislikes, Ezran is a child
@mranima748 That didn't stop Katolis from making him King, nor did it stop another kingdom from making that little girl queen
I would like to defend Rayla's actions a bit, because it does seem that you somewhat overlook why she actually does leave in the first place. Many people do this as well unfortunately. I did a huge character study a few months back. What I gathered from it, and what I think the writers intended, is Rayla's departure and lack of apology is her literally not yet realizing that what she did was wrong. Hear me out...
Rayla came from a culture that heavily supported the idea of people going on missions so their loved ones don't have to. Rayla herself even has it worse, as when she was young, her family left her behind to become members of the Dragon Guard and to protect all of those back in the silvergrove, and we also have her "second" family, Ruthari, doing something VERY similar to what Rayla did to Callum. Runaan is an assassin and Ethari is a stay-at-home weapons smith. Runaan would constantly go on missions that would put his life on the line, and he directly says in Bloodmoon Huntress that he does this so that the people he loves don't need to fight or be at risk. The EXACT same reasoning Rayla uses to hunt for Viren. To protect him from the threats out there.
The problem is, of course, Callum isn't Ethari.
He never wished to be put into that situation by her, but, my honest opinion is that Rayla simply doesn't realize that yet. The talk with Amaya this season highlights what Callum's culture taught him. That love comes with trust and companionship, by being 'stronger together'. Rayla's culture/upbringing taught her that the way to protect her loved ones was by going out to fight for them, like a soldier going off to war to protect the civilians of their country as a lose analogy. This is all Rayla has ever known. Why should we expect her to know any different... yet?
Given what she learned this season from Aunt Amaya, and her experiences with Callum during the saga, my prediction is that we haven't seen the last of that big conversation yet. That the conversation with Amaya is only the beginning. Aaron Ehasz even recently tweeted something, that in the next season, Rayla will be apologizing to Callum. More than once. She knows that what she did hurt Callum and that it may have been wrong, and the show does too. But... She still needs to realize WHY, and the talk with Amaya helped with that a lot.😊
Rayla isn't ignorant or stupid, and I'm sure she will learn fast if she hasn't already realized it.
Sorry for the long comment, I just hope it possibly changes your view on Rayllum as a couple.😊
Ignorance is not an excuse. People need to stop forcing Callum to be a doormat and Rayla needs to figure out the human viewpoint of respect. She lives in Katolis,she needs to live by their rules
Y'know what,I think Aaravos is going to be the one to set Rayla straight. He tells truths that people don't want to hear and Rayla shouldn't think she can do whatever she wants. Rayla needs to learn to be better
I think the whole Rayla leaves Callum is just forced drama and hurts both characters.
Rayla is looking for Viren, but not Claudia. Claudia has still the sunfire stuff and will most likely know where Viren is. Rayla has personal history with Claudia and knows from Ezran and Soren that she escaped. She can even ask the sunfire elves for help. What does her absence archieved? She has gotten a pet and knows some random place (scumport) when the plot requires.
Callum has lost a lot of respect in the male audience. Rayla left Callum on his birthday and somehow returns empty handed two years later . I think most men are able to get past a relationship after two years. Callum has known Rayla only for months. How does Rayla treat Callum after she returns? She has secrets and even steals his key. Even after all this, he forgives her. It's feels unnatural and in a more realistic scenario Callum would moved on and would most likely have a new girlfriend.
@@kalzium8857 The crew needs new writers from Avatar one is sadly not enough to save the story and Rayllum. They are to focused to the other side couples and characters that they write Rayllum so out of character. It’s not hard to talk about their problems but they acted so pathetic. Even Aang and Katara talked about their problems when there were not a couple. But I understand Callum he wasn’t over Rayla and didn’t wanted to move on from her. But still the biggest mistake of the writing was to break Rayllum up.
I like this perspective. I'm going to make this my head canon lol. I don't think the writers were actually thinking about it this way, they just made the mistake of making the graphic novels canon (maybe they didn't know they would get renewed?) I think the problem is that Callum is so patient and forgiving with her actions. It's not his fault, he's down bad. But for his own good, he really should communicate with Rayla that her disappearing for 2 years really hurt him.
At the same time, let's remember that they're like 16 or 17 years old. Yes they carry a lot of responsibility but they're also going to make stupid decisions.
I like that even though we still haven't gotten an apology yet from rayla or any mention of it from the either of them, Amaya played the mother role and told her off at least somewhat
I liked it when Callum used dark magic again and this confirms that Callum has to use dark magic 4 more times to connect to the remaining 4 arcanums
Showing once again that Dark magic is more complicated than "it's evil,no matter what"
Without Dark Magic,Soren wouldn't be in the story during the present time at all
oh they finally remembered season 1 and 2 made it clear dark magic isn't inherently evil?
glad we are getting better from the brainrot of season 3
Dark magic in this show is depicted more as a shortcut to solving problems. As seen in the show, Dark magic can be used for good intentions like making sure a kingdom doesn’t starve but also bad ones in the form of revenge.
@lurkyb0i602 hey man if you told me I can cure a paraplegic by killing a deer I'd slay every deer in the world if it meant helping as many people as possible
Dark Magic carries a hard bargain and I've suspected the reason Elfs/dragons don't like it is because they know that
a) it puts a race like humans on equal terms with them
b) they themselves being beings of magic could be used as batteries as well for dark spells
@@lurkyb0i602yeah, I love the way you put it as a short cut. If you don’t do it the right/ long way you can and will be slapped in the face
Anyone else think it's kind of weird that it's only NOW Callum is learning another magic? I naturally assumed he'd master or at least learn all 6 forms of magic, but we're at the end of Season 5 of 7 and he's only got two. So what is another Time skip gonna happen and he just learns Earth, Sun and Moon off screen?
I don't know, I feel like during the time skip, he was probably focusing in on mastering sky magic than learning new arcana.
He studied all forms of magic, he only knows two arcanums. I don’t think he’ll learn any more tho
I have a feeling he will learn one more and him understanding all the arcanums in chapter 7
I actually really liked it. It was established that humans doing primal magic without a primal stone is either very rare or just straight up impossible and him learning sky arcanium was pretty big thing. With how much this show is clearly inspired by Avatar, I was really afraid they would do some kind of character arc when he would just go on a quest to master all 6 primal sources which really would kinda invalidate the whole point about human doing primal magic being a big thing
All hail avatar sokka! But seriously, I even think two is too much. The moment when he learned the ocean arcanium was pretty cool though
I just can’t handle how IDIOTIC the main cast acts.
***SPOILERS***
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They know that the corrupted sun bears or whatever can infect you with just a scratch and they see the queen get bit and just….do nothing about it???
Ezran literally almost gets everyone killed for some glow roads which just felt…unimportant and I’d be pissed if I was Callum
Also why would Janai trust her brothers former lover with the sun seed…?
Idk it just all felt dumb
Calling it now that Janai planned for Kareem's ex to 'betray' her. Hell, it could all be part of her plan in the next season.
But yeah, the other two makes the main cast look like idiots. It feels weird how apparent their idiotic actions have been in Seasons 4 and 5.
