Netflix Retrospective - Dragons: Race to the Edge Season 2 Episodes 4-6

Bad Moon Rising

I guess Gobber is at the Edge for some reason. Anyway, Fishlegs has created some of the Gronkle iron using the formula he found out in the last episode. They’re testing it out with flames, chewing, and spine shots but just as the last of those is to be carried out, a weary Tuffnut interrupts.

He tells his story of being attacked by presumably a Dragon and shows off a bite mark that implies it’s probably not very big. I mean, besides the fact that being bitten by a large dragon would probably take your arm off anyway. They find nothing in their various papers that matches but Gobber thinks it’s a Lykenwing (sp??) dragon. A very rare dragon that’s bite turns people into essentially were-dragons. Hiccup is dismissive of the idea, calling them a myth.

Gobber continues to tell the myth of the Lykenwing, and Snotlout, being the prick he is, insists Gobber list off symptoms so he can twist them to fit Tuffnut, it’s Tuffnut so it isn’t exactly difficult but Ruffnut is visibly p*ssed off about it. Tuffnut gives away his possessions to the others, all 3 of them, Astrid doesn’t get sh*t. He’s preparing for the full moon.

Ruffnut is angry and it’s a side of her we don’t see very often, she angrily insists Snotlout fix this mess. Tuffnut locks himself in a dragon pen for his own protection. Of course the chicken stays because I guess he’ll need a snack. Gobber tries to talk him out of it, but he’s unsuccessful. Ruffnut has been out all night, getting Snotlout bitten by dragons to compare the dragon bites to Tuffnut. Yes, she’s that angry…

Apparently they’d completely forgotten about the Dragon Eye lens Gustav recovered in season 1, so that plot point comes back again. None of the bites match, so Ruffnut continues her abuse of Snotlout. Back with Hiccup, the dragon eye lens confirms the existence of the Lykenwing, and their island which is not far from them so they head out for recon, so… Is Astrid just gonna do nothing for this episode or…

Tuffnut admits at this point he was actually putting it on, but on overhearing the boys' plans to visit the island, he’s now really believing it. Ruffnut comes back with a Snotlout in desperate need of medical attention. Aren’t these dragons supposed to be deadly? But they find that Tuffnut is out and with the moon rising, he’s more convinced than ever he’s going to transform.

He can hear the chicken talk now. Hiccup and Fishlegs enter a cavern, and by the look of it, the Lykenwing here is a myth is designed to protect 2 dragon eye lenses which they find. Snotlout and Ruffnut briefly find Tuffnut, and Snotlout is sent running, only to be attacked of screen. Ruffnut chases after her brother, who has gone to the edge of the cliff so he can take flight.

Ruffnut confronts him and actually it’s heartfelt which is not something I often associate with the twins. Hiccup and Fishlegs back her up, explaining the myth, and hey, Astrid has a line here. It’s ultimately resolved when Snotlout arrives, revealing that it was actually a wolf that bit him. It actually explains the whole hairy description. The cliff gives way but Toothless manages to save him in time. The wolf escapes and attacks Snotlout again.

I feel they may have gone overboard with the Snotlout torture in this episode. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve it, because lord knows he does, it’s just a little excessive. Besides that this is a solid episode, that does contribute to the overarching narrative by giving them more lenses for the Dragon Eye.

Rating 6.5/10

Snotlout gets the Axe

Snotlout is doing target practice but they’re interrupted by Spitelout. Oh f*cking joy. Yeah, even David Tennant can’t make this character likeable. There’s to be a wedding between the Jorgensen and the Hofferson Families, Ie Snotlout and Astrid’s families. And it’s up to Snotlout for some reason to deliver the ceremonial axe to the Isle of Frigga to chop down the birch to make the union official.

Because Astrid’s family is involved, she needs to and because this show is about Hiccup, he’s going too. Meanwhile Fishlegs and the twins will have a B-plot that will mildly irritate because B-plots involving the twins tend to do that. Anyway, they’ve never been to a matrimonial ceremony so Fishlegs wants to show them what one is like.

