Can of Worms

*“Whatever it is, it's a can of worms I don't wanna see open.”*
— Cole, about the Great Devourer

**Can of Worms** is the fifth episode of the first season of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu*. It first aired on February 8, 2012 in the United States, on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

*Lloyd moves in and tries to make nice by helping out with chores, but he just gets in the way. Pythor has awoken the Vipoids and the Constrictaurs and an all out snake war has taken over Ninjago. The Ninja are not faring well, when a mysterious Samurai shows up and saves the day.*

## Plot

Aboard the *Destiny's Bounty*, Lloyd informs Kai that Cole beat his high score on *Fist to Face 2*, angering the Red Ninja when he confirms the information. Inside the dining room, Cole prepares Violet Berry Soup, only to find that it tastes horrible; at that moment Lloyd walks by and claims that he saw Jay messing with the soup. On the deck, Jay activates his sparring bot for training, but it begins malfunctioning—Lloyd says that he saw Zane tampering with it before leaving Jay to deal with the aggressive robot. Later, Zane walks onto the deck to grab his laundry when Lloyd passes by, mentioning that Kai had washed his ninja suit with Zane's before walking off. Zane then notices that his white ninja suit has now turned bright pink.

As all four ninja meet up inside the Bounty to argue, Sensei Wu comes in to reveal that Lloyd was responsible for their troubles, telling them that he had purposely ordered Lloyd to sabotage them to teach them about the destructive power of rumors. When Cole puts the lesson into question, Sensei Wu admits that he had misplaced his lesson book, only to find that Lloyd had stolen it. Through a speaker in the room, Nya alerts the ninja to come to the bridge. There, she informs the ninja that Pythor is on his way to the last two Serpentine tombs, and Sensei Wu immediately commands Kai and Jay to head out to the Venomari Tomb, while assigning Cole and Zane the Constrictai Tomb. Lloyd wants to come along, but Wu puts him to work fixing the damage from his pranks.

Cole and Zane travel to the Mountain of a Million Steps on their Tread Assault and Snowmobile, but upon arriving, Cole notes that their vehicles will not be able to traverse the rest of the way. When Zane points out that they are pressed for time, Cole decides to take a shortcut by climbing the rest of the way up, carrying Zane on his back. They then arrive at the top of the mountain and take a rope down the entrance to the Constrictai Tomb.

Inside, Zane begins reading over the ancient markings on the tomb walls, translating them into a story of the five Serpentine tribes uniting and the four Fangblades. As Zane and Cole discuss what it could mean, they are interrupted by the ground under them shifting. Skalidor pops out of the earth behind them, wrapping his tail around Zane. Cole is quick to rush in, using his Scythe to cause an earthquake and forcing Skalidor to retreat underground. Cole orders Zane to escape, but he is hesitant when Cole is dragged under the ground and thrown back to the surface. Cole uses the Sacred Flute in an attempt to fend him off, however, upon playing it Skalidor resurfaces and constricts Cole with his long tail. Zane rushes in to grab the Sacred Flute and begins playing, but Skalidor cuts it short by using his tail to choke him. Zane barely manages to get out enough breath to finish the tune, causing Skalidor to release both of them as he holds his head in pain. Cole then takes the opportunity to hit Skalidor over the head with his Scythe and knocks him out cold. Zane and Cole decide that Kai and Jay are likely walking into a trap as well, and the two quickly exit the tomb to aid them.