I thought karims relationship with the general was secret (Janai didn't know)
Just about your last point, I think it was implied in season 4 that the relationship between Karim the woman on the council (forgot her name) was a secret relationship, so maybe she just didn't know about the connection the two have. I agree with your other point tho
If I remember correctly only saurren saw they got injured and no one ever told him about the cut infecting people
@@idiotgaming6376 that is true
The biggest problem since season 2 is how long every plot point takes. It always takes like half a season just to get somewhere to get the thing so they can go somewhere else and get another thing
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Viren is weirdly the most interesting character. Compared to everyone, I’m most invested in him as a character, he’s more three dimensional than any of our main characters which is both good and bad. I’m not a fan of his dream sequence being cut up constantly to very small amounts since it’s felt jarring and wasteful but it was still very interesting.
The lore definitely needs expanding, it feels like we’re not going anywhere and unlike S1&2 we don’t need to establish our characters as much (if that makes sense), we know who they are and what their goals are. We just need the action and emotional depth.
I’m upset we haven’t gotten anything on Terry yet. Why is he dating Claudia? Why is he okay with dark magic? They’re important questions since they’re the basis of the show’s main conflicts but we don’t learn much about it.
I am a big fan of Callum going dark, that’s always a fun turn but overall, it’s better than the previous season so I’ll take it
Imma be honest, it has been 5 seasons and I STILL dont think Avaros is all that evil, he has yet to do anything horrible on screen. Even when the blood of a child thing was revealed mfr really thought of a clever workaround.
There's a chance that the main characters are going to come to a similar conclusion: Aaravos was imprisoned for something that was not a big deal and was never evil in the first place. Maybe he's not totally good but he's not "take over the world" evil
Didn’t he give dark magic to humans and indirectly cause the next 700 years of suffering
Anyone else getting tired of characters goving speeches about love and friendship every five seconds?
My favoritything about this season was that it wasnt afraid to get dark. Having Callum get tortured and use dark magic and having Soren get beat up was an interesting change of pace
And I'm glad the Amaya /Janai stuff wasnt as prevalent. That really dragged down the last season
Ikr I don't know why there is no lesson in good actions also have consequences? Like I get that Ezran wanted to save the toads but it nearly got the entire party killed? Could've at least delayed their mission but it didn't. They're just riding on pure luck with all the plot armor they have
Ikr Amaya and Janai plot could've easily happened off screen
Season 4 sun elf plot was just so stupid it kinda tainted the couple, Jinai will always be remembered now as an extremely poor queen.
An radom though is that since the curent super sentai is a team of kings and how extreme their reaction would be to jenai as a queen are kinda funny, especially the purple ranger that is all about law.
I'm so glad Finnegrin got pissed about the peace and love speech
I really loved this season so much. Book 5 is one of my favourites after book 2. And the order of my favourite book/season is
Book 2
Book 5
Book 3
Book 1
Book 4
The only thing i wanted was more of Domina Profundis.
Season 4 and 5 are definitely setting up a big confrontation with sunfire elves rebellion, Aaravos getting free, Claudia really becoming the true villain compared to her father viren (think Azula compared to zuko) and Callum paying the price for using dark magic. It’s just they are taking so long on minor characters and filler plots that they are going to run out of time and rush the ending which no one wants.
There is much improved with the season, but there was one BIG bad thing. The show goes for a big, game changing thing and then... backtracks a few times. Amaya prepares for tragic and epic sacrifice... and miraculously survives. Queen Zubeia is wounded and poisoned by the shadow beasts... and just finds a healer. I definitely felt the hand of the author in this season and I'm annoyed by that.
But I liked Viren's purgatory nightmare and the pirate town. Rest in peace, Ruthless.
As someone part of the Deaf community, I love Amaya, but why this season is no one else signing to her?! Yes, Gren can interpret, but the myth needs to die that deaf people can rely on reading lips! Even with context, hearing and non-hearing people trained to read lips can only understand about 30% of what is said! So why are all the characters not consciously including her into conversations?! Like, LOOKING at her! And signing for themselves to speak with her?! I want to scream at Callum, “YOU KNOW ASL! WHY AREN’T YOU TALKING WITH YOUR AUNT?! INCLUDE HER!” “JANAI! YOU ARE HER LOVE! SIGN WHEN YOU SPEAK TO HER SO SHE CAN UNDERSTAND YOU!”
TDLR: please oh please, make the characters that love Amaya like family treat her like family. Be inclusive of her. She doesn’t have to accommodate to a hearing world. The world, her own family and friends must accommodate to her. As my Deaf grandma would say, “A Deaf person can do anything, but hear.” It’s just a bit obvious that the writers are hearing and haven’t spent enough time thinking for how a Deaf character lives in the world.
im impressed how bad the dragon prince is getting, its actually impressive
I was asking myself the same question. It was so consistent in the other seasons. This season they don't actually care, they just wanted the points.
it's been a while and I couldn't remember if she was deaf or mute, and based on how often she was lip reading I actually thought she was mute for a bit until i suddenly remembered 💀
I thought season 5 would be as unepic as season 4 but I was surprised in a good way. I laughed a lot actually. It still feels like something is missing but i don't know what.. but it was a good season.
2:50 (Breathing in) Be prepared for a rant:
My HUGE issue with Callum just outright telling Rayla she doesn’t have to tell him anything is that Callum has done NOTHING to warrant Rayla keeping secrets from him or to not fully trust him, whereas Rayla has done all those things from S4 onwards & CONTINUED to do so right at the beginning of S5 when she STOLE Callum’s key to sneak into Viren’s old Dark Magic lair when she could’ve just ASKED him to let her in there! 🤦♀️
I also don’t get why she didn’t tell Callum right away about the cursed coins containing her parents & Runaan, as he is the most POWERFUL human mage in all the human kingdoms! He would’ve been too happy to help her with this & once she eventually tells him - he DOES!
The ONE saving grace that soothes a lot of Rayla’s bullcrap is Amaya calling out her shit & the faults in Rayla’s way of thinking & it F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. seems get to through this elf’s thick ass horned skull (though she STILL doesn’t properly apologise 😑)
Callum is NOT the one who needed to put in the work in repairing their relationship - Rayla fucked up, SHE needs to be the one to fix it.
You're right about all of this
Rayla has a major ego problem and she needs to learn this lesson: "It's not all about you."
Not sure they wanted to brush the abandonment to the side, considering the aunt was very energetic about her leaving Caellum and reflecting how the fandom felt.
As for the antagonist group they improved massively esp Viren was great this season, him moral rise compared to the moral drop for Caellum having to result to dark magic and Viren rejecting it.
I think that objectively, season 3 is the best, but season 5 is my favorite so far. Sure, it's bumpy at times, but it is improving upon its predecessor, and I am optimistic that the show will continue to do so for what is still to come.
I definitely still had problems with this season but I'm still super invested in these characters after the final, especially since the creators have teased the next season will be even darker
I always wonder how everyone in the show forgets that the dragon queen sent assassins to kill children in vengance. Even if you are grieving its not the type of character event you throw off with no consequences.
