Hi all! This is my spin on the "Everything Wrong With" series by CinemaSins on YouTube, which finds logic/continuity errors in movies. It's not intended to bash the show! I liked Season 10, especially the first half.

The T rating is due to some slightly more mature references, there's no language.

Also, this is only going to be up on FFN temporarily, to avoid permanently breaking the site's "no non-story content" rules! Catch it while you can.

Oh, and for anyone who's been around long enough to see any of the earlier "Everything Wrong With"'s I've done, yeah, I'm skipping "Hunted." Season 9 and I have a . . . weird . . . relationship, I didn't have the patience to go through it carefully looking for errors. :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, or CinemaSins, or anything else that gets mentioned in here for that matter.

The Darkness Comes

*Lloyd looks around uneasily as the warden talks.*

Are they implying that he's nervous returning to Kryptarium?

Huh. That's pretty hardcore. What a way to begin the season . . . (backwards ding!)

*Warden Noble: "Yes, we spared no expense."*

Implying that previous versions and/or other areas of the high-security prison did spare some expense. I'm sure Ninjago has its budget limitations, but dang . . . it takes this to convince them to invest in good security? (ding!)

Thinking about it, considering how terrible Kryptarium's track record is, not sure why Noble hasn't been replaced yet. (ding!)

*Lloyd: "Aren't you gonna—" [Lasers cover doorway.]*

That seems imprudent. What if someone turned around to bang on the door just as the lasers came back? There goes the security system. (ding!)

*Lloyd extends a VERY long walkway to Garmadon's cell.*

I don't care what it's made of, stretching that far without bending under its own weight? Nnnnno. (ding!)

*Lloyd: "Hello, Father."*

He's not. (ding!)

*Garmadon: "To what do I owe the honor?"*

People in the movies are sure honored a lot. Like, is there really no other way to condescendingly greet someone other than being fake-honored? (ding!)

*Garmadon and Lloyd converse.*

There seem to be no microphones or speaking tubes or anything on this giant cake cover, but Garmadon and Lloyd aren't muffled in the slightest. (ding!)

*Overhead shot of Garmadude's cake-cover prison.*

There's a bed, a table, and a sink, but no toilet. Hmmmm. (ding!)

*Garmadon: "And while I'm okay with that, in principle . . . "*

Since when was Garmadude the type to say "okay"? He always spoke in dramatic old-fashioned speech before this. (ding!)

*Lloyd: "Hmmm, how do I put this . . . NO. N. O. Not if you were the last person in Ninjago. There's nothing you could say that would make me trust you ever again!"*

Muuuultiple sin ticker, go!

"How do I put this . . . NO" cliché. (ding!)

"Explicitly state thing you will never do because you will inevitably eventually do it" cliché. (ding!)

As recently as last episode he was still saying "I have to believe this isn't you. You can change!" That's not the same sentiment as here. (ding!)

These people need to pick a message and stay with it. In Season 8 they made it abundantly clear that Lloyd was an idiot for putting any faith in Garmadon. Now they're going to spend this season suggesting Lloyd should trust him? (ding!)

Also, Lloyd? *raps gingerly on skull* Lloyd buddy, r u ok? Do you need a hug or something? (ding!)

*Cars line up on Ninjago City street, honking.*

I've been in tons of traffic jams, many of them in or near cities. Nobody EVER honks. The honking happens when traffic is moving. (ding!)

*Officer: "Let's clear this away as fast as possible so we can get the traffic going!"*

Is that the blasted truck full of water bottles that wouldn't get out of Season 8?

. . . Also, it appears to have forcibly overturned an 18-wheeler several times its size.

I'm scared.

(ding!)

*Cole lays on the horn.*

Because the cars in front of them are totally just standing still out of sheer spite, and honking will convince them to move. It's science. (ding!)

*Cole and PIXAL want to start up the giant drill, but Zane won't let them hurt the freeway.*

Not that I'm complaining about their respect for public property, but this almost feels a little strange in the context of a cartoon. Your average superhero/adventure cartoon is all about the casual destruction of property for cool mechs and dramatic effect. It's kinda the whole point, vicariously smashing things without real-world consequences. Was Bragi Schut trying to make some kind of specific point by explicitly saying, "we don't damage things"? (ding!)

