Dragons Riders of Berk Reviews: Episode 15 - Twinsanity

You know what we haven't got from the show yet, an episode that focuses on the Twins. Did anyone want or even ask for such an episode? What can you exactly do with the Twins for the plot of a whole episode? They're mostly just comic relief side characters, so what kind of plot could fit these characters? 

On a side note, we also get introduced to a new villain this episode. Interesting.

The twins are flying through a cloudy sky on their dragon Barf and Belch (it's a zippleback, so one dragon). They can't see anything in the clouds. Hiccup glides beside them and carefully explains to them how stupid they are. They're supposed to let their dragon see in the clouds for them. But they're slow in the head and don't understand what Hiccup is saying to them. Hiccup facepalms himself in utter disbelief and attempts to demonstrate the exercise in a way they might understand. 

To the shock of absolutely no one, they still don't get it and think Hiccup is speaking in riddles. They decide to trust themselves, which is probably the worst thing they possibly do. That moral doesn't work here folks! They both yell different commands to their dragon's heads. The dragon spirals out of control, and straight into Fishlegs. The three of them fall into a tree and shockingly don't die. Ruff and Tuff call for their dragon and once again disorientate it. Fishlegs makes some strange hand signals to Meatlug. 

GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING TREE!!

Meatlug gets the message but seems to have misinterpreted Fishleg's signals. She grabs the Twins out of the tree instead. Fishleg's is proud that it worked, despite that little miscommunication which could actually cost him his life at this very moment. His fat ass cracks the branch he's on causing him to fall. Toothless manages to catch him in the nick of time. Hiccup is impressed by the hand signals and decides to try it out with the rest of the dragons. 

Back at the arena, the teens are trying out new hand signals they came up with for their dragons. Hiccup signals Toothless to shoot a firebolt and smile like an idiot. Astrid signals Stormfly to shoot spines from her tail. Snotlout signals Hookfang to annihilate a wooden wall. Hookfang annihilates Snotlout instead.  Fishleg's signals Meatlug to hug him. Ruff and Tuff signal Barf and Belch with two completely different commands at the same time, disorientating the dragon.  They get into a heated arguement, and they both give their respective dragon heads commands to brutalize the other. With thatthey take their leave, leaving their dragon completely confused and to turn on itself. 

Back at the main household, Stoick and Gobber are preparing for something. Gobber is trying to fit a belt around Stoick''s waist, which is very unpleasant for Stoick. Hiccup asks if it's that time of the year again, though not the time I'm thinking of. It's time for the annual signing of the Non-Aggression Pact with the Berserker tribe. Inter-tribal politics? I fucking live for this shit yo! But Hiccup is not so excited, as the Berserker Chief Oswald the Agreeable is bringing his son Dagur along. Hmm, Oswald the Agreeable is funny name for the Chief of the "Berserker" Tribe, something Gobber points out by saying that they haven't even been to war for 30 years.   

Oswald "The Agreeable" Chief of the "Berserker" Tribe?
An oxymoron if I ever heard one.

Anyway, Hiccup is afraid he's going to have to stop Dagur from breaking shit like he always has to do when the Berserker's come to Berk.  I can relate. But Stoick has a more important job this time, Hiccup gets to hide all the dragons from Oswald. Wait, what?

Hiccup is just as confused as I am. Why hide the dragons from this tribe that was at peace for 50 years? To Stoick, being at peace and being friend's you can trust are not mutual concepts. And considering that they were at war before, he ain't taking no chances. The Berserker's might see the Dragons as an excuse to go, "Berserk". So it's up to Hiccup to hide the dragons to prevent the fury of a very powerful tribe. He's sure to get crushed by the weight of such a responsibility, the logistics alone!

So the teens are off to gather up the dragons and temporarily herd the dragons off the Island. Snotlout asks if Dagur is coming, since he thinks Dagur is cool. Hiccup says Dagur once used him as a knife throwing target, and he also locked Fishleg's in a cage and force-fed him rotten fish heads. I hate to agree with Snotlout on something, but Dagur sounds awesome! The kinda guy you'd wanna hang out with (unless of course you were the one he decides to use as a target). 

