The Wrath of Mulgarath
The Spiderwick Chronicles starts with Dr. Brauer and Helen buying a lot of milk. It is revealed that the dragons need milk in order to grow. As they leave, Dr. Brauer spikes the drink of the convenience store employee, turning her into a mushroom zombie.
People in Henson are falling asleep faster than anyone could have expected. With the dragon page finally with Mulgarath, he plans to feast the next night. Meanwhile, Thimbletack rescues Jared and he meets Mallory who has her face taped up with mushrooms over it. She does the same thing to Jafred’s face and they are able to sneak past the zombies without being noticed.
Jared and friends meet in the woods where Jared finds out that Simon pretended to be a traitor so that he could learn about Mulgarath’s plan. He also stole the antidote for the sleeping sickness. Which is made from dragon seed, that woke Bree and Hatcher up again. The plan is for Bree to kill Mulgarath with the vorpal sword since Mallory can’t use it, but then Jared just leaves.
Back at The Spiderwick Chronicles House. Dr. Brauer wants to have a fancy dinner and makes Helen wear a dress for it. Meanwhile, back outside by their tree stump. They’re trying to think of a plan to get inside when Jared says he has one. Simon tells him that he’s going to die as Calliope had a premonition about it so then they argue about how different they are and Simon agrees that he hates him but he also says that he loves Jared too so then they go along with their plan anyway.
Simon enters The Spiderwick Chronicles estate with Jared as his prisoner while being able convince them all that Simon is on their side when really it’s all just an act plus tells them about group’s plan on convincing Mulgarath. Jared is taken to Helen where he says that only she can save them. Meanwhile Simon asks for Calliope’s help and she’s already seen through that Simon has been lying so then through some weak argument. He’s able to win her over and she gives him the antidote.
Helen and Jared plan on escaping Mulgarath through Manchineel but the problem is that Helen needs to remember how to stir the tea right or they would die. Meanwhile Calliope decides to help Simon so then they go visit a place to call on the sprites for help in defeating Mulgarath.
Meanwhile Bree and Malory find the Field Guide hidden in the attic but are also discovered by mushroom zombie. Which happens to be Bree’s dad, Tanner. At dinner Helen and Jared successfully become invisible as Helen remembered the recipe just in time then they escape. Outside while being invisible in both real realm plus spiritual realm, they meet Lucinda who has been helping all along. She leaves them to go find her father in seelie court.
Back at the homestead, Brie is unable to kill Mulgarath