*Ninja and PIXAL leaping over cars.*

Enough with this slow-mo. Off with it. (ding!)

*Cole turns back to shut the roof on the drill mech.*

When this traffic jam clears up, there's gonna immediately be a second traffic jam because some jerk left a giant vehicle parked in the left lane. (ding!)

*Cole cuts through backseat of family's car.*

This is why you lock your doors when the car's not moving . . .

But anyway, with thanks to the Ninjago wiki: Cole opens both doors of the car and is never seen closing them, yet in the next shot they're closed. (ding!)

*Officer is staring over the police barricade, then starts when the ninja jump over it.*

Instead of seeing to the crash, this officer chooses to just stare blankly down a closed road. (ding!)

*Officer: "Hey! You can't go there, that road is closed!"*

For vehicular traffic, sure, but does that apply to pedestrians? It's not like it's a crime scene. (ding!)

Actually, thinking about the legalities of running around on roads, I'm willing to bet dashing through traffic on a non-closed highway is more illegal. (ding!)

*Cole: "Sorry, it's an emergency!"

Police guy: "Oh, I didn't know! Never mind! Good luck guys!"*

And what's this, then? Considering what questionable behavior this show has entertained in the past (murder, theft, assault and battery, breaking and entering, evasion of law enforcement, alcohol abuse, forced marriage, cannibalism, patricide, suicide, incest, adultery, identity fraud, violent revenge, kidnapping, torture, blackmail, gun violence, hazing, child endangerment/neglect/abuse, vandalism, general lying, SO MUCH trespassing), it's weird that disregarding a police barricade suddenly makes them uncomfortable enough to include an awkward "Don't try this at home, kids!" moment.

Thiiiiiis is time filler, isn't it? (ding!)

Also I'm looking at that list up there and I'm suddenly terrified of Ninjago. What the heck are we all watching here? This is Gomorrah.

*PIXAL: "To the harbor! As fast as possible!"*

There's no sign of Zane's ice slide in the background. (ding!)

*Zane: "Keep the vehicle within the permitted speed limit in a densely populated area!"*

Great, and now the cartoon's going all 1960's Hardy Boys. Do I need to run through that entire list up there again? Speed limits are the least of their worries.

Besides, since when does anyone drive beneath the speed limit anyway, if they can help it? (ding!)

*Commissioner and crowd are all standing around awkwardly.*

If the ninja are over half an hour late, no way would the crowd all just stand there staring silently. They'd all be chattering their heads off and playing on their phones. (ding!)

Speaking of phones, are you honestly telling me the ninja were invited to a ceremony, but nobody gave them any contact information in case of situations like this? (ding!)

*Guy: "Hey look!"

Lady: "It's them!"*

At this distance? Nuh-uh. (ding!)

*Gayle Gossip: "We're live from Ninjago Harbor, where several of the ninja have just arrived . . . "*

And Samurai X. Not ninja. Technically. (ding!)

Also, if this is live broadcasting, what were they showing to fill up the time before the ninja arrived? Not Gayle, apparently. (ding!)

*Commissioner: "Not really sure why the mayor couldn't do this herself . . . Never around, really . . . It's a riddle to me how she got elected in the first place."*

*Rests head on table* Okay, Ninjago, okay. XD They've developed quite the obsession for sinning their own scripts from within the script.

Honestly I don't know whether to add or remove sins for this kind of stuff anymore. It's become kinda like an old friend who's annoying as frick but you love them anyway.

*Cole: "Don't get your hopes up. Whatever it is, it won't compare."*

Geez Cole, they're giving you an entire free ship, which they took time out of repairing the city to build for you. At very least I hope you're not saying that loud enough for the Commissioner or anyone else to hear. (ding!)

*Bounty lifts out of water.*

Do rocket boosters even work underwater? (ding!)

Also, there's no particular reason to boost it out of the water and leave it hovering; they'll probably have to lower it again for the ninja to get on anyway. (ding!)

*Commissioner: "We were able to get a copy of the original blueprints from a private collector."