But complications are on the way, as Barf and Belch are out of control without their riders. Hiccup and the others try to control them, but to no avail. Hiccup tells the others they have to get Barf and Belch under control before the Berserker's arrive, just as the Berserkers announce their presence. Hiccup tries to explain the disaster to Stoick, but Stoick is quite busy waiting to greet Oswald. Only to find out that his mentally unstable son, Dagur the Deranged, is chief now. 

Oh, Fuck me!

Stoick and Hiccup are both unpleasantly surprised at this revelation. Dagur is the last person they wanted to see come off that boat. Stoick wants to know where Dagur's father Oswald the Agreeable is, since he would probably be a lot more, agreeable. Dagur simply says that his father "retired", and that he lost his taste for blood. But he on the other hand, is starving. Stoick and Gobber don't like the sound of that at all, and they seem rather on edge. 

As they have good reason to be, as Dagur is not only unstable but also very well informed. He knows that Berk has dragons and asks Stoick where he's hiding them. Stoick clumsily tries to make it look like he doesn't know what Dagur's talking about. Dagur ain't stupid however, and says he has it on excellent authority (and who might that be?) that Berk is amassing an army of Dragons. A half-truth, but that half-truth is enough for Dagur to unleash his 50,000 man armada on Berk. Holy shit, Stoick and the rest of them have good reason to be shitting themselves in fear right now, because they're dealing with a very powerful tribe that just so happens to be run by a lunatic. 

Remind you of anyone?

Hiccup, realising what deep shit they could be in, rushes off to deal with Barf and Belch. Dagur demands a tour of the entire Island from Stoick. Stoick is about ready to draw his sword on Dagur for his insolence, but Gobber stops him before he tries to kill Dagur in front of the 50,000 man Armada. 

Hiccup is in a total panic. To make matters worse, he runs into Astrid who tells him they haven't got Barf and Belch under control yet. And they're also eating fish with Dagur heading their way right around the corner. It's the old ET routine where they have to keep the alien dragon out of sight. Dagur and Co. just barely miss the Dragon as they continue the tour. Hiccup goes off to warn his dad. 

Dagur and Co. move to the armoury to inspect the Dragon Killing weapons. Dagur is having a blast fucking around with the swords pretending he's killing helpless dragons. Stoick and Gobber are not impressed, Gobber commenting that he really puts a handle on the whole Deranged thing and Stoick ready to lose his shit. 

I'm gonna shove this sword up his insolent ass!

Hiccup is outside the armoury, Barf and Belch are on top of the roof. Hiccup realises he has to think like Ruffnut and Tuffnut, something that should usually be beneath an intelligent being such as himself. He tries telling them to fuck off, but Dagur walks out of the armoury. Lucky for him Dagur doesn't notice the dragon, but unlucky for him Dagur notices him. Hiccup puts on a forced excited greeting, reminding Dagur of the time they went swimming and he tried to drown Hiccup. Dagur laughs, and decides he's bored again. He pushes Hiccup out of the way. 

But then he notices that something's gone fuckey. Hiccup thinks he's talking about the dragon, and almost admits to having one dragon. But Dagur corrects him before he can do that, he was asking about Hiccup's leg. But Dagur goes on to explain that he knows all about Hiccup and the Red Death. Hiccup plays stupid and tries not to let on that they're training dragons. But Dagur ain't no fool, he knows there's gotta be something to the rumours. But Stoick comes back to escort Dagur to the Great Hall before he can further chew Hiccup out for his Bullshit. Another close call with Barf and Belch, and Hiccup decides he has to go get the twins. 

You know something, fuck the twins! I literally don't give a shit about their subplot, since Dagur is a fucking riot and that plotline is far more larger in scope. But this episode is 'Technically" about them, so off we go to the so-called main plot. 