On their Blade Cycle and Storm Fighter, Kai and Jay arrive at the Toxic Bogs. They stop to observe the acid lakes, realizing that they must travel the rest of the way by swinging across the many vines. The two find the Venomari Tomb's entrance, but when Jay opens it they find the tomb is already empty. Kai leaves Jay's side, who is playing with the echoes by the entrance, as he investigates the Toxic Bogs, only to encounter a purple bog frog, who jumps on top of Spitta, who was hiding inside an acid lake. Spitta sprays venom into his eyes, and as Kai begins hallucinating, he calls to Jay for help. The Venomari and Constrictai all come out of the acid lakes, cornering Kai as he starts to see the Serpentine as Gingerbread men and Christmas elves. After Jay finally rushes to Kai's side, Cole and Zane both arrive as backup. However, Pythor jumps out of the empty Venomari Tomb, stealing the Sacred Flute away when Zane attempts to use it against him. As the Serpentine close in on the ninja, they step back onto a sinking log in the acid lake. Before the log could completely sink and erode, a rope suddenly appears before them and allows the ninja to climb to safety. A mysterious figure known as Samurai X flies down, sending out a large net toward the Serpentine which forces them to retreat. The figure inside the large mech jumps out, and the ninja approach the Samurai to show their gratitude. Kai thought the Samurai was Santa due to still being under the influence of the Venomari venom. However, the Samurai sprays them with a gas that causes all four ninja to lose consciousness and fall to the ground, to which the Samurai gets back into the Samurai Mech and flies off. Above the unconscious ninja, the *Destiny's Bounty* flies overhead, shining a light onto them.

Later that night, the ninja are conscious again inside the dining room of the *Destiny's Bounty*, each discussing the Samurai. Cole tells the others to concentrate on the Serpentine instead of the Samurai, and while they fearfully speak of the Great Devourer, Zane informs Sensei Wu that Pythor stole the Sacred Flute. Lloyd blames himself for releasing the first three tribes, but Sensei Wu reminds him that they can only change the future, not the past. An alarm goes off and the ninja run to the bridge, the monitor showing Serpentine activity in Ninjago City.

The ninja jump off the *Destiny's Bounty* and Zane and Cole use their vehicles to safely land in Ninjago City, while Kai, who is still experiencing the effects of the Venomari venom, hitches a ride on Jay's. After looking around, Zane mentions that they are supposed to be standing in the middle of a massive Serpentine gathering, giving them the idea of looking through the manhole in the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, all five tribes gather in the sewer, Skales telling Pythor that he will need more than words to persuade them. While Pythor presents to the large group of Serpentine a speech, the ninja sneak around making bad comments to get them riled up. The Serpentine begin to lose focus on Pythor, and Skales spots the intruders, sending groups of Serpentine after them. Cole, Kai, and Jay are quickly captured, leaving Zane to flee on his own. However, he uses his pink suit to his advantage and camouflages himself by a pink poster , the small group of Constrictai being unable to see him.

The Serpentine continue fighting among themselves as Skales tells Pythor that he has captured three of the ninja. Zane swings in above the crowd on a rope, knocking Skales and Pythor over to save his teammates. All four ninja swing above the crowd in order to escape, making a run for it upon landing. The Serpentine follow and Zane freezes over the hallway with his Shurikens, giving the ninja the opportunity to jump aboard Zane's Snowmobile. The group of Serpentine start slipping on the ice, allowing the ninja to escape.

Back at the *Destiny's Bounty*, Cole begins talking about their day, noting that they had used the destructive power of rumors to their advantage. As they continue the discussion, Lloyd comes into the room with Zane's ninja suit, announcing that the color is returned to normal after twenty loads. As an apology to Cole, Lloyd hands him a can of nuts, but Cole is skeptical about opening it and goes to the fridge instead, where dozens of rubber snakes fly out at him.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Acidicus
* Chokun
* Cole
* Fang-Suei
* Jay
* Kai
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Nya/Samurai X
* Postman
* Pythor P. Chumsworth
* Skales
* Skalidor
* Wu
* Zane

### Non-speaking

***This section is a stub. You can help expand this section by adding some information.***
### Mentioned

* Santa Claus
* Garmadon

### Events

* War of the Serpentine tribes (mentioned)

### Items

* Fist to Face 2
* Golden Weapons
	+ Nunchucks of Lightning
	+ Scythe of Quakes
	+ Shurikens of Ice
	+ Sword of Fire
* Serpentine Staffs
	+ Constrictai Staff
	+ Hypnobrai Staff
	+ Fangpyre Staff
	+ Venomari Staff
* *Sitar Legend*
* Sacred Flute

