Dragons Defenders Of Berk Reviews: Episode 9 - Zippleback Down

In the Dragon Academy, Gobber has a bunch of very large traps set up. He sets one off and appears to have gotten his arm trapped in it. But it's only his hook arm so he was just just goofing around. Gobber explains that all these traps he's got set up are traps for even the toughest sons of bitches among the Dragons and are not to be fucked with. But that's exactly the kind of thing Ruff and Tuff want to do, especially Ruff who plans on throwing Tuffnut into one. Gobber tells them to practice their stupidity on their own time. 

Gobber then asks the teens what the trap he's pointing at is. Ruff and Tuff make some stupid guesses before Fishlegs says it's called the Snapper. Hiccup tells Ruff and Tuff to listen and pay attention and they might learn something. Fishlegs also names the other traps, Ropers, Ravvers, and Netters. Gobber is impressed by Fishlegs' knowledge but he decides to put Fishlegs to a tougher test to seperate the men from the girls; he has to disable one of the traps. But with Astrid's help, Fishlegs disables the trap. Gobber is impressed. 

Hiccup then steps up to disable the Netter trap, but Snotlout thinks he's so awesome that he can disable the trap with a tooth pick and with his eyes closed. Astrid wanders if it's wrong to root for the trap. Hiccup just tells her that it's Snotlout, there's nothing more to be said. So Snotlout attempts to disable the trap. 

Pff, this is so easy! All ya gotta do is jiggle this thingy
here, then pull that Doohicky there, then . . . 

Snotlout calls out to Hookfang for help, Hookfang leaves his ass trapped instead. Gobber asks Hiccup to "release the beast". Astrid doesn't think it's necessary but Hiccup knows that even though it's Snotlout, he has to help him out. Hiccup manages to disable the trap and free Snotlout with ease. Snotlout plummets to the ground and calls Hiccup a lame ass teacher's pet. Hiccup then gets Toothless to blast the Snapper Trap to disable it. Gobber resets the trap and tells the Twins to try and disable it. 

The Twins are too busy having a staring contest however and they tell Gobber they can't. Gobber doesn't give one flying fuck about whatever stupid shit they're doing and tells them they're going to do what he says before he skins them and uses their pelts as doormats. Ruuf and Tuff move towards the trap but they don't break their eye contact, which causes them to set off the trap. The Trap only closes on their helmets however and for the first time we see Ruff and Tuff without their helmets! Which is admittedly kinda strange. 

We then find out what the point of all this trap disabling is; There's still a bunch of traps lying around Berk from the good old Dragon Killing days. Gobber tries to be subtle about the "Dragon Killing" part around the dragons, but his point stands that all those traps need to be found and disabled before some Wild Dragon gets caught in them. I kinda wander why they haven't thought of this before, but oh well, they're dealing with them now. 

Before they go, Hiccup asks the Twins if they know what they're doing. They want to know what kind of question that is? Astrid says it's a necessary one.

Maybe, not, perhaps?

So the Twins basically have no idea what they're doing. Hiccup tries to explain to them that they're clearing Dragon traps an that it could be very dangerous for them and their dragon but they don't get the gist. Hiccup decides to tell them to stay at the academy cause he really can't trust them not to get themselves killed. Ruff and Tuff actually get the gist this time and are actually hurt that Hiccup thinks they're useless. Which isn't what Hiccup actually meant but Astrid guesses that's probably what he was thinking. Ruff and Tuff decide to go disable traps anyway to spite Hiccup. 

The Twins complain to each other how Hiccup doesn't appreciate their Thor-given dragon abilities, right before they forget what they're supposed to be doing, just manage to remember what they're supposed to be doing, call out to the traps they're supposed to find like they're dogs, and Tuffnut gets caught in a Netter. With Tuffnut caught in the trap and helpless, Ruffnut has to go back to the village and get help. But since Barf and Belch need 2 riders and crash from the confusion of having only one, Ruff walks back to the village leaving Barf and Belch with Tuffnut. 

- Need a hand?
- I'm totally not helpless, you know!
- Of course you aren't.

As Ruffnut tries to find her way home, Hiccup and Toothless stumble onto a Snapper Trap. A fish is in the trap, Toothless wants it bad. Hiccup gives the signal and Toothless disables the trap with a blast. A hot wind from the North blows over the almost igniting a spark from Toothless' blast. Hiccup's reacts quick before that tiny insignificant spark potentially dooms them all. Hiccup heads back to the village, cause shit's about to go down. 

Meanwhile, Tuffnut is having a conversation with Barf. He feels sad that he doesn't talk to Barf that much since he rides Belch. But Barf eventually becomes bored with the conversation and goes to sleep. Tuffnut then asks either Barf or Belch is they know how to undo the trap. He then remembers that he's a professional dragon trainer, so he commands Barf and Belch to free him. They use him as a tetherball instead. 

Back at Berk, Hiccup tries to warn Stoick about the fire weather. Stoick already knows about it however and already has the town filling some water buckets. Hiccup wants to know how Stoick already knew, Gobber shows him the dry skin on his cheek that shows it's fire weather. Stoick then asks Hiccup to make sure the Twins don't doom them all. 

Make sure those shitheads don't fuck us all!

Ruffnut is still trying to navigate her way through the forest and gets into an apple fight with Terrible Terrors that she is losing. Tuffnut is still having a conversation with Barf, this time trying to get to the bottom of why Ruff is so competitive. He thinks that perhaps she's a girl in a man's world, I'm not even sure what that implies but what I am sure of is that I don't even want to know. 

