The Dragon Prince – Plot Overview

Warning, if you haven’t watched the show at all, spoilers ahead for the whole series.

Season 1-3 Recap

Let’s recap everything to get to where we are. Rayla and the moon elves come to assassinate the King after he and Viren took down the dragon king and destroyed the Dragon Prince’s egg. However, that egg is found in the castle. And one of the moon elves, Rayla joins with Callum and Ezran to go on the run with the Dragon Prince’s egg to try and get him back to his mother. Things don’t always go smoothly but they work their way over there through the first three seasons.

Viren, meanwhile, is making a play for the throne which Ezran struggles to know what to do with. And he attempts to track down the boys and Rayla to get the egg back. Even sending his own children after them to get the egg and let a mysterious accident happen to them. But that doesn’t work and it culminates with Viren leading troops into Xadia, the elven lands, to get the egg back, all with a mysterious little voice Aaravos whispering in his ear, helping him along the way.

Season 4

We jump forward two years. Ezran has taken the thrown, Viren is back, after being thought to be dead, and now the threat is new. No longer are they trying to get the Dragon Prince, Zym, back to his mother, but now the threat is the return of Aaravos.

Season 4 brings the characters back together after having been apart. As well as gives us more of the history of Xadia and the lands and what Aaravos had done prior to being put into his prison. And without saying much more, that’s the basics of the story to avoid spoilers.

What Doesn’t Work?

The time jump makes sense, to some extent, and there is a story reason for it. But it also adds in some complications for everything. When you do a time jump you need to explain where characters have been and what they’ve been up to. I think it works for some of the characters pretty well, Claudia for example, but not for others as much, Rayla. However, you need Rayla’s story for some of the tension and development of everything.

And I think that a show like The Dragon Prince, with the actual time gap between seasons suffers a little bit. As the characters age up, you kind of expect the show to mature a little bit. And The Dragon Prince has never kept from dealing with tough topics. But some of the characters or situations are basically done for humor in ways where it cuts into heavier or more meaningful moments. Now, it is a kids show, so that is the reason, never let it to get too heavy in any moment, but it could have been handled better.

What Works?

I think the overall story is the right way to go. Aaravos needs to be the next big bad guy. There is not the pressure of getting Zym to his mother anymore. So some new bad guy needs to exist. And Viren could work for that, but it’d feel a lot like a retread. I believe it was smart for them to look to a new main villain.

Viren’s arc for this season I think worked really well. It was almost a passing of a torch early in the season and he returns to his power at the end. No details for you on how that works though as it is a spoiler. But his arc makes a lot of sense and I like that they given characters who are villains depth and arcs for what they are doing.

And finally, I really like the handling of the elf and human dynamic. It is two years later, but things aren’t perfect. In fact, a lot of times, things still struggle. And that is one thing that the Dragon Prince always does well. It tells a story where there are comparisons to the real world. But it shows light on things that are hard to see in real life. Mainly that real change, coming together, it takes time, it takes work, there are going to be differing opinions. But if it truly does matter, then the fight to make those changes happen does matter as well.

Final Thoughts on The Dragon Prince Season 4

Is this my favorite season, I don’t know that it is. There are elements that are great, though. And without getting into spoilers, it is hard to talk about them completely But there are elements that aren’t as fun. And some of that is the time jump and the need to explain it away. I wish they hadn’t done it in some way. But at the same time, it is needed.

One of my likes, how it handles the struggles of the elf and human dynamic is really good. And that is not as strong without that time jump. However, another element, that with Rayla, it feels like it’s tacked onto there for no amazing reason. They needed to explain it, they want more drama. But this show is better when it allows some things to work out just because they do. Overall, still a great show and still a really fun season.

Is this going to be a season that brings in new viewers or makes it worth pushing through? No, I don’t think it is. But if you like the show, it is reason to keep watching. Do you like like The Dragon Prince?

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10 – Ultraman

One of the two animated shows on the list, this one was just a lot of fun to watch with good voice acting as well. It’s fairly typical in how it works, someone becomes a hero who wasn’t always planning on it but they end up being Ultraman and they have to figure out how to deal with that power and how to save the world. A good fun romp with only one season thus far, but it has been renwed for another. I like the blend of 2d and 3d animation in it that works very well. The voice acting is really good in it. It’s not a heavy show, but it’s a lot of fun.

9 – Umbrella Academy

This one, had the first season started out more consistently would have been much higher. I really like the absurdity of the show, and I like how it’s a group of super heroes, but they are basically failures at what they do and completely dysfunctional. The question, always, is can they figure it out to stop the end of the world by working together in time. What makes this show so good though is the characters. Number 5 is amazing, and Hazel was a great character in season one and Klaus is just amazing all around. And in season two they really develop the rest of the characters in great ways and it really tackles a lot of big issues and interesting dynamics. If you can power few the first few episodes of the first season it is very much worth it.

