Dragons Defenders Of Berk Reviews: Episode 11 - A View To A Skrill Part 2

We left off last episode with Ruff and Tuff following Alvin, whose hauling the Skrill back to Outcast Island.  Hiccup and the others have no idea where those bumblefucks are and are now patrolling the seas looking for them. Hiccup and Toothless are on one of these patrols. Toothless however thinks all this effort for the Twins, of all people, is a bunch of bullshit. Hiccup says they need to find them, there's no getting out of this. 

They decide that they ought to get a little shut eye first. When they wake up , Fishlegs arrive to report that he hasn't found the Twins. Hiccup says the other riders got back empty-handed as well. Hiccup decides that he and Toothless will go off themselves to find the Twins. Fishlegs offers to come along, but when Hiccup sees how pooped Meatlug is, he goes off alone. 

While on patrol, Hiccup and Toothless get caught in the middle of a Thunder Storm. Hiccup thinks they've been looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps the Twins went after the Skrill, and since the Skrill is attracted to lightning the that's where they'll find the Skrill and if they find the Skrill, they find the Twins. Hiccup and the others never thought of this before because that would suggest that the twins did something logical. Hiccup tells Toothless his theory. 

Sounds pretty fucking stupid to me.

Despite Toothless' doubts/protests, he goes along with Hiccup's plan. It goes about as well as you'd expect. When Hiccup decides he's had enough of dodging lightning bolts, he tells Toothless to haul ass out of the storm. The only place close by to set down on is unfortunately Outcast Island. Toothless ain't having none of that shit, but Hiccup says they don't got much of a choice, so they land. 

Since they're on the Island, Hiccup thinks they might as well do some spying and see what kind of shenanigans Alvin is up to. And since Snotlout isn't there, there's no one to alert the Outcasts to his presence.  Hiccup gets a good view of the Outcast arena, and finds a very large number of Outcasts in the arena. He wanders what Alvin's up to, Ruffnut tells him he plans on doing something big with the Skrill. 

Hiccup is at first intrigued by the Skrill, but then suddenly realises that Ruffnut popped up out of nowhere and told him this shit. He can't believe she's alive, he asks where Tuff is. Ruff tells Hiccup he didn't make it, Hiccup is incredibly distraught and confused. Ruff however was goofing around and tells Hiccup Tuff's right behind him, stuck in a tree. 

Hey Toothless, look, the branch is my cock!

Hiccup asks the Twins how they managed to get there. Ruff tells him that they saw Alvin take the Skrill and decided to follow him. The Twins look for praise from Hiccup, which Hiccup actually does for once. The Twins are shocked by Hiccup's praise but act like it's trivial to them. With that out of the way, Hiccup uses his spyglass to scout out the arena. Alvin's men pull the Skrill out for his viewing pleasure. 

As Hiccup observes the spectacle, Mildew barges in to inform Alvin of something, confirming to him that Mildew is indeed working with Alvin. If that already hasn't been confirmed in Worst In Show. He's also witnessing a big villain reunion, as Dagur the Deranged has come to parley with Alvin and the Outcasts. Hiccup knows this is some serious shit going down. 

Dagur inspects the Skrill and is blown away by it. It's the dragon of his people and it's every bit as glorious as he imagined it to be. Savage and a random Outcast are having trouble keeping the Skrill under control while Dagur is gawking over it, Mildew thinks the only thing a Dragon understands is a good thrashing, he tries to hit the Skrill with his staff. Dagur stops him and tells him if he touches his precious Skrill, he'll shove Mildew's stick up his ass. Mildew is intimidated. Dagur goes on to tell Mildew what a stupid, ignorant old fuck he is who clearly doesn't know shit about handling a Skrill and smells like shit. Mildew is offended, but Dagur continues his scolding, if Mildew wasn't everything Dagur just said he was, he would keep the Skrill out of the storm. Mildew thinks that's a bunch of bullshit. 

FUUUUCK YOOOOOOUU!!!