Came to watch reviews on YT halfway through the first episode of S5 because I was so annoyed and confused that Rayla was stealing Callum's key and breaking into his room?? Like wtf?? Just talk to him??? Their relationship is back to 0 and it feels so jarring and weird and idk if I can look past that lol. I loved this show and now I’m just having such a bad time because of the glaringly obvious weird writing decisions 😭
This season was better than the last one, but that is not saying much. There are some major pacing issues, like the fact that our villain team spent the entire season on a boat doing nothing except babysiting a catatonic Viren while Callum and company somehow manage to cover almost the whole continent on Dragonback.
So many weird story choices too, so many contrived solutions or plot points that go nowhere. Not the mention that Aravos, again, barely appears, and any sense of threat he had disappeared this season. Honestly, I think they will neve recover from the problems the timeskip created. This show will never live to it's fullest potential, sadly.
Season 5 was meh, it was better than season 4 but it was still disappointing. So many character opportunities missed... still no interaction between Viren and Soren! There were so many things I thought were going to happen that I was excited for, and now either they'll never happen or I have to wait like 10 months for them to maybe happen.
My Theory on The Dragon Prince Season 6: Stars
Team Zym will take Aaravos' Prison Pearl to Sunfire Queen Janai for protection. At the same time, Aaravos tells Claudia Viren is dead and use his death to solidify her vengeance against Team Zym and their allies. With Claudia firmly at his side, he will instruct her to meet Kim'dael, Aaravos' loyal assassin. Aaravos had her assassinate Luna Tenebris and later sent her to kill Aditi until her imprisonment via the neck collar Aditi tricked her into wearing. Because of the incident, Aaravos personally killed Aditi by swallowing her soul. Meanwhile, Karim and his followers heal Sol Regem and start an invasion to usurp Janai. However, Aaravos escapes his prison with Claudia and Kim'dael's help leading to an eventual duel between Aaravos and Sol Regem. Aaravos wins and plans to head to the Starscraper to retrieve the Nova Blade and the Corona of the Heavens' crown: two artifacts he needs to invade and destroy the Startouch Elves. At the Sea of the Outcast, there were statues of a possible Startouch Elf Queen giving a depressed Aaravos her hand. Her relationship with Aaravos is unclear: sister? lover? friend? It is unclear, but we might see her in Season 6: Stars of the Dragon Prince. Regarding Sir Sparklepuff, I think Aaravos genuinely wants to save Viren as he looked very shocked when Viren refused to sacrifice Sir Sparklepuff for his life. This may indicate that Aaravos is grateful to anyone who helps him even though they are his chess pawns.
My Review of the Dragon Prince Season 5:
To me, Scumport did not work. It turned the mysterious and ethereal Elves into humans with elvish makeup. They could have given us the Tidebound Elves’ Atlantis and given a proper introduction to Archmage Akiyu. We also could have H.P. Lovecraft moments of Deep magical creatures foretelling possible futures. The only thing I loved about Season 5 was Viren's acknowledgment that his ambitions and Dark Magic destroyed his family.
I find it strange how basicslly none of the elves have cities, ik they're in touch with the environment but they seem infrastructure wise weaker than the humans overall. Only Lux Area is a true elf city we know there are other moonshadow communities but if they're all as small as the silver grove then i think that aaravos and viren very well could've taken over Xaidia.
@@thetruekingofwaffles They do have cities in their own way. Silvergove (Moonshadow Elves), Lux Aurea, (Sunfire Elves), Innean (Skywing Elves), etc. However, they mostly have small communities leading to the Sunfire Monarch being the true ruler of the Elves under the Dragon Monarch. Nevertheless, you are right. Lux Aurea is the only public city while the rest are very hidden (ex. Innean was a flying city that constantly moved until it was destroyed following a mountain collision). This might be why we do not see Elves that look more elemental due to how they made the magical environment of Xadia their home compared to the human-like Elves. We know elementals do exist: Elmer (Deadwood) and Chert & Terbium (Guardians of Umber Tor).
I absolutely love this theory for season 6. It raises up the stakes and makes the show more darker.
@@queenbriplays8530 Imagine the stakes if it is revealed an ancient human civilization created the dragons and the elves as their weapons and creations. However, a cataclysmic event killed everyone except for human children the deceased adults saved. Children with no knowledge of the power their parents wielded and were raised by the dragons and the elves before tensions began. However, one ancient human monarch did survive and secretly controls the Startouch Elves from the shadows. This would make a good sequel as it connects Xadia's history, culture, and beliefs to a single entity or story.
Love this theory! We definitely need more about Aaravos and his backstory, I get that it needs to be a mystery, but we only have 2 seasons left and we barely know anything about him apart from that he is very manipulative and powerful
I’m only a couple episodes into it, but so far it is SO MUCH better than the dumpster fire that was last season. I almost wasn’t going to watch 5, but finally tried it and was pleasantly surprised. Another thing: with the smoother animation, Amaya’s signing is so much more clear. I can understand almost everything she says!
I think overall this season is a disappointment.
Cool stuff first:
-I really liked Viren's dream, that was well executed but it was one of the few times we see Viren actually thinking and doing something rather than being in coma.
-The pop-flower was actually cool and made me laugh.
Now the bad stuff:
-The world of Xadia never has been more ignored: How's the Ezran kingdom going? What about the OTHER kingdoms of the humans? Remember that cool little girl that joins the final battle of season 3 saving everyone? No? She was defo interesting.
-WHY is Ez, the king, going for a hunt of the apparently the most dangerous being Xadia has ever faced, with just a few of his friends? Like using an army? Convince the rest of the cities to do something about it because it's a threat to everyone??? NONONO time to almost fuck up the mission to just to save some bait pets. His brother got kinda tortured thanks to his bullshit, nobody is going to mention that?
- As mentioned in the video, Claudia & Co stay too much on their own for the whole season. Where is the development, the conflict? It's literally just them walking and boating for the whole season except the last episode.
-I'm really starting to believe that Rayla is friend-zoning Callum. In the whole season, they barely talked about what happened between them (again). I really feel like Rayla's character is being thrown out of the window. I feel like she cares more about Stella (also what's up with this creature?) Rather than Callum.
- Karim just sucks, all about him, his plans, his motivations, and his girlfriend. Also why TF Janai gives the sunseed to her rather than literally anyone else??
I really think a lot of the amazing themes that made the first 3 seasons great have been lost. So for character development. In the first 2 seasons of the show we saw better development already for everyone. I believe the show is far too lost at this point,,,,,
Yeah for a teenager Callum takes this friendzoning like a champ... Maybe he transmutates all his sexual energy into his magic spells.
But if Rayla cares for him romantically still, I really don't get it why she doesn't at least kiss him on a cheek to test the waters.
So far season 6 seems like it will be better
Who was the guy on the coin that Rayla picked up?
Was he Viren’s mentor? Why was that a thing?
Why did Callum’s parent-freeing spell for Rayla just get forgotten about?
Why did Aaravos not think to include “The First Elves” in his concealment spell? It’s another name for Startouch Elves!
Why did they mention “all manner of corrupted creatures” when apparently Lux Aurea is full of nothing but corrupted Banthers? Seriously, no other corrupted creatures show up.
Why did they mention needing to find the Nova Sword then go to Aaravos’ prison without it?
Why was Zym there at all? He did nothing all season.
Why did Miyana not help Kareem earlier?
Why was the Blood Moon elf involved? She didn’t get the Sunstone, but Kareem got it anyway… so what was the point?
