We’ve gotten some hints of it earlier, but this episode really delves into the major plot of the season. For the most part, we’ve wrapped up alien bounty hunters and are turning to another adversary for the Akiridions: alien-hating humans.
Aja and Krel are annoyed when they’re informed that they have to attend summer school, but something’s not right about it. That’s because Col. Kubritz of Area 49B, hellbent on capturing the aliens who evaded her before, has orchestrated it to get them in a contained space where she can identify and detain them. The school is quickly locked down by Area 49B, and the Tarrons (and their friends) have to figure out how to escape.
Our character of the week is AAARRRGGHH!!!, voiced by Fred Tatasciore (he also plays Señor Uhl.) A holdover from Trollhunters, AAARRRGGHH!!! only made brief appearances in season 1 of 3Below, but he’s featured a bit more here. He’s a fearsome-looking troll, and people are often afraid of him, but he’s actually quite the pussycat. This season, he’s often accompanied by Toby, his friend and “wingman.” He winds up at the school during the lockdown as well—the gym teacher enthuses, “Just imagine if we got you on the wrestling team! We’d finally make it to state.” It really doesn’t make much sense to me, but we’ll go with it.
This is a good episode. I like watching Aja, Krel, Toby, and AAARRRGGHH!!! working together to try and avoid the Area 49B agents; while their friends are mostly worried about the royals’ safety, Aja points out that Area 49B would be just as happy to vivisect AAARRRGGHH!!!, so she’s not about to let them take on all of the risk. We also see the Area 49B folks having their hands full trying to deal with a bunch of Arcadian teens—when asked if she’s seen anyone unusual, Mary drawls, “Welcome to Arcadia, soldier. Being weird is, like, our thing.” And just as a bonus, Steve dramatically intones, “The irony,” but he pronounces it like “iron.” Hee!
Varvatos and Zadra are off on a side mission, scavenging a technological MacGuffin for Krel from a trashed bounty hunter ship from last season (Arcadia Oaks has gone who-knows-how-long without knowing there’s a troll society beneath their town, so the people there are unlikely to notice the recent accumulation of spacecrafts.) There’s a great moment where the Tarrons’ pet Luug bonds with Buster, a giant insectoid alien who’s guarding the tech they need. As Varvatos remarks, “It appears Luug has found himself a new ally!” Zadra replies in an absolute deadpan, “This is highly adorable.”
Some good stuff for Krel, who’s in the thick of the main action at the school. The fact the super-genius Krel is supposed to do summer school is their first tip-off that something’s not right, and Krel exclaims, “Summer school—it’s a trap!” Once the action kicks off, he offers up his usual trademark mix of anxious scrambling during combat situations and surprising nonchalance at times in the face of danger.
My favorite line readings from Diego Luna in this episode:
· Aja, wants to create a diversion so AAARRRGGHH!!! can escape the Area 49B agents, so she runs into the hallway yelling, “Hey, evil mad science henchmen! Distraction! Distraction!” Krel sidles after her and remarks, “Your distraction is a little obvious.”
· Steve shows up to help, shouting, “My warrior princess!” Even though they’re currently in vast amounts of danger, Krel takes time out to incredulously ask Aja, “That’s what he calls you?”
· When Aja has a risky last-ditch plan to get them to safety, I love how Krel grumbles, “I hate your ideas.”
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