#guh!

I have A LOT to say about this Season, so much I thought I knew was wrong or I remembered incorrectly.  This was also the FASTEST I binged a Season, it took me 2 days to complete lol.  

I think this Season was very strong, had decent writing, and was very fun.  Like always, the soundtrack fits the aesthetic very well, but so far, this Seasons intro was my least favorite; I found it very weak and didn’t hold as much ‘hype’ compared to the earlier intros, though it wasn’t terrible.

As for the plot itself, it was very fun, and very intriguing.  It almost followed the same “we failed this time, next time we won’t”, theme from S3, but it held out till the last few episodes, because the stakes were VERY high.  Not only was the main antagonist MUCH different than the last, the Ninja were out of their territory, and added a whole lot of world building and character growth.  

The Seasons writing was very good, my only ‘complaint’ it seemed to have some plot holes.  In earlier Seasons, the Serpentine War was kind of hinted as this “old war”, but this Season implied it was MUCH more recent in years, and had to have been since Misako was around for it.  As well, Wu and Garmadon appeared much younger and aged a lot in only ( presumably ) 20-30 years.  However, I’m not going to nitpick it too much since Ninjago was originally set to end after S2, I think the writers did a good job continuing on and working with the pre-existing lore anyway.  

The world building and expansion in this Season was very interesting, I would’ve liked to see more about the other Elemental Masters personally.  There were a few points with them where they seemed to quickly go with or against the Ninja that got kind of old, but that’s nitpicky as well.  The history we learn and learning more about the different elements was very cool.  We got to see a glimpse into everyone's past during the Serpentine War, on both sides of it.  I like how it expands more on the Serpentine being ‘neutral’ in a sense, they were never the true enemies, just misguided.  

Chen and Clouse absolutely top the Overlord for me, they were so sinister and conniving, they didn’t hold back at all.  Them being mortals as well makes that in itself even more horrifying; the Overlord was the physical embodiment of evil who could use that to get his way and control armies, whereas Chen was downright manipulative and has NO powers other than his own mind.  He said so himself, he’s insignificant without becoming an Anacondrai and taking over Ninjago, he is human in the sense he’d do anything to get stronger and win, which is also literally his motto.  He’s not a favorite character, but Chen is currently my favorite villain out of everyone we’ve seen, second to Garmadon.  The way he’s been written, cunning and being able to split apart teams just to get his way while acting theatrical and amusing makes him a very fun antagonist.  

Clouse is in the same boat as Chen for me; neither of them surpass the other in any rank I may have, I consider them as one since they worked together.  Though, Clouse was much scarier than Chen was.  NOTHING the Ninja did went unnoticed by Clouse, and his voice actor must’ve had rent due because they did a phenomenal job.  His competition with Garmadon ( as well as overall tension ) expanded more on the cruelty of Chens behavior.  Garmadon, at least, turned away from Chen during the war, Clouse chose not too.  He’s shown empathy; he spoiled his serpent and seemed to be hurt when he died, so that just tells me Clouse could’ve had the capacity to change or see goodness, he just chose not too.

With Garmadon, I like how his past unraveled here.  I’ve complained that I felt as though Garmadon didn’t have a proper redemption arc; Lloyd just cured him of the venom and everyone saw him as an ally again, even though S3 did give him a little growth with his vow to never fight, this Season expanded on his growth so much more.  Garmadon holds so much guilt from his past and he regrets so much.  For the letter he gave to Misako, it’s forgotten that it was Chen who stole the letter, and encouraged Garmadon to give it to her.  Partially I wish Garmadon had a chance to explain himself when Chen told Wu and Misako he stole it, since Garmadon tried to tell her earlier, I’m also kind of glad he didn’t have the chance to explain; he takes the blame, he shouldn’t have done so anyway, that in itself is growth.  I found the tension regarding that kind of sudden, I would’ve liked to see Wu forgive him like Misako did, or some kind of interact between them moving past it as brothers, but I still think it ended smoothly regardless, since Wu still honored him positively afterwards.  Lloyd having a moment about it was really emotional too, I kinda wish it was a longer scene or extended more, since that was the first time Lloyd was channeling his feelings into anger to fight the Anacondrai and, even though Kai and Cole noticed it, he still quickly came back to the Bounty, but it didn’t take away from anything.  

Garmadons sacrifice due to not being able to make up for his past hit heavy, and I thought it was a great ending for him.  Villain who tried to take over and destroy a city curses himself to the Cursed Realm just to save it, I think it was a great and conclusive redemption arc to a very complex character.  I’m glad it ended this way, not the way I was hoping it would.

All of the Ninja had very complex character growth, and I loooove complex character growth.  The grief from loosing Zane is so personal, they all expressed it very differently and realistically. It was refreshing to see them work through it.  Though the Season followed them learning to become united as one to fight back against Chen, I found it as a metaphor to overcome grief as well.  From the first episode, Wu warned that the loss could make them closer or push them further away, and everyone had to experience being pushed away to realize they had to overcome their inner fears and self doubt to become closer again.  Chen setbacks began to fuel them to keep trying and no longer bringing them back to square one.  

While the others experienced grief, Zane experienced a lot of self doubt.  He had to relearn who he is again, and even though he knew he was a nindroid before, I think now he was accepting it.  During one of his visions of the Ice Dragon, he said he was a fraud, he’s no longer the White Ninja.  I wonder if he knew he wasn’t physically, the ‘real Zane’, and lost the humanity he thought he was clinging too, and part of overcoming his fears, he had to learn it’s still him, and to accept his new form as is. 

The recurring theme of miscommunication and lies weaved by Chen also hit each character personally, everything was an act to bring down a character, bring out the worse in them, and everyone had to find their strength to not let it consume them so it wouldn’t divide them again.  Their grief fed into their fears, pulling them to their worse so Chen could try and take advantage of the mental weakness.

On some minor notes, Kai’s jealousy and guilt was very interesting, him being briefly corrupted by the Staff of Elements and him fighting against it proves he’s only gotten stronger as the Seasons progressed, even if he can’t fully move on from things that bother him, he’s proven he won’t let it consume him.  Pythor’s return was great too, out of all of Pythor’s appearances, his role in this Season was my absolute favorite.  I loved his chemistry with the Ninja and I think he got a conclusive end to his story too; he’s not innocent, but he was wronged by Chen too, and despite everything he did, he didn’t turn against the Ninja whatsoever in the 10 minutes of screentime he had here, and his final actions to help end the War made the Anacondrai Generals proud.  

I also wish we got an explanation on Zane’s return, I either missed something or it just wasn’t explained.  PIXAL said he ‘rebuilt himself’, but she herself was scrapped, and in S3’s finale she thought Zane was talking to her within the factory.  I wonder if PIXAL rebuilt / helped rebuild him on her own, and somehow got taken to Chens island.  Currently, my theory is that she rebuilt him, and when Chen was summoning everyone to the tournament, they managed to find Zane and take him and PIXAL to the island so they could trick the Ninja into going.