Our heroes finally reach the place where all maps end: the infinite expanse of the Shattered Sea.

This week’s episode tops the series as the best episode to date. No, not damning it with faint praise; this episode broke the mold in several good ways.

First, one of the most straightforward and easy-to-notice ways, however superficial: this week the show eschews the modern music almost entirely. The absence improves it greatly.

Surprisingly and refreshingly, no battles this week either. If only they’d also omitted the ‘requisite’ training montages (which seem to come rather late in the game anyway). A side note regarding the side note: considering how absolutely exhausted magic makes Willow, he wastes an awful lot of energy in this installment. Yes, Elora needs to learn, but that still seems unwise of him in light of the impending battle.

As in the previous episodes, we see a bunch of heart-to-heart talks. They work much better without combat going on in the background (or foreground, for that matter). The writing, the staging, the acting, everything comes together quite nicely in the scenes and builds toward the finale. Kit and Jade share a moment. Elora and Graydon get some closure. So do Elora and Kit, which pays off nicely in the penultimate scene. We see Elora beginning to come into her own and Willow’s big secret come out. Thraxus reaches a momentous decision regarding the armor with, to his great dismay, absolutely zero apparent effect.

The innkeeper they meet at the edge of the Shattered Sea provides some clues as to the nature of the sea, and of time and magic with relation to it. Nothing particularly unique there, but nicely done regardless. Plus it ties in to what’s going on with Airk and the damsel, whom we see only briefly. After a whole bunch of truly awful bad-romance-novel dialog (nothing against the plenty good romance novels out there), the pair fall into a clinch – to the shock of no one anywhere.

Brief callout regarding the mudmander: cute and likeable, and markedly similar in both concept and design to Fantastic Beasts. Nice resolution with him as well.

However clumsily combined over the course of the season, this episode sets all the pieces in place for next week.  The final shot will stun absolutely no one and leads perfectly sets up what comes next.

With the season finale nigh, the question looms: will the show continue its upward trend, or revert to the previous levels? 6/10

Rigel Ailur