Ninjago S15 E26

## Plot

After seeing Kai and Cole's crash again, we see what happened to them afterwards. Kai woke up first and rescued an unconscious Cole. Whenever he was conscious, it was pretty clear that he was concussed, and he accidentally alerted Pythor and his crystal vengestone warriors to their position. Luckily, they were saved by Skylor, who used both their powers to fight Pythor, who sent vengestone warriors after them. Skylor made a wall so they wouldn't be able to follow them, and they ran away. She tells Kai that the Bounty was destroyed and went down somewhere over the city. Cole finally wakes up. Pixal went after Zane and Jay is looking for Nya, and we know from the previous episodes that they're successful. The GPS transponder for the Bounty was destroyed, so they have no idea where it is, along with Lloyd and Garmadon. They hide from Harumi, who is on a Dragonide. If the villains are still looking, then maybe they haven't found the others yet either. Skylor doesn't like their chances out in the open. They need to find shelter. Kai realizes where they are and hides in an arcade. It turns out that Jake from the first half of season 11 is also there. He was on his way home when the city was attacked, so he hid in here. Skylor says they need to get him somewhere that's actually safe. The Samurai X cave is too far. Skylor was lucky enough to just get into the city by herself, but they'd never make it out as a group. Borg Tower is on the other side of town. They have no transportation, they can't walk all the way there while also avoiding all the villains and soldiers, and it might've been overrun. Suddenly, they hear Master Wu's message on a walkie-talkie. Kai and Cole are relieved that he's alive. It cuts out a lot, but they hear him say the paper kids' motto, which makes them realize that he's at the newspaper warehouse, so they start heading there. Meanwhile, Lloyd and Garmadon reach the Serpentine library, which is abandoned. They've already fled. Lloyd wanted to ask them for help, because they need it. Garmadon says it wouldn't have made any difference. He still thinks that the power of the oni is the only thing that can destroy the Overlord, but Lloyd says there has to be another way. Garmadon asks him why he continues to deny his heritage. He says he can't, and when Garmadon continues to question why he can't, he says it's because he doesn't want to end up like his father. That's his greatest fear. Lloyd still thinks that Garmadon doesn't care about anything or anyone, but he says that's not true. He cares about Christofern, but Lloyd says that doesn't count because plants don't have feelings. It doesn't care that it was abandoned or that it never got a birthday card. It's clear that Lloyd is talking about his own abandonment issues. Again, this makes sense for movie Lloyd and Garmadon's relationship, but less so for these two, because Garmadon was banished to the Underworld, then he went to the Realm of Madness to escape and fulfill his own ambitions at the end of the pilot. He only came back to Ninjago when he did specifically because he loved, cared about, and wanted to save Lloyd from the Serpentine in season 1. Then he tried fighting the Overlord's possession at the end of season 2 because he didn't want to fight or hurt his son, then he became good for two seasons and selflessly sacrificed himself to save Ninjago because it was the only way in the season 4 finale, which Lloyd understood, and then they said goodbye to each other again in the season 5 finale. Then Garmadon was resurrected and arguably didn't care about Lloyd all that much, or at all, in seasons 8 and 9, but he might have started to during the end of season 10. That didn't stop him from leaving though. That is arguably when the real abandonment started. Speaking of season 10, Lloyd once again asks himself why he's even trying to explain it; still thinking that his dad is never going to understand. In my opinion, they never really fix their relationship by the time the series ends. Realistically, that does make sense, they both still have a lot of work to do, but come on. Maybe it's just me, but lately any sweet or sad moments feel undercut by comedy. This is called bathos, which is the effect of an anticlimax created by a lapse in mood/tone from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous. It's usually unintentional, but Marvel arguably does it on purpose most of the time because that's how their formula works. And this season is definitely based on Marvel, at least if the *Endgame* style poster is anything to go by, similar to season 13's poster looking like one from *Star Wars*, and the overarching story of the first two seasons basically being the plot of the original trilogy. Except instead of losing a hand, the protagonist gets much older through magic, and his evil antagonist father gets two new hands, and arms. Basically, this season isn't exactly *God of War (2018)* from Atreus's perspective. Anyways, Kai, Cole, Skylor, and Jake get to the newspaper warehouse after being saved by the paper kids. Many more people are at the warehouse, including Gayle Gossip, Vinny, Clutch Powers with the Teapot of Tyrahn, etc. The couple that Wu saved at the end of episode 23 want to go back out to try and find their son, but he tells them that there's nothing they can do. They'll only be infected if they go outside. Antonia, Skylor, Cole, Kai, and Jake enter the warehouse. It turns out that Jake is their son. They're all glad that they're okay and together now, and that includes Wu reuniting with Skylor, Cole, and Kai. He even hugs the guys! Aw! Episode 26 starts with Skylor and Kai cooking noodles for everyone. I love the subtle representation of having a woman in a wheelchair and not calling any special attention to it, similar to the minor character Cristina from Elena of Avalor or a background character from the Pixar movie *Turning Red*. In my opinion, the best kind of representation is the kind that's just there, because that normalizes it. Kai decides that he and Skylor should be an official couple now. She points