S01.E06: Prisoners of Skellin

[AnimeMania]

The heroes mount a rescue mission into the Dread Mines of Skellin.

Streaming on Disney+ December 28th. 

[Cranberry]

I've been enjoying the show quite a bit so far, but this episode didn't do it for me. Christian Slater was fun, but the episode felt disjointed and character development seemingly went backwards -- all of a sudden Elora's more unsure of her power than ever, Kit resents Elora even more than she did before*, Kit's falling for the disembodied voice trick and doesn't think twice about abandoning her party and the woman she loves, and nobody cares that Graydon's dragged off to another part of the (super dangerous, practically inescapable) mines for most of the episode (did Tony need an episode off to do that role he had to shave for?).

I'm glad they got the cuirass (if it is the real cuirass) and that Elora found her wand again, but that felt like a lot of wandering around and fighting amongst themselves for this late in the game.

*Okay, I've thought about it more and I get it. I'm frustrated that Kit is still this angry and resentful six episodes into an eight-episode season, but I understand. She feels abandoned by her father, she wonders if it's because she wasn't good enough, she finally hears his voice again and he's calling to her specifically, and then one of his closest friends tells her that all her dad wanted was to protect (and someday have her protect) the chosen one. Elora absolutely does not deserve Kit's wrath (she was not prepared for, and does not want, people literally dying to protect her), but she's the obvious person for Kit to aim all of that sadness and insecurity and anger at.

I think that Kit (mild spoilers based solely on a promo)

Spoiler

being the one to wear the cuirass, as we saw in a recent promo

will do a lot to help with her confidence in herself, but I have no idea how we're going to get there -- how Kit is going to come away from being literally submerged into a pool of liquid that the trolls use to become "stronger, faster, and... evil," how Elora and Kit are going to mend their relationship, and how Kit's going to get some resolution about Airk and/or her dad in just a couple more episodes.

[Jediknight]

Christian Slater was having a blast as Chloe Allagash's brave little man.  Too bad it looks like he won't return.

I'm guessing the liquid "evil" was messing with the group somehow.

Airk, don't let her out.  Keep her in the cell, because I'm guessing she's a manifestation of The Crone.  Don't fall for it, dude.

[iMonrey]

OK, so they definitely changed the nature of the trolls from the movie, where they were just vicious wild beasts. But then Sarris had me at "Hello." I can forgive a lot, provided that I am properly entertained, and I really got a kick out of Sarris this episode. 

Was that Val Kilmer's voice calling to Kit? I didn't understand where exactly it was supposed to be coming from. They opened the vault in the tomb and there was some kind of bright light at the end of it, was it some kind of portal to another realm or something?

I got a kick out of Christian Slater too. He has such a distinctive voice I recognized it immediately. I loved how he and Boorman were totally going at each other while the other characters were having conversations around them. 

I really enjoy the humor they employ on this show to keep things from getting too dark or too serious. It has a tendency to teeter towards angst so they need that humor to pull back from it.

[Cranberry]

29 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Was that Val Kilmer's voice calling to Kit?

It was his son, Jack!

Quote

“We actually recorded with Val and we used his performance as a guide track,” Kasdan said. “Then Jack was given Val’s performance to listen to and then copy what his dad had done in terms of you know, the performance elements of Val’s thing.”

Apparently it was revealed in the official novelization and the Willow sourcebook that some trolls were more intelligent and could speak, but I haven't read those myself; that's just what I'm hearing from Reddit. The wiki also indicates that the vermiscus they're refining makes them more intelligent.

[Bort]

I guess I could buy Kit’s resentment toward Elora being about Madmartigan abandonment issues, except Kit was a snot to Elora even before they knew who she was. I do wish that Elora would hurry up and find her groove so we can see just what it is about her that makes everyone worth dying for her.

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

OK, so they definitely changed the nature of the trolls from the movie, where they were just vicious wild beasts. But then Sarris had me at "Hello." I can forgive a lot, provided that I am properly entertained, and I really got a kick out of Sarris this episode.

The trolls being able to talk and being intelligent doesn’t bother me. It was kind of a neat twist. Just in the last episode all the trolls did was scream and terrorize, which was for about the same amount of time they had dedicated to them in the movie. Plus yeah, it seems like that gold goop was being mined to up their intelligence factor. 

[thuganomics85]

Who knew this show just needed some Christian Slater to liven things up a bit?!  He was a blast as Allagash and brought some much needed energy here.  Too bad it looks like he was one and done, but I noticed we didn't see him actually die, so I can easily see the Trolls just recapturing him instead (especially since the only one who knew he wasn't Madmartigan after-all is now dead.)

Boorman finally got that cutlass, but I'm definitely thinking that it's going to be Kit who ends up wearing it instead.  Assuming she gets out of this particular situation she's in right now, but I'm pretty sure she will.  Definitely don't see her or anyone here getting taken out like that.  Hopefully she's a little more civil with Elora, if she ends up being the one to save her ass.

These folks really do like to pick the worst times to have personal conversations/confrontations.  Deadly rescue mission and not only do Kit and Elora finally have it out, but Graydon decides this is the best time to make sure he and Elora are "okay."  Priorities, people!

Mysterious woman that Airk finds is definitely going to be The Crone or working for her.  Cool seeing Rosabell Laurenti Sellers again a.k.a. the Sand Snake from Game of Thrones who wasn't Keisha Castle-Hughes or Jessica Henwick!

Nice touch with getting Val's son for Madmartigan's voice.

Another filler episodes, but it made me laugh quite a bit, so I consider it a win. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

 Deadly rescue mission and not only do Kit and Elora finally have it out, but Graydon decides this is the best time to make sure he and Elora are "okay."  Priorities, people!

To her credit, Elora did point out how bad his timing was.