Tuffnut then remembers that he's stuck in a trap. He tries to recall how Gobber managed to undo a Netter trap. He reassures himself that he's not useless, then admits to himself that he is indeed useless when he can't recall how to get himself out of the trap. He then realises that he's even more useless than he thought when a big ass Typhoomerang emerges from the forest. 

Barf and Belch defend their Rider against the Typhoomerang. But they're little shits compared to it and get their ass handed to them, even getting caught in another trap. They also set a spark that will surely grow into a larger fire. With Barf and Belch incapacitated, The Typhoomerang stares down Tuffnut. Tuffnut seems to think he knows this dragon.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but you look . . .
familiar somehow.

Tuffnut makes a variety of guesses as to how he knows the dragon and where they might have met; Outcast island, Dragon Island, Breakneck Bog, Dragon Bog and Breakneck Island. After introducing Barf and Belch and getting caught up in a fantasy of Ruffnut being torn apart by packs of boars, Tuffnut and the dragon start connecting by roaring together.  

Back at Berk, Hiccup decides to go after the Twins. He turns down Astrid's help. The Twin's are his responsibility and he's going to make sure they don't kill themselves. But it turns out that Tuffnut, at the very least, actually ain't doing so bad considering he's stuck in a net. He manages to get the Typhoomerang to spin around and open his wings, he's actually training the dragon. You know I haven't thought of this till now but are they finally getting a Twins plot right?

After a little check-in with Ruffnut who's trying to retrace her steps after seeing the big-ass fire in the distance, Hiccup sees that same big-ass fire and heads toward it for as the saying goes, "Where there's fire, there's the Twins". 

Ruffnut manages to make her way back to Tuffnut, she panics when she sees the Typhoomerang. She whispers to Tuffnut that there's a big ass Typhoomerang right next to him. Tuffnut tells her he knows already and asks her why she's whispering. She wants to know why he isn't whispering. Tuffnut shows her what he can get the Typhoomerang to do.

Impressive. Oh by the way, there's a big-ass wildfire
coming your way. Just thought you should know.

Hiccup is scanning the forest for any sign of the Twins. He sees a clearing and finds them, and the big ass Typhoomerang that's standing beside them. Hiccup and Toothless head for the clearing, but Toothless' tail catches on fire. They crash land in the clearing and at he mercy of the Typhoomerang. Hiccup remembers this particular Typhoomerang however. The dragon gives him a dragon version of a bear hug then allows Hiccup to touch his snout. Hiccup recalls who this is in flashback. It turns out this dragon is Torch from The Terrible Twos! I never thought we'd see that little shit again. 

Hiccup tries to explain to Ruff and Tuff that it's Torch, but they can't believe it. Tuffnut recalls that Torch was really small, Hiccup then has to explain to him that Torch just grew up as all biological beings so. Tuffnut still doesn't get it. While this is going on, Torch decides to fuck with Toothless and smacks him around a little. Hiccup can't believe they're doing this again. Well Hiccup I hate to remind you of one of your lesser moments but you were a dick to Toothless that one time and Toothless has a legitimate grievance with Torch. But Hiccup thinks that shit is all in the past and tries to get them to put their rivalry behind so they get out of the shit they're in now. 

The Forest fire is raging on and Hiccup tells ruff to get Tuff out of the trap. But the Twins don't remember what to do 'cause they weren't paying attention, so Hiccup has to free Barf and Belch and free Tuffnut himself. Hiccup however can't disable the trap, so he converts Torch into a dragon aircraft carrier and loads everyone onto it. Torch carries the net Tuffnut's stuck in. 

Having fun down there Tuff?

The group lands in a clearing ahead of the fire. Hiccup hopes to stop the fire before it reaches Berk, but it's too late to stop it now. He tells the Twins to gather some water and put the fire out. The twins think that's idea's a bunch of bullshit. They think they should fight fire with fire! This gives Hiccup a most brilliant idea (and I finally figured out how you fight fire with fire)! 

Hiccup gets Toothless, Barf and Belch and Torch to burn the edge of the forest with everything they've got. When the edge is all good and burnt, he gets them to flap their wings to put the fire out. Torch then puts the fire out for good in a very impressive little bit of animation. 

With the forest fire dealt with, the group heads back to Berk. The others can't believe their eyes when they see the Typhoomerang carrying all of them. Fishlegs voices his awe, Hiccup explains to him that it ain't no ordinary and Fishlegs immediately recognises Torch. Astrid can hardly believe it either, Snotlout is only worried that Torch brought along the family as well. Tuffnut tells them he found Torch and even managed to train him. Snotlout refuses to believe it since Tuffnut couldn't even get himself out of that net. Tuffnut gets Torch to smack Snotlout around. But when Torch hears the call of the wild, he says goodbye to everyone and takes off. Ruff and Tuff have to get themselves out of the netter trap. 

Summary

Folks, let's give the writers a round of applause, they actually got a Twins plot right!

For the first time they actually didn't screw up a Twins plot. They showed an awful lot of self awareness in this episode and the plot involving Tuffnut training Torch was actually pretty entertaining. Oh and the return of Torch was also a really big bonus. That flashback to The Terrible Twos was actually really heart-warming. 

I'm not sure what else to say about the episode really, they just finally did a Twins plot right. Not one of the best episode but still a pretty good one. 

8/10