The Dragon Prince has been an interesting show for me.
I first started watching it because one of its creators was Aaron Ehaz, a writer from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
While the first season was a bit rocky, it still showed promise, and every season since then has been better the last.
Season Three was especially great with a lot of excellent character development and the cliffhanger it ended on was an intriguing one.
After this third season, there was a three-year-wait for the fourth one.
During the wait, there were plenty of positive signs for the future of the series, like the announcement that there are many seasons coming down the line.
Well, after the three-year-wait, we finally have Season Four, The Mystery of Aaravos.
Was the wait worth it?
In my opinion, unfortunately no.
Season Four is quite messy with a lot of issues, one of the big ones being how it picks up from Season Three.
Sometime in the three years since that season, a comic was released which showed how Callum (Jack DeSana) and Rayla (Paula Burrows) broke up when Rayla went looking for Viren (Jason Simpson).
If, like me, you did not read this comic before watching Season Four then good luck on understanding all of the tension in Callum and Rayla’s relationship.
The story of The Mystery of Aaravos picks up two years after Season Three where Claudia (Raquel Belmonte) has resurrected Viren in Xadia.
With Claudia’s new boyfriend Terry (Benjamin Callins), the trio search for the location of Aaravos’ prison so they can free him and keep Viren alive, since his resurrection is limited.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Catolis, lead by King Ezran (Sasha Rojen), is preparing for the arrival of the Dragon Queen and the Dragon Prince Zym.
However, word of Aaravos plans to escape interrupts the celebrations and sets our heroes up on their next journey.
Oh, and Amaya and Janai (Rena Anakwe) get engaged and have to deal with a whole lot of racial tension between the Sun Elves and humans.
If that last storyline sounds way too different just from my description then I have done a good job of articulating just how much this third storyline feels out of place with the other two.
Don’t get me wrong, it does have good messages and I liked the way it resolves by the end.
However, like I said, it just does not match well with either of the other stories, and the way this story begins is written ludicrously badly, in what is probably the worst scene in all of The Dragon Prince.
The other two storylines are much stronger than the third, although filled with humor that is very hit or miss, and characters doing things that often don’t make sense.
Along with this, there is the whole title of the season these storylines revolve around: The Mystery of Aaravos.
If you ask me, the season really should have been called The Mysterous of Where Aaravos is because the location of Aaravos’ prison is the only mystery surrounding the character this season.
Aaravos’ identity and past is explained pretty soundly in one big exposition dump early on and the mystery of why he is doing all this is not touched upon.
Credit where it is due, though, Aaravos is definitely the best part of Season Four.
He may only have one scene but it is an excellent one, which perfectly portrays the danger he poses, with voice actor Erik Todd Dellums bringing so much menace to the character.
Aaravos is not the only standout, though, because Soren (Jesse Inocalla) is another.
I did not care for Soren much in the first two seasons but Season Three made him my favourite and Season Four continues this, with him having quite a few funny and heroic moments.
Anther positive trait of the season includes the animation, which is once again very good, especially in the fight scenes.
Although, there were a few animation issues, here and there, like Rayla’s tattoos going missing at one point but this was only minor.
In the end, all of the positives of Seasons Four were not enough to save it from its many negatives.
One storyline feels very out of place and has an awful inciting incident, understanding the state of Callum and Rayla’s relationship relies on reading a tie in comic, and for a season named The Mystery of Aaravos there is very little mystery actually focused on with him.
I just hope that season five will be better.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 