‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ Recap – ‘Time to Make… My Move’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

​I honestly don’t know what it is, but anytime a television series, or a book, or a movie reveals all kinds of important truths to the audience, I admire it a little more. Because it just seems as though when a story takes the time to answer your questions and provide you quality knowledge about the world you’re taking the time to immerse yourself within, that the folks behind the scenes genuinely care about you and want you to have a rich and fulfilling experience when it comes to the story in question. And I think that’s another reason that I am such a fan of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, because it really does take the time to tell a rich and satisfying story, one that just so happened to answer a great deal of questions about the world of Thra and our mysterious villains in its next episode.
 
Oddly enough, that made watching ‘Time to Make… My Move’ an oddly surreal experience. Because those of us who grew up on the movie, know how this story ends and know the true identity of the Skeksis and the Mystics. But there are a great many viewers who are just now being introduced to this universe for the first time ever. Which is why it’s a good thing that the series took the time to introduce the Heretic and the Wanderer to the audience so that they could inform all of those new to the saga that originally the Skeksis and Mystics were once a single species known as the urSkeks, and that their experiments with the Crystal led to its split and their own for that matter as well. And the only new and fascinating folds that I personally found when it came to this backstory, was that there were a pair of Mystics and Skeksis that actually believed in reunification, and that, they had the solution to their problems all wrong.
 
For this duo firmly believed that the Dual Glaive, a weapon they created, would help the Gelfings, push the Skeksis into submission so that the two split species could join together once again. But old-school fans know that such an act isn’t the answer in question, yet, I still found this little twist to be incredibly intriguing. Because it, and Aughra’s moment of frustration with the Stonewood Gelflings, goes to show that no one really knows the exact way forward and this forthcoming fight will likely reveal the truth and it’s just cool that this series is finding new ways to flesh out the story and get to the true ending in an organic and unique manner. Might I also add, this entire backstory sequence was a true delight through and through thanks to the magnificent contrast of the Wanderer and the Heretic and my thanks to Bill Hader and Andy Samberg for making these characters a true treat to watch.
 
However, while this segment alone could have carried the episode no problem, there is still a war brewing, and unfortunately for the Gelfings of Stone-in-the-Wood, the Skeksis were one step ahead in this tale. For they conspired behind the scenes with their enemies and put together a powerful plan to bring down these warriors without firing a single shot so to speak, and sadly, their plan worked in terrifying fashion. For the Ascendancy gave the Skeksis a tiny, spider-like being that can control minds, and they quickly latched onto the warriors of Stonewood and brought them into compliance and now it would seem they are going to march to their own deaths in the essence machine in the days to come, unless of course, our heroes can get their hands on the Dual Glaive and free them from their prison beneath the Castle of the Crystal.
 
In the end however, this was really just a fun episode. For it was lovely to be refreshed on the backstory of the urSkeks, and I really did it fascinating to find a pair of these beings actually wish to be reunited since I am hard pressed to think of a moment in the movie where the Skeksis paid their other half any mind. But all backstory aside, kudos to this episode for also keeping the plot moving along at a brisk pace and I was quite taken aback by how ruthless the Skeksis really are and how low they’re willing to sink for a win. If anything, I’m quite impressed with the dark and unsettling ending that this story provided us with, because it takes guts to write a story where you watch heroes lose and lose big since those brave Gelflings lost Stonewood and their minds in one fell swoop. It simply raises the stakes when all is said and done and now is the perfect time to make that happen since the season finale is drawing near and this episode definitely helps set the stage for a grand fight between good and evil. Until next time.     

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