Rufus McAllister: "Who wants them back in mint condition!"*

You'd think he would have told them this when he first gave them the blueprints, not now after the construction workers are done spilling coffee all over them. (ding!)

Also, scanners presumably exist. If nothing else, cameras certainly exist. Yet this guy would rather hand over the originals. (ding!)

Also, if these are the original blueprints, the Bounty should look like the original Bounty, not like Season-8 Bounty. And that's even ignoring the fact that the original Bounty was so old blueprints probably didn't even exist yet. (ding!)

*Distant shot of monastery.*

Care to explain when, why, and how this got rebuilt? (ding!)

Also, okay, so they rebuilt the monastery. Apparently they also felt a need to re-carve the entire mountain to make a broad wiggly staircase instead of a narrow spiraling one. Gotta make it nice for those invading armies, when they hit! (ding!)

Alllllso, here's your bleak thought of the week:

Anyone remember "Day of the Departed"? An entire special where Sensei Yang tried to take over Ninjago because he was terrified of being alone and forgotten. And you remember how Cole finally talked him out of being evil by promising that as the inventor of Airjitzu, he'd never be forgotten? Remember how in return, he sacrificed himself to an eternity imprisoned in the Temple of Airjitzu to save Cole?

All throughout Seasons 8 and 9 it was pretty clear they no longer had Airjitzu, but they were dodgy about whether they'd fully abandoned the temple. Things were really chaotic, maybe they just didn't have time to return to home base.

But now, by moving into the monastery, they've made it clear that the Temple of Airjitzu is no longer a thing.

They did the one thing Yang feared the most. The one thing Cole promised him would never happen.

Maybe he's still trapped in that crumbling temple now. Alone. Forever.

Yikes.

*Jay: "Will you be my yang?"

Kai: "No no no, you can't ask like that."*

"Reveal that character isn't talking to the person you'd first expect" cliché. (ding!)

Also, it's "the big season," the 100th episode, the made-for-TV movie, so of course we must have the everlasting "character spends entire storyline struggling to propose/profess love" cliché. (ding!)

Although I do appreciate that Kai's being reasonable about Jaya. Let's lay that one to rest. (backwards ding!)

*Dareth: "The yin-yang promise is a beautiful and sacred tradition, Jay! Congratulations!"*

This sounds and looks a lot like marriage, and I'm sure a lot of kids will interpret it as an equivalent. Yet just last season they confirmed that these guys are still teenagers. Edges uncomfortably close to telling the kiddies that teen marriage is a good idea. (ding!)

Also, is the Yin-Yang promise something unusual in Ninjago? Imagine if you told your friend you were proposing and he said, "Marriage is a beautiful and sacred tradition!" as if it needed explaining somehow. Eesh. (ding!)

Also-also, this show has used the terms "marriage," "husband," and "wife" tons of times in the past, it's a little late to try claiming Ninjago has different names for these things. (ding!)

*Nya walks in.*

"Rays of light on beautiful girl" cliché. And it's kinda just weird. Breaks the immersion to have doors in Ninjago randomly glow when you walk through 'em. (ding!)

*Nya: "It's a kimono, Jay. A traditional gown worn by women?"*

If Wikipedia doesn't lie to me, it's actually more traditional for both men and women to wear kimonos, and the trend towards only women wearing them is more recent. (ding!)

Also, surprised at her lack of surprise that Jay somehow managed to mistake a gown for a shirt. He must be used to some really oversized T-shirts. (ding!)

*Nya: "Supervising the new mural."

Dareth: "Ooh, ooh! I wanna see!"*

Considering how far along that mural is, it's bizarre that this would be the first time they'd talk about it. (ding!)

Also, weird to put that much time and effort into a mural on the wall of the training grounds, where nobody except monastery residents will see it and it'll get stabbed by rogue training weapons all the time. (ding!)

*Wu: "It is the history of Ninjago."*

Yet the very first painting is of the First Realm. Wu is either uncannily aware that they're in a TV show by the same name, or he's still a compulsive liar.

Placing my bets on the latter. (ding!)

Also, apparently Ninjago has no history other than events involving the ninja. All that stuff about the First Spinjitzu Master, or Garmadon's banishment, or the First Serpentine War, or the Time Twins' first rebellion—mehhhhhh. (ding!)

