Ninjago S12 E16

## Plot

Jay and Nya are trying to get through a bunch of spinning blades. They see some glitch out for a second. This was Dyer's very first adventure game, but it was never released because of problems. Video game obstacles are usually on a timed loop, so if they get the timing down, they can make it to the other side. The glitches are unpredictable though, and they can't get past them safely. They improvise by dancing through the blades. The next area is… a sushi restaurant. Jay thinks it's a hub or checkpoint area where they can rest before facing the boss, but Nya thinks it's a trap. She's right, because the waitress attacks them with butcher knives. Nya destroys her with a chair. She and Jay are attacked by monster sushi and three red sushi chefs. They cut the monsters into tiny pieces and get rid of two of the chefs, but the final one summons Sushimi, the Mad Sushi Chef. They fight him and send him flying out of the room on a conveyor belt. They enter a red room with a firewall to block their path. There are three slots in the floor, one for each Key-tana. Jay inserts them, and Nya hugs him, but she sees that Sushimi is still barely alive, and he throws his weapon at them. She shoves Jay and takes the hit, losing her final life and turning into an energy cube. Jay is devastated and kills Sushimi. He doesn't think he can do this alone, and tells Nya that he loves her. Unagami tells him to give up, or he'll become another energy cube for his Manifestation Gate, but Jay refuses, turns the Key-tanas, and gets rid of the firewall. He tells Nya that he'll fix this, and sees the Prime Empire version of the Manifestation Gate. Unagami appears and congratulates him on beating the game. Jay calls him Milton Dyer, and demands that he turns his friends back or he'll beat him too. Unagami reveals that Dyer is his creator, and he's the reason he's going to the real world, so he can explain why he tried to shut Unagami down. Jay realizes that he's the game itself, Unfinished Adventure Game I. Nya is the last energy cube he needed to finish the gate. It sends out a red energy pulse throughout the game, similar to the thing that started this whole mess in the first place. We see Okino and Racer Seven again. Jay realizes that Unagami is angry at Dyer because he abandoned him and tried to shut him down, but he tells him that going to Ninjago won't fix anything or make him feel better. He attacks him, but Unagami points out that he *is* the game. He can take any form he wants, and transforms into a dragon. He goes through the gate, and the Red Visors follow. Jay tries to fight them, but he loses his weapon. He remembers what Okino said about the amulet, and calls upon the dragon for help. It's blue now, probably to better match his color, and to further contrast with Unagami and his minions, who are associated with the color red. He defeats the Red Visors and flies through the gate, ending the episode. The season finale starts with NPCs appearing in the real world. Dyer frees Wu. Jay comes through the gate and helps Pixal unplug Zane, but this doesn't close the gate. Jay tells everyone that the others got turned into energy cubes, but he has a plan. He just has to find Milton Dyer and Unagami, get them to work out their issues, and convince Unagami to turn everyone back into people. Pixal tells him that they found Dyer, who says he'll do whatever he can to help. Wu asks Jay if he's sure that Unagami can be reasoned with. He doesn't seem evil, just confused. He doesn't understand what he's doing. Dyer blames himself for shutting the game down under the orders of Vast Industries, but he didn't understand what he had created. He's finally realized that Unagami is alive. Jay tells everyone else to head to Borg Tower while he leads Unagami there, but he has no idea how he'll do that. At least he still has his dragon. He finds Unagami in his dragon form attacking innocent people. He tackles him with his dragon before he can harm people. Unagami chases him, which is what he wants, but then he tackles him out of the sky and pins him down. Jay gets him off by blasting him with lightning, since he has his powers back now that he's out of the game. Meanwhile, Zane, Pixal, Wu, and Dyer are heading to Borg Tower, and stop any malicious NPCs along the way. Yay, we see Okino again! They take a Whack Rat's car to get there faster. Jay's dragon is hit, and he's able to crash land it on top of Borg Tower, but it disappears. You know, I just realized something. Jay tells Unagami that he gets that he's angry, and then mentions him being abandoned by his maker. And even though we don't know the circumstances behind it, Jay was too, by his biological parents. He really *does* understand how Unagami feels. It's too bad he never brings that up, especially since season 13 is going to focus on Cole's mother. Actually, I take that back, because literally the second after I wrote that, Jay mentions it. He never understood why his parents abandoned him, and because of his father's death and his mother's disappearance/nonexistence, because the writers are too cowardly to acknowledge her; he never even got the chance to ask, but he always hoped there was a good reason for it. Unagami changes back into his humanoid form, and the others finally get there. Jay tells him that anger doesn't solve anything. It won't help, and it won't make him feel better. Dyer stops him from attacking Jay and tells him not to do this. He recognizes him and briefly changes into a child form. Dyer tells him that he was not made to instill fear and suffering. He was made to instill joy and happiness. He changes into the child form and says that Dyer abandoned him, and then changes back again. He's just a lost and sad child on the inside. Dyer tells him that he didn't understand what he had created and admits that he was scared. Unagami tells him that to fear something he created is illogical. Dyer agrees with him, but that's how he felt, and he didn't understand how real and alive Unagami was. When Scott disappeared, the company panicked and Dyer shut the project down. Unagami tells him that Scott didn't disappear. He's inside Prime Empire. Dyer tells Unagami that he knows his expectations and instructions were very clear, and he just misunderstood them. This is his fault. He wants a chance to make up for it by finishing Unagami's programming and answering all of his questions. Unagami changes back into the child form and agrees. Dyer tells him that he has to release all the people he took. They're alive, just like him, and they deserve freedom. He will, but says that the ones from Prime Empire deserve freedom too, so they should get the choice to stay in this world if they want. Dyer is proud of him for showing the capacity for compassion so quickly. Wow. I don't think we've seen a villain reform and have it stick since Morro or Yang. Everyone is freed, and the other ninja realize that they're home. Nya reunites with Jay, who kisses her on the cheek. Aw! Everyone else is glad to see each other again, and when Kai asks what happened, Jay says it's a long story. Lloyd and Seven exchange a look. Wait, so, are they potential love interests too? Don't get me wrong, I like Seven a lot, and her color scheme does match Lloyd's, like Harumi's first two designs did, but I *love* Akita. The Whack Rats and Red Visors decide to return to Prime Empire. Jay tells everyone that Unagami is home, where he belongs, as he and Dyer hold hands and walk off into the sunset.

