Mermicorno: Starfall season 2 episodes 11 and 12 lead to one final battle against Dark Pearl, but will Astra and the Mermicornos be successful this time? As Sawtooth, now Sharkicorno, joins the group, Astra must figure out how to stop Dark Pearl without sacrificing the Mermicornos memories for a second time.
Mermicorno: Starfall episode 11 recap: Gill-ty As Charged
As our Mermicornos practice in the Arcadicorno, Sawtooth arrives, hoping to join them. Distrusting of Sawtooth, Astra calls for a group meeting where Nautique and Gwen remind her that they need all of them to create the ultimate talisman and that Sawtooth has all the intel on Ika.
Meanwhile, Ika is angered that Sawtooth abandoned him, worried that with him, the Mermicornos are all powerful once more. Dark Pearl doesn't think so and suggests they attack the Pearl Palace.
But Ika still won't listen, deeming Dark Pearl as his power source. He does order for guards to block every entrance to Octokyo.
The group decides to fight Ika together, which means getting into The Clamshell Bandshell. But Valentina can't transport them there as she's never been there before.
This gives Sawtooth an idea. He explains that every day Ika gets a delivery of mudpies from a Beluga whale.
By sending the whale into the Arcadicorno, the group creates a fake one that they use to drive to the city. But when they see the guards, they realize they need to turn off the power before breaking in.
Sawtooth decides to distract the Squidians while the rest can handle the power boxes. But upon Sawtooth's arrival, the alarm is pulled.
Astra is able to create a weapon to break the power boxes as they crash inside, losing Sawtooth's guitar in the process. Now surrounded by Squidians, the group separates after trying to fight them off.
In the ensuing chaos, Sawtooth accidentally hurts Kameko while fighting a Squidian. Astra, Gwen, and Sawtooth take the sewers, where Sawtooth and Astra finally confess what they've been feeling.
Sawtooth feels Astra won't give him a second chance, whereas Astra feels she shouldn't have to. Gwen, however, reminds Astra that she got a second chance and changed for the better.
After battling more Squidians our Mermicornos reunite outside The Clamshell Bandshell. Getting inside, Astra asks all the Mermicornos to use their creative forces so that she can make the ultimate talisman.
When she does, Dark Pearl uses Astra's kindness and love for Pearl Girl to convince her to destroy the orb that Ika has been using to keep Dark Pearl at bay. Astra ignores Sawtooth's pleas and destroys it, freeing Dark Pearl.
Dark Pearl traps Ika within her red orb and forces the Mermicornos to remember one pivotal moment from the starfall. When Pearl Girl is born, she begins absorbing all the memories from the Mermicornos, with Sawtooth as the first victim, who after he loses all his memories, falls into the ocean.
Realizing what's happening, Astra tells Rip Tide and Sunsprite to stay together no matter what, Nautique and Squishella to go to Octokyo giving Squishella her diary, and Valentina to go to the Mermicorno Library, handing her The Revealer. Astra then loses her memories, to which Gwen tells her the baby is Pearl Girl and it's her destiny to protect her.
Dark Pearl then uses her powers making all the Mermicornos disappear, leaving Astra and Sawtooth, who took a vortex hit for her, in Ika's lair.
Mermicorno: Starfall episode 12 recap: A Sea of Stars Part 1
Dark Pearl separates our Mermicornos: Kameko with Valentina, Squishella with Rip Tide, Nautique with Sunsprite, leaving Gwen all alone. Dark Pearl sends a message to the ocean about how once she drains the last star from the starfall, she will be able to conquer the other stars and be free to recreate the ocean as she pleases.
But when she reaches the Pearl Palace, the protective barrier Astra creates keeps her out. Meanwhile, Astra doesn't wish to make the ultimate talisman and be the reason the Mermicornos lose their memories again.
She finds a secret tunnel that allows her and Sawtooth to escape and enter Ika's throne room, where the memories of Pearl Girl turning into Dark Pearl return for Astra. But when Sawtooth rants about how Ika treated him, she realizes what she needs to do.
She creates two paragliders, allowing them to escape. They are the first to get to the Pearl Palace, which Dark Pearl managed to break the barrier into.
Refusing to allow Sawtooth to get hurt, Astra creates a guitar for him, trapping him under a net, and goes in alone. When the other Mermicornos arrive, after Valentina gets a pep talk from Kameko and reunites with her dad, Rip Tide confides to Squishella how upset he is to be separated from Sunsprite, Nautique reveals how scared he is to Sunsprite, and after Gwen and Sluglas are saved by the remnants of a rebellion, Sawtooth tells them Astra went in alone.
Inside the Pearl Palace, Astra sees how everyone including Barb and Royal Mother Pearl have been turned into a work of art by Dark Pearl. Astra tries to use the orb hoping to pull the dark powers from within Dark Pearl.
But Dark Pearl's strength destroys the orb, and catches Astra trying to run away, ending the episode on a cliffhanger.
Mermicorno: Starfall season 2 episodes 11 and 12 review
Admittedly, I didn't expect these two episodes to get as intense as they did. Nor do I expect to get as emotional.
Season 2 has been full of backstory for our Mermicornos, and just when I had thought we knew everything, something new comes to light. I had assumed the Mermicornos lost their memories due to their collapse into the ocean but never expected it to be from Pearl Girl.
I didn't expect Astra to have been integral to literally every aspect of our Mermicornos. Yet, even in the face of something horrible, she remained calm and collected.
Her strength to do what she could with no time, keeping Rip Tide and Sunsprite together and Nautique and Squishella together, was probably the most powerful thing she's done throughout the series. And it makes the moment she loses all her memories all the sadder because it explains why Gwen was alone.
The bonds our Mermicornos have are truly something to admire, not just from a writing standpoint or a children's television program standpoint, but a life standpoint. Those bonds are what have kept them together and what will make it possible to defeat Dark Pearl.
Astra's willingness to do it alone makes sense. We've seen it countless times, but in that moment, it makes sense why anyone would choose that route.
They care more for others than themselves. Add it to another quality of our Mermicornos.
Only one episode remains, loose ends are about to be tied, but is there more that can happen? Could something unexpected prevent a happy ending?
Stream Mermicorno: Starfall season 2 on HBO MAX.