[7.4/10] Yay! Tritonio’s back! Depositing him into a Robin Hood-style story of merry thieves jaunting through the forest and robbing King Andrias’ caravans blind is delightful. The idea that he’s still out there, running scams, but doing so with a group of loyal followers and even a young protege is a fun way to take the character we met back in “Combat Camp” and up the ante.
The thematic throughline here is good too. I appreciate how this episode flips the last Tritonio episode, with Anne offering the lesson rather than the other way around. Her “friendship and camaraderie is the best treasure of all” moral is a little trite, but the dialogue is well crafted. Her barb that Tritonio is “only robbing himself” if she eschews is nicely pointed, and the moral dilemma of whether to use his hoodwinking skills to rescue his band when they’re captured by Andrias’ goons or stick to his “everyone for themselves” mentality is a nice way to dramatize his change of heart.
Hell, it’s on a much smaller scale compared to Andrias, but I like the fact that we even get a sympathetic backstory for Tritonio! The idea of him as a street urchin getting by in groups of pint-sized scoundrels who threw one another to the wolves when the going got tough is a sympathetic account of how he got to be this way. And I like Anne modeling and arguing for a better way to be.
Plus, god help me, I love the robot judge. It’s such a nice bit of added absurdity, and all the legal puns and ridiculousness of its attacks tickled me pink. The elaborate attacks from Tritonio’s merry men were creative as well. Anne can put those attacks to good use, since she’s won another set of allies to the Wartwood Resistance Cell’s cause! The idea that for all his grifting, Tritonio is a good strategist, something Anne’s crew needs, does a good job of motivating her to work with him despite his unreliability, and it’s nice to see another skeptical soul come to Anne’s way of thinking.
Overall, a fun return from one of my favorite one-off characters, with an amusing and endearing story worthy of his presence!
(I forgot about the little stinger at the end! The heavy hints that Leif is a Plantar, who probably wrote the family tome, and even left a message in invisible ink for later generations helps connect some longstanding dots on the show. But given how much she resembled Sprig in “The Core & The King” it’s not much of a shock and feels a little spackled on.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2024-03-11T05:08:45Z— updated 2024-03-12T06:37:43Z
[7.4/10] Yay! Tritonio’s back! Depositing him into a Robin Hood-style story of merry thieves jaunting through the forest and robbing King Andrias’ caravans blind is delightful. The idea that he’s still out there, running scams, but doing so with a group of loyal followers and even a young protege is a fun way to take the character we met back in “Combat Camp” and up the ante.
The thematic throughline here is good too. I appreciate how this episode flips the last Tritonio episode, with Anne offering the lesson rather than the other way around. Her “friendship and camaraderie is the best treasure of all” moral is a little trite, but the dialogue is well crafted. Her barb that Tritonio is “only robbing himself” if she eschews is nicely pointed, and the moral dilemma of whether to use his hoodwinking skills to rescue his band when they’re captured by Andrias’ goons or stick to his “everyone for themselves” mentality is a nice way to dramatize his change of heart.
Hell, it’s on a much smaller scale compared to Andrias, but I like the fact that we even get a sympathetic backstory for Tritonio! The idea of him as a street urchin getting by in groups of pint-sized scoundrels who threw one another to the wolves when the going got tough is a sympathetic account of how he got to be this way. And I like Anne modeling and arguing for a better way to be.
Plus, god help me, I love the robot judge. It’s such a nice bit of added absurdity, and all the legal puns and ridiculousness of its attacks tickled me pink. The elaborate attacks from Tritonio’s merry men were creative as well. Anne can put those attacks to good use, since she’s won another set of allies to the Wartwood Resistance Cell’s cause! The idea that for all his grifting, Tritonio is a good strategist, something Anne’s crew needs, does a good job of motivating her to work with him despite his unreliability, and it’s nice to see another skeptical soul come to Anne’s way of thinking.
Overall, a fun return from one of my favorite one-off characters, with an amusing and endearing story worthy of his presence!
(I forgot about the little stinger at the end! The heavy hints that Leif is a Plantar, who probably wrote the family tome, and even left a message in invisible ink for later generations helps connect some longstanding dots on the show. But given how much she resembled Sprig in “The Core & The King” it’s not much of a shock and feels a little spackled on.)