Quote

Another filler episode

I don't think any of the episodes have been "filler." I guess I don't understand the criticisms about the pacing. It's a TV show, not a movie. Is the expectation that they should have reached Airk by now? Because it was established from the beginning that where he's being held is so far away it's not even on the map. Clearly the story is about the journey. And every time they've had to stop it's because they've been captured or waylaid by a storm. I'm quite content to enjoy their adventures for as long as they last.

[Cranberry]

9 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Deadly rescue mission and not only do Kit and Elora finally have it out

Apparently Kit was straight-up suicidal and wanted Elora to bring the whole thing down on her: Willow star Ruby Cruz says episode 6 is 'the absolute low point' for Kit

[Abra]

So I don't hate this show at all but the things I don't like are really not great. This episode was basically Buffy + Star Wars with a sprinkle of the Goonies thrown in. I know they are trying to keep the goofy/serious balance, but it's just so derivative here. I'd rather this show be fully serious if they can't strike the right chord of humor. Christian Slater is not suited for whatever the showrunner/writers are going for. 

Oh well.

On 12/28/2022 at 9:11 AM, Jediknight said:

Airk, don't let her out.  Keep her in the cell, because I'm guessing she's a manifestation of The Crone.  Don't fall for it, dude.

He will - he doesn't have anything else to do. Hopefully he figures out how to disentangle himself from whatever she does to him before the gang comes to rescue him. So far he's the helpless damsel and while a role reversal is nice, the trope is still boring.

 

[nodorothyparker]

I liked this episode quite a bit more than some of its predecessors because it seemed to have a good sense of humor about itself. Sure, while Graydon may have picked *right now* to try to get into his feelings with Elora, she smartly pointed out now was not the time and at least once with a whole fight going on behind them as if to prove her point. Sure, the movie trolls didn't do much but screech and turn into two-headed monsters when kicked into a moat, but the trolls as sardonic nitpicky middle managers were a hoot. 

Christian Slater was a terrific addition to this universe and since we didn't actually see a body, I'm sticking with the show not tell rule that he could theoretically still be around if we get another season. I kind of love that the story about what happened to Madmartigan keeps evolving and that both Boorman and Allagash aren't exactly proving to be reliable narrators. These really do seem like the people of the guy we met so long ago left to rot in a crow's cage.  I realize the writing is kind of stuck stringing out the mystery of Madmartigan's fate on the off chance they ever get Val Kilmer back on set, but I think they're doing about as well as they can with it. I remember showrunners in various articles in the runup to the season promising that it would very much honor and acknowledge Madmartigan as a seminal OG character, but honestly, I wouldn't have expected that six episodes into an 8-episode season for so much of everything to be about his fate while the kid kidnapped in the premiere has at times felt like little more than oh yeah, we're still supposed to be looking for him, right?

I wasn't fully sure what we were supposed to make of the not Val voiceover coming from the light in the tomb. A portal? A memory? An illusion? But that and Madmartigan's recognizable sword left there clearly led Kit to think he might still be there somewhere. So it felt natural that it would set off all her feelings again about his disappearance, not to protect his own family and children but as Allagash claimed for Elora, who so far doesn't seem to have the greatest handle on what makes her worth all the trouble. It must especially gall to be told that she's now supposed to pick up the torch, again for a girl that it hasn't been that long in showtime since Kit was dismissing as the muffin girl her boytoy brother was fooling around with.

I have my doubts that thing are going to go well at all now that Airk finally has someone to play with in that weird seemingly deserted city, but at least hopefully whatever she is will finally mean some movement there.

[raven]

I thought this was an OK episode.  Christian Slater was fun and I don't believe Allagash is dead either, even if we don't see him again this season.

I hope (repeating myself here) that we find out more about what happened to Willow and his family without a big exposition dump at the end of the season.  It does seem like the characters have stagnated.  OK, they've had a LOT happening but Kit seemingly ready to give up on her brother because of a ghostly voice and everyone pooh-poohing Graydon disappearing with the trolls is not really where they should be at this point.  Kit going on and on while standing on thin ice was highly annoying.  What does she want??  OK, hearing what could have been her father's voice and not being able to chase after it got her down BUT her brother has still been kidnapped and Jade, whom she loves, is right there. SHUT UP KIT.   Ugh. 

I also wish Willow had been the one to break the ice.  I feel like he hasn't had a lot to do.  The actress playing Elora is the worst of the bunch and when she was screwing up her face in concentration, well, she looked like she was trying to do something else.  I was glad that Elora brought up with Graydon the whole "possessed and killed your brother" incident. 

5 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

I kind of love that the story about what happened to Madmartigan keeps evolving and that both Boorman and Allagash aren't exactly proving to be reliable narrators. These really do seem like the people of the guy we met so long ago left to rot in a crow's cage. 

I agree with this.  The show has to mention him and leave their options open, so what we got this ep regarding Madmartigan worked for me.  Boorman and Allagash definitely seem like people MM would work/ally with.  The trolls were amusing as well, especially the head troll. 

I know I should think "evildoer" but when Airk found the girl in the city, my first thought was "here's the substitute love interest so that Elora can go off with Graydon" heh.

[Cranberry]

Someone on Tumblr pointed this out, but the reason Elora's getting so disoriented when she looks down into the mines is that she's hearing Kit's breakdown well before it happens (if you listen at about 11:15, and again at around 22:45, you can clearly hear Kit say "why every time he chose you"). Guess that means she's developing divination skills!

Edit: It happens again as Allagash and Boorman are fighting over the cuirass and Kit's going through the tomb door.

[edhopper]

Am I bad for hoping Kit dies?

[Cranberry]

I dunno, but considering she's one of the two leads, you're probably going to be disappointed.