Ninjago S15 E8

## Plot

The episode starts with the end of the ninja's trial. Dareth is their lawyer. Skylor, Wu, and Nya are in the audience, as well as Antonia, Nelson, and Gayle Gossip. Dareth reminds everyone of all the times that the ninja have saved the city. Which is why, instead of giving them a life sentence in Kryptarium, the judge only gives them five years of having to live with many of the villains that they put away. Literally almost all of the convicts hate them. Zane observes that their cell only has four beds, but there are five of them. Jay asks him how he can be so calm about this, and Lloyd points out that he turned off his emotions. Jay still thinks it would be nice to get a human reaction out of him once in awhile. Zane turns his emotions back on… and immediately starts screaming his head off, so it's best to keep them off for now. Kai wants to break out, but Lloyd points out that they'd just be breaking more laws. They can't get into fights or use their powers. They just have to play nice until Dareth figures out a way to free them legally. Meanwhile, he's freaking out, and Wu tells him that the guys have no one to blame but themselves. Nya wonders how he can say that. He understands why they did it, and part of him is glad, but it doesn't change the fact that they broke the law and freed Aspheera, who is now loose. Nya blames herself, and feels helpless. Wu tells Skylor that she'll find herself in time. Before she was an elemental master and a ninja, she helped many people as Samurai X, with no powers at all. So, now that she's back, is anyone going to, you know, tell the people of Ninjago? Or at least her parents and Misako? Ronin is in Kryptarium now. Lloyd, like his uncle, says he has no one to blame but himself for being there. No one forced him to be a criminal. He says that they're not all cut out to be heroes. That could easily be a line from Macaque to MK. Lloyd asks Ronin if he's ever even tried to help anyone besides himself. Um, yes? Season 5? I get that Lloyd wasn't around for most of those events, but still. Speaking of Lloyd, he has a visitor, and while escorting him there, a guard tells him that many of them respect the ninja for everything they've done for Ninjago. It's not personal, they're just following the law. Lloyd knows, and says they won't make any trouble. However, the visitor turns out to be the mysterious person in a kabuki mask that asked Aspheera to join the council of the Crystal King. They tell Lloyd that they're a messenger for the king, who is going to destroy Ninjago with help from his worst enemies, while he and his friends will be powerless to stop them. Lloyd tries to stop them from leaving, but the guards think that he's trying to escape. Lloyd tells the others about it. None of them have ever heard of the Crystal King before. In Shintaro, a crystal spider breaks into Vangelis's cell and gives him a mask similar to the one he wore as the Skull Sorcerer. He accepts the invitation to join the council of the Crystal King. The next day, Dareth and Skylor visit the ninja. Skylor tells them about Vangelis, and they tell them about the person in the kabuki mask and the Crystal King. They need to get out of prison to investigate this new threat, but they don't have grounds for a mistrial, a pardon, or an appeal. Dareth has only one more thing left to try. Jay asks Skylor how Nya is. For some reason, the judge won't let her visit them. She feels powerless to help the guys, and blames herself for them being there. Kai tells Jay that whenever Nya gets knocked down, she always gets back up. Wu finds her in her room, preparing to throw out all of her ninja related things, since she no longer has elemental powers anymore, so there's no point in keeping any of her stuff. Wu says that when people get upset, they do rash things sometimes, like throw away their possessions. Some things are worth keeping though. Nya is more than her powers. Wu gives her a letter from a girl she saved back when she was Samurai X, and she finds some old blueprints for a mech. "Dear Samurai X, when there was a fire on my street, you saved my whole family." Aw! I love all of the little Nya notes. However, I want to know *why* she's so upset. She *wanted* and *chose* to come back, and she knew that she'd have to lose her powers in order for that to happen, and she was okay with that in episode 2. Granted, just because being ordinary is no longer her greatest fear doesn't mean that she's suddenly okay with it, and the fact that most of her family and friends, who she did this for so she could reunite with them, aren't currently with her because of what they did to bring her back, probably isn't helping matters, but even after they reunite, she's still upset about her powers being gone for some reason. During chow time, the ninja are confronted by Pythor, who laughs at how ironic it is that they're in here with all of the baddies they put away. He was finally caught by the new ninja, and claims that they're better than the guys ever were. He's heard about the Crystal King breaking villains out for a big job, so he's sure that he'll be out of here in no time. Kai says they won't let that happen, but Pythor says they can't stop him. Compared to the new ninja, they're a joke. Kai's temper finally boils over and he starts a fight. The guards send everyone back to their cells. Nya has made some modifications to the old blueprints and shows them to Pixal. It would require 1,276 hours to build, but Pixal says she'll have it ready in the morning. Some crystal spiders sneak into Kryptarium and go to Pythor's cell, which Lloyd sees. Pythor agrees to join the council, and the spiders break him out. The guys try and fail to stop him, and they just end up making things worse for themselves. I'm not gonna lie, I thought the ninja would only spend one episode in Kryptarium, maybe two, so this and their subsequent extremely long breakout and regroup before they get back to the main plot of finding out who the Crystal King is, what he's planning, and how they'll stop him; drags on for a long time, at least in my opinion, even if they do use that time to also introduce new characters and help develop old ones. Speaking of old characters, if Skylor knows about Vangelis breaking out, then surely Vania, Hailmar, possibly the Upply, the Geckles, the Munce, and the rest of Shintaro also know as well and are looking for him, right? Sure, the guys' reputation may be in tatters in Ninjago, or at least the city, but instead of breaking out and going it alone, I would've contacted the monastery group, Shintaro, and Merlopia for help with this new threat, especially since it involves multiple Big Bads of prior seasons teaming up for the first time ever (Day of the Departed doesn't count because the villains and ninja were all separated for that, and in season 3 it was just the Overlord and Pythor). Season 2 also doesn't count in my mind because the Serpentine generals and the Overlord betrayed Garmadon. Season 9 doesn't count because Harumi and her generals became subordinates of Garmadon's, not equals. And then they actually did contact Shintaro and Merlopia, just way later than I would've done. Call in the cavalry as soon as possible, at least as a backup plan, and not just when things get dire. Also, why is Skylor still hanging out at the monastery? She has a business to run.