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forever-animated · 2 years

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Sorting out my feelings about the TDP news from SDCC...

Okay, I’ve slept on it and given it some time to sink in. Here’s my attempt at a post about my feelings in regards to TDP S4. Just a warning ... it’s gonna be a novel. And perhaps a little critical. Probably. Bear with me, because this is really rough.

(And yes, I have accidentally seen some of the spoilers of the first episode from Cartoon Universe’s Twitter, but I’m not sure whether I want to know it all before November. You know? So please don’t spoil in the replies, OK?)

So I’ll be the first to admit that I was conflicted with how TTM ended at first. Like, it was a real downer for me as a hardcore Rayllum shipper. (My husband and I had started watching TDP in the summer of 2020. I was going through really bad anxiety at the time because of the pandemic and moving states, so Rayllum had really become my comfort ship.)

Post TTM I was a little upset, and perhaps a bit bitter about how Rayla handled things. (Although it did kinda make sense based on her state of mind at the end of the comic.) But I tried to cheer myself up through theory crafting what S4 could look like based on the limited information we had. I knew there’d be a time skip. I figured this would probably be a few months to a year. And I figured we’d start of the new season with Callum searching for Rayla. I really couldn’t see him just moping around the castle the whole time. Nah, this guy jumped off a CLIFF for her. No way in hell he’d just let her go, right?

So the other day when we got the Inheritance short story, I was a bit surprised to see that not only had Callum gone back to the castle post TTM, but he had been there for months, it seemed. Like I really thought he’d be out there searching for her, or maybe the story would mention that he tried searching for her for weeks and returned defeated, unable to find her. But that wasn’t mentioned - so I can only assume that didn’t happen. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Then comes the news that it’s apparently been two years. Not only since Rayla left. Apparently Viren’s been dead this whole time?

I talked about this with my husband as soon as the news came in, and we were kind of on the same page about how conflicted we were. Here’s a few reasons why this two year time skip is concerning, in no particular order:

1. So much has probably happened in the universe of TDP within these two years, especially with Zym returned to the Dragon Queen. There’s so much we’ll need to be caught up on, and we already don’t really know too much about how this world works. So the writers are really going to need to put in the work to explain / show this all. And do extra work on the top of that to get the audience caught up. I feel like it’s kind of a shame that we don’t get to see all those changes / developments as they happen.

2. Rayla and Callum have been separated for two years. Let that sink in. If you were annoyed at Rayla’s decision in TTM and really didn’t like the separation, this time skip is just going to make that worse. Like, for me personally, I’m not a big fan of angst in relationships. Mainly because I’ve seen stuff like this done so poorly in shows in the past. You’ll have characters in a healthy relationship who talk things through and work out their conflicts in a healthy way, only to upend this by bringing in some contrived conflict - secrets that the characters hide from each other, a prolonged separation, a dumb misunderstanding that no one bothers to correct, etc. This is what really bothered me about Captain Swan in the sixth season of Once Upon a Time. What made that one especially aggravating is that we the fans knew that there was going to be a Captain Swan wedding episode in that season. We knew these two were going to reunite, work through their conflict, and get married. So why were the writers dragging this out? Going back to TDP, this two year time skip wherein Rayla and Callum have been separated makes me nervous for similar reasons. We know they’re going to have to reunite at some point. And yes, they’ll get back together. So why are we doing this? And how long is it going to take? Is there a good story reason that this needs to happen? Or is it just pointless angst and drama from characters that, up until this point, were in a pretty healthy relationship and had made great strides in being honest with each other and letting each other in? I really hope we’re going somewhere good with this, but I just can’t shake this nervous feeling.

3. Soooo, Viren’s been dead for two years? Really? That raises so many more questions. I assume Claudia would have had to cast some sort of preservation spell on his body. We haven’t established that magic in-universe, but it could be explained away easily enough. What bothers me though is the implications that this has on the other characters. What was Bug-avos doing this whole time? Was Claudia really attempting to bring her father back from the dead for two whole years? Has she ran into Rayla? Speaking of, if Viren was dead, then why the hell was he in that whole realm between life and death? And doesn’t that upend Rayla’s whole reason for leaving? Like, we knew that Rayla was right and Viren was alive when we read TTM. So we understand why it’s important that he’s found. But now we find out that Viren actually wasn’t alive until now, two years after TTM. So like, Rayla was wrong, and she was just being paranoid? As my husband pointed out, that just makes the fact that she left Callum so much worse. Because it was literally for nothing.

