The Dragon Prince: Season 4

Created by: Aaron Ehasz & Justin Richmond

Written by: Aaron Ehasz, Justin Richmond, Devon Giehl, Iain Hendry, Neil Mukhopadhyay

Directed by: Villads Spangsberg & Giancarlo Volpe

Starring: Jack DeSena (Prince Callum), Paula Burrows (Rayla), Sasha Rojen (King Ezran), Jason Simpson (Viren), Racquel Belmonte (Claudia), Jesse Inocalla (Soren), Rena Anakwe (Queen Janai), Benjamin Callins (Terry), Erik Todd Dellums (Aaravos) 

My overall impression of this season was that it maintained the quality of the show, but I didn't feel like it improved. Season 3 was still the most jaw-dropping, and there were frankly a few things I think this season did wrong. 

For one thing, I think this season emphasized its humor over embracing the seriousness of the ideas it was covering. That's where season 3 did better. And one thing that I flat-out hated about this season was the humor... the whole series has not done well with humor, but this season was a new low. I couldn't stand it to the point that I muted some of the jokes and dialogue that was unbearably cringey. 

And while on the topic of criticisms/improvements, I came across a picture that was posted on Reddit (I'm not super familiar with Reddit, but credit appears to go to "u/wildWindrunner," thread located here) who offered five ideas for improvements and I 100% agree with all of them. They wrote, in my paraphrase: 

1. Show more Aaravos
2. Include voice-over by Callum in ep 1 explaining what occurred between seasons 
3. Have ep 2 be about Claudia during time-skip 
4. Have ep 3 be "Zuko Alone"-style about Rayla during time-skip (I really like that)
5. Adjust tone more similar to "Land Before Time," with fewer jokes

I think every one of these ideas would have strongly improved the season. Everything that happened was very hinged on the actions of Rayla and Claudia between seasons and not showing that was a big hindrance, and as I mentioned above, the season's heavier emphasis on humor was a big detriment in my mind. 

But that's plenty for criticisms. There was quite a lot that the show did well too--there's a reason why I say it maintained quality! 

For one thing, it seems like most characters are on the same page as far as what needs to be done in the world and who's on what side. Viren and Claudia are clearly the bad guys, and everyone else acknowledges this. Viren has no association with Katolis anymore and no one is under any illusion of his intentions. Humans seem to acknowledge that elves aren't "bad;" pretty much all ongoing plots involve both humans and elves in conjunction. Though oddly, I don't exactly remember when that changed. 

For me, the best thing about the season was Ezran, Callum, Soren, and Rayla all openly understanding who Aaravos is, the fact that Claudia and Viren are working with him, and the need to stop all of them. The fact that the Dragon Queen (I forget her name) is also helping them is great because she knows exactly who Aaravos is, the threat he poses, and a greater idea of how to stop him. So every group has a clear idea of what they're fighting for. 

Our heroes gathered in front of Aaravos' mirror to confront him 

I also appreciated the hinting at more serious (and honestly quite morbid) ideas even if they refused to really explore them. In her opening dialogue, Claudia discussed the idea of doing really horrible things (I forget her exact wording) to bring Viren back to life. And the idea that she held Viren's corpse with her for about three years is also... really dark. (Even though it was being magically preserved by Aaravos.) Aaravos' magic has also been very dark, like when he possessed Callum's body to perform a dialogue through him just to terrify everyone in the group. I really wish the show would have gone into the implications of all of that. But even if they didn't this season, I don't think they'll shy away from it. One thing that made season 3 so great was that it did explore some of those dark issues in more depth. So I still have hope that the narrative will return to that, hopefully when circumstances force the characters to reflect on their actions more deeply. 

Callum showing off his proficiency in magic with a fancy waterbending spell to keep dry in the rain

The arc this season between General Amaya and Queen Janai (a Sunfire Elf) was also excellent; it was a vector for a larger and more important story about humans and elves learning to cooperate and how leadership can effectively usher necessary cultural change 

The inclusion of the Earthblood elf Terry was very cool, though he was the center of the series' very worst attempt at humor

The other thing I thought was really interesting about this season is what it did for both Viren and Claudia. Viren spent the season as something of a shadow of his former self, which I think was appropriate. His arc began with him waking up at the hands of Claudia and learning he had just been dead for three years. He basically spent the whole season in a state of confusion and unsurety. While it was odd to see him behaving so noncommittal and contemplative after three previous seasons of sadistic conviction, it worked for me. It felt like the stakes were new and fresh for him; he needed a lot of time to reevaluate what was most important to him. For most of the season, simply being with his daughter was more important than anything magical, and that's a very human thing to weigh. In fact, for an episode, he seemed convinced that giving up magic and just spending his remaining time with Claudia was the most important thing. But then, in the season's final battle, watching everyone (mostly Callum and Claudia) duke it out with magic, and seeing Callum's magical staff fall in front of him, his convictions switched back to the way they were before. This again made sense to me because he was watching his former passion in full force in front of him and had an opportunity literally present itself to him. He would see several goals come back into alignment: his daughter's entire goal was to bring him back to life for real, which would make both the goals of family and dark magic become one. This all made Viren's final moments in the season very satisfying. Watching his eyes turn from unsurety to very dark conviction when he saw Callum's staff fall before him and then sadism with which he picked up the staff and ran after Claudia--I felt like old, evil Viren was back. It'll be really interesting going into season 5 with both Claudia and Viren as powerful mages. I suspect the youthful and driven Claudia will go to even darker lengths and not allow her father to overtake her. 

Okay, this blog has gotten plenty long. In conclusion, despite some of those criticisms of quality, tone, and lack of emphasis in better areas, book 4 kept the story going very well and set up the stage excellently for the fifth book!