out that she hasn't heard from him in ages, like she never existed in the first place, which I feel is the writers and creators poking fun at themselves for forgetting about her, because the fans certainly never did. She made cameos in seasons 5, 6, 7, and 10, and she was a side character in season 9. They're also in the middle of the biggest crisis ever right now, so it's a bad time for Kai to spring all this couple stuff on her. He apologizes, but points out that since they last saw each other at the end of season 10, his powers were stolen, he was trapped in another realm, then a video game, then underground, and then his sister turned into the ocean, so he's had it pretty rough lately. They can talk about them after they save Ninjago. They almost kiss at the end of the series, but are once again interrupted by Dareth. Meanwhile, Wu and Misako still haven't figured out the dragon form scroll. Misako advises Wu to take a break. She finds that it's easier to see things differently when she steps away for awhile. It's revealed that there's hidden text on the back that is only visible when the paper is folded, but no one realizes it in this episode. Cole and Nelson get the dispatch radio's frequency to correspond to their ninja comms, allowing them to finally get in touch with Lloyd, Jay, Nya, and Pixal, who tells them that Zane is with her, but currently indisposed. Before Cole can tell them where they are, Wu warns him that their radio signal might be intercepted, so Cole says they're where the news never sleeps, which Nya quickly figures out. However, then she and Jay give away their destination by telling everyone that they're heading to the harbor to get in touch with Benthomaar, since Nya's powers are returning. Lloyd also reveals his location by mentioning that he and his father didn't have any luck finding the Serpentine in their library, while they're still in there. Sure, the sewer system is huge, but I swear Harumi basically knows everything about this city despite growing up confined to the palace and making unauthorized trips into the slums. Pixal says she might be able to provide some assistance with Fugi-Dove, Killow, Ultra Violet, and Ronin piloting Borg's new mechs, but she can't promise how reliable they'll be. Wu says they'll need to keep looking then, and tells Cole that it's time to call in Vania's favor to him. They'd need a much stronger transmitter to reach all the way to Shintaro though. Given that they've presumably known about Vangelis being on the council from Lloyd's intel for a bit now, I'm surprised they didn't at least try to do that when they still had the Bounty, or when they were at the Samurai X cave. Also, Vania and her father never speak with each other, which is yet another disappointing thing to add to the board. You could've tied it into the home and family themes that you already had in this season! In fact, the entire council honestly feels like an afterthought. They barely appear or do anything after the third arc. I can't help it if I like angst and family drama, okay? Also squared, stop referring to Vania as a princess! It says a lot that a complete stranger actually uses her proper title instead of the people that were actually at her coronation. Anyways, Vinny says that NGTV's broadcast tower could send a signal there. It's on the other side of town, but his news van is parked outside. Racer 7 is revealed to be at the warehouse, and says she can drive it. She's renamed herself Blazey H. Speed, with the H standing for Hyper. I'm gonna keep calling her Racer 7 because it's shorter and I like it better, although if this was a real person, I'd call them by their preferred name and/or pronouns. Meanwhile, at Borg Tower, the ex-prisoners have decorated their mechs and are getting used to the controls. Borg still can't get Zane to wake up. He's like a person in a coma. Some coma patients do wake up, but it isn't looking good. Everyone else is ready to go to battle, so Pixal says her goodbyes. She was once just a machine, but then, long ago, Zane gave up half his power source to save her, and she felt things she never had before, like love for him. If she's able to return, she will, but in case she doesn't make it, she'll find him in the life after this one, if there is one for beings like them. We know there is, thanks to the Day of the Departed special featuring Cryptor. Before they leave though, Zane wakes up, and his amazing theme graces our ears for the last time. I think it's either the sacrifice one called "Built to Protect" or the memorial/resurrection one immediately after that called "What Powered Zane". And yes, it really did take me until its final use in the show to try and look up and confirm its name. Jay Vincent and Michael Kramer, you are gods among composers. Like its first use, it also plays during the credits, which is a good enough reason to not skip them this time around if you're watching on Netflix (it ends prematurely on YouTube). Pixal hugs Zane like when they reunited at the end of season 11. Cyrus doesn't know how this is possible, and neither does Zane himself. He just knows that he heard Pixal's voice, and he suddenly remembered. Jennifer Hayward, you are amazing and I love you. No post production filter in the world could've hidden the emotion behind your lines in this episode, especially your laugh and "You're alive!" That being said, I wish they could've called back to episode 7 by having Pixal shed a tear during her goodbye, maybe as flashbacks of her and Zane played onscreen as an additional callback to The Titanium Ninja? Also, since Skylor already mentioned being forgotten, it would've been nice to have brought back the falcon and his own amazing theme as well. I wouldn't have even cared how contrived it was; maybe Pix was planning on proposing to Zane before all of this and a rebuilt falcon was how she was going to do it, I legit don't care. Pixal brought Zane back. She has MiniPix 7 send itself and her mech to her, and confirms that she's ready. Wait, does this mean that she has her own little companion now, like how Zane had the falcon? Aw!