Snotlout, being the brain trust that he is, drops the axe and much to his misfortune, it’s stuck in the armour of an Armour-wing Dragon. The Dragon takes off and the others set off to help, but the dragon’s blind Stormfly forcing Astrid to land. Toothless is also grounded, forcing him to use his now Gronkle Iron re-enforced shield to block the rmour-wing’s attack. Snotlout is forced off when Hookfang blasts the armour-wing but quickly sets off in pursuit.

So in the B-plot, Fishlegs gets Tuffnut to do a mock-ceremony for him and Ruffnut. It turns out that Tuffnut has trained as an officiator before, making this ceremony official. Hahahahahahahahahaha

No, just no. With the Armour-wing as it is, their only hope is a Snotlout plan, training Smothering Smokebreaths to get close enough so he can grab the axe. They grab metal from the Smoke-breath’s nest to lure him to the island. One of the Smokebreaths manages to grab the axe but now it’s in their possession and they are crafty little devils. Still, with Astrid's help they grab the axe.

Hiccup realises that the armour-wing has no scales and needs to weld metal to its body to protect itself, they need to lure the Smokebreaths away before they strip him bare. They barely manage to do so in time, but when they arrive on the Isle of Frigga, they find things haven’t gone so well. Apparently a brawl broke out at the rehearsal dinner and the union is off, ah well.

So, they return to where the B-plot went, I’ve been skipping over it, but Ruffnut has become a nag wife and moved herself into Fishlegs’ tiny hut. Turns out Tuffnut can’t perform unions, he only trained for half a lesson before their teacher jumped off a cliff. B-plot resolved the episode can end.

This episode is pure filler, the Armour-wing is a cool concept but beyond that there’s not much here at all

Rating 6/10

The Zippleback experience

The guys are busy setting up a new watchtower. They’ve been spotting ships nearby and plan to use the watchtower as an early warning system if they get too close. The twins are enjoying the snow on the mountain, using Barf and Belch as skis. An avalanche is triggered and it’s Hiccup who rescues Barf and Belch from the snow, they were upside down at the time and couldn’t fly.

Since they caused this whole mess, Hiccup puts the twins on patrol duty. The others return to the edge and Hiccup finds his house filled with fish, which he immediately suspects the twins of planting there. Hiccup goes out flying and is grabbed by a riderless Belch, but that’s a problem seeing as Toothless can’t fly on his own. Hiccup manages to free himself and help Toothless, although at this point he’s down 2 legs.

OK, so Barf and Belch were the ones delivering the fish, which makes me question how they got back to the Edge before Hiccup did. Meanwhile, two of Ryker’s men arrive on the Island and put the lead Night Terror to sleep.

Hiccup confronts the twins and returns Barf and Belch to them, but the moment he leaves, Barf and Belch take off after him. Hiccup loses his third and final leg and the next morning, Gobber has teleported onto the island to fix them. Gobber somehow knows that this is a life debt situation, Barf and Belch will stick by Hiccup until the debt is repaid.

They try and stage a life-threatening incident, but it doesn’t entirely work. Their second attempt works better but Barf and Belch knock themselves out and it’s Toothless who performs the rescue. Oh, the Hunters are looking for Hiccup. Ruffnut is particularly upset of idea of losing her dragon, so they turn to Snotlout for help. He decides to try beating Hiccup up, because he’s a f*cking idiot. Anyway, as it turns out, Hiccup’s a lot stronger than he looks and easily wins against Snotlout… So Snotlout is entirely useless then.

So Astrid and Fishlegs are... This show is usually good at having it’s entire cast be doing something but this is the second episode in this batch that Astrid has been basically left out of. Anyway, the twins didn’t warn Hiccup, as they wanted a natural reaction. Hiccup goes out, intending to be alone, so nauturally Barf and Belch follow. He’s captured by the dragon hunters and Barf and Belch set out to rescue him as he’s brought to Dagur and Ryker.

Oh look, Astrid and Fishlegs are in this episode, just in time for the climax. Short story even shorter, Barf and Belch help Hiccup, the others arrive, Barf and Belch are almost captured but the twins rescue them (they rode in on Toothless) life debt sorted, status quo restored and the enemy was driven away.

It’s another filler episode, despite having the main villains in it. It’s actually a pretty tedious episode

Rating 5/10

So, all in all a pretty poor batch this time around, can they pull things around? Find out next week.