Ninjago S8 E5

## Plot

Just like before, after the recap, the episode starts off with a scene before the intro and title card. We see Mr. E and Zane fight, with our titanium hero demanding to know if he's the Quiet One. And if he's not, then who is he? Zane quickly loses his bow. E basically dominates the entire fight, and he never even used the mask. I was really nervous and on edge when I watched them fight for the first time. The only time Zane gains a brief advantage is when he uses his ice powers, and even then it only stopped his opponent for a few seconds. Zane says that E doesn't have to do this. He's beaten up pretty badly, and falls down the cliff. He shuts down, and E inserts something into him. E contacts someone, presumably the Quiet One, with a backwards talk message. However, one of Zane's eyes blinks back on again after he leaves. Oh my god you guys, the music. Instead of the new intro, it's the music from season 3 when Zane died. I came so close to crying. I actually had to pause the video and take a second to calm down. At no other point in this series have I come so close to crying before the five minute mark. That night, the others, including Cole, find him and bring him aboard the Bounty. He's alive, but barely. Pixal has diverted his power to critical life functions, but Zane will have to do most of the work himself. He has to reconfigure his system and reboot himself. There's nothing the others can do but keep moving, so the Sons of Garmadon don't find them or the child. They have to leave the city and get as far away as possible. Lloyd, Kai, Jay, and Cole have to deal with the baby, who won't stop crying. He doesn't like milk. They wonder if he has to have his diaper changed. Suddenly, the baby stops crying. The guys see Harumi singing a lullaby to him. A very creepy lullaby about a spider. Despite the creepiness, it works and the baby goes to sleep. Lloyd and Harumi talk alone on the deck. Garmadon once told Lloyd that the place they're flying above is called the titular Dead Man's Squall. Harumi asks him if he remembers his father before he left, back when he was evil. He doesn't, saying that he was too young, and asks her if she remembers her biological parents. She says that sometimes in her dreams, they're right next to her, like they're still here, but then she wakes up. They tell each other that they're not alone. She says that it must be difficult to think that the Sons of Garmadon are trying to bring his dad back. She can't imagine what's going through his head. She promises that whatever happens, she'll be here for him. They almost kiss, but Lloyd pulls back and awkwardly walks away. Cole is watching the baby when he wakes up and starts crying again. He sings to him, and it turns out that the baby likes his terrible singing. Cole lifts up the swaddling cloth that the baby is wrapped in, and looks shocked at what he sees. They're currently flying through the storm in the Dead Man's Squall to stay hidden. Nya mentions an ancient tribe that worshiped a storm spirit/sea serpent named Wohira to Jay. That might have been foreshadowing for The Island, which is basically a prequel/special to set up *season 14*. Holy shit. Or it could've been season 11 Mala-Wojira foreshadowing, which is still impressive. Pixal calls everyone to the bridge. She discovered an audio recording of an intercepted message between Mr. E and the Quiet One. Zane recorded it in his last moments of consciousness. When played backwards, it's Mr. E saying that the trap has been set. It's presumably referring to the thing he inserted into Zane. Pixal has been trying to locate the Quiet One's whereabouts through the message, but the storm is interfering with the process. It might help if they drop to a lower altitude, but then the Sons of Garmadon would find them. They wonder where they should go. Cole comes in with a map. It turns out that the swaddling cloth that the baby was wrapped in was a map to the third mask. Okay. But if that's the case, then why did the SoG need the actual baby? Anyways, it leads to Primeval's Eye. Misako told Lloyd about it. It's an uncharted vast wilderness of death. Well, that's comforting. An archaeologist friend of hers, Dr. Yost, had gone in to map the area, but he never came back out. Meh, sounds too much like Hiroshi's Labyrinth. A creepy robotic spider crawls out of Zane and starts messing with stuff. Cole tells the others that the baby likes tea. The lights go out, and everyone heads to the bridge. Harumi grabs the map. They ask Pixal what's going on. She frantically tells them that there's a foreign entity messing with her system. They're being tracked, and she's lost control of the Bounty. They realize that something got in through Zane. Samurai X is approaching the Bounty in the mech suit, and fast. They think that he's there to help, but Pixal doesn't think so. She knows because her system has been overrun, and she's