### Vehicles

* Blade Cycle
* *Destiny's Bounty*
* Samurai Mech
* Storm Glider
* Snowmobile
* Tread Assault

### Locations

* Ninjago
	+ Mountain of a Million Steps
		- Constrictai Tomb
	+ Toxic Bogs
		- Venomari Tomb
	+ Ninjago City
		- Ninjago Metro
			* Train station

### Species

* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Purple bog frogs
* Serpentine
	+ Anacondrai
	+ Constrictai
	+ Hypnobrai
	+ Fangpyre
	+ Venomari
* Snakes (rubber toys)

## Trivia

* The name of the episode refers to the consequences of the remaining Serpentine tribes being released (specifically, the potential that the tribes will unite and unleash the Great Devourer), which Cole referred to as a "can of worms I don't want to open."
	+ The jar of toy snakes that Cole opens at the end can also be seen as a literal "can of worms".

* The elves Kai sees when he is hallucinating wear the hat of the Lawn Gnome from Minifigures Series 4.
* When Zane performs Spinjitzu to change from his white pajamas into his pink ninja suit before traveling to Ninjago City, it begins white and slowly changes into pink, due to his clothing color change.
* Pythor makes a joke about the Constrictai and "their vice-like grip". Skalidor is actually the only one to have this gripping ability because he has a tail which he uses to grip.
* In Czech translation, the episode is called "The Hidden Threat".
* It is unknown why the Postman climbed the mountain, as there was no one to get the mail.
* In the credits for this episode, Samurai X is called the Dark Samurai.
* Kai sees elves and gingerbread men and calls Samurai X "Santa", even though Christmas does not exist in the Ninjago world.
	+ Tommy Andreasen's explanation of this is: "Don’t base your world view on statements from drugged up people. They see and say weird things."

## Continuity

* Nya makes her first appearance as Samurai X.
* Zane's pink uniform is possibly the most well-remembered aspect of this episode.
	+ The gi would later appear in Chen's Palace in "The Forgotten Element" as one of Chen's many artifacts. The Ninjago website implied Chen or one of his henchmen switched out the robe with a white one when it was in the wash.
	+ Simon Lucas, the head designer for the *Ninjago* sets, stated in 2017 that pink Zane was one of the designs he wanted to see made in physical form.
	+ This version of Zane was finally physically released in 2020, nearly eight years after this episode aired, as Avatar Pink Zane in 71708 Gamer's Market.

* Audio of the ninja arguing early in this episode, specifically the part when Cole says "I am naturally the born leader," would later be reused in "The Belly of the Beast" after Kai said Jay is expendable and the ninja start arguing with each other.

## Errors

* In one scene, Skalidor is seen choking Zane, even though in "The Void" it was revealed that Zane does not need air to survive.
	+ This is most likely to avoid revealing Zane's Nindroid status prematurely. In-universe, it could be due to the fact that Zane thought he was a human at this time, so he would have expected himself not to be able to breathe.

* Although Jay says in this episode that he always wanted to come to Ninjago City, in a flashback in "The Golden Weapon" it is revealed that he has already been to Ninjago City and met Master Wu there for the first time.
* After Zane knocks Pythor and Skales off the subway, the latter is present near the back of the crowd when the Serpentine react to the ambush.
* When Zane runs to the Sitar Legend poster to hide from the Serpentine, taking a closer look shows his Ice symbol is white.

## Video

LEGO Ninjago - Season 1 Episode 5 - Can of Worms: https://youtu.be/\_7TFA8jsTNA

## Gallery

For the gallery for the episode, click here.

## Translations

 Dutch
 German
 Italian
 Polish
 Russian
 Spanish
 Ukrainian

## References

1. ↑ File: LEGO Ninjago - Season 1 Episode 5 - Can of Worms
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/992308848638623745
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1458865204897398788
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151128220742/http://www.lego.com/en-us/ninjago/explore/story-4/chapter2
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/bamamSBtONw?t=87