Why was Zubeia bitten and corrupted, only to get healed so quickly?
What was the point?!
This season was the epitome of “treading water” (pun intended).
My biggest hatred was Finnegrin. What an utter waste of time.
First he wants to get Bait to capture a Leviathan, but then he reveals he has something more valuable, which turns out to just be 3 more glowtoads (I know they’re babies but still).
THEN he wants Callum to tell him the Dark Magic so he can kill the Arch Dragon of the Sea, but THEN Callum punches him in the face, so when Callum tells him what he needs, he just says “ nah I don’t need that anymore, I’m just gonna feed your friend to the Leviathen instead”.
What. The. Hell?
PICK. A. PLOTLINE!
People really think this is better than season 4?
The biggest sin was that the 2nd season of “The Mystery of Aaravos” ark gave us NO new information on Aaravos!
Still evil, still trapped. That’s it.
I think Zubeia giving his entire back story in a condensed exposition dump in season 4 was the biggest error this show has made so far.
I’m not one to aimlessly criticise, so here’s my alternative.
I would have had Callum (not Janai) be the one having horrific dreams about Aaravos.
These dreams could have SHOWN us what happened with the dragons, the “human girl” and Queen Aditi in EPIC flashback sequences like the Sol Regem one in book 3.
This could give us LOADS more of Aaravos without him needing to appear in the main story.
The big reveal could be that Callum’s close proximity to the “key of Aaravos” cube is actually imbuing him with some of Aaravos’ magic.
THIS is why he’s able to understand several Arcanum’s so easily.
Aaravos can control all primal sources and Callum has managed to tap into it via the magic cube he’s had in his possession the ENTIRE TIME!
Clean. Precise. Exciting. RELEVANT!
Seriously though guys. Callum literally has “The Key of Aaravos” and has had it since early in book 1.
He found out it’s name in book 2 and STILL isn’t really mentioning this to anyone!
To fix Finnegrin, here’s my thought.
The first few episodes surround the cursed coins and how they could free Rayla’s parents.
Finnegrin literally flips a coin as part of his character.
They could have made it a CURSED coin!
Maybe his former first mate is trapped inside it because he didn’t want to help him kill Domina.
Maybe Finnegrin knows someone who did the coin spell for him, so he could then help them to free Rayla’s parents.
Saves time AND gives him purpose!
Maybe don’t have the archdragon Domina give all the information to Ezran at the beginning of the season.
Instead have them need to find her for her information throughout this season, while Finnegrin wants to kill her as well. Conflict!
Scrap the leviathan thing completely. Make Finnegrin's one goal to kill Domina for revenge, all the while knowing they need him alive to get the secret of the cursed coins as well.
Seriously, this show was so tight and focused in the first 3 seasons. What happened?
It’s like the writers didn’t even expect to get 7 seasons
I think a big part of it is that seasons 4 and 5 are largely setup, which means a lot of things are happening that we're presumably not going to get payoff for until later --- such as Rayla's family, Aaravos, Viren's mentor, etc. But therein lies the issue that the plot really has been meandering too much, especially for a series with only 9 episodes per season, where every moment needs to count. They have too many plot threads to tie up to focus on side adventures that ultimately don't matter.
Personally, I still like season 5 loads better than season 4. Mainly because, while season 5 is uneven and unfocused, season 4 was just not that exciting. Almost everything was reduced to a joke and there was very little to unpack with the characters. Season 5 at least took itself more seriously and had some interesting character stuff going on.
Answers to your questions
1. Yes that was Viren's mentor/dark mage. They showed it in Viren's visions. (Edit: the writers did plan on getting 7 seasons, but then thought it would get canceled but got cleared for seasons 4-7
2. It didn't quite get forgotten about, but there was a scene where they decided if they should go to the prison or get the novablade and they chose the prison.
3. idk
4. yeah I was kinda like really they all gonna be banthers??
5. That's what they're setting up for season 6, Stars.
6. Zym saved them from getting eaten in the esophagus, but all the other pets beside the monkey thing were semi important.
7. she was probably conflicted and unsure
8. They were setting her up. Probably going to be used by Araavos?
9. It happened so team zym would have to find another way to get the prison, hence the scumport and the water elf stuff
10. It wasn't his entire backstory
Also Finnigrin's goal was to kill Domina. He wanted the baitligns to use as bait for levianthins= make money. I don't see your problem. He did wanted to kill Domina.
I hope I answered some of your questions, most of them were shown in the show.
I appreciate the explanations (seriously I do) but I feel in a show that is very quickly running out of seasons, i feel like a lot of this is may be speculation since we don’t actually know what’s coming.
I think this season contained too many random sidetracks that served nothing when it could have been far more streamlined.
Akiyu went nowhere, Domina went nowhere, The Blood Moon elf went nowhere, Finnegrin was wasted.
I know it’s entirely possible that these can be explored in further seasons but when we have to wait for a full year (maybe more) between seasons, a LOT more should have been covered here.
Just my thoughts, but I appreciate you answering my comment. 👍
Literally Finnegrin
My bad haha!
Yes indeed Finnegrin.
Fixed it, thanks.
My points still stand though.
This season is definitly a step up from the last one BUT here some things I trought about while watching it (not in order):
The viren/Claudia/soren relationship makes no sense anymore. Soren is very much still considering his dad and sister family but Claudia says two times that her only family left is her dad. Yet she doesn't seem to bear bad emotions toward her brother.
Viren showed that he loved soren enough that he would revive him (which made me wonder, had soren died when he was little ? The wiki says that's the case) but when claudia walked past him in the water he didn't stop her, beside the fact that he was very much awake in the same scene on the previous episode.
The fact that nobody batted an eye when queen Zubeia got BITTEN and CLAWED by the poisonous evil thingies when it is said multiple times that a scratch turns you. When she went her own way I knew she was dead.
Why would Finnigan want Bait if he has three glow toads ? Why would he traid three of them against a full grown one ??? Why were they in a chest on his table like ??? They ain't gonna survive like that. Anyways I was confused when we saw what Ezran stole, I was sure it would be related to his father or to the quest..
Did they really need the fastest boat if Callum can make any boat faster with wind ?
We've seen maybe 3-4 dragons in the sky after Ezran did his speech. Only one of them saw the Claudia crew, multiple times and when defeated he never came back; Nor alone nor with other dragons, which, considering they are "roamming the Sky" he should be able to find easily.
Why did they take out the prison ? They could have hidden it in a different place bellow the surface, now anyone can get their hands on it like the moonshadow elf that can teleport for exemple. Or anybody really..
Terry deserves better, Claudia deserves peace, please be your goofy self in a nice lil house in the woods and stop black Magic.
I hate how Callum just, is with Rayla. They are good together don't get me wrong. But in that one episode where she retrives her bow, I understand partialy why she went alone. What I don't condem is letting her go without knowing what she did at first and then why she did it. They released her because he "trust her inconditionnaly" ??? I would've dragged her to the investigation room and asked her why she was there, why the stole the key instead of asking for it and why she has a bow from there !! And then when she is ready to open up he says she doesn't have to? Ofc she does ?! She was ready to open up but you stopped her.
