The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance episode 4

Episode 4: The First Thing I Remember Is Fire

Obligatory Plot Summary: In need of more essence, the Skeksis decide to demand a tribute of seven warriors from each Gelfling tribe to fight the threat of the Arathim (Spitters), large spider-like creatures who have waged war on Gelflings and Skeksis before. The Chamberlain's caution is blamed for Rian's continued evasion of capture, and the threat of Gelfling rebellion grows. Chamberlain is exiled from the Emperor's table, and in retaliation the Chamberlain summons the Hunter, a free-roaming, predatory Skeksis and sets him on Rian's trail. Back in Ha'rar, Princess Brea follows the stairs beneath the throne to a hidden chamber beneath. Each of the Gelfling clans is represented in the chamber by a stone carving with an inset for a glowing medallion. Brea attempts to solve the chamber's riddle by placing the medallion on each carving in turn, in order of the various clans' hierarchical rank. When this fails, Brea realizes that the hierarchy is artificial, that all Gelfling clans/tribes are equal. This turns out to be the solution to the riddle, and a pile of boulders in the chamber assembles itself into a bizarre stone giant identified as Lore. Aughra, frustrated by her failure with the Skeksis as well as her failure to hear the Song of Thra, encounters the Archer, a roaming Mystic who speaks in riddles but ultimately directs her to the Sanctuary Tree to re-learn the Song of Thra. Rian is finally cornered in a Podling village by Princess Tavra, as well as Gurjin's sister Naia and her friend Kylan. Each believes Rian's a murderer and want to turn him in for their own ends. Rian begs them to dreamfast with him, and shows the lone remaining vial of Mira's essence. Because of the Skeksis warning that Rian's madness is passed along by Dreamfasting, they are reluctant to do so, but finally agree. As they are dreamfasting, Ordon, Rian's father, arrives and joins the dreamfast circle as well. All are horrified by the truth and vow to help Rian. The group separates with different missions. Rian and Ordon are ambushed by the Hunter, and it's immediately apparent the Gelfling warriors are overmatched. After hatching a quick plan with Rian as bait, the Gelflings lure the Hunter to a patch of ravenous gobbles (think quicksand with teeth). Ordon sacrifices himself by knocking Hunter into the gobbles. Hunter is too powerful for even the gobbles, however, and emerges (worse for the wear) to capture Rian and head back to the Castle of the Crystal with his prize.

Musings: Holy cow, this was a pretty kick-ass episode! Hunter is an insane, bad-ass Skeksis, a welcome addition to this world and significantly different from the courtly Skeksis we're familiar with, although no less menacing. I was surprised he survived the gobbles, as the Skeksis had not been shown as all that powerful prior to this. Alas, the battle between Hunter, Ordon and Rian isn't terribly satisfying. First of all, the CIG Hunter, slithering through the trees, wasn't good. It didn't make him seem threatening, it was jarring. CGI Hunter did not move in the same way as muppet Hunter at all. It was unnecessary and arguably accomplished nothing beyond inflating the budget and throwing me out of the moment. The actual battle falls into the trope of building an opponent up so that when they're easily defeated, viewers will be wowed by the power of the victor. Rian and particularly Ordon have been positioned as good, potentially great (Ordon) Gelfling warriors. We've seen Skeksis being stabbed, tortured, hurt and bleeding. Hunter's fight with the Gelflings makes the Gelflings look inept and hapless. That's a cheat. For comparison, consider Empire Strikes Back--during the climactic lightsabre duel, viewers are left with no doubt that Luke was woefully overmatched by Darth Vader, but the film still went through considerable effort to show that Luke was not hapless or inept. Vader was just that much stronger. In this battle, apart from the trick with the gobbles (which is more of a ruse than actual combat prowess) the Gelflings might as well be fighting Hunter with Podling Hup's spoon. I know there are budget considerations, but this falls more to the inconsistencies in the script, which have been my problem since episode one. I'm also troubled by the fact that Ordon, the first Gelfling with any authority, is killed off almost as soon as he learns the truth. I understand the narrative needed a death for the Hunter battle to attain a certain gravity, but Ordon's came off as too quick, too convenient.

We also are introduced to Hunter's Mystic counterpart, the Archer, who strikes me as a lot more talkative than most Mystics. I love the physical design of the Mystics and want to see more. Curiously, despite almost unquestioning devotion to their Skeksis overlords, Gelflings, by and large, seem to automatically default to trusting one another. The Skeksis/Gelfling relationship is best described as Gods/worshippers, so this is an interesting development. More interesting is Brea's activation of Lore. Here, we're treated to much more metaphysical magic manifestation. All I can ask here is where did the Gelflings get all of this bad-ass magical power, and why don't they seem to have access to it anymore? Lore is a great creation, weirdly asymmetrical in design. The construct (a stone golem would be the closest analog in established mythologies, I suppose) has what is essentially a phonograph cylinder on its arm, which rotates and produces a recorded message when Lore's other arm, ending in a stone hook, touches it. I mean, this is some gonzo crazy inventive creativity at work here. Between Lore and the Hunter, this episode has the most freshness and vitality of any thus far. Something's actually happening, and the series feels downright vibrant.

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