Wonderstorm’s Netflix series The Dragon Prince, Season 5 Episode 6, called “Bait & Switch,” continues the primary mission of Team Zym to stop Claudia (Racquel Belmonte), Terry (Benjamin Callins), and Viren (Jason Simpson) from releasing Archmage Aaravos (Erik Dellums), a powerful Startouch Elf, from his secret prison. The episode begins with Callum, Rayla (Paula Burrows), Ezran (Sasha Rojen), Azymondias, and Soren (Jesse Inocalla), alongside Bait and Stella, heading to Scumport to find a ship to the Sea of the Castout due to Zubeia’ absence.
Team Zym arrives at Scumport, an island town near one of Xadia’s eastern coasts. Scumport is a trading hub for human and elvish merchants, hunters, pirates, thieves, criminals, outcasts, and mages. It was the final location where Rayla attempted to search for Viren before returning to Katolis and reuniting with Callum in Season 4. Since Zubeia did not pick up Team Zym, Rayla leads the group to Scumport to find a ship and a captain willing to take them to the Sea of the Castout. While walking around, they see slaughtered leviathans and other products sold to customers. The group split to find Scumport captains available to take them to the Sea of the Castout.
Callum and Ezran attempt to ask the Tidebound Elf ruler of Scumport, Captain Finnegrin of Sea Legs (Tariq Leslie). Sea Legs is the fastest ship in Scumport, so it was an option to ask Finnegrin for help. Finnegrin’s bodyguard, Elmer (Dave Ward), confronts the two brothers. Elmer allows Ezran in and waits with Callum outside. Finnegrin talks with Ezran and makes a deal: Bait for the second-fastest ship on Scumport and three baby glowtoads. Ezran refuses to give up his glow-toad friend and backs out and leaves, much to Finnegrin’s disappointment: full-grown glow-toads are excellent bait to catch leviathans at sea.
At the Drakewood Forest, an ocean dragon attacks Claudia’s group. The dragon breathes a burst of water at Claudia. Claudia counters the attack by using Dark Magic to redirect and transform the water into an icicle hand to grab the dragon’s neck. The fight ends with Claudia victorious over the ocean dragon. She mocks the dragon and its kind for being arrogant in treating humans as lesser beings, and Claudia slowly chokes the dragon. Shocked, Terry convinces Claudia to let the dragon go, which she did reluctantly. The ocean dragon escapes and flees in terror of what happened while Claudia and the rest of her group continue their journey.
Rayla and Soren, along with Azymondias and Stella, walk and ask Scumport citizens for help to go to the Sea of the Castout. After a long time of no success, the two meet with an old friend of Callum, Rayla, Ezran, and Azymondias: Captain Villads (Peter Kelamis) of the Ruthless. Callum and Ezran rejoin the group and are ecstatic to see Villads again. Before leaving, Ezran tells the group that Finnegrin is keeping three baby glow-toads captive and that they need to save them. Together, along with the humorous assistance of Soren’s disguise as a businessman, they take the three baby glow-toads and escape on Villads’ ship. During their travel to the Sea of the Castout, Team Zym discovers the new first mate for Villads is the sneaky Skywing Elf adventurer and thief Nyx (Rhona Rees), the same Skywing Elf who attempted to kidnap Azymondias from Callum and Rayla’s protection two years ago at the Midnight Desert. At the same time, Finnegrin, on Sea Legs, pursues Villads’ ship to capture and punish Team Zym via torture and death and recover his stolen property.
Captain Finnegrin, Ruler of Scumport
In Season 5 of The Dragon Prince, the sixth episode introduces Scumport, a pirate-like town where criminals and outlaws thrive. Many would travel to Scumport to buy exotic products, trade and sell illegal and legal goods, and many other things. The Tidebound Elf Finnegrin, captain of the fastest ship, Sea Legs, runs Scumport and its various legal and illicit operations. He is business savvy and reasonable to potential customers and visitors but ruthless to those who oppose him, make a fool out of him, or waste his time. In other words, Finnegrin will enslave anyone who attacks or disobeys him by trapping them in Scumport as his servant.
Regarding Scumport, it is the final location visited by Rayla to find Viren before returning to Katolis in the second episode of Season 4. Her story in Scumport is covered in The Dragon Prince Short Stories: “Chasing Shadows” Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. In the short stories, Rayla befriends a Moonshadow Elf outcast, Redfeather, and investigates Viren’s whereabouts in the location. She ends the investigation after mistaking a Dark Mage, possibly the Neolandian Dark Mage Tressal, for her target. Tressal is a playable Neolandian Dark Mage character from The Dragon Prince game Tales of Xadia.
Rating: 9/10