So Hiccup goes to find the Twins, but only finds Tuffnut. Hiccup tells Tuffnut that he and his sister have to help control Barf and Belch. But Tuffnut complains about having a Twin sister he has to constantly share with... Blah, Blah, Blah, who cares? Next!

So Dagur and the Berserkers are seated at the Great Hall gorging themselves to a feast. Dagur raises a mug to death and glory in battle. Stoick and the rest raise a mug to his father Oswald. Dagur is not pleased. 

FUCK MY DAD YO!!!

After that cheery note, Gobber suggests signing the treaty to send them on their merry way. But Dagur completely turns the tables on them, calling for dragon's blood to use as ink for signing the treaty. Stoick tries to sweep this under the rug by saying him and Oswald haven't signed a treaty in Dragon's Blood for years. But Dagur wanders why getting dragon's blood is a problem, unless they don't kill dragons anymore. Damn, Dagur is pretty smart, and he's got Stoick by the balls now. Gobber tells Dagur that they've killed so many dragons that there's not one within 200 miles of Berk, except for the Zippleback that barges into the room and runs back out. Dagur takes it as a sign, a head for each chief. He riles up his Berserkers, promising that tonight they hunt dragons. Stoick tells Hiccup to find the Zippleback before Dagur does. 

So the Teens are on their dragons looking for the Twins.... oh fuck, not this again! I'm not all interested in the twins, I want to be where the real shit is going on! But the more interesting stuff will have to wait, as the teens find a cavern where both Ruffnut and Tuffnut are, not thing the other is in the cave. The teens try to convince the twins to accept each other's existence and that they're dragon needs them.... Blabbady Blabbady Blah! NEXT!!!!!

So the teens head off to bring Ruff and Tuff (after they tell them what's what) to Barf and Belch before Dagur makes Dragon Sushi out of them. But.... OH SHIT!!!

I'm having Dragon Sushi for supper tonight!

Hiccup and the others set down in the trees, they can't afford to be spotted by the Berserkers, leaving them completely powerless to help. Or well, they could just kill them and let their Dragon's eat the evidence. But how would they explain that to the armada? Nah, they're screwed, and Barf and Belch are screwed even harder.  

Or they would be if Stoick hadn't intervened on their behalf. Dagur is pretty pissed that Stoick would rob him of his kill. Stoick chews Dagur out for his insolence, and tells him they'll kill the dragon in the arena together. Dagur has his men drag Barf and Belch to the arena. 

Hiccup and the teens have a dilemma. The Twins are distraught that the Chief might let the Berserkers kill their dragon, but they can't really do anything to help. Snotlout just says one word, Annihilate. This gives Hiccup an idea. 

At the arena, Dagur is getting ready to cut off Belch's head. Stoick is going to put a stop to this, even if it means war. In a really badass shot, Stoick draws his sword as Dagur has his concentration on a helpless Barf and Belch and is ready to run him through, until Hiccup and the gang show up yelling "Dragon Attack!". The teens stage a dragon attack, fooling the Berserkers. Dagur isn't deterred though, he attacks with a spear which is then caught by Toothless. Dagur is awed at seeing a Night Fury. Hiccup steps in pretending to protect Dagur. 

Uh, didn't I try to drown you once?

The scam works, shockingly. Hiccup's not that great an actor, and yet Dagur falls for it anyway. Oh well, he runs off and tells Gobber to consider the treaty signed. Stoick thinks they won't be hearing much from Dagur the Deranged anymore. Foreshadowing!

Thr twins got their dragon back, Snotlout still thinks Dagur is cool, and Barf and Belch blow him up for that comment. 

Summary

So, the very first Twins themed episode. They failed miserably. 

But this was the introduction of Dagur the Deranged who is awesome! He's delightfully mad, and actually has more personality than Alvin does. How did Mark Hamill not end up voicing this character? Well, David Faustino does an awesome job with Dagur, and he's shaping up to be a great villain and he just stole this episode from what was supposed to be the main focus. 

So an unsatisfactory uninteresting Twins plot, but the introduction of Dagur more than made up for it. 

7.5/10