Series Thoughts: Dragons: The Nine Realms (Season 2)

• Released: 23 December 2021
• Amount of seasons: 2
• Seasons watched: 2
• Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

Now all having bonded with their own respective dragons, the Dragon Club is determined to keep their new pets a secret, all the while Tom goes looking for his heritage and Thunder wants to find his lost Night Light family.

My Thoughts

People really seem to hate this show, huh? And I personally just don't get it. Is it good? Eh, probably not. Decent is what I'd call it. And season 2 pretty much falls into that category if you ask me. I do think that this one is a bit weaker than season 1, but I do like it.

Most of these episodes are all individual episodic stories, and that's fine. I'm not calling them filler, but they do allow us to get to know our characters better (which was one of my criticisms of season 1, not getting to spend enough time with each of our main characters). The last two episodes of this season once more really dive into the plot with both Thunder and Tom looking for their roots, in this case especially Thunder as he seems to have located some of his family. However, we don't get to see them, and a showdown with a huge Skrill ensues.

Honestly I do hope that this whole "Thunder looking for the Night Lights" won't end in the way the same plotline ended with Toothless and the Night Furies in the other Dragons media, where it ended with Toothless being the last of his kind in the end. It just felt cheap and I disliked that, especially after all the building up. We did get the Light Furies, but the less said about them, the better. So I'm just hoping they don't chicken out on showing Thunder's family this time again by making him the last of his kind. 

Tom and the other characters are all still decent and get their times to shine. I like them, to be honest. Alex is probably my favorite because of how much I relate to her, but the others are good characters as well. We're also introduced to one or two new characters this season, among which is Jun's brother, though he doesn't do much so far.

Overall this season didn't do much to further the plot of Tom and Thunder finding their heritage/family, but I'm glad that it wasn't entirely glossed over. Honestly I still think that these seasons are too short. Why can't they be at least 8-10 episodes long? Maybe this is just my personal preference, but I'd rather have a long season (preferably with one episode releasing each week) and longer hiatuses than these really short seasons that don't give me much to talk about and don't do much to further the plot.

I'm not asking for 26-episodes long seasons, either. Just something like 10 episodes would be fine. And having more than one/two episodes each season that focus on the main plot. I don't mind the "filler" episodes but they feel a bit unevenly paced, with this season consisting of seven episodes but only the last two which focus on the actual plot. If they could at least put one more plot-focused episode among the first three episodes, there'd be a bit more of a balance. Because right now it really does just feel like the first five episodes just forgot about the fact that Thunder wants to find his family and Tom is looking for the meaning of the symbol on his helmet. 

Overall this is just a fine season and I really don't get the hate behind the series. Is it good? Nah. Is it on par with the other Dragons animated series? Probably a bit lower. But it's not as bad as everyone says, either. Yes, the animation and designs aren't perfect, but god I see so many people being peeved with the fact that this series even just exists, and I really don't get it. It's not good, but it's still decent. Not offensively bad or anything. I'm not actively recommending it if you like the Dragons franchise, but it sure as hell doesn't deserve as much ire as it's getting, with multiple hour-long video essays on everything wrong with the show.