Dagur takes satisfaction in always being right. The Outcasts put the Skrill back into it's cage and Dagur gives it some cuddly reassurance. He tells it that once it's all harnessed up, it's free to strike down whoever it wants. or more precisely, anything . . . Dagur wants. The Skrill thinks it'd prefer to strike his ass instead. 

Alvin then walks in to shit on Dagur's picnic. The Skrill ain't Dagur's yet, at least not until Dagur lives up to terms of their agreement. Dagur looks like he's so done with Alvin's sense of entitlement and walks away. Savage asks Alvin why they're dealing with that mental case. Alvin tells him it's for his knowledge of the Skrill and his big ass fleet, since both will be needed to successfully launch an invasion of Berk. But after they have, they'll dispose of the Berserkers. A great plan, although how Alvin proposes to deal with a 50,000 man armada and win is still a mystery. Perhaps he thinks the Skrill can tip the balance in his favour. 

Hiccup decides to send someone down there to figure out what Alvin and Dagur are up to. He can't go since he'd be recognised, Ruff can't go since Outcast food gives her gas (?), so Tuff has to go. He fucks up right away and falls down the cliff right into an Outcast guard. But thankfully the guard is more incompetent than he is and he manages to pass himself as a Berserker. Tuffnut decides to fuck around with the guard for a little bit before heading off to the big villain meeting. 

Don't let any damn dirty spies slip through your fingers,
 maggot!

At the meeting, Alvin and Dagur are trying to agree on a strategy for taking out Berk. Alvin is about to say that his fleet is going to lead until Dagur interrupts and offers a better strategy. Dagur's fleet, with the glorious Skrill will lay siege to the Dragon Training Arena and incapacitate Hiccup and his Night Fury as he demonstrates on one of his guards, while Alvin and his little pissant gang of rejects blockade their harbour.  Alvin ain't having none of that shit though. Alvin wants Berk first, then and only then does Dagur get the Skrill. As the confrontation gets more intense, Dagur eases it by telling Alvin not to get his titties in a twist and that they'll do it Alvin's way. 

Dagur's 2nd in Command asks him why they're working with Alvin again. It's rather simple, they want the Skrill and once they have it, they'll dispose of Alvin and his band of losers. And Dagur has a lot of very fun ways they could do that in mind. But before he gets into it more, he hears someone smacking their food. He hates smacking because his father used to smack. It turns out to be Tuffnut whose smacking his food. 

Dagur holds an axe to Tuffnut's throat demanding to know who he is. Tuffnut once again passes himself off as a Berserker, which works since Dagur shockingly doesn't seem to recognise him. Dagur wants to know what he was doing back there, Tuffnut tells him that he coming up with a poem. Dagur tells Tuff if he likes the poem, he won't cut his legs off. Tuff recites the poem he pulled out of his ass right on the spot. 

I . . . would go . . . a . . Skrilling?

GENIUS!!

Dagur loves the poem and decides that Tuffnut can keep his legs. He even calls for some refreshments for his new best friend. Mildew is the one to bring the food, but unlike everyone else in the room, he recognises Tuffnut. Fortunately for Tuffnut, Mildew's speech is impaired by that shock he got from the Skrill. Tuffnut kicks Mildew's ass to avoid drawing too much attention to him and entertains the Outcasts with jokes and songs. Wholly unnecessary but still kinda funny. 

Tuffnut goes back to Hiccup and Ruff and tells them that the plan is to smash those damn dirty Berkians with both fleets. He thinks it's going to be awesome. Hiccup reminds him that they are the Berkians, but Tuffnut still thinks it's going to be awesome. Hiccup realises that Berk could be up shit creek without a paddle with two fleets and a Skrill coming for them. But Tuffnut informs him that Alvin's made it clear that Dagur doesn't get the Skrill until Alvin gets Berk, he says they have trust issues. This gives Hiccup an idea, with no Skrill theere's no alliance, no alliance there's no invasion. He sends Tuff in to distract the guards while he and Toothless free the Skrill. 

