Dragons: Race to the Edge Review: 4x01 "Defenders of the Wing: Part 2"

Back when I first watched season one of Race to the Edge, I filmed a review. Then, I didn't do the same for seasons two and three. I basically explained why that was when I filmed a recent review for Parks and Recreation. Essentially, reviewing an entire season felt like trying to pack too much into one review and I didn't want to do it anymore, but at the same time, I felt like reviewing each episode might be too much.

Season four of Race to the Edge was recently released though, and I'm dying to talk about it. I still don't want to do one review for the whole season, so I'm going to review one episode at a time, though I am sure that I'll have more to say about certain episodes than others.

I'll also go ahead and say that these reviews will be different, in a way, than other reviews because I've already watched the entire season. (I mean, I had to. Spoilers were all over Tumblr, and I needed to see it for myself.) Because of that, I know everything that happens later in the season and am re-watching each episode to review it. I'm going to keep spoilers for following episodes out of my reviews (hopefully not screwing up by not realizing that I'm referencing something that happens later), but I may mention things every now and then that I don't think are major spoilers.

Now, on to actually discussing the first episode of season four.

One of the first thoughts I had while watching this episode was something along the lines of, "Wait. Queen Mala's voice is familiar... Is that Adelaide Kane? It is. It definitely is." I then paused the episode to Google it to see that I was, in fact, correct.

I hadn't realized it was her while watching the end of season three, but I have a good idea why I realized it now: For anyone who doesn't know, Adelaide Kane plays Mary on the TV show Reign. I watch Reign, but it had been on hiatus for nearly a year, during which time I watched the previous seasons of Race to the Edge. Reign came back on air a week or two before season four of Race to the Edge was released, so her voice was more immediately recognizable to me.

I have to admit that it became a bit distracting to me each time Queen Mala appeared this season because I kept thinking about how it was the exact same voice as Mary. It doesn't help that both characters are queens and therefore speak in a very similar formal and authoritative way. (Despite Adelaide being Australian, both characters also have English accents.)

That probably seems like a pointless thing to get caught up on, and it really is. It wasn't something that should have bothered me that much, and while re-watching this episode, I was less distracted by it than before. It was something that kept coming up during the season for me though, so I thought I would mention it.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, I enjoyed it.

One of my favorite aspects of the episode was that the Gronkles were the dragons to save the day. I feel like Gronkles are often treated as one of the least impressive species of dragon, so it was nice to see them have some time in the spotlight.

This episode also establishes Mala and her people as allies of the Dragon Riders, which isn't unexpected. However, it opens the door for seeing them more throughout the season, which wasn't exactly something I was expecting. I thought Mala and the others would be one-shot (or two-shot, considering) characters.

I liked getting to see Mala realize that the Dragon Riders weren't enemies to dragons, since her refusal to listen to them at the end of season three was so frustrating. Plus, they have a common enemy in Viggo, and it's not like either group needs to become enemies with anyone else.

Reign Review: 4x02 "A Grain of Deception"

One thing I'll currently give Reign: I'm liking season four heaps and bounds more than I liked season three. That being said, we're only two episodes in, so I shouldn't get too excited. My current satisfaction with it also likely has a lot to do with lowered expectations after last season.

There are still plenty of things the show is doing that I don't like, though I've accepted that that's going to be the case. In this episode, for example, Greer is packing up to leave, which is unsurprising. Even after last episode, I didn't have high hopes that she would stick around after all of the show's efforts to isolate Mary from every other female character. I went on and on about how angry that made me feel last season, so I won't say all of that again.

That being said, I liked most of this episode. Elizabeth's storyline is probably my favorite at this point. I enjoy seeing what's happening in England. I really want to see her successfully one up John Knox though.

Mary's conflict with James has also been handled rather well. I enjoy watching them try to trust each other but struggle with it.

It's France, I think, that's the weakest link, which is more or less what I expected after the first episode. While I don't want Spain to take over because of my attachment to the characters, I'm not wrapped up in the storyline like I perhaps should be.

As far as Charles is concerned, I'm confused more than anything. I have no idea what's up with him.

So I guess that I'm not entirely thrilled with this episode, but I wasn't expecting that from Reign this season anyway. I still think they're doing a better job with this season than they did the last one, so I hope that that at least will remain the case.

Reign Review: 4x01 "With Friends Like These"

Parks and Recreation Review: 1x01 and 1x02

Graphic Novel Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search Part 3 by Gene Luen Yang

ISBN: 1616551844
Published: October 30th, 2013
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Received: purchased
Read February 16th, 2017
Synopsis from Goodreads:

The Fate of the Fire Lord!
Avatar Aang travels to the spirit world to parlay with an ancient power, bringing Fire Lord Zuko ever closer to discovering the truth about his mother's fate—and his own past. Yet Zuko's sister Azula is becoming increasingly dangerous, threatening to ruin everything that Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Sokka have struggled to achieve on their search!

Review:

Note: You might notice that I didn't review Part 2. I read all three parts so quickly that I decided it would be better to wait until after reading Part 3 and review the entire thing.

The story of The Search drew me in much more than The Promise. Maybe that was because it explored a longtime mystery of the Avatar fandom or maybe it had something to do with the writing. I'm really not sure which was the bigger factor. All I know is that I was more eager to pick this one back up each time I set it down because I wanted to know what happened next, and that was in spite of figuring out each plot twist before it happened. I still wanted to see it unfold.

That being said, there were elements of The Search that bothered me. I'm annoyed by how many of the characters treat Azula. I'm not saying they should have trusted her, clearly that's not the case, but there is something very visibly wrong with her, and none of them seem to acknowledge that. She's been in a mental hospital, but all of the characters talk as if she's rational and just evil.

Spoilers for the ending follow:

How things end between Azula and Ursa in this story also left me feeling unsatisfied. Maybe the story was meant to be about Zuko and Ursa more than Ursa and Azula (or even Zuko and Azula), but then why would Azula come along with them in the first place? Azula and Ursa never actually have a conversation. They exchange a handful of words with each other at most before Azula runs off. I would have felt better if they had actually spoken with each other. I'm not saying that all of their problems needed to be solved by the end, but what we got felt like a complete avoidance of anything as far as Ursa and Azula are concerned. That was disappointing.

This story also made me dislike Ursa as a character when I hadn't before. I did wonder in the beginning why Ursa wouldn't have come to see Zuko if she knew he'd become Fire Lord, so I figure that a story had to be developed that would explain that. Seeing Ursa give up her memories of her children still annoyed me. Maybe she was trying to give herself peace of mind, but she left those kids with Ozai after he was about to kill Zuko. She couldn't have possibly believed that they were safe (Zuko especially), and to erase all of her memories of them... It really made me lose respect for her, which is why I'm glad that the "I wish I had loved you more" line was in the story because I think Ursa was exactly right when she said that.

Zuko also seems to accept what Ursa did far too well, and I would have really enjoyed seeing more with Ursa and Zuko that provided more resolution for Zuko. He didn't really seemed bothered by her actions at all, which made no sense to me. I think this story would have benefited from being longer and allowing time for Ursa to actually have a conversation with Zuko and Azula at the end.