*Kai and Dareth look confused at the painting of Season 6.*

That's an excellent question right there. How did Wu know about Season 6? How did anyone aside from Jay and Nya know what Nadakhan looked like, in order to paint him? *pokes artists suspiciously* (ding!)

*Jay: "Uhh, except I don't remember it looking that impressive."*

He wouldn't know, he was inside it. (ding!)

But if he's right, then Wu can add historical revisionism to his list of charges. (ding!)

*Firstbourne crashes to the bottom of the mountain.*

"Powerful ally barely lives to warn you about danger, to make the danger look more dangerous" cliché. Danger! (ding!)

*Firstbourne opens one claw and drops Faith.*

These two were mortal freaking enemies a season ago. There is a sword somewhere out there that Faith carved out of Firstbourne's freaking bones. And yet now they not only fight together, they clearly protect each other viciously too. *snif* I'm weak for reconciliation tropes, okay? Bill me. (backwards ding!)

*Jay and Nya rush to turn over Faith.*

Firstbourne generates an invisible forcefield that abruptly halts Kai at a safe distance. Can't have hair like that getting too close to her. (ding!)

Also, it's already a bad idea to move someone who might be injured, but seriously? Moving her just so you can drag her along a bit? Not even helpful. (ding!)

*Nya: "Are you okay?"*

Because it's not obvious just from looking at her. (ding!)

*Jay: "What did she say?"*

They skipped the usual "gasping out warning before falling unconscious" cliché. Not like I have much experience with dying, but I feel like when you're close to it, you're probably more likely to whisper than to wheeze in loud broken sentences like they do in movies. Props. (backwards ding!)

*Lloyd: "How is she?"

Nya: "Will she be okay?"*

The ones most vocally concerned about Faith are the ones who've had zero personal experience with her.

. . . Actually wait, maybe that was intentional. (ding!)

*Wu: "I have given her a powerful healing potion. She will recover."*

Hmmmmm. Pity Mystake didn't have any of that around two seasons ago, while the others were trying to pump some vivacity into Lloyd. (ding!)

*Wu retells Faith's account, waving around cup of black-smoking tea.*

He doesn't do anything with this tea, it's unclear why it's here. (ding!)

*Lloyd: "I was at Kryptarium visiting my father."*

How many times do we gotta establish that he's not? (ding!)

*Wu pulls an ancient book off a shelf.*

This monastery burned to the ground and was just recently rebuilt, so where was that book kept until now? Probably safer to keep it there still. (ding!)

*Jay: "Good thing it's just a legend, right?"*

Literally everything in Ninjago is a legend incarnate. The original four Golden Weapons were the stuff of legend. The Serpentine were a legend. The Stone Warriors were a legend. Sensei Yang was a legend. Djinns were a legend. The Time Twins were a legend. The Oni and Dragon story was a legend. And they all know for fact that Oni do exist, Mystake and Garmadon are both them.

There's denial, and then there's Jay. For the purposes of "obligatory dismissal of legend" cliché. (ding!)

*Guards discuss how this is a super-secure hiding place for the magical stuff, safer than Hiroshi's Labyrinth.*

Gee whiz, that's the second time in one episode that they've employed believably heavy security. What, did they actually listen to all the cracks about Ninjago's goofy security?

. . . Gee, I hope not. I'd die.

(backwards ding!)

On the other hand, why is this safer than Hiroshi's Labyrinth? Ninjago City gets attacked all the time. Hiroshi's Labyrinth is some out-of-the-way jungle that's nearly impossible to get into, let alone escape. You could install the fancier devices over there and it'd be safer than putting everything in Villain Central. (ding!)

*Oni smoke creeps out of Realm Crystal.*

Any particular reason the Oni chose this moment instead of decades ago? Convenient that they waited until Garmadude was around to warn about them. (ding!)

Also, I thought you had to be in physical contact with the Realm Crystal to use it. And how and why did the Oni hit other realms first, when the Realm Crystal is in Ninjago and probably creates the most obvious gateway to there? (ding!)

Also-also, this smoke looks really thick, it should be tripping those lasers. (ding!)

