Ninjago S14 E8

## Plot

The Ripper Sharks break through the ice wall, so Nya holds them back with her powers until the others can finally get the door open. When they do, the water drains, and they take their masks off. Bentho is there and asks them if they're alright. Lloyd tells him that they didn't attack the king, and he says that he knows it was Kalmaar. Nya asks him who he is. He says that he's the king's adoptive son, and confirms that Trimaar is dead. Nya tells him that she's sorry. They hear the Ripper Sharks banging against the door. Bentho says they don't have long. He has to get them out of here. He's taking them to the hangar bay, where the Hydro Bounty was taken. Jay asks Nya if she's sure they can trust Bentho. She's not certain, but he didn't have to help them. He gets the guards by the hangar to leave by telling them that Kalmaar sent for them. By the time he learns that he lied, they'll be long gone. They are not, because they have to fight the guards that are actually inside the hangar bay. They use spinjitzu for the first time this season, and it's nice to see them using martial arts too. Even Bentho saves Maya with his spear. Lloyd gets in a mech to buy the others time to escape. Kalmaar finds out that the ninja are still alive, and Bentho is trying to help them escape, so he, Gripe, and other soldiers arrive in the hangar bay. I honestly thought Lloyd was going to sacrifice himself or get left behind so the others could get away, and Kalmaar would learn the location of the island through him somehow, but that's not what happens. It's cool to see Jay be the captain again. Kalmaar orders Gripe to keep firing torpedoes as they chase after them, even though they could destroy their own city or possibly hurt or kill their own citizens if they missed. Kalmaar shows way too much enthusiasm at the thought of killing his adoptive brother. The ninja are able to narrowly escape through a tunnel, and the Merlopians aren't able to follow them thanks to Pixal deploying countermeasures against their last three torpedoes, and making sure they blocked the tunnel entrance. Kalmaar's facial expressions are great. Nya formally introduces everyone to Bentho. He says he's helping them because he promised his father that he'd do everything in his power to stop his brother from awakening Wojira. As they head for the island of the Keepers, Bentho tells them his backstory, which encompasses most of episode 8. Unlike some other flashback episodes though, it doesn't use a 2D animation style. It's nice to see and hear Trimaar again. Bentho doesn't have any memories of his biological parents. His memories start with the day his father found him. Even when he was younger, Kalmaar was way too curious about Wojira, and thought he was superior to everyone else because of his royal blood, especially surface dwellers. They saw eels trying to eat a young Bentho, and Trimaar fought them off and saved him. He realized that he was an orphan, and decided to raise him as his own. The name Benthomaar means deep sea. Bentho attempted to bond with Kalmaar as they grew up, even trying to give him sea scrolls and making things based on Wojira, but Kalmaar didn't care about him at all. One day, he confronted his father about the existence of the temple of Wojira in the Tartarus Trench. His father told him that the trench was dangerous and forbade him from going down there. Kalmaar pointed out to Gripe that whoever built the temple obviously got through the trench, so they can too. He just needs someone expendable to get through it first. He manipulated Bentho into going with him. Poor Bentho was blasted by a vent and fought off an eel, while Kalmaar was able to get through safely, and stopped pretending to care the second he discovered the temple. It was then that Bentho realized that Kalmaar never loved him. I liked this episode, even if it does seem to contrast with Bentho's behavior around his brother in previous episodes. It's possible that he was just trying to fool himself into thinking that Kalmaar loved and accepted him, or it was to not upset their father, or he was just a massive stepford smiler. Trimaar was the only one who cared about him, and now he's gone. Nya promises Bentho that he's not alone. Lloyd tells him that they can't pick their family, but they can pick their friends. They keep heading to the island.