Ending a First Book Right: The Dragon Prince Season 3 Review
I have really enjoyed watching The Dragon Prince. I’ve waited this long to watch it only because I wanted to sit down and really enjoy it. And I did! This review will have spoilers, so if you have not watched it yet, and don’t want anything spoiled, then please read this later. But with that said, let’s get into the review.
The first half was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching the child king try to handle the struggles on both the good and the bad.
I also liked that he had to fail in a brave and noble way, but I also thought it was a bit of a story cop-out.
As a writer, I couldn’t help but wonder if they hurried through this story arch just to send Ezrin back to the others sooner rather than later, as after he was back with them it did feel a little bit if a silly addition to the plot. However, after I watch it again and analyze it more, I may realized I missed something, or was just wrong, but from what I saw, by the time the young king joined Rayla and Callum, it felt like that arc didn’t do much for the story and could have been cut. Not that I would want it cut, I enjoyed the section, most of all as in the “Final battle” that struggle he had become important, and I wish they’d explored it more. Because he clearly will do anything to avoid war even to abdicating. Which of course was a foolish move as it gave power to someone who did not deserve it and had them go to war anyway. But it was an important lesson for the young king. He then learns that lesson and is willing to fight to defend. The lesson learned is roughly
“War is bad, but when war is made on us, it is right to fight back, even if it means loss of lives because more lives will be lost if we do nothing.”
And that is a point that is explored a lot in the show Avatar as well, and I believe one of the Avatar writers created this show, so that theme coming back is great. Avoid killing at all costs, and that is noble and good, but fighting may be needed to save the lives others may be trying to ruin. So I thought it was a good balance explored well. And even then, others may still see a different message and I enjoyed that a lot.
The other reason they may have done this is to give the older two, Rayla and Callum time to actually have their shipping become official. Which was done without a lot of fanfare and very naturally. I enjoyed that. It wasn’t all about things getting super romantic, it was just realizing the bond they had, accepting it, and moving on with the relationship that was already forming.
It’s true, when you start as you should with a friendship, becoming a couple really is just progressing, it doesn’t feel odd at all.
And so I liked that. I also liked it wasn’t a huge theme of one who episode or anything. It was just grown into naturally as it already had been for so long. The growth in that relationship and outside of it was great too. I liked that it wasn’t made a huge spectacle or anything, but progressed very naturally. Most of all Rayla dealing with the loss of her step-dads (not sure what else to call them) and her people. Also her getting over her feeling of guilt over something she didn’t do. I’m a strong believer in we are not accountable for our parents mistakes or our family’s mistakes. And she was dealing with feeling responsible for what they had done. I think how they handled it was wonderful, most of all as she mirrors that moment later. However, I do wish they’d done more to help her see she is not her parents, but the story arch the when with was great too.
To avoid being too spoiler heavy, I’ll just say I liked the ending.
I was worried though it was too soft of an ending for the show.
I felt like how they defeated the villain wasn’t quite as powerful as it should have been, and that we’d not explored Avaros enough at all! It was wrapped up like it really was the end, and I felt like they could do better. It seemed too simple, but it was beautiful and wonderful, but I felt like the real evil they’d built too still was not realized. But then they did show us it wasn’t over and I was happy again. I thought it was a good ending for like the ‘first book’. The section is named Book 3: Sun, but it wrapped up like it was the end of the first book of a trilogy.
It ends hopeful and great, but the battle is still not over. I look forward to where it goes next.
So overall good. I did feel like there was an unneeded detour and I would have liked more new long-lasting characters to come into the story. We had a few one off characters that were great! I liked Rayla’s step-father… or whatever you call that. And the wing elves we met were really cool too, but
I just wish we had a few more new characters and cultures added.
We did get the one fire elf, and that was great (I’m sorry I forgot her name) and I hope to get more of those. Though I will admit personally I don’t really agree with same-sex marriage, but I am fully willing to let people make their own choices and live that. That being said, I kind of like the idea of the fire elf and… I forgot her name, but the girl who is mute and signs, the general, become a thing. Even if it’s just a sister friend bond I’m okay with it, but with so many gay/lesbian couples, why not add one more that’s even mix race? We have two of the main characters doing it, so why not add some more? So I’d give it an 8/10. More to come later I’m sure.