*Episode premise spoilers.*
Things are ramping up toward the end of the season now. While there are still curveballs to come, important elements of the plot are getting drawn together, and in this episode they have a major inciting incident to revolve around.
After last week’s heist, Krel has finally fixed the daxial array. The Mother Ship needs to recharge, but the Akiridions are preparing to leave Earth in two days, in search of another planet to escape the bounty hunters and lay low until their parents are restored (which they’ll be able to do now that the ship is fixed.) Before they leave, Aja wants to tell Steve the truth about her, which Krel thinks is a decidedly bad idea.
For today’s character of the week, I figured it’s time I get around to talking about General Morando, voiced by Alon Aboutboul. Series Big Bad and cruel tyrant who’s turned Akiridion-5 into a police state since the coup, Morando hasn’t actually had a huge presence in the show so far. That’s because, well, he’s on a different planet than most of the major characters. So we haven’t seen any showdowns between him and our heroes, but naturally, he’s not content to merely rule Akiridion-5 and leave the escaped royals to their own devices. He’s obsessed with having his bounty hunters track them down.
“Should I tell my crush/significant other about my secret identity?” is another common trope on genre shows (Trollhunters dealt with it too,) but as usual, the series has its own fun within those familiar boundaries. Unsurprisingly, the situation hits the fan before Aja is able to tell Steve anything, and she, Krel, and Steve are drawn into quite the wild and dangerous predicament. This leads to the dramatic irony of Steve saying stuff like, “Aliens are cruel and nasty creatures. They’ll suck out your brains through your face!”
It makes sense that Aja would want to tell Steve. Aside from all the usual reasons these storylines occur, she’s someone who’s always chafed under the restrictions of her identity. Back home, she ran away from her royal duties, but here on Earth, she’s had to deny both her lineage and her species in order to stay safe. She doesn’t like the box of pretending to be human any more than she liked the box of palace expectations on Akiridion-5, so it’s understandable that she’d want to share her true self with Steve.
Like I said, Krel wholeheartedly disagrees with this plan. It’s true that he’s not exactly a fan of Steve, but much more than that, he’s attuned to the continued need to guard their identities, even though they’re planning to leave Earth soon. “Why take the risk now?” he asks Aja. “We’re so close!” Krel doesn’t have Aja’s athleticism or combat skills, but he tries to protect his sister from her own recklessness. Not to mention, he’s keenly aware that, if she spills her secret, that means outing him as Akiridion as well.
Which means we get Krel deploying every weapon in his “annoying little brother” arsenal to try and keep Aja from telling Steve—this gives Diego Luna plenty of fun stuff to work with. And when the story shifts into sci-fi/action, Krel pushes through his fear to do what he does best: look for tech solutions to dangerous problems.
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