*Season 3 arc spoilers.*
While “In Good Hands” is a showcase episode designed to introduce Aja and Krel, the 3Below protagonists have little more than cameos here, just enough to ensure that audiences remember them before they go on to have their own show. This episode is part 1 of the Trollhunters series finale, so there’s a lot of culminating events going on.
The Trollhunter crew has been unable to prevent Morgana from breaking free, and she’s preparing to cast the Eternal Knight, a spell that will create a permanent eclipse. Because trolls can’t survive in the daylight, everlasting darkness means a free-for-all for them. While Merlin is obsessed with confronting Morgana, Jim and his friends are concerned about protecting the folks of Arcadia Oaks once the Eternal Knight hits.
Everything here is pretty much in line with a big genre show finale. There’s a huge multi-pronged crisis about to break, and our heroes disagree over which aspects to prioritize. All the major guys on Team Good Guy has a job to do, with a few different parties splitting up to fight the coming evil. Civilians are running around in danger, and there’s a feeling in the air that not everyone might make it out this time.
If you’re a Trollhunters fan, I’d say this is probably pretty satisfying for the first half of the finale. Things are intense and there’s some good action, while also keeping a few jokes. Everyone gets at least one or two badass moments when the big fight starts.
For today’s character of the week, I’ll go with Jim. He guests on 3Below more infrequently than some of the other Trollhunters characters, but he does remain a presence in the franchise, so now is as good a time as any to highlight him. As the eponymous Trollhunter, Jim has big Chosen One energy, a good-hearted kid who appears unremarkable on the surface but digs deep over the course of three seasons to find the hero inside him. He makes a lot of mistakes along the way, and he struggles to balance his secret identity with regular teenage life, but he never stops trying to do what’s right. For most of the series, Jim is voiced by Anton Yelchin, but after his unexpected death, Emile Hirsch took over the role. He’s the one playing Jim throughout season 3, and in addition to Hirsch just being A Problem, the character definitely loses something without Yelchin’s performance.
Like I said, there’s very little of Krel/Diego Luna in this episode. With school out for the summer, everyone in town is congregating for the Battle of the Bands—which Team Trollhunter realizes will make them all sitting targets—and Krel is one of the performers. He DJs while Aja dances, and the crowd is not feeling his style, which seems to mainly feature dolphin sounds.
Again, just enough to go, “Hey, remember these two? Remember how weird they are? Keep them in mind!” Krel does get a line that alludes to the secret that will be revealed at the start of 3Below, but that’s about it. Once the Eternal Knight descends and the fight begins, we don’t see him or his sister at all.
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