Recap / Ninjago Pilot E2 "The Golden Weapon"

Airdate: January 14, 2011

Kai is attacked by three mysterious black ninja while brushing his teeth and manages to fend them off for the most part. Master Wu breaks up the fight, revealing that the ninja are his students. He gives them each differently colored ninja suits to represent their elements: Cole, the Black Ninja of Earth; Jay, the Blue Ninja of Lightning; Zane, the White Ninja of Ice; and Kai, the Red Ninja of Fire.

They travel to the Caves of Despair the next morning, and along the way, Kai questions how the others were found by Master Wu. Upon reaching their destination, Master Wu warns the Ninja not to use the Scythe upon retrieval in fear they would not be able to handle its power. The Ninja steal back the map that contains the locations of the Golden Weapons from the Skulkin, and find the cave that houses the Scythe of Quakes. However, they are swiftly ambushed by Samukai and his Skulkin army after obtaining it. Jay mentions that fighting them feels like the training course back at the Monastery, and going through the motions unlocks his Spinjitzu. This realisation causes the other Ninja to unlock theirs as well.

After the Skulkin retreat in defeat, the Ninja are faced with another threat: the Guardian of the Scythe a.k.a. the Earth Dragon. Trapped and unable to defeat it themselves, Kai uses the Scythe despite the warnings of his teammates. This creates a way out and the Ninja barely escape using Spinjitzu. Master Wu is disappointed that Kai would put the others in danger by using the Golden Weapon and berates him for it. Meanwhile, Samukai reports to an unseen Garmadon that the ninja have learned Spinjitzu and gotten the scythe. Garmadon seems pleased by this and gives an Evil Laugh as the screen fades to black.

To Be Continued...

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This episode contains examples of:

• Agony of the Feet: One of the Skulkin drops a rock on its foot when it gets distracted.
• All According to Plan: Garmadon infers that his brother is helping the ninja and tells Samukai to let them think they're winning, saying that "everything is going to plan" and gives a deep Evil Laugh to end off the episode. It's part of his plan to get the ninja to bring the Golden Weapons to the Underworld in order for him to escape.
• Establishing Character Moment: The other three ninja are introduced in this episode, and have conversations with each other that reveal their main personality traits.
  • Jay's Motor Mouth manner of speaking is showcased early on, which gets quickly snarked at by Cole.
    Jay: Heh, that's not all I'm the Master of. I do a little inventing, dabble in model building, a touch of cooking, a little poetry-
    Cole: More like mouth of lightning.
  • Zane is swiftly established as wise but seriously lacking in the humour department.
    Master Wu: And White Ninja is Zane. Master of Ice, and seer with sixth sense.
    Kai: I sense this one takes things a little too seriously.
    Zane: You too have the gift?
    Jay: Heheh, he's just making a joke, Zane. Remember what we talked about? Your sense of humour? Huh?
    Zane: I remember. It was a joke, haha.
    Jay: (face palms)
• Exact Words: Cole attempts to cover up his fear of dragons with the use of this trope.
  Cole: Nice to meet you kid. I've got your back. And for the record, there ain't nothing in this world I'm afraid of.
  Zane: Except for dragons.
  Cole: Um, dragons aren't from this world, Zane. I said 'in this world'.
  • This comes back later to bite him when faced with the Earth Dragon.
    Cole: I thought dragons weren't from this world!!
• I Did What I Had to Do: Kai uses the Scythe of Quakes in order to defeat the Earth Dragon, inadvertently causing the cave to start collapsing and creating a way out. When Wu questions his reasons for doing so, Kai responds that "using it was his only option".
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Wu chastises Kai for using the Scythe of Quakes against the Earth Dragon, the ninja had already exhausted every other option (including Spinjitzu). Kai's actions were reckless, but not using the Scythe would've been much worse.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Kai's fixation on saving his sister is refocused on retrieving the Golden Weapons, causing him to not be a team player. He rushes ahead before Cole can even lay down the plan to steal back the map from Samukai, forcing the other ninja to follow after him. He gets spotted by an enemy Skulkin at one point but the other three quickly subdue it before word gets out. He also uses the Scythe despite being aware of its uncontrollable power and the others warning him not to use it.
• Love Before First Sight: Jay, upon hearing about Nya.
  Jay: (gasps) We're saving a girl? Is she hot?
  Cole: Jay...
  Jay: I...I just wanna know what we're getting ourselves into. Does she like blue?
  Kai: Back off!
• Mobile Shrubbery: Jay, Cole, and Zane use an overturned mine cart to sneak past the Skulkin. When one of them spots Kai, the ninja bring it into the minecart with them and beat it up until it's been disassembled into a pile of bones.
• Oh, Crap!: The Skulkin waste no time in fleeing once the ninja learn Spinjitzu.
• Power Trio: This trope is referenced by Jay. He speaks his mind when finding out Kai will be joining him, Cole, and Zane to be the new fourth member of the team and explains that there are usually three people in a team. He even references that there are three blind mice and three musketeers.
• Technicolor Ninjas: Despite being dressed in their new brightly-coloured gi (with the exception of Cole, who's still wearing black), the ninja are successfully able to sneak past the Skulkin without being spotted.
• The Only Way They Will Learn: The ninja expect Master Wu to teach them Spinjitzu, but he tells them that it is already inside each of them, leaving them confused. Jay later makes the observation that in order to pull said move off, they have to go through the motions like they did for the training course back at the monastery - by visualising the attacking Skulkin as the training course obstacles.
• The Tooth Hurts: Nuckal, wondering what a doughnut-shaped rock tastes like, bites it. One of his teeth falls out.
• What Were You Thinking?: Master Wu chews out Kai for using the Scythe of Quakes despite warning him of its power, and then asks him if he thinks that he's more important than the team. Seemingly unimpressed with Kai's response, he warns him not to repeat the same mistake with the other three Golden Weapons.

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