The season 1 finale of Mermicornos: Starfall is almost here! Our heroes need to find the last two gems in order to gain entrance to Ika Inkblot's lair and save Pearl Girl while Ika needs the last star to complete the ritual.
What challenges will our Mermicornos overcome and what lessons will be learned?
Mermicorno: Starfall episode 11 recap: Fin-Loose
Even though Kameko wants to search for sapphire, Astra and the group decide to focus on Topaz, which provides the power of duplication. The topaz cannot be mined but excavated by a secret dance at the Vulcan crater where dancing dottibacks live.
When the Mermicornos arrive, they find the place abandoned aside from father and son Caspian and Wade. The rest of the dottibacks fled and although the only way to mine the topaz is by dance, dancing has since been banned.
Finding the rule to be illogical, Nautique wants to get the topaz anyway. As per previous episodes, the group usually splits up.
This time Kameko and Gwen pair up to aid Squishella who had committed a jinx. If she doesn't complete several tasks the dreaded jinx whale will come and swallow her up.
Astra remains with Nautique and tries to mine the topaz to no avail. When Wade catches them, they worry they'll be banned but in an interesting turn of events, he asks Nautique to teach him how to dance.
Nautique agrees to teach Wade and, in return, they receive the dance moves to excavate the topaz. As Nautique teaches Wade, Astra tries to mine the topaz, Kameko works with Squishella irritating Gwen and the cave continues to shake and rumble.
Unfortunately, Caspian catches his son in the act and reveals via cave drawings that the reason dancing is dangerous is because it causes the volcano to erupt. But that is only half the story.
After Gwen proves to Kameko there is no jinx whale, Squishella uses her creative force to fix the cave which reveals more drawings. It depicts that the volcano erupts every 100 years, and the dancing releases the topaz which blocks the lava.
Now convinced, Caspian agrees to unban dancing, and through his dancing with Wade and the Mermicornos using their creative forces, the day is saved. Hopefully the dottibacks who fled will return home where dancing can continue.
In the end, the topaz chooses Nautique, proving the power of duplication was worth choosing topaz over sapphire.
Mermicorno: Starfall episode 12 recap: Underwater Pressure
With only one gem left, the pink pearl, and barely a day before the eclipse, our Mermicornos are worried. But Astra is there to keep everyone calm, even though she knows how serious the situation is.
As they search for the last gem, an arcade appears and they are forced inside for shelter when a wild storm appears. Inside, the recorded message explains that they will be challenged individually, with the reward of the pink pearl.
The first challenge, Squishella's, seems simple enough; she must sing a song while her friends are trapped in bubbles. When Squishella begins to sing, a small sea urchin named Bristle appears, instilling doubt and negative intentions.
Thus, when Squishella goes to sing, she burps instead. The embarrassment is enough to make her quit.
Immediately the group believes Bristle is part of the challenge and they'll need to ignore her to succeed. Nautique's challenge is next, where he must do a cha-cha dance presentation.
Sure enough Nautique messes up thanks to Bristle and quits. At this point Kameko is really pushing her suggestion of talking to Bristle instead of ignoring her.
But she's promptly ignored. Gwen is next and she fails her challenge as well, hitting targets of her friends instead of the enemy.
By the time it is Astra's turn, she finds herself back home where she must prove herself. Of course it doesn't take long for Bristle to appear, and she fails to convince Royal Mother Pearl and the guards who she is.
It is at this moment that Astra realizes Kameko is right. Bristle reveals herself to be a projection of their feelings.
So, when Astra returns to her friends, they all admit what they are feeling which is doubt, fear, and worry. Getting those feelings out, as unpleasant as they are, is what helps them become stronger.
One by one they pass their challenges. Astra receives the pink pearl, but the episode does not reveal what powers it will grant.
Meanwhile Ika Inkblot needs the last star power for the ritual. As he complains to Sawtooth about his failure to retrieve it, it's revealed that Pearl Girl was indeed captured the night of her Adoptaversary.
He and the Squidians are sent to the last star with an orb that makes a large and imposing projection of a Squidian. This projection is enough to startle and scare away the guards ordered to protect the last star.
Royal Mother Pearl tries to rally her guards but she's afraid and doesn't know what to do. Barb comes to the rescue, reminding the Queen that being honest is probably the best way to rally the guards.
Taking her advice Royal Mother Pearl comes clean and with her honesty, they rally together and discover the giant Squidian isn't real. With that, both the Queen and Barb kick some major butt!
Mermicorno: Starfall season 1 episodes 11 and 12 review
Can I say, for starters, I love the friendship between Royal Mother Pearl and Barb! It is both funny and inspiring, especially when they dropped their royal duties to kick some butt.
All of that aside, once again, Mermicorno: Starfall has exceeded my expectations when it comes to positive messaging and growth. Usually, children's programming, animated or not, will try to instill these positive messages through the characters or plot.
And sometimes, if we are being honest, it doesn't work. It comes off too unrealistic, too strong, or not at all. I'm grateful for the way Mermicorno: Starfall handles this by avoiding those common and easy mistakes by simply caring about the show.
Our Mermicornos are not perfect, even with their powers, and their reactions to the situation at hand are valid. Even with more grown-up media, we're seeing this shift in having some of the most strong, resilient characters facing the reality that everyone is on similar journeys and will have those moments of fear, doubt, and worry.
It's normal and it's easier and healthier to address this to yourself or others you trust than to keep it hidden to the point it becomes overwhelmingly bad. And it doesn't mean that the character's entire identity has to be sacrificed for this one moment of clarity.
I don't have one critique for any of the positive messages the show has presented. It's all been handled amazingly well!
By this point in the show, we are seeing that the Mermicornos are beginning to trust each other more and that when things perhaps don't go as planned, they don't blame each other or themselves. They acknowledge where their ideas or plans went wrong and make progress moving forward.
That is true friendship and growth. I'm looking forward to how this will all pay off against Ika Inkblot.
With only one episode left, I'm thinking a cliffhanger might be in the future but that can only mean a stellar season 2 (I'm assuming) in the making.
Stream Mermicorno: Starfall season 1 on HBO MAX.