*Oni smoke creeps under the door.*

A maximum-security vault probably doesn't have an appreciable space under the door. (ding!)

*Oni smoke bounces along ceiling, killing the lights as it follows the guards.*

These two shmoes both heard and saw nothing. (ding!)

*Oni smoke chases guards till they slam the security doors shut.*

If it could squeeze under a vault door, it could probably squeeze through this security door. (ding!)

*Oni smoke jumps at passengers in train station.*

Okay, this stuff was hecking intimidating and creepy. Until it took the subway. All-powerful forces of evil do not piddle around with public transit. That's just comedic. It's like in Bugs Bunny when you open the door and there's suddenly a tank in your coat closet. (ding!)

*Oni smoke grabs a guy at the train station.*

Wilhelm scream. (ding!)

*Zane: "Someone must have wired the lever wrong . . . "*

Credit where credit's due; it would have been easy to make this an awkwardly obvious case of foreshadowing, but they manage to write it so that it looks completely unsuspicious. (backwards ding!)

*Lloyd: "Maximum speed!"*

Yet when they were starting out they were already going "full speed ahead." The Bounty seems to have a habit of going 132% of its max speed. (ding!)

*Nya: "Come on, you unhinged ship!"*

"Unhinged" means roughly the same thing as "crazy," but you can't just switch synonyms at random. (ding!)

*Commissioner: "All right boys, this is why we get paid the big bucks!"*

Just a few minutes ago he was ranting about how terrible the police department's funding was. (ding!)

*Ninja try one element at a time on the black cloud.*

Why waste precious time with this? Everyone fire at once, you'll figure out which one worked later. (ding!)

*Lloyd springs in and slices smoke tendril with sword.*

Sure, so Cole was on the verge of a mental breakdown, but he couldn't have employed some sharp objects himself? (ding!)

Also, the smoke cloud is clearly vulnerable to sharp objects, so it's kinda surprising they don't even consider sticking around to fight it. They're carrying all those weapons for a reason. (ding!)

*Ninja are tending to citizens on ship.*

It's awesome that they're helping to evacuate people; that's really solid hero stuff, instead of just glamorous hopping and punching. But how many people can they even fit on this ship?! If they can fit a ton of people, I question why this ship is so much bigger than they usually need. If they can't fit a ton of people, I'm either dismayed at the small population of Ninjago City or horrified at how many people "died" down there. (ding!)

*Garmadon: "The only way to defeat an Oni is with another Oni. You need me."*

Multiple sin ticker, go!

Maybe so, but he's just one guy. Maybe he's extra mojo-jojo, but that's still like sending one mildly powerful superhero to take down an entire army. Iffy. (ding!)

So he's officially an Oni now? But then why did he have weird special purple powers that they had to send Skylor to fetch? Powers that she presumably couldn't get from Mystake? (ding!)

Speaking of, "Oni defeats other Oni" sure didn't work so well for Mystake. (ding!)

Actually, what's the rationale behind that claim at all? Later they make it clear that Creation is the trick to defeating Oni. (ding!)

If he's an Oni himself, the invading Oni might very well see him as a friend. Did nobody consider this before believing his "I don't want to be destroyed too" excuse? (ding!)

Lloyd and Wu are both part Oni, you'd think that would at least give them an edge. (ding!)

*Jay: "That's not gonna happen, is it?"*

They came all the way out here and got access to the maximum-security cell. What did Jay think they're here to do, play Parcheesi? (ding!)

*Lloyd: "What choice do we have?"*

I dunno, demand to know how Garmadon plans to help you before you release him? For all you know, his plan might be worse than what the Oni are up to. (ding!)

Also, you can hardly blame Lloyd for responding to an emergency, but this is still kind of hypocritical after he said "not if you were the last person in Ninjago!" He's not even the last one yet. And yet. (ding!)

*Lloyd: "Open Cell 1!"*

The whole cell appeared to be suspended from a wire, but now that wire is pulling the top away. So what's holding up the floor? (ding!)

But if all it takes to escape this high-security cell is a voice command, Garmadon must be smacking himself in the forehead so hard right now. (ding!)

Episode Sin Count: 81

Sentence: A cell that spared only one expense.