Teletoon Canada
Saturday 9:00AM (PST)
The concern about the mysterious Vengestone buyer and why he’s smuggling a lot of this rock around becomes the focus in Ninjago’s latest pair of episodes. However, the team can’t decide on what to do next unless Nya is present to help soothe tensions within the team. They bicker over everything until she finally appears and reveals how they can help restore her. The only problem is that they’ll need the help of an enemy.
To save this heroine will be tough. It may come at a cost much later into the series. As for exactly what that’ll be will depend of this season is taking ideas from the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I don’t believe this subplot will be of grave concern. So far, the story concerns finding out who is smuggling this rock and what his plans are for it.
A secondary plot about the New Ninjas and what they represent in the series has some people trying to figure out who they are. At first, I thought two of them may be Nelson and Antonia. These newspaper carriers had a year to hone their skills. After their role in “Papergirl,” they were rather thrilled to get the team’s seal of approval. It may well have motivated them to become who they are now.
However, after pausing the screen and comparing freckle design, I don’t think so. As for what they represent, I believe they’re more than rivals, and I liken them to the Power Rangers.
As for Nya’s return to the team, she won’t be ready to do anything until she recovers from the transition. To extract an elemental ability from a soul or a physical body wasn’t easy as the moments after was rather explosive. And I doubt she’ll be without these powers for too long. When considering how Kai lost his mojo and regained it during Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu, I think this woman may well have a similar story thread.
Instead of dealing with the aftermath right away, the next episode (“A Mayor Problem”) shows just how Ulysses Trustable, the new leader of Ninago City loves the new team. He hates the old group because of all the collateral damage wrought upon the city. This amusing addition to the series is comparable to J. Jonah Jameson’s relationship to Spider-Man, and I’m sure the writers looked to the newspaper mogul for inspiration. As for how important he’ll be for the future, only time can tell.
The Ninjago team needs this leader’s permission to see Aspheera, and he said no. With no other choice, their attempt to meet (and free) her doesn’t go unnoticed, and it’s safe to say everyone will be on the run yet again.
However, I can’t help but wonder if asking for Nadakhan to help is a better solution? Only Jay and Nya know of him, and as for whether he’d assist depends on what he remembers and if the events from Skybound happened or not. He’d make for an interesting ally assuming he was never discovered. The only issue is whether he would turn against the person who released him, much like how Clouse was imprisoned following releasing the djinni.
The question of who is worse embodies a part of this latest season’s subplots. Upcoming episodes, which will be examined later, shows who will get recruited to form a new leadership of criminal masterminds, and as for who the leader is, that would be telling. I saw the accidental release of all the episodes before they were pulled and can say it embodies a bit of Bruce Timm/Paul Dini’s Justice League style storytelling. We’ll soon see people recruited to become a Legion of Doom to plot the demise of a world.
As for when these will be released, my guess is to mark the calendars for August. The reason is simple. By my reckoning, the first twelve episodes will conclude by the end of July, and instead of waiting for the next run, the Teletoon broadcasts will have the series presented in full instead of suddenly halt with a mid-season cliffhanger.
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