4. Viren being dead for two years also gives me major, “Ha! Didn’t see that twist coming, did ya?” vibes. And after Once Upon a Time, I kinda hate these kinds of twists. For contrast, The Owl House has “twists”, but handles them in such a way that there is a lot of foreshadowing and, if you’re paying attention, you’re able to figure it out WAY before the characters do. So the tension and suspense comes not from the twist itself, but the audience’s anticipation in having the characters discover the twist and react to it. I personally love that. I don’t like twists just for the sake of surprising the audience - especially when they make little logical sense. I realllllly hope that’s not what TDP is doing. Maybe it was really thought out and I’m just being paranoid.

5. So like, what has Rayla been doing this whole time? I said in my S4 predictions that I doubted she’d find Claudia and Viren because she literally had no leads and nothing to go on besides her vision in TTM. So that seems to be true - considering Viren hasn’t even been alive this whole time. So what in the world has Rayla been doing? She has no family to go back to. Are we supposed to believe she’s just been aimlessly wandering Xadia this whole time? We’ll probably have to get some sort of episode that brings us up to speed on what she’s been doing this whole time. But I honestly can’t even being to fathom it because she literally has nothing to go on and no one to travel with. (Unless she got captured by someone not long into her journey and they’re waiting to reveal that. I’d honestly be ok with that development, because it would make her more sympathetic. It’s not purely a matter of her abandoning Callum for two years. She wouldn’t have been able to return to him if she wanted to.)

6. This time skip also has an unintended consequence of making us miss out on some character / relationship development - which IMO, is what the show does best. (Yes, the world and plot is interesting, but I’m here for the characters above everything else.) So we’re going to miss out on seeing Amaya and Janai’s relationship grow. Apparently they’re an established couple now. So much for fun development of an interesting LGBTQ ship. Don’t get me wrong - I’m glad we have them and that they’re together now. But I would’ve liked to see it happen in real time on the show, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. There’s probably other characters who’ll get off-screen development as well. And yes, that’s all well and good, but like ... I wanted to see it happen, y’know?

7. Lastly, with a two year time skip, there’s going to be a lot that needs to be explained. Which means the first few episodes are probably going to be very exposition heavy. I’m just hoping the writing doesn’t feel too clunky here. Like, “As you know, Callum, you’ve been high mage for two years and it’s been two years since Rayla’s been missing...” You know. That kind of writing.

Okay, so now that I’ve gotten that out of the way - here’s some more positive thoughts to balance it out.

1. The animation looks awesome. Gone is the choppy frame rate of season one. Loving the micro-expressions and little details on the characters and their faces. Bravo Wonderstorm!

2. Callum’s design! Not sure about the hair. But I love the outfit. And he’s still the same loveable dork he was. <3

3. A two year time skip does give the potential for a truly romantic reunion between Rayla and Callum. That’s what I’m most hoping for. I want them to be like, “Wow, you look older!” Maybe she can tease him for his new haircut. Please Wonderstorm - do NOT drag out their separation or make their reunion terribly angsty. It’s been TWO years. We need this. <3

4. I’m excited to see everyone else’s updated designs as well. Soren, Ezran, Zym. I can’t WAIT to see what they look like.

That’s it for now. But I’m sure this won’t be the last post from me. Now I’m going to try to figure out if I want to read the spoilers or not. (And don’t get me started on how I feel about them showing that episode at SDCC. I was annoyed about the TTM leak, so you can probably guess how I feel about this.)

Anyway, I really want to hear from you guys. Do you agree with any of my misgivings? Want to reassure me? Think I’m dead wrong?

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp season 4 #tdp s4 #tdp sdcc #tdp through the moon #tdp spoilers #tdp season 4 predictions #rayllum #callum #rayla #tdp critical #i’m worried #but trying to stay positive #I want this to be good #and I want to have faith

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