As you've already noticed, I haven't left yet. Because I want to speak out about season 4.
of course, it has a lot of good sides and a lot of interesting things, but I need to speak out for the smallest, most stupid mistakes that were made in it. I hope you enjoy listening to my criticism. I don't want to hold anyone together and I don't want to blame anyone, but I just want to show the worst options and the stupidest mistakes that were made in season 4 who hasn't watched season 4 yet, I advise you not to read it all, otherwise you'll spoil your mood to watch season 4. Better frist see season 4 and then come back here to read, and you'll understand everything what I'm saying.
The fourth season was eagerly awaited. Especially because it is far from the last one: The Dragon Prince was immediately extended to the seventh. All episodes after the third form, in fact, a new story arc dedicated to Aaravos, a mysterious elf mage who is locked in a magical prison, which does not prevent him from playing a role in the drama around the storm dragon dynasty. That is, this is not only a continuation of the adventures of beloved characters, but also the beginning of a new big story. To emphasize this transition, a time gap of two years was made between the events of the third and fourth seasons.
Perhaps this is the reason for all the unexpected and numerous problems of the new series. The fourth season is not so much a continuation of the already formed and even completed history of the first three, but something in between a filler season and the beginning of a big saga. In the new episodes, almost nothing happens: only mythology is revealed and a global goal is established. In this, the fourth season of The Dragon Prince resembles, say, the fifth season of Game of Thrones: it seems that the creators are the same, the world and characters are the same, the budget has increased, but something has changed. The dialogue is worse, the characters are dumber, and the overall tone is more childish and playful. Western fans call this effect "marvelization": there are fewer serious episodes and conversations, and there are many more awkward situations and fart jokes.
Problems with the script:
Skipping two years, dividing the series into "before" and "after", played a cruel joke with the script. The reception itself looks interesting: who refuses to see how familiar heroes have grown up, how their lives have turned out after winning a big war? And in general, I wanted to plunge into the magical world of the Dragon Prince again, to see new stories and facets of familiar characters. And, perhaps, meet someone completely new, who will fit perfectly into the old caste.
Ezran is now the king, Callum is the high mage, Soren is the captain of the royal guard again. Dragon Prince Zym has grown noticeably, but still has not learned to speak and plays the role of a funny winged dog. There were no noticeable changes with almost the entire cast: except that Claudia found herself an elf boyfriend, Viren noticeably changed the experience of death (for example, he developed a fear of heights), and the deaf-mute aunt Amaya is getting married.
Of all the heroes, first of all I want to talk about Rayla. Unfortunately, not because she is the most interesting and well-written character in the entire show. She is the main focus of all the problem areas of the script and characters of the fourth season. For some reason, Rayla is still an elf exile without friends and a home, although in the third season her innocence is proven, and her exploits should already be legendary. There is simply not enough of her in the new episodes: she appears only at the end of the second episode and stays on the screen for 10-15 minutes at most for the entire season - although she seems to be one of the three leading characters of the show. It's like having Katara or Sokka almost completely removed from Avatar.
Her relationship with Callum is a complete headache, no matter how you approach this topic. At the end of the third season, a sincere and great love between these two characters was fully formed: the feelings that were gradually and slowly built for three whole seasons came to a conclusion. In the new season, I wanted to see how the characters would go on adventures together as a loving couple, how the dynamics between them would change because of the love and experiences experienced together. And in the end, Rayla and Callum ... broke up. Not, break but broke. It means that they don't know where will their relationship lead.
Rayla saw in a prophecy that Viren was alive, and went to look for him alone so as not to endanger her beloved. Apparently, again, some kind of honor of the moon elves, because with the help of the magician Katolis and his brother (for a second, the king of the state), the search would have gone much more successfully.
But even if we accept that Rayla had "good reasons" to leave the love of her life, break Callum's heart, take no one with her and go save the world from Viren, then the problem does not disappear. After all, Rayla did not succeed, and two years later she simply returned home to apologize to Callum for disappearing. And he builds offended, because because of the departure of Reila, he now does not understand his feelings. How little he needs to move from the state of “I’ll jump off a cliff for the sake of my beloved, I can’t live without her” to “I won’t talk to her and even look in her direction, she offended me”!
In the end, Rayla's departure did nothing for the script. It's just that the scriptwriters wanted to introduce a hackneyed drama with tension between lovers, who now have everything very complicated and incomprehensible with feelings. For some reason, in any show, this is a much more popular scenario than the adventures of a formed healthy couple.
Otherwise, the fault of the plot is that it is a filler. The first episode could not have happened at all: from the important point there is five minutes at most, where new problems and the position of the characters are explained two years later. The rest of the running time is occupied by a vague episode with a surprise for Callum's birthday and bad humor (especially in comparison with jokes from past seasons - you still want to quote them). At the beginning of the season, we are told that Aaravos is just a stereotypical cartoon evil villain who must be defeated, although the mystery around his identity and motives was built by all three previous seasons. It remains to be hoped that this is not the whole truth - which is hinted at by the only monologue of the antagonist for the entire season.