Anyways. I enjoyed the season but the viren/aaravos child reveal had me screaming, crying and laughting in horror, i'm not over it.
Personally I thought the season was really bad. Too many contrived scenerios made for serving a narrative without considering how the characters would behave realistically
I loved this season. I'll agree with you, season 4 had good moments but it wasn't the best. This one on the other hand, made me super invested again
I think most of the season was pretty solid and I enjoyed it a lot but I have gripes from the first episode or two where it was slow and the character assassination felt strong and with that, like most people, the Rayla/Callum issue in general. He just becomes a giant pushover when she's involved and she still never seems to accept or feel bad for leaving him and then deceiving him again at the start of this season (and he never pushes the point which is... oof)
coming back to this after reading some more comments and refreshing myself there's also the issues of: - No consequences for anyone's actions. In the Amaya (and co) in danger scene they get out scot-free after all that battle tension, and they didn't even have a good fake-out death at least cuz they revealed their escape immediately. There are a few more moments through the season like this like on the boat or with the dragon queen that just feel a bit flat because of it.
- Terry having basically no purpose or characterization or backstory still, other than just being a love interest and SLIGHT grounding force for Claudia. He really is not his own person at this point and is just hogging screen time for no reason really. If there was a Bechdel test for men, he would not be passing it.
- Aaravos getting... nothing(?) at the end of this season. I know it'll probably work toward Callum accidentally freeing him instead, but man it just ended up feeling like all of the conflict with Claudia was for no reason. Viren didn't even do what he wanted in the end, and Claudia also with that didn't even get a scene at the end with her father accepting his death which was extra weird.
@@wildfireamv read my words he's gonna offer Rayla to free her family from the coins in exchange of free him and Callum will forgive her cause they need to end together
The characters seemed very dumb downed for plot at times, I haven’t seen my comments about this so I would love an alternate opinion, but for example when Rayla breaks into that dungeon to investigate her parents disappear she instead of just asking for Calliums permission to enter or have the key she instead deliberately steals which although you could argue is because of there relationship being so fragile atm we all know Calium would say yes and Rayla would definitely know that as well but instead steals it without much mercy I must admit. Second the kingdoms reaction to her was also kinda crazy, she had been around for a while and I found it odd they created so harshly as an elf even though the town already acknowledged that elf’s aren’t that bad since half the guards and people are with sun elf’s. Finally another huge idiot moment was that zombie virus, if one of the mc had just mentioned to the Queen of Dragons that getting scratched was a very big issue then half the story would not have had to to happen. They knew getting sctrached could turn you but didn’t tell her!!! How do you forget about that!? I’m typing this from my phone so if there’s any grammar or spelling errors that make this hard to read I apologize
"The Dragon Prince"
Yet despite the title, the dragon prince is just a side character.
To me, this show does have its mature moments, but it feels tainted by the goofiness in between.
Any conflict (especially between 2 main characters) gets too easily and quickly resolved, and all side characters just have to roll with it. (Think about how quickly the concil released Rayla like she's a child that got caught with her hand in a cookie jar).
Most of the action that the characters engage in are their long speeches/pep talks. Like they're trying to lecture to the audience that "friendship is magic."
Also, the mother dragon just stands still and rarely acts or engages unless the plot needs her (though this could be that I want to see her in action more. Excluding the corrupted tower scene. But still, it took her 5 seasons to do something other than to be the team's taxi).
My points may sound subjective, but that's how this show makes me think about it. I saw its potential in the beginning, but now I find myself skipping through everything until I finally get to the action bits.
I enjoyed this season, but I really do think that this season and season 4 are really effected by the lack of Aaravos. Like in the previous 3 seasons he was basically a main character, and had a good amount of screentime.
But when season 4 & 5 came around, he got like a whole 5 minutes.
I mean come on, the dude is a manipulator and your main bad guy, he should be having a decent amount of screentime. Honestly, I feel like the sun elf plotline this season should've be scrapped in place of having just something about Aaravos. Or at the very least, if right at the end of each episode, or during random scene transitions, we'd get little sneak peaks of what Aaravos has been doing now that Viren is basically in a coma.
Plus the dude is an enoyable character to watch. I won't deny that him in S4 & 5 were still good moments, but quality over quantity isn't super valid when he appears exactly once.
I just miss the weird and lowkey enemies to lovers vibe that Viren and Aaravos had going on.
SPOILER:
Also can we just talk about the fact that Viren and Aaravos canonically have a child together? Like I almost chocked on my drink when Aaravos said that.
Is it me or I’m the only one starting to hate what they’re doing to Ezran as a character
Tbh, I hated most characters this season. Hollow forced writing.
The only good writing of the show is Rayllum and they broke them up. 😂
One more thing: When Sparklepuff officially came into the picture in season 4, I thought that technically speaking, that's Aaravos's kid
When Aaravos said what he said in the season 5 finale,I had two thoughts.
One: "I was f***ing kidding!" (Not saying it's bad that I was right)
Two: Well,at least Claudia and Soren have a half-sibling
I thought at first "Ohhh i guess it's Terry since Viren started to become closer with him and this will lead to Terry's death sacrificing him to make Claudia survive" but then he showed that ugly ass background minion and then i was like 🧍
Something I liked about this season was them talking about things like Kimdael's mercy debt and Scumport and Finnigrin in a way that people who read the graphic novels and/or short stories would know who/what they are and easily fills in those details for for the people who don't. I also loved seeing Kimdael and hearing her talk(I was expecting her voice to be like Queen Narissa from Enchanted but a little deeper) and I have everything crossed for a Rayla vs Bloodmoon huntress rematch. I need that rematch to happen.
The worst part of this season(and the show imo) is that Ezran is a immature king and makes bad decisions, but nobody ever calls it out and the show treats it like comedy and like he is in the right. It’s rough because the show is just Erzan putting Callum in danger and Rayla lying to him, but we know that they won’t extend him the same grace over the dark magic that he had to use to save everyone because of Ezran.
Everyone except maybe Soren don't git their priorities straight Callum our everyone in danger for a spell they didn't needed at the moment
Well still a better king than Janii in season 4, but yeah Papilon ohger would still beat his ass for how much he fails a being a king.
It's definitely better than season 4, but I really didn't like that season so being better than that isn't enough for me. The pace of the show continues to be too slow for my liking. Like how much time was spent on the glow toad side quest, which doesn't even make sense because are 3 glow toads more important than saving the world? And why tf did they take the prison with them? Season still just felt too illogical (if that's not too much to ask for from a fantasy show haha) and too little was done.
I did not like the way Rayla was keeping secrets from Callum also did Rayla lose her assassin abilities? did not like the baby toads and how they were named at all. This season was the same as season 4 meh 😕
i’m still thinking about that last scene with the dragon queen! The mushroom elf was doing something to her wound. We don’t know for sure yet if it was healing or otherwise, but I’m so curious! This might be the thing that drives me nuts between seasons.
it’s possible that the mushroom alpha was doing some thing that would actually make the room worse or put her under his control somehow, but if he was healing it then why did the sun fire elves not know about this magic?
Are all the elves really so stubborn and proud that they rarely even share knowledge among each other? We really don’t see a lot of scenes where there are intermingling elf tribes. They all seem to kind of stay in their own territories. Except maybe at the pirate docks in the recent season.
