RttE: When Darkness Falls

Alright, as promised I am going to continue with my reviews! I just re-watched this episode, and I must say I enjoyed it quite a lot the second time. Nothing overly deep or dramatic, but it is really just nice to sit through! Read on to see my overall opinion.

Ok, negatives:

It seems OOC for Astrid to get so caught up in the squabble over the base. The bit where she is jumping on Fishlegs in order to try and steal a tiny rock from him really just felt off.

*Some* of the chicken humor moments with Tuffnut felt forced (but only some).

Positives:

I loved how many shots we got of Hiccup and Toothless chilling together. Like how Hiccup sleeps against Toothless's side. I really do just enjoy seeing them together... its the kind of thing that makes me wish I had a Night Fury! Plus, since the series has so much more free-time than the movies, it is good to see them using that time to show Hiccup and Toothless's way of spending quiet moments together.

Tuffnut is actually very funny in this episode! I was surprised... because often I find the twins to be kind of annoying. But, him and the chicken were pretty comical together.

We got Tuffnut saying "Oh, I am hurt. I am very much hurt!" I loved that. Since I've been a fan since the first movie, that's always been a line that I associated with Tuff. Nice to see he still uses it.

The Night Terrors are an interesting and well designed dragon. This episode also seems to show that the medium sized dragons of many may prey on smaller ones. At least we know that Changewings will (they were also willing to kill a wounded Scauldron in the old series). So, its nice to get a better view of dragon social and predatorily structuring. 

Ok, I also want to note that it is a cool dynamic that the series is going for with the kids off on their own island. I've heard the producers say that this series almost functions as the teens "college years". They are not kids anymore, and they have all moved into one big "dorm". I like that dynamic. It is different from what we have seen, but at the same time it feels realistic. It also gives those of us in college a chance to see what Hiccup went through in his own years stuck in "dorm life".
Finally, didn't everybody just LOVE seeing Toothless watching the Night Terrors imitate his anatomy? That was gorgeous. We know that Toothless, to a degree, would like to find other Night Furies. I don't know whether he ever will (I get the feeling that he might), but as of now he never gets to see any other dragon who is like him. He is, in a sense, utterly alone. He isn't devastated by that, and he is perfectly happy with Hiccup and the unshakable friendship he has there. But we still know... and he still knows... that any hope he has of seeing something like himself is slim. It was great to see him overjoyed at seeing the Terrors do their display. It was almost as if he had the company of a fellow Night Fury, if only for a moment, and he loved it. It made me (haha, and Hiccup) very happy to see him so happy.

So, overall, this episode was good. I'm still gonna put it as a 4/5 because it wasn't exactly the most stunning or important plot, but it is a very solidly good episode.