no longer in control of anything. She admits that *she is Samurai X*. Whoa. Didn't see that coming. Too bad I was spoiled about it. I really hate leaks. Samurai X attacks the Bounty and destroys one of their thrusters. If they lose the other one, they'll fall out of the sky. Nya stays inside to look for the foreign entity. Jay keeps the lightning off them. The rest of them have to fight. Cole puts the baby in a safe place. X targets the sails and blasts them. Kai uses his powers to light things up so they can see. Lloyd gives Harumi a sword, even though she says she doesn't know how to fight. But you're a princess. Why wouldn't you know how to defend yourself? And just two episodes ago, you said that you could handle yourself. We've seen your parkour skills for ourselves. Lloyd tries to use his powers to bring down the mech suit. Nya looks for the foreign entity. She sees the spider. It attacks her, and she freaks out like a stereotypical girl. Look, I don't like bugs or spiders either, and this one is creepy, robotic, and pretty big, but still! Come on Nya! Just use your water powers to short circuit it, or just grab it and smash it or something! X lands on the Bounty in the suit. She just tosses everyone around like rag dolls. Before she can kill Lloyd, Harumi saves him. However, she's then taken captive and starts screaming like a damsel in distress. X jumps off the Bounty with her, and Lloyd goes after them. The Quiet One speaks through Pixal. Lloyd disables the mech suit. X ejects and gets back to the Bounty. Now Lloyd and Harumi are falling towards the ground. Gee, airjitzu or an elemental dragon would sure come in handy right about now. Lloyd frees Harumi. She wonders if they can use the map to parachute down, but he says that this isn't a cartoon. Okay, that's a little too on the nose to be super funny. He puts Harumi in the suit to break her fall. It only has room for one of them. Harumi says that she needs him, and he takes the map and jumps off to try her crazy parachute idea. He lampshades that he didn't think this through. Now *that* is funny. And it works too! They crash through the trees. The spider is destroyed by a recovered and reawakened Zane, who wonders what's going on. Pixal starts a sequence reboot. Her controlled body is fighting Kai, Cole, and Jay. It throws a sword at the second thruster and destroys it just as Pixal manages to regain control. They can't create an updraft with the sails, because the Quiet One destroyed those too. Nya uses her powers on the rain to achieve a controlled crash. It's still a crash though, and everyone braces for impact, with Cole holding onto the baby. The Bounty is in terrible shape, but everyone's okay. Zane and Pixal reunite. So, how exactly was Pixal able to build a new body for herself? She still says that she hid her identity to protect them, and just like last season, I don't think it's a valid excuse. She also didn't like being stuck in Zane's head. They promise to not lie to each other or keep secrets anymore. I love her new Samurai X outfit. Harumi is okay. Lloyd hurt his right arm, and she uses the map as a sling for it. How is that thing not damaged at all from the rain and a huge fall? They're on their own. Because of the tall trees, they don't see the smoke from the Bounty, which actually didn't crash too far away from them. Okay, it kind of did, but it's better than just the two of them trying to find the third mask by themselves while they're stuck in "an uncharted vast wilderness of death."

## Review

I liked this episode. It was apparently supposed to be really dark, and explain why the Weekend Whip wasn't used as the theme for this season. While the parts with the spider were creepy, and the fight in the beginning was terrifying, that's it. I honestly thought it was more emotional than episode 2, which was supposed to be the emotional one. Don't get me wrong, I'd say all of the episodes so far have some emotional moments, but this one was the most emotional to me. Also, despite the damsel in distress screaming moments, I'm giving Britt McKillip, the voice actress for Harumi, major kudos during this episode. She sounds genuinely distressed when Lloyd saves her instead of himself. She did a fine job in previous episodes too, but again, this is the one that stood out to me. Also, I learned from a video interview that Brent Miller, the voice actor for Zane, also did the voice for Mr. E, and that he was originally going to be revealed to be a reprogrammed Echo Zane from season 6. Wow, these next few seasons really went all out on making things darker, even retroactively, and yet they still never lost sight of their target audience. That's really impressive. Still, I'm disappointed that they had to cut that out, because it required too much awkward exposition for potential new viewers. They also didn't capitalize on it during season 9 or season 15, probably for the same reasons.