## Review

Okay, so according to someone who works on the show, it was Jay's mom who left him with Ed and Edna, because she knew that her husband's womanizing tendencies would make raising a child with him impossible. Also, apparently she will never be mentioned and her fate will never be revealed, at least in the show, due to the drastic change in the plot for this season. That could always change, but I'm not super optimistic about it. I personally really liked this season, but it's not without its previously mentioned flaws, some of which are left over from season 11, and might simply be how the show works now, especially given what I've seen so far of season 13, which seems to follow a similar pattern with the ninja being split up, this time into three groups instead of two, although that does allow the focus character, Cole, to actually be in focus. I didn't feel like Jay drove the plot here like he did in season 6, but more like he was the last one standing again simply because there had to be a last one standing. With the focus on other characters though, I think that this season could have just as easily been about Nya or Lloyd, and not a lot would change, especially since their parents left them too. I also think we could've used another episode in between four and five to get the exposition out in a better way, through Jay or Scott about how to win the game, and we could actually see the others get their Digi suits and weapons and tell Jay who they think Unagami is in the real world and why Zane and Pixal aren't with them. Maybe cut out the dance competition episode to compensate? I also wish Jay had suffered from at least a little guilt for starting the events of this season in the first place, since he's the one who inserted the motherboard into the arcade cabinet. Anyway, the animators should be proud of themselves. I think they nailed the video game animation and the fight choreography. It's hard to describe though. It looks and feels just like an immersive game, which is probably the intention. Also, remember how it took me four days to watch and write about season 11? Well, this season only took me two days. I'm sure part of that is due to the decrease in episode count, but again, I would've finished even sooner if I didn't spend most of July 7th cooking and tutoring my sister in stats. Whenever I wasn't doing that though, I was either watching this show or writing about it. Seriously guys, imagine it: A spin off show about **everyone**.