When Hiccup makes his move, he sees the Outcast guards lying dead/unconscious. he thinks Tuffnut did a damn fine job. Tuffnut however is entertaining some Outcast guards elsewhere. 

Tell us the joke about the Viking girl and her woolly
igloo! 

Tuffnut however realises he's supposed to be doing something with some other guards and runs off to do just that. Someone did the job for him however, and someone also already did Hiccup's job for him. They're both incredibly confused as to what's going on. As Outcasts raise the alarm and start pouring into the arena, Hiccup tells Tuff to get the fuck out of dodge while he goes  to find the Skrill before Dagur does.

Little does he know, Dagur already has it. After a little parley with Alvin over who owns the Skrill, Dagur reveals that he has the Skrill and that he's changed the terms of their little deal. Alvin is so pissed that he draws his sword and picks a fight with Dagur. Dagur's speed and agility gives him the upper hand at first until Alvin manages to disarm him. Dagur however is not above using unfair means and uses to Skrill to blast Alvin's ass. Alvin jumps off Dagur's ship into the water.

So much for Alvin The Treacherous.

In a game-changing moment, Dagur appears to have killed Alvin and impresses Savage and the Outcasts into his fleet/army, and he has the Skrill. Dagur the Deranged has usurped Alvin the Treacherous as the series' main antagonist from here on in. 

Hail to the king baby!

Hiccup realises that Berk is in the shit now, Dagur's army/fleet has been increased, he has a base close to Berk and he has the Skrill. Everything is going his way right now. Hiccup needs a plan and he needs a plan fast. 

Dagur prepares his brand new fleet for an assault on Berk. Savage, his new right hand man, tells him that the fleet is ready to sail for Berk. Dagur thinks the victory will be short and sweet and they'll be able to draw Hiccup and his Night Fury into battle. Hiccup obliges him right on the spot and taunts Dagur into a confrontation. Savage advises Dagur to use his numerical advantage. Dagur smacks Savage in the face and thinks him and his Skrill against Hiccup and his Night Fury is very good odds. 

So Hiccup and Dagur engage in dragon rider vs. dragon rider combat for the first time on the show. Well, sort of. 

Alright Dreamworks, you're halfway there. Just push
to that other half now.

Hiccup and Toothless find themselves evenly matched by Dagur and the Skrill. But Hiccup has an idea to keep sassing it up with Dagur in hopes he'll step in a little puddle of water he's close by to. A little harsh words exchanged here and some drgaons blasts there, and Hiccup and Toothless manage to defeat Dagur by using the Skrill and the puddle to electrocute him. 

Dagur may be down and out, but there's still the Skrill to deal with, and dealing with it hasn't gotten any easier. But a nearby glacier gives Hiccup an idea.  Ha lures the Skrill into the glacier and uses his reflection to trick the Skrill into knocking itself out. Ruff and Tuff show up to melt the glacier encasing the Skrill in ice once again. That's, kinda cruel isn't it? With the Skrill dealt with, Hiccup and the twins head home. 

Back at Outcast Island, Dagur stares at a picture of a Night Fury. Savage informs him that there's no sign of the Skrill or the Dragon Riders. 

Damn Dagur, you scary!

Summary

Boy, this episode was a game-changer! It was awesome seeing all the villains come together for the first time and interact. Alvin and Dagur's interactions were great, and I also love how both villains were planning on screwing each other over in the end. I actually did not expect Dagur to possibly kill off Alvin. I always thought he was just going to have a secondary role, but he's officially the main antagonist now. Which I think is kinda for the better, since Dagur is a more interesting and entertaining villain anyway. 

The Skrill was just as awesome as last episode, and the fight between Dagur and Hiccup at the end was awesome (also the Alvin-Dagur fight). But I was hoping that Dagur would train the Skrill and it would become his mount, that would have been awesome! So that kinda felt like wasted potential. But whatever, the Skrill was awesome while it lasted, and it would have made turned the tables too far in Dagur's favor. 

The Twins were actually very useful this time around, although some of the stuff with Tuffnut's infiltration was wholly unnecessary and could have been cut out. 

8/10