The Dragon Prince Rewatch 1.9, "Wonderstorm"

Read the previous entry here.
Read the next entry here.

As the first season of the series closes, some problems are solved--but others emerge to take their place.

---

1.9, "Wonderstorm"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Look closely, and you can just see them,
small creatures against the size of the world.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

On the mountainside approach to the cursed caldera, Ezran reiterates that there is no miracle healer to be found. Callum presses for an explanation that stretches credulity. Ezran notes an ability to speak with animals, and Callum reacts badly. The group presses on, beginning to encounter strange sounds and sights.

Claudia and Soren press on, as well, approaching the tallest mountain of the kingdom so that Claudia can cast a spell to track Rayla and the princes. Their trip appears to go reasonably easily and well.

Spooky.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Along the way, Rayla is persuaded to scout for people in need. She goes alone, leaving the rest to defend the egg, and finds what appears to be a spiderwebbed body. Investigation reveals that the form is but dust, despite it having moved and spoken; Rayla returns uneasy to the group and reports on her disturbing findings. Ezran begins to wander off on his own and encounters a spectral face no others see; Ellis notes a feeling of being watched, but Callum demands they press on in the interest of the egg. The group is hindered by spiderwebs stretching across their path, and they soon find themselves beset by monstrous spiders. They flee to little effect.

That, there, is quite the apology.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran realizes, however, that something else is amiss. Citing a mismatch between the spiders' utterances and what he knows from other spiders, he reports that the spider facing them is not real and presses ahead. Callum realizes that Ezran is correct in his assertion, and he apologizes for his earlier bad behavior; the form attracts no small attention, allowing the group to pass easily, continuing its ascent to the tree Ellis notes was the site of the healing miracle.

Cue up Manfred Mann...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

They are soon joined by a luminous presence that descends to them upon the back of a large bird. Said presence is another Moonshadow Elf, whom Rayla recognizes as an illusionist. She introduces herself as Lujanne, guardian of a magical nexus. Ellis voices confusion about Ava's healing; Lujanne explains. When Ezran presents the egg to her, and Rayla explains its presence, Lujanne notes that the only way to save the egg is to hatch it--which will take a storm, although the night is clear.

After a short period of despair, Callum realizes that a magical object he carries will avail, and he smashes it. A storm swells overhead, and the egg is hatched, if with some peril and after some doubt. The young dragon, Azymondias, releases Rayla from her bonds and gives hope to the group.

An ill omen, indeed.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Atop the highest peak in Katolis, Claudia casts the spell to locate Rayla and the princes. The manifestation of the spell appears to the group around Azymondias, and Lujanne recognizes it as an ill omen. Back at the castle of Katolis, Viren also recognizes what is happening, and he is far happier to see it than she.

Discussion

It is of some interest that the (illusory) creatures that bar Ezran, Cayla, Callum, Bait, Ellis, and Ava's path are monstrous spiders. It seems to be a nod to the expected secondary audience of the series, one that watched Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies and / or read Tolkien's books from which they are adapted; it is, as might have been mentioned before, not a stretch to think that parents who number among that group (myself included) would recommend the present series to their own children. Others, of course, have written at great length and with great eloquence about Tolkien's relationship with and literary depiction of spiders; I need not rehearse the work here, though the Society's own Luke Shelton would be an excellent point of contact about such things.

I am put in mind, also, of the recent guest post from Kristine Larsen, discussing comets and their manifestations in medieval and medievalist work. And I find it interesting that the comet-like manifestation of the Claudia's spell at the end of the present episode occasions delight in beauty from Azymondias, Ezran, Callum, Rayla, Ellis, and Ava--who, being young and inexperienced, can be assumed not to know better; fear and apprehension from Lujanne; and a smirking satisfaction from Viren. Lujanne alone holds to the typical reaction to comets--although Viren's enjoyment of the manifestation connotes his approval of tumult and upheaval, the "death of princes" to which Larsen, following Shakespeare, attests. It is an effective use and reappropriation of the medieval, deliberate or not, and another point that makes the continuation of the series more happily anticipated.

Please note that next Thursday, 26 November 2020, is Thanksgiving in the US. I live in the US, and I will be taking the time to spend with the people in my home. Be safe, be well, and be back in two weeks as I get into the second season of The Dragon Prince on 3 December 2020!

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 1.8, "Cursed Caldera"

Read the previous entry here.
Read the next entry here.

Matters are made to look all the poorer in the penultimate episode of the season.

---

1.8, "Cursed Caldera"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Not the homiest view, no.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rayla, Ezran, and Callum race up the side of the mountain, fleeing pursuit and seeking the healer whose skills have been reported to them. It is a treacherous path, to be sure, though they soon find guides in Ellis and Ava and proceed up the mountain after awkward introductions.