For the rest of the seven episodes, the heroes are looking for the first clue to the location of Aaravos' prison in order to prevent Viren and Claudia from releasing him. One clue is found with each great dragon. Since the fourth season is devoted to the dragon of the Earth (and the theme of the earth in general), it can be assumed that all subsequent ones will develop on the principle of "one clue per nine episodes". In general, most likely, we are waiting for a long, but uneventful adventure that looks like the complete opposite of the first three seasons, where there are simply no extra episodes.
Problems with tone:
For two years, the characters have matured. Therefore, one could expect a little maturation of the topics covered by the plot, but this is not necessary: The Dragon Prince was originally a teenage series, and if it had remained that way, no one would have condemned it.
However, the show, on the contrary, turned into a more children's series. And it's not even in contrast with the third season, which took the top in terms of gloom and seriousness. Everyone grimaces non-stop, gets into awkward situations and tells jokes that only a five-year-old would laugh at. Even more outdated references: for example, Keanu Reeves’ “you are breathtaking” gags and the “floss” dance, which at one time went viral on Tiktok. Yes, exactly what real fantasy needs - memes from real life, which have lost their relevance for a couple of years.
Some jokes are simply offensive to the characters. For example, Claudia's fetish for farting her boyfriend. The character was strange, but this gag (and repeated twice) is out of place here and causes only sincere misunderstanding. And how many scenes like “the character looks awkward and causes Spanish shame” - you can lose count. In general, this is the first season in the history of the show, when you want to rewind certain scenes in order to finally see the plot.
The themes that the series raises were noticeably shredded. Previously, the authors were not afraid to talk about universal values, about important things. About the difficulties of the breakup of a family, about the loss of loved ones, about the horrors of war. The episode with Soren's paralysis is almost the most powerful and morally difficult point of the entire animated series, which emotionally presses even when viewed again.
There is nothing like this in depth in the fourth season. Of the least interesting, one can only single out the conflict of traditions and innovation for the sake of a brighter future between humans and sun elves who have lost their home and live in a tent camp in the outskirts of their homeland. The theme of "old versus new" is entertaining in itself, but it's delivered surprisingly clumsy by the standards of The Dragon Prince. The same Amaya who marries the queen of the sun elves openly laughs at their sacred traditions and wonders how their non-observance leads to almost a civil war. In general, here again the same problem as with Reyla: the writers wanted a conflict, but did not come up with a decent justification for it. Which is sad, because the strength of the "Dragon Prince" is that everything and everyone has reasons, motivations and views, without a clumsy division into good and bad.
Quality issues:
Surprisingly, the season turned out to be weaker even technically - and this is after the whole show generally began with an animation of five to ten frames, which only the lazy did not complain about. The 3D graphics haven't changed much, except they've gotten a little sharper, and a couple of characters have been redesigned. The sound quality is lame in places - in the eighth episode, the voice actor of the little forest elf hears an overload of the microphone or just some kind of marriage-click during processing. In the same series, there is a moment where the background characters move separately from this very background, creating the effect of "layer movement in Photoshop." It hurts the eyes and ears, because for both the Dragon Prince and the show from the big Netflix media platform, this is a terrible hack.
The main weakness of the "Dragon Prince" has always been precisely the lack of budget. I want to put the series on a par with Arcane or The Legend of Aang, but I have to put it one step lower precisely because of its appearance. It would seem that with the extension for as many as four seasons, the animated series should have become more expensive - but in the end, something has not changed (for example, the wooden animation of the unfortunate dragons), and something even got worse.
And a little about the good:
The text may give the impression that the new season is a terrible failure. This is not entirely fair, as there are good moments. The main advantage is lore. The fourth season is rich in new places and details of the magical world. Much better revealed the culture of the sun elves, showed more dragons and finally introduced to the earth elves, which were previously only mentioned and one parody from Callum (as it turned out, surprisingly accurate).
While the characters have gotten dumber and more likely to do weird and illogical things, and have been hit hard by "conflict for the sake of conflict," these are still fan-favorite characters that are fun to follow. With all the "efforts" of the fourth season, it is still interesting what will happen to them next and where the story will lead them. Unless, by the last episodes, Callum frankly wants to give a slap for his treatment of Rayla.
if you think logically, It sounds like I hate the show. No, I love it very much. because it causes delight. it is on my 1st place of my most favorite TV series or movies. Even with all these shortcomings, I listens to the chance to continue it's existence. And this is for sure, it really impressed me, maybe it will also get along with you as well as me, but I do not know that, write your suggestions in the comments about the fourth or fifth season. It will be very interesting to read.