The Dark Crystal:Age of Resistance, episode 7
So, the episode opens with Hup vomiting all over everything. Is that necessary? The ride they got takes them near the Circle of the Suns but not all the way (why?) They have to walk the rest of the dangerous-a major storm is coming- way.
Just before the storm hits they are wondering how they will get up to the top of this rock to get to the Circle, forgetting that the two girl Gelfling can fly up there (and then figure out how to get the others up.) What do they encounter? A Skeksis.
Who happens to be a heretic and lives with his Mystic counterpart. They want to merge. The Skeksis is really comical and probably more alive in a way than any of the other characters so far.
So, the episode jumps from some hilarious things to the Skeksis taking something out of the rock creature which then falls completely apart. Murder? What the heck just happened? Are the writers trying to make sure this whole thing is just one massive downer?
I went back to watch that part again. It turns out after the creature falls apart the strongest reaction to that is just a sighing from the Gelfling. Excuse me. This creature has proven to be a good friend, has helped them and saved their lives from the storm. Now he is made to fall apart and the total reaction is just to sign? Absolutely absurd! The series is getting worse, not better.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, the Emperor is summoning something called the Ascendency.
The Ascendency turns out to be a bunch of really big spiders. They refer to themselves as Arathim. He wants them to capture Gelfling and bring them to him and in exchange he will return their ancestral home, the Caves of Grot.
The Skeksis and the Mystic go into an explanation of the history of Thra and how they hold the key to the demise of the Skeksis. The Emperor talks to the General as he shows him what's behind the Darkening.
So, the Darkening consumes and blights all. Okay. Just exactly how does this benefit the Skeksis? If this stuff takes over everything that exactly what will be left for the Skesis to eat? What will be the use of their power if they have nothing to rule over? Did no one every explain to the Skeksis about the concept of logic?
This is just getting worse and worse.
Then the being that gave them the ride on the flying shark meets with the Hunter. He finds out where the Gelfling went and will be taken to them.
Yup. Made the mistake of thinking it couldn't get worse. It just did. Guess how the two beings will explain to the Gelfling about Thra? Useing the art of puppetry.
This has gotten so bad I'm taking a break to watch something else.
Another problem. The spiders. The Skeksis talk to a lot of really, really big spiders. So, what are the spiders eating that make them so big?
From the movie and this series so far it seems the animal life on Thra comes in two sizes. Either pretty large to really large (Nebrie to the flying shark) or bite-size versions (Fizzgig and smaller things that fly around.) There is no indication anywhere that the spiders ate the Gelfling so, what do they eat? There's a logic problem here. Big spiders = big appetites. Lack of proper size food = starving spiders. Yet the ones we see are not starving. So, what's going on (other than yet another lapse of logic.)
The heretic Skeksis and the Mystic explain about them once being one, etc. (This we learned from the movie.) They saw the future and know that their fate depends on the Gelfling. Then they talk about a glave.
The Gelfling and Hut head towards the Cave of Grot to get the glave. Menawhile the Stonewood Gelfling are planning to attack the Skeksis but a guard from the castle tells them it's too dangerous. Then Aughra shows up.
Then there's a useless scene where a Fizzgig-type animal barks at Aughra (it had been quiet up till then) and she ends up barking right back and this terrifies the animal. Aughra says she has seen that the Skeksis will meet their fate but not by the hand of the Stonewood Gelfling.
The Skeksis have Princess Tavra and plan to give her to the spiders. The Hunter attacks before they can leave. The Mystic Archer and the Hunter are two sides of the same being. The Hunter takes Brea and leaves. Princess Tavra is under the control of the spiders..
Then we have a Borg movment. The small spiders attach themselves to the Gelfling and turn them into Borg-spiders.
Yep. Borg-spiders. Just when I think things can't get worse in this series they do.
Then there's these creatures called the Nurloc and they have been affected by the darkening. There's talk between Deet and the spiders and the spiders realize they've been had by the Skeksis and decide to join in the fight against them. There's a specific reference to the Nurlocs having blocked up all the exits from the cave, though.
Which, interestingly enough, proves not to be a problem at all. A couple minutes later most of the Gelfling and the spiders are pouring out of the area around the special tree, having totally ignored the fact that all the exits were closed and it wasn't possible for them to get out.
Did some writer forget what they wrote? If you can't get out, you can't get out. But they do get out. Even though they can't?
Deet and Rian get to the special tree and it's attacked by the Nurlocs. It's dying and it transfers its powers to Deet who turns out to be able now to remove the darkening from a creature.
She also has visions of the things that will happen including Jen healing the crystal and her sitting on what looks like some kind of throne and looking really weird like she's part her and part darkening, causing her to fear she seems to end up being.
It was actually a rather good episode except for the no exit/oh, just forget about there's no exit problem.
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