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Since september of last year, Netflix has been gifting us with a blessing in the form of The Dragon Prince. It comes from the minds of Aaron Ehasz, one of the principal writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Justin Richmond, the director of the third Uncharted game. The Avatar vibes are felt since the beginning, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Although the creative team, specially Ehasz, has been surrounded by controversy earlier this month, I want to focus on the show itself. If you wanna know more about this, you can click here for more information.
Okay, so I’m gonna try to keep it spoiler-free, but I may have to talk some plot points, so this is your light spoiler warning for The Dragon Prince season 1. Go watch it, the 3 seasons are available in Netflix.
The first reason why you watch The Dragon Prince immediately is the story itself. Throughout its 3 seasons and 27 episodes, this show has proved being one of the best fantasy shows currently airing. Let me recap the plot real quick.
It is set in a world where magic exists, and also magical beings. Dragons, elves (very different kinds of elves, I should let you know), weird frog things, among other beings are born with innate magic and being able to use it. But humans can’t do it without an artificial focus, so one person, using the magic and life of magical beings, invents dark magic. Clearly, that’s a big no-no for the elves and the dragons (which, by the way, have a king, queen, and the whole royal line). The humans and the magical beings went to war, and the latter drove off the humans to the other side of the continent and created a border, which is a big river of lava, guarded by the dragon king, called Thunder by the humans.
Now that you’re all caught up, the show starts 1200 years after all of this. The dragon king has been assassinated and his eggs was supposedly destroyed. For this, a group of Moonshadow elves, including Rayla are sent to kill one of the rulers of the kingdoms of men, King Harrow and his heir, prince Ezran. But the assassination is put on hold when Rayla, Ezran and his brother Callum find the dragon king egg, that was supposedly destroyed.
This is the jumping off point for the series. Pretty creative, I know.
The cast and the characters themselves are spectacular. Firstly, the show has a way of introducing all kinds of characters without banging you in the head that they are a minority. A bunch of characters are part of LGBTQ+ community, or a person of color. Also, there’s a bad-ass fighter, which is deaf. And all of these characters are brought to life by such talented voice cast. Specially the three main characters Rayla, Callum and Ezram, played by Paula Burrows, Jack De Sena and Sasha Rojen, respectively.
The performances and the delivery of the comedy are splendid. The more dramatic parts of the show are also sold in a realistic manner. Not a single feeling from the characters is unearned, every part of them is justified eventually. Nevertheless, the villain is the exception. His/her journey begins slowly, but by the end of the second season, a third party appear and makes him go full Hitler. A slower descent to madness, I think, was the way. That doesn’t mean it’s a deal breaker. One can empathize with him in some aspects.
Lastly, the animation. Listen, at first it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was wonky, at best and it can be distracting. Let me tell you something: it gets SO much better. By season 3, the animation department got a better budget and those season 1 movements became just bad memories.
There you go. The combination of a tight story, hilarious characters, with dramatic turns and twist and animation that just keep getting better and better makes The Dragon Prince one of the most creative and promising fantasy shows of the decade.
Let me know the SECOND you’re watching it, please, @luisdnavas.
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