Ninjago S13 E2

## Plot

There are so many callbacks in this episode. I love it. After being gone for weeks, the ninja have a lot to do at the monastery after their adventures in seasons 11 and 12, but Cole says it's his day off. He's playing Prime Empire, which Dyer and Unagami fixed. Wait, the events of those seasons only took them a few weeks? I get that for the first half of season 11, and maybe season 12, but how long were they in the Never-Realm for? Also, when Lloyd points out to Cole that they were just trapped in Prime Empire and turned into energy cubes, Cole tells him that he needs to let go of the past, which I'd argue is what his extremely subtle arc has been since season 11, with his failure to let go of Harumi, or not worry about his dad, and I'd also argue that this season is the conclusion of that arc, at least for now. As for how it was executed… Well… I'll save my thoughts on that for the season finale. Wu has been distracted lately. He claims that nothing's wrong, but Misako can tell there's something bothering him. Yay, we see her and the mailman for the first time since the season 10 finale! Lately, he's been feeling his age. Wu, you're over one thousand years old. You've been old for as long as the ninja have known you. He thinks the others don't need him anymore. They saved Ninjago from Aspheera, liberated the Never-Realm, and beat Prime Empire without him. Yeah, but you were barely in season 12. I find it weird that Lloyd tries to tell him that he's not old, when part of his reasoning for the team going to the Never-Realm was that they were young, therefore implying that Wu is not young. The others are geeking out about a letter they got. Lloyd worries that it's bad news about Pythor, his father, or the Teapot of Tyrahn. Before someone points out that he shouldn't know about that because that alternate timeline was erased from history, I'd like to point out that it's entirely possible, and maybe even in canon thanks to *Ninjago: Decoded*, that Jay and Nya told the others at least a bit about what happened in season 6 to make sure no one ever found the teapot and released Nadakhan again, and if they did, they'd be prepared for it this time. The letter is an invitation from the luxurious, beautiful, and wealthy kingdom of Shintaro, also known as the Ivory City. It's on top of Shintaro Mountain, a remote place in northern Ninjago. Jay has heard that it's the most beautiful city in the world, and the people have wings. Invitations to come there are very rare. In all of recorded history, there have only been a handful of outsiders allowed into the city. King Vangelis requests their presence as honored guests in Shintaro to celebrate his daughter Princess Vania's birthday. Until recently, it was still thought that Shintaro was only a myth. Lloyd invites Wu to come along to get him out of his funk, but he refuses, saying that he's been to fabled kingdoms before, and once you've seen one you've seen them all, adventuring and exploring are for the young, and Pixal and Misako need his help here. Misako scolds him and orders him to go with the ninja and relax. While on their way to Shintaro in the Bounty though, they're attacked by Dire bats. So, has it just become a running gag now to have Cole fall or almost fall at least once a season since his titular fall in season 10? I'm just saying, I wouldn't be surprised if he has acrophobia or basophobia now from all of that. Or if he's gained an immunity to normally fatal falls since season 10. Wu tries to tell them to use their elemental powers, but doesn't notice a Dire Bat trying to ram into him from behind, so Zane saves him again. Unfortunately, that makes the bat take out their last sail instead, and they start going down. Before they crash into a mountain though, they're saved by the Sky Folk of Shintaro. They really do have wings made of gold, along with armor. The captain of the guard and right hand to the king introduces himself as Hailmar. Dire bats are one of the many reasons they normally discourage visitors, for their own safety. They meet King Vangelis and Princess Vania, and it's revealed that their wings are mechanical and detachable. Vangelis is voiced by Deven Mack, who you may or may not remember also voiced Zeo Abyss in the English dub of Beyblade: Metal Saga. His voice sounds really different here, but it had been at least eight years since then. I'm definitely feeling the season 8 parallels, especially since Vania is a huge fan of theirs, it was her idea to invite them to her birthday, and Cole immediately falls for her, which Jay and Lloyd notice, and they find it weird. Well, Jay finds it weird even though Cole is his best friend. Aw! Best friend duo! Lloyd finds it suspicious. Also, this is probably just my young tween/teenage self speaking, but what?! It's already bad enough that it took almost *a decade* for them to finally give Cole a focus season, but now even he has a female love interest? No! I just hope she doesn't end up like Skylor, where she's important for one season and is then promptly forgotten about except for some cameos and minor roles once in awhile. Lloyd tells Cole that he doesn't trust Vania and thinks she's lying, saying that all princesses are the same. Cole can tell that he's only saying that because of Harumi, and tells him to move on already. At least, that's what I wish he'd say. Besides, he and Vania only just met, and he claims he doesn't like her like that. Someone else sneaks into his room. It's a small purple creature, and he's surprised that Cole isn't someone named Gilly. He tries to run away, but Cole tackles him and sees a photo locket he's wearing open up to reveal pictures of his parents inside. The creature gets it back and disappears. The guards come in, and are confused when Cole mentions the creature and secret passages and trapdoors. He wakes everyone up for an emergency meeting and tells them about it. No one believes him though, and they think he was just dreaming. Wu apparently knew his mother, and doesn't remember her ever having a locket, but Cole knows she did because he's seen pictures of it. He wants to tell the king, but the others remind him that they're guests here. They can't wake the king in the middle of the night. He can tell someone is following him, and thinks it's the creature, but it's actually Vania. She overheard them, and believes him, because when she was little she had an imaginary friend named Mr. Sparkles. He was small and purple and followed her around. The adults told her that she made him up, but now she thinks he was real after all. He came out of a grate in the palace gardens. Shintaro Mountain is filled with underground tunnels and mines, but Vangelis ordered them all closed off for public safety. Before their people settled here, an evil sorcerer built all sorts of tunnels, mines, and dungeons deep into the mountain. The sorcerer is long gone, but the dungeons are still there, so Vangelis forbade anyone from entering them because it's too dangerous. Cole is determined to find out why the creature had his mother's necklace, so Vania comes with him. She's not a child anymore. She can decide things on her own. Always onward is the adventurer's motto. She talks *a lot*. The evil sorcerer was called Hazza D'ur. He was vanquished a long time ago, and it's said that his bones are still down there. Vania wants to see them, but Cole isn't nearly as enthusiastic. They follow mine cart tracks to a giant pit of lava, so they go back and take the other tunnel, which leads them to a mine where skeletons called Awakened Warriors are forcing small, purple creatures with big ears and green creatures with fangs and black hair to mine. They're all chained up. One of the green creatures falls, which upsets a rhinoceros creature called a Mino. Everyone, even the skeletons, looks nervously at a giant skull with lava flowing out of it, but nothing seems to happen. Suddenly, a winged and masked person with a glowing green skull comes out and yells at them for stopping the work. The skull can talk and tells him to punish them, so he fires blasts at them with the skull. Cole tells Vania to go back and tell her father to bring guards and get his friends while he confronts this obviously evil guy. She's worried about him, but he points out that he's the master of earth, and they're surrounded by it, so he'll be fine. When he confronts the sorcerer though, his powers don't work, so he beats up the skeletons the old fashioned way. The bad guy is called the Skull Sorcerer, and he uses the skull to reform the skeletons. The episode ends as they overwhelm Cole. Also, *finally*, the main villain actually shows up at the very beginning of the season!