At the castle of Katolis, Viren returns to interrogating the captive Runaan. The Elf is loathe to talk, and Viren promises horrors to come.

As night falls, Ezran, Ellis, Rayla, Callum, and Ava begin to be beset by monsters and apparitions. A fracas ensues, with the group taking refuge on high after becoming separated. They confer in their smaller groups, various members admitting weaknesses to one another and finding some adjustments to their ideas in the wake of the discussions.

Pragmatic, yes.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren presents the mirror to Runaan, who remains taciturn. Viren also presents strange coins to Runaan, to Runaan's dismay. The Elf continues to resist, only to be subjected to an unholy ritual that imprisons him more fully than any chains.

Ezran, Ellis, Rayla, Callum, and Ava reconvene after a time, thinking themselves safe. They are wrong and are attacked again; a fracas ensues, but the group handles it better on the second occasion, defeating the monster attacking them, as well as the young that creep from its corpse. After, they find that there is, in fact, no healer to be found.

Discussion

There are once again shades of Orientalism to be found in the episode. The description of Xadian fruits as "exotic" is one such; the descriptor is a commonplace in Orientalist figurations, not least in Victorian works from which much lingering inaccuracy in ideas of the medieval descend (as the inimitable Kavita Mudan Finn attests). So, too, is the assumption that peoples in the east are able to set aside fear of death readily and adroitly, which assumption tends to dehumanize them. ("If they don't care whether they die, why should we?" might be one way to put it.) While Elves and humans are more distinct than groups of humans--though the extent of the distinctness is not entirely clear--the figuration does not excuse the matter in the series any more than in its medievalist antecedents, about which Christina Warmbrunn and others write eloquently and at great length. The only potentially mitigating factor is that the attitudes are linked solidly to Viren, who is decidedly not a figure to be emulated--but that is not much of a mitigation, if any.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 1.7, "The Dagger and the Wolf"

Read the previous entry here.
Read the next entry here.

Sad news spurs more action, and an ongoing hunt intensifies.

---

1.7, "The Dagger and the Wolf"

Written by Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Seems cool.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran, Callum, and Rayla make camp in a mountain cave, trying to recover from their exertions in the cold and wet. The princes confer, and Rayla provides supplies; talk turns to concern about the egg, and they purpose to find help.

Soren and Claudia lead a search for the princes. Tracking is somewhat complicated, but it is frustrated by the princes' earlier recourse to water travel.

Ta daa!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The princes and Rayla continue, finding a town. They make to recruit assistance there, Rayla giving a terrible impersonation of a human to to disguise herself among them. It somehow holds up under casual scrutiny, and Rayla spies an item she hopes to be able to use to free her hand from its still tightening bond. A melee ensues around the item, occasioning no small degree of gambling; Rayla explains the significance of the item, a sun-forged weapon able to cut most anything. She purposes to retrieve it while the princes seek help for the egg.

Soren and Claudia ponder their next actions. The complications of their mission tell on Soren until he finds a lost braid of Rayla's; Claudia purposes to use it to cast a spell to track Rayla.

This does look like a helper, yeah.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The princes find a veterinarian and ask if he can help them. They learn a bit about the local area and get a dire prognosis about the egg--although a slim hope emerges in a local girl and her dog, Ellis and Ava. Ellis reports that a healer lives high up on the mountain overlooking the town, noting that the healer might be able to help the egg.

Can you smell what's cooking?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Meanwhile, Rayla seeks out the blade, sneaking after its owner and confronting him. He is persuaded to help her, but the attempt reveals her as an elf, and a fracas ensues. It does not relieve her of the bond, however.

The party reunites and exchanges information, laying out their next steps. They are interrupted by an attack from the townsfolk, and they flee towards the nearby mountain to evade their pursuers.

Soren and Claudia proceed to acquire the remaining components for her spell. It is a struggle, but they get what they need.

Discussion

Early in the episode, Rayla provides supplies to the princes. Among them are "boogie-berries," a cold remedy to be taken nasally. While Ezran does not balk at the presentation or explanation, though, a member of the audience might well do so; sticking berries up the nose does not seem as doable as Ezran asserts, nor as likely to be effective as Rayla does. That said, there is ample attestation regarding the effectiveness of plant-based remedies for various symptoms of numerous illnesses, and of the conditions themselves. Aspirin, after all, is based on willow-bark, and is still used to treat no few things. Too, medicine in the medieval Europe the series evokes did make use of nasally-administered remedies, as Munday follows Wallis in reporting, and, as delighted medievalists, medieval remedies have been (at least on occasion) demonstrated to be efficacious. So, perhaps inadvertently, the present episode gets a bit of the medieval right on the nose.