*A few spoilers from Trollhunters’ “The Eternal Knight, Part 1.”*
The last two episodes of the season run parallel with the final two episodes of Trollhunters. Throughout the season, we’ve gotten hints here and there about what the Trollhunters crew has been doing in the background of all the alien hijinks, dealing with the coming threat of supernatural apocalypse. This episode brings that out in the open for all of Arcadia Oaks to see.
The Mother Ship is nearly back to full power, and the Akiridions will be leaving tomorrow. As Aja says goodbye to her many friends, Krel ponders some way to “make his mark” in Arcadia Oaks before they go. He throws his energy into the Battle of the Bands, but their last day is marred by a couple of major events. First, someone arrives from Akiridion-5 with a stunning revelation. And second, an ancient sorceress sets off an eclipse and unleashes her troll army on the surface world. Suddenly, Aja and Krel aren’t even sure if they’ll live long enough to leave Earth!
We melded sci-fi with the supernatural a little back in “D’Aja Vu,” but here, we see it at full tilt. It’s neat to see Varvatos size up next to Morgana’s troll army, or see how Akiridion weapons hold up against magical threats. While the adult aliens who care about Aja and Krel are primarily concerned with getting them away safely, our heroes know they can’t just abandon Arcadia Oaks to the calamity it’s been hit with. When there’s danger afoot, Aja’s moral compass is always pointed towards helping others, which is one of my favorite things about her.
There’s a lot of action to be had here, with the main characters doing battle in the streets against the enemy horde, but this episode isn’t solely about sci-fi/supernatural fight scenes. We also get some classic 3Below comedy. Looking dreamily at Steve, Aja sighs, “Do you think we can make it work long-long-long-long-long distance?” And her goodbye kiss with Steve, in the heat of the battle as Eli and Krel clobber a swarm of goblins in the background, is both funny and sweet.
It's a good episode for Krel. Even if his sudden obsession with leaving his mark in Arcadia Oaks feels a little manufactured, the episode builds some decent groundwork for it. Throughout the season, we’ve caught snatches of him envying the way other kids regard Aja, and he laments that his yearbook is filled with the dreaded “have a great summer” blow-off line. “See? Your pages are filled with variety!” he insists to Aja, gasping, “Is that a poem?” In light of this, it makes sense that he’d be so intent on doing the Battle of the Bands, despite everything else going on in the episode.
Krel doesn’t quite have Aja’s resolve or her combat skills, but he’s not about to leave her alone when the battle kicks off. I have a lot of respect for the way he scrambles and flails but stays in the fight, often making up for his clumsiness with quick thinking. It’s an obvious line, but I love when he shouts to Aja during a critical moment, “I got this! I got this! I-I don’t got this. Any time now!” As the icing, after Aja dispatches the threat, he adds, “…I totally had him.”
I briefly mentioned a stunning revelation that comes from Akiridion-5; I won’t spoil the specifics, but Diego Luna is just splendid as he plays Krel’s reaction to this shocking news. Krel is dismayed, hurt, and angry, and he clings to his duty as king in waiting because he doesn’t know how to deal with it any other way. The scene on the whole is so well done, and Luna really makes me feel Krel’s sense of dismay, his attempts to harden himself even as he starts to cry.
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