If the mushroom elf really knew a remedy for the shadow wound, imagine how the Sunfire elves lives would be different if they had just known the magic.
We need to work together! Thanking that no one else could possibly have more knowledge than you is just stupid!
I really hope the dragon queen has been healed and not made worse. I really can’t wait until season six!
I'm really happy someone mentioned something about Zubea's situation, because the could have pulled an Aqua from Kingdom Hearts arc where she is trying and struggling to fight back against the corruption.
I thought it was really weird that this mushroom magic exists and no one knew about it too. I think the reason the sunfire elves couldn't use it is because the corruption immediately affected them. Zubeia is so huge that it took longer for the corruption to spread (I think) and that gave her time to seek out the mushroom mage. Not sure why she didn't visit them sooner though.
I still don't fully trust Stella!! hahaha!! 🤣something about that adorableness is sus
Yeah
Slight chance she's a spy of Aaravos
😂
(full disclaimer, I haven't seen S4): I really like Claudia and Viren's storyline but as much as I want to love Terry, the writers really didn't give him anything to do other than yell "Claudia, no!" As an elf in love with a dark magician, you'd think there'd be a more interesting dynamic there to keep things afloat while viren is trapped in his dream. I love the stress making Claudia snappish and desperate, but Terry felt almost too chill with that, even if he loves her
Honestly, after S4, this is much better, but I feel like it just needs to really pick up pace to be as good as S1-3
"Direction the story seems to be heading in" implies that something moved this season. But here's all that changed in all of Season 5:
- Viren went from being skeptical about dark magic to rejecting it
- Nothing
Seriously, this is what happened in Season 5:
- Aaravos almost got free, but did not.
- Sunelf Queen almost got killed, but did not.
- Dragon Queen almost got corrupted, but did not.
- Some pirates bothered the group for a bit, threatening to kill them, but did not.
- Claudia almost went evil, but did not, yet again.
- Sunelf prince wants to topple his sister. Again. But nothing really changed about the Sunelf camp, at all.
It's been nothing but filler! All the interesting stuff in all of season 4 and 5 could have fit into a single episode. It's like a GM having a D&D group do nothing but meaningless distractions, because they don't know how to continue the main plot.
But but Callum got somehow the ocean arcanum. There was no set up for it in s4 and for a such important moment it felt forgettable.
@@kalzium8857 Oh right, I had completely forgotten about that.
Yeah, the way Callum speedruns the elements like that really makes one wonder how nobody else could figure it out.
To be honest, something I majorly disliked about this season was the insert anime assassin. I know there was a book with Rayla called "The Bloodmoon Huntress", but I haven't read it, so I don't know if she was said huntress and was therefore canon before this season. Either way, her character felt, to me, like a huge tone shift in the story of The Dragon Prince, and she felt like a female replica of Aaravos based on her demeanor. It's also just such an overused trope of 'the cool and sneaky character who is enigmatic and flirty and too professional (and unimportant, considering she isn't a main character) to be defeated', in my opinion. Otherwise, I think this season was fine. Better than the fourth, but definitely not the best overall. Hopefully, the show will continue to get better, and end off on a finale even better than season three
I wonder when Azymondias will start talking
When will Ezeran's voice deepen?
sadly I feel like it won't happen unless they do another time skip
i’m guessing because dragons live for WAY longer, it’ll probably take years for him to actually start speaking; like he’s still a child in dragon age you could say
@@tinagoli5375 Why has Ezran still a baby voice and why is he so damn boring and useless? He shouldn’t be traveling with the others He is a king now but acts so pathetic.
I enjoyed the new season better then the last one. Finally felt like stuff was actually happening at a way better pace.
It was definitely better than season 4 but the pacing is still off honnestly ...
I mean the heroes went to so many places and did so many stuff this season while claudia and viren were just ... on a boat.. literally the WHOLE season lmao ? and yet they still arrived at the exact same time like come on now xD
and honnestly i'll say it but it's totally personnal ...i really dont give a damn about the sun elves political drama ... like why is still a thing ? xD I dont mind the aunt and elf relationship and i like they helped the heroes but who cares about her brother's when we could have more focus on other characters instead ...
I agree with this video about how nothing has really changed watching season 4 and season 5. My problem with the show is it had 3 excellent seasons and then regressed Rayla and Callum's relationship from boyfriend and girlfriend to trying to reestablish their relationship as friends. There's the other problem with Claudia, Terry, and Viren as Villains lite. It's stupid. Claudia goes from a light-hearted villain to a cruel and ruthless villain in a matter of seconds, and I don't buy Terry is a villain with nice-smelling farts. It's stupid and ridiculous. I'm not interested in the Terry and Claudia relationship. Soren will probably be gay at some point. Karim is not a convincing villain either. Most likely Aaravos will escape his prison in season 6 and then will either be destroyed or re-imprisoned in Season 7. Season 7 will probably have Callum release Rayla's parents and the other Elf who are encased in the gold coins.
Season 6 will see Callum connect with the Earth part of the cube and he'll meet the mushroom mage who healed the Dragon Queen at the end of Season 5. He'll probably also connect with the Moon, or the Sun part of the cube, or maybe both. I think he'll connect with the Stars part of the cube in Season 7. We shall see. I think he'll be fully possessed by Aaravos at the end of season 6, but Rayla's love will save him from Aaravos's possession and from becoming a dark mage, and they end up married. If that doesn't happen, IMO, I wasted my time watching this series. Again, we'll wait and see how this series progresses. Just like I'm waiting for Season 3 of "The Legend of Vox Machina".
Season 5 was better than Season 4, but not by much. I like the show, but if Season 6 doesn't renew the love relationship between Rayla and Callum, I'm done with the show. Why build up their relationship in the 1st 3 seasons only to have her disappear for 2 years after the end of season 3? It destroyed the dynamic between these characters. Yes, Season 5 was a course correction, especially in regard to their relationship. If they're not married by the end of season 7, I wouldn't rewatch this series like I don't rewatch Samurai Jack.
I just really want be more of arravos taunting the gang using callum as a puppet to talk through
I think almost every issue with the show could be solved if they had more than 9 episodes per season. Characgers could be fleshed out more, arguements could haopen, conflicts could be shown. Itd be nice to see whats up with the other kingdoms or ezrans while theyre gone, even just one episode wheres its a side story. I understand the animation takes time, writing takes time, voice acting takes time. But thas exactly what this show needs. Time.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I’d really like this series get fully adapted into a comic / graphic novel with a more competent writer. I like the broad plot points, characters, and world a lot, but it feels like they’ve been squandering it for a while. Lots of wasted potential.
This season was fine, but not amazing.
