Daily Cartoon: He-Man & The Masters of the Universe S02E05: “Rise of the Snake Men Part 2”

It’s Friday! The best day in the week! And we’re going to be closing things out strong AF today. We’re finally in the middle of that long-awaited storyline with the Snake Men and yesterday’s first parter did not disappoint. Outside of the questionable cartoon stuff that you just have to let go because this is a cartoon. Sometimes things just are what they are.

Which is fine and isn’t hampering my excitement for what’s happening right now with this. I wanted Snakes and, by god, I’m getting snakes. If yesterday was any indication, then Season 2 is going to be chock-full-o-goodness and I’m all about that.

Need a quick refresher before we get started? Simply go back to the homepage and read yesterday’s recap and you’re back in the game. Which brings us to today. Let’s get to it.

S02E05: Rise of the Snake Men Part 2

Original Air Date: November 15, 2003

Screen Cap Analysis: Multi-headed dildos are always a bit scary at first.

Zodak meets up with the Masters who are licking their wounds from the previous battle. He explains that King Hiss and the Snake Men have already been freed and that Skeletor has been defeated. When Mekaneck questions how Kobra Khan was able to open the Void, Zodak explains that he was attacked and that his staff was stolen which had the power to open it. This isn’t sitting well with Stratos who wonders how three regular old warriors could defeat the Cosmic Enforcer. He-Man theorizes that Zodak wanted them to open it. Zodak says he owes no explanation and that he will end the Snakes alone.

Zodak blasts the entirety of the Masters out of his way and begins his trek to Snake Mountain, but is cutoff by He-Man. Apparently, even with all this shit going on, dudes don’t wanna play nice so now they gotta measure dicks to see who’s really gonna kill all the Snakes. Speaking of, I’m willing to bet money that there’s some kind of thread on the internet discussing the size of He-Man’s dick. I would be shocked if there isn’t.

At Snake Mountain, Kobra Khan is offering his unwavering support to King Hiss. Evil-Lyn is finding out what being honored by King Hiss actually means: that HE FUCKING EATS PEOPLE! Hiss goes into consuming mode, but Evil-Lyn gets him to rethink this by offering that she can tell him where to find the powers of the Elders. He spares her…for now.

He-Man and Zodak are still fighting because Zodak has to avenge his eaten brother and He-Man just wants to help. In the middle of this, though, they become aware of the army of Snake Troopers being sent from Snake Mountain toward Castle Grayskull. Now that it’s right in front of them, He-Man and Zodak decide to call a truce and attempt to defend Grayskull.

The Snake Men arrive at Grayskull and we get a very new-looking kind of battle because of the individual powers of the Snakes.  It doesn’t last long, but the animation and action are really cool to see.

While the battle is happening, Hiss and Evil-Lyn are standing at the drawbridge, combining their magics to overpower the Sorceress. Zodak tries to intervene, but is blasted off the cliff by Evil-Lyn who is then pushes aside by Snake Face and Rattlor who accompany King Hiss into Grayskull. The Sorceress attempts to hold off King Hiss, but his power is too strong and she put down rather easily. Hiss then frees the all of the cobras within him who deliver a venomous kill-bite to Sorceress. She’s tapering out as He-Man and Zodak (who didn’t fall off the cliff, but was able to hold on) get inside Grayskull and is just able to mumble, “King Hiss…venom”. Zodak goes after Hiss while He-Man is left to deal with Rattlor and Snake Face.

Zodak and Hiss get into a dynamite kerfuffle in the crystal room in the catacombs of the Castle which is kind of weird because it’s a high-stakes one-on-one battle between two characters neither of whom are He-Man and/or Skeletor. Zodak appears to be done for, but when Hiss begins shit-talking him of how his brother even put up more of a fight, Zodak summons the power of the Elders and ruptures Hiss with the quickness.

Outside the castle, the Masters are greatly outnumbered by the Snakes, but when it looks as if they’re about to be overtaken, Zodak appears atop Grayskull with the body of King Hiss announcing to the Snakes that their leader has fallen before dropping his lifeless skin into the abyss surrounding Grayskull. I guess Snakes just follow their leader blindly because once Hiss is dropped, the entire army begins jumping into the abyss after him as if that will save him. Snakes are fucking stupid, man.

Regardless, Eternia is saved from the threat that was the Snake Men. All their magic held over others disappears and Skeletor is suddenly free from imprisonment within Snake Mountain. He ascends back to his throne and announces to his warriors (also newly-freed) that Evil-Lyn was a turncoat and she will pay.

He-Man brings the Sorceress to the crystal room and is able to call upon the power to heal her. Zodak takes off kind of gruffly now that his brother is avenged and Eternia is safe, but Man-At-Arms is pretty sure they can trust that should they ever need his help again that he will be there.

PSA: Cooperation and teamwork are more powerful than revenge.

Final Thoughts:

OK, so…wow.  That was anticlimactic. I mean, that can’t really be it for the Snakes, can it? I could have sworn they had a lot more involvement in this season. I’m pretty shocked.

It felt like such a strong story that could have been the focus of an entire season and just like that it’s over. Wow. I keep coming back to that. Wow.

As an episode and a two-parter, this was good. Really good and fun and fresh-feeling. It’s always like that when you have new characters involved breaking up and monotony, but I really thought we were just getting started on something longer-term with all the build-up of the Snakes history and the powers of the main ones as well.

I guess it remains to be seen if they make any kind of comeback in the eight remaining episodes after this, but right now, I’m taking this episode at its word and assuming they’re no more and that Skeletor has reclaimed the throne of Snake Mountain.

It now appears that we’re back with the classic: He-Man versus Skeletor. Factoring in the arc of Evil-Lyn needing to earn her way back into Skelly’s good graces and we do have some fun to be had so it’s not like this show is going to all of a sudden suck or anything, but I am a bit disappointed by how this story felt rushed.

No going back now, though, so we’ll close the week a very dramatic victory for the Masters and their friend Zodak. Monday, we’ll see the fallout of said battle and how this sets us up for the remainder of the series going forward.

Until next time.

Joe

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