8 – Lucifer

One of the interesting ones on the list because this is only half Netflix. They picked it up from Fox, I believe, and kept it running. The show is just a lot of fun, it’s a procedural show based off of a comic, but not super hero or as completely absurd. It is really absurd because the Devil has come to Los Angeles and he meets and intriguing Detective who doesn’t really fall for his charms, and he wants to know why. So he joins the police as a consultant after helping her with a case, and it’s about the adventures and misadventures of the two of them. It is procedural, which isn’t always my cup of tea but it works in this case because it is fairly absurd.

7 – Dragon Prince

Another animated show for the list and the highest one on the list, but this is a really good show. Technically it’s a kids show, but I think it does a great job of being what a family show should be. It doesn’t shy away from emotions and some big questions, but it doesn’t fill itself with needless violence, sex, etc. that permeates most shows that target adults at all. In this show it’s about what happens with two sides won’t work together and are butting heads and how people can fall from grace and rise to power and what all that means, and what emotions people have when the world around them is very tough or unexpected. Overall, this is an extremely well done show with a ton of interesting things in it, and I’m excited for more of it to come out.

6 – Ragnarok

One of the first of a few foreign language shows that will show up on the list. Not out of where you’d get most of those shows, Ragnarok takes place in Norway and is about a family that is returning to their home town and the things that are off about their home town. Something is happening to the water and there are some people who might not be who they seem to be. It is kind of a teen drama, but it does more than that tying itself interesting into Norse mythology and developing a really fun story. One season thus far, so it’s easy to binge, and it has been renwed for another. I’ll be curious to see where this show builds to into the second season.

5 – The Order

I really like this show because it’s just cheesy schlock, and it’s amazing. It’s about a college age kid, Jack Morton, who is trying to get into a secret society at the local college, because something happened to his mother, and he blames the head of this secret order for what happens. Along the way he stumbles into a world of magic and werewolves, falls in love, and generally everything completely absurd that you’d expect happens. Jack is one of those characters that has a punchable charisma to him and he just kind of makes the show, plus he’s surrounded generally be a really good cast of characters and the use and abuse of magic in this show is really enjoyable. The second season takes a little step down but still really binge worthy.

4 – The Rain

Now, I will say with this, I haven’t seen the latest seasons of the show, so I’m only going off of the first, but this show was amazing. I like survival shows that really pull at your emotions, and this one does that. Something has happened to the rain and turned it deadly. Simone and Rasmus are brought into a shelter that was created maybe for this happening and then left their by their father, and they grow up in there. But when the bunker starts to malfunction, they have to leave and join up with a group who are trying to survive. What has caused the rain and can they find their way back to their father who is somehow connected to the rain? It is a good adventure, but like a lot of these shows, it’s about the dynamics of those who are surviving and how they can work together.

3 – Dark

I love time travel, but rarely is time travel done all that well. In Dark, they nail it. This is a topsy turvy show that takes you through a few different times as you try and figure out everything that is going on and if the cycle can be broken. A German show, it is probably worth watching subtitled in German, though the English dub isn’t bad, it is just noticeable. The feel of the show is very much dark, but it works really well and it is highly atmospheric. Definitely one to checkout if you like shows with a bit of mystery and horror to them. I’m not fully caught up, so it’s one of those shows that I’m going to have to dive back into again soon.

2 – Stranger Things

This is what most people would have pegged for the top of my list, it has monsters, it has adventure, it has humor, it has kids on bikes. And I love it. But there is one show that beats it out for me. This is what really brought the original and variety of Netflix shows to the map, and I love all the characters, I love the campy nature and I like that they’ve been able to keep the show fresh and interesting. The first season had so much interest and intrigue to it, and the second season, while it had an episode that was a complete miss, was really good, but then they came back with a third season that was maybe even better than the first season. I like how you get different group dynamics of over and younger characters and how the adults never treat the kids just as dumb kids. I need to go back and watch through it all again because I just love this show.

1 – Locke & Key

So, the show that beat out Stranger Things only has a single season thus far, and that’s Locke & Key. If you want to say I should wait for season two, I can see that, but I love this show. I love how they manage to take what is a fairly rough comic and something that probably wouldn’t have been as successful if they hadn’t turned it into something more young adult, but still manage to make a great show out of it. I like the acting a lot in it, especially from Kinsey who has an amazing moment and change in her acting in the show. And I like the world that is being built with the keys. The idea of these keys that can do magical things is just really cool and feels like there is so much that can built out around that. I’m extremely excited for a second season and this is a show that I am going to go back and watch again soon.

So for you, what are some of your favorite shows on Netflix, there are so many out there that could be considered. I know with my tastes that The Witcher could have been one considered, but for me that was just okay. Plus there are shows like Ozark and many more that I haven’t even checked out yet because they just aren’t quite my type of show that I know other people love. Let me know in the comments below.

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