If they do, they need to bring back the writers from seasons 1-3 and just reboot the series from scratch. The original writing team must've been fired or walked out (the latter is more likely, considering the original writers for the Netflix live-action ATLA who iirc are the same writers for this show walked out around the sane time)or smth, because the tonal whiplash between season 3 and season 4 is ridiculous. It's clear the original writers had a vision for a morally grey conflict between the elves and humans, and Viren was a villain who was willing to *kill his best friend's children* to get what he wanted, but you see none of that in season 4. The morally gray conflict between the elves and humans was reduced to a boring black-and-white, good vs. evil humans/elves vs. Aravos conflict, and Viren was reduced into a grumpy dad (who's racist against Claudia' elf bf but that's played for laughs?) I was honestly insulted by how immature and lowkey condescending season 4 was toward its audience with its constant hamfisting of black-and-white morals, unfunny jokes that went on way too long, and the dumbing down of the story, that I'm probably gonna skip out on all seasons after this. All the characters lost all their. . .well, character, and now they all act pretty much the same, when originally they all had so much charm and different personalities that played well with each other. It's clear the original writers had a clear goal of what story they wanted to tell and how they were going to tell it, and the new writers are just floundering around with no direction.
Keep the new writers far away from the reboot, if there is one!
i still just hate terry. he's a charming personality, but he has zero *character*.
we have no idea where he came from, why he loves claudia so much, his family, nothing!!
his only motivation is "i simp for the evil mage chick"
I feel like if they fused the prior season with this one it would actually flow much more smoothly.
It started and felt like season 1 and 2 was. I mean season 1 was set up. Season 2 had callum learn the meaning of sky and season 3 had him face the enemy of that arc. Sorry to break it but I don’t think we will see Aaravos out of his prison till season 7 Claudia is being set up to be the fall character this arc as we learn what Aaravos has done and get prepared to face him. He is fire lord Ozai. We won’t see him physically cross the dragang until the end.
Completely agree with your summary. I noticed that they keep adding more and more tangential characters and arcs to just pad the run time. (Spoilers ahead, but I don't think anyone will be in the reading this that hasn't seen S5 yet).
The Assassin character still being a looming threat to the Sun Elves, while not really having any development past "is essentially a dangerous prisoner on parole", seems to just be a loose thread. Zubeia being corrupted could have been an interesting arc all by itself, but it both has nothing to do with the main story, and appears to be resolved by a gnome ex machina (remains to be seen where they go with that), which confused the hell out of me as to why the corruption was even introduced in the first place, if they were gonna just revert it without any major consequences.
The Finnegrin arc was overall interesting, even though I had some issues with it (stealing 3 baby glow toads from a pirate king, as a side adventure to you literally saving the world? C'mon man, come back after or something, that's just so dumb), and that was the ONE side character that I was surprised they just tossed an episode later. He could have been a very interesting secondary antagonist, maybe even shown to have been in leagues with Aaravos as well, as it would fit his style of manipulating people into power struggles, namely Finnegrin's battle with the Archdragon of the Sea. But nope, straight up tossed over board immediately through the power of friendship, and another whacky side character added to the arsenal of our friend group of now like 17.
I know it's not fair to compare the show to Avatar all the time, but the one thing it should have taken from there is just *streamlining* your story. Avatar works so well because even the fluff episodes never lose sight of the actual main goal of our protagonists, and finds a natural conclusion after 3 Seasons, because there's nothing else to say. Dragon Prince seems to desperately look for more things to say so it never has to stop - which ultimately makes it feel like it's just saying stuff to be saying stuff.
With regard to character growth... where other than Viren (finally) do you see any? Compare that to how Rayla, Callum, Ezren, and Soren profoundly change in seasons 1-3. It doesn't need to be coming of age anymore, but there should be some development
Aaron confirmed in an interview that Rayla and Callum will actually talk about what happened and that there will be an actual apology, so thankfully it doesn't seem like they are going to completely sweep the problems under the rug. Even though Callum was not outwardly angry with Rayla for long, that doesn’t mean he has forgiven her or that he's ready to get back together with her yet, and I'm glad they didn't rush that aspect. I don't think it will happen until Rayla has properly apologized and has worked through some of her issues (like how bad she is at sharing her problems with people).
I like this season a lot more then the last one. I think everyone can agree it is a lot better. It doesn't take them five years to get to something, then not get it in the end, still salty about last season. but anyway I like the darker tone shift, the main villan is a lot better, and is used so much better like he is save for then end of the season and it actual work so well. The ending wow that end was dark with Vearin about to die, Claudia who has lost her leg, crying to her boyfriend, and calum going down a darker path. It was so much better and if where to rank the seasons it would go 4,1,2.5,3 at least for me :) ,but feel free to disagree and if you tell me your ranking
I like that it was growing with the audience, mainly if younger viewers started off slow and somewhat baby steps of maturity in the first 2 seasons and then got into darker tones in the newer ones.
I think season 4 was for the most part a step back in that manner but season 5 put it back on track
They had really dark stuff in the first 2 seasons.
@@cosygoose1813 yeah a little but it didn't get to point where it got ''bloody''
I loved the darker tones of this season like how three characters got tortured and how Claudia literally lost a limb.
Season 4 was better than Season 5. For starters, we got 2 full episodes to get to know Rex Igneous whereas Domina Profundis only showed up at the very end of the episode that was named after her. Such a wasted opportunity. Domina Profundis had an incredible design and I love the unique sound she made whenever she was growling - it indicated that she was an amphibian instead of a reptile like the other dragons - but we barely saw her. She didn't even show up in the finale.
However, seeing Viren lie down at the end, fully aware that, barring a miracle, he would never wake up again, was a very sombre way to end the season. Viren easily had the best arc in this season, finally rejecting Dark Magic despite having nothing to gain and everything to lose by doing so. Hell, he didn't even care about the "strapping young homunculus" so refusing to kill it was a moral decision. The deeper motivation was knowing that Claudia was destroying herself but she wasn't even there when Viren decided to die rather than use Dark Magic again.
Aaravos stole every second of screen time and I like the indication that he was bisexual, not for representative reasons but because it actually makes sense for a Satanic figure. Satan's job is to seduce men and women alike. Of course Aaravos can be as suave with his own gender as he can with the opposite one. The Devil needs to be able to turn on the charm regardless of whether he's manipulating men or women.
It was nice to see Nyx and Villads again but why was Nyx in the season at all? Villads actually had a reason to be in the story but Nyx literally only showed up for fan service. She brought absolutely nothing to the season.
My favourite moment in this otherwise lacklustre season was when Zubeia dreamed of Avizandum. Seeing Avizandum as a gentle and loving husband instead of the overwhelming force of nature that he was in previous seasons was heartwarming but it was also heartbreaking to know that Zubeia was fully aware that it was all happening in her head. Zubeia seemed invincible in Season 4, so seeing her in such a vulnerable state was difficult to watch.
Viren didn't want to kill the "strapping young homunculus" (otherwise known as Spraklepuff) because Aaravos outright said that he's Viren and Aaravos's kid and technically, Soren and Claudia's half-brother.
Viren wants to be better than who he was
@@DragonGoddess18 Viren never considered the creature to be his kid. It never even crossed his mind until Aaravos spelled it out to him and he certainly didn't have any attachment to the creature.
I know Viren wanted to be better than who he was. I outright said that his decision to spare the creature was a moral one. It wasn't made out of any emotional investment in this weird little demon. All the emotional investment in Viren's decision was directed at Claudia because he knew it was his fault that she was destroying herself. However, since Claudia wasn't there to see how much her father has changed, Viren wasn't teaching her anything so he only spared the creature because he knew it was the right thing to do. It reminds me of a Doctor Who quote.
"Without witness. Without reward."
@@tomnorton4277 Never saw much of Doctor Who
I can agree that Claudia needs help
Ezran was unreal levels of NOT COOL when he stole the glow tadpoles.
You endangered your fucking crew and got Callum tortured for some animals YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. I don't care if they're cute. That wasn't cool.
Ok kind of a stretch but I feel like the reason they’re trying to “justify” Rayla’s leaving in s4 is to be fuel for Aaravos to use against Callum when he inevitably attempts to manipulate Callum. Something like “well she left you without apologizing whatsoever, and returned only to treat it like it never happened-so why shouldn’t you show her the same courtesy?” Like I could see him using this against Callum to force Callum to idk become his apprentice or something?
Once again, a stretch, but it would explain their writing choices in that department.
EDIT: I also feel like these two seasons have been “alright here’s the calm before the storm” like you said but then next season or something is gonna literally hammer us in the face with something or do like a time jump back and forth (like present to future and back again) or start with Aaravos or smth I honestly don’t know but imagine next season just jumpstarting with something huge like that
So far,yes,that does seem like something Aaravos would do
Like Callum said, her biggest flaw is her pride and she needs to let it go if she wants to be better. Even though I think there's still a lot we don't know about Aaravos, he does strike me as an "a-hole with a point". He's gonna tell Callum, Rayla and anyone else truths that they don't want to hear yet can't deny forever
I feel like they would make Rayla free him just to have Callum forgive her like it's nothing because he love her
@@billykaplan9915 Callum even apologized to her.😂I understood if he said I get it why you left but He just apologized to her. And Rayla didn’t even fell sorry for what she did.
The writers are so damn focused on the other couples it ruined the whole story of TDP.
Like I want the main dessert (Rayllum)but the writers always cooking for the side desserts.The writers need to rewatch Avatar the characters and Love stories were perfect.
@@Melis-dz8ey wouldn't say perfect if anything they were great but with Katara never finish to buy it and the whole zuko and Mai was like meh but suki and Sokka were pretty well done
@@billykaplan9915 I agree with Sokka and Suki they were perfect together 👍
I do think that this season felt darker than last season and maybe that couldve been an attempt at course correction by the writers. But for me the tone was completely wrong, and the stakes were not impactful at all. Wrong emphasis on wrong emotions, everytime something actually seemed to be potentially impactful, somehow immediately in the next scene the stakes are gone and something stupid is focused on.
I wanted to see more Domina Profundis. Each Archdragon had a good episode or episodes about them… All she had was like 1 line. However, I still enjoyed liked season 5 compared to 4, but the idea of Scumport threw me off. It seemed like they gave up and focused on the overrated genre of typical pirate tyranny. It didn’t give tide-bound elves their just representation as compared to seeing the whole civilisation of Lux Aurea, and a peak of the Silver Grove. What I liked the most about this season is Sol Regem’s potential rise. Archdragon of the Sun is an extension of Lux Aurea’s power and culture. I always thought he would be granted such high significance considering his picture in the introduction, and preceding Luna Tenebrous’ reign. Quite clever actually; Sol Regem was the setting sun, and Luna Tenebrous was the rising moon, succeeding him… till she got killed.
Is no one going to mention the “Our Child” plot twist?
That was CRAZY
This was a better season than season 4. But it's still fanfic.
I think the biggest issue is the quality of the story/writing. It's very much aimed at a tween tumblr audience. The plot is just background for the characters, and it feels very much like K-pop fanfic.
The motivations are all over the place (Viren going from ambitious sleaze to misunderstood family man) - which is a common theme in Hollywood writing in the past 5 years. Characters make decisions and suffer NO consequences.
Everyone has the purest of intentions at heart, Ezran is insufferably pure (as a pre-teen who's had his childhood and family stolen, his whole character development just feels so unrealistic to me).
There's almost no more worldbuilding left, everything is just a background for the relationships in the show. So much time is wasted on cutesy, silly jokes about poop, when the socio-political conflicts are shallow at best.
Callum's discovery of the Ocean Arcanum is a blink-and-ya-miss-it type deal, in the middle of a convoluted mess created by Ezran for NO REASON, and at the end of which no one suffers any consequences. Don't have Callum suddenly give me a speech about how the Ocean is uncontrollable chaos. SHOW ME. Callum could be Aang, but instead he's just a plot device.
Also, who's taking care of the humans? Did the social conflicts in the refugee camps disappear? They literally warn all the dragons about Claudia trying to release Aaravos. Did that memo not reach the other humans and Elves? Wouldn't they want to know/take precautions against Aaravos? How is there not a secret cult of Aaravos ready for his return? You mean to tell me that this god-like evil Elf's return doesn't have ANY effect on any of the Elven leaders?
Book Five: Ocean is the best yet, certainly better than Book Four: Earth. With that said, Book Five does have its share of issues. For instance, I wanted to see more of Domina Profundis, Archdragon of the Ocean; we learn too much about her from exposition or character dialogue (breaking the golden rule of storytelling, "show, don't tell", in the process). Also, the rescue in the library corrupted by dark magic and Zubeia's subsequent injury felt too plot dependent (how did Zubeia, Ezran and Soren know where to find their teammates?). For me the most interesting aspect of Book Five: Ocean is the return of Sol Regem and the potential for his eyesight to be restored.
The only thing I hated about this season was that any time Ezran and Terry were on screen, it was childish joke humor. I know this show is meant for a younger audience, but still, it bothered me. It seemed like they were treated as comic relief characters, and it was shoved down our throats. I could say the same about Soran, but he gets a pass, it's part of his personality. OH, and I hate Callum for delaying their time to get that extra book for Rayla in the library scene. I understood he needed to, but Rayla said it could wait, and the library wasn't exactly about to be destroyed. Everything that happened afterward felt prolonged, at least 2-3 days worth of events, but it was shown to only be 1 day because Aunt Amya returned the next day. Odd pacing for sure.
This season felt ok. Progress was made since they got to the prison and Callum is slowly growing as a mage.
Also loved the darker aspects like the Assassin Blood Moon elf and the torture of Callum in that pirate arc.
Btw did anyone catch some lusty eyes between Soren and the Dragon Queen😳😳?
TLDR this season was a major improvement from last season. Wished the writers would put less quips cause they should know that Marvel humor has gotten stale these last few years. We’d like our characters to take things seriously so we can take them seriously.
Don’t know how next season will go due to the current writers and actors strike. Hopefully it doesn’t hurt the quality too much.
This guy is going to destroy the world! But let's take a break to steal some dangerous guy's fish bait. Keep torturing me even though I have big magic I'll just pontificate on love and friendship instead of killing you by stealing your breath the way I stole wind from your sails. Maybe Ezrin's kingly sense of entitlement has kicked in or maybe it's childish self centered irresponsibility, but they gotta stop listening to everything he says. This story was so bad in many, many ways but you're right, it was a slight improvement on chapter 4.
Also they don't know what to do with the ehem.... Dragon Prince. He is just a pet now. I think they should make him grown up and talking by now.
"Better. Much better" is exactly what I texted a friend. 😊
*The sea shanty really slapped and I want a full version of it.*
It is my favorite season of the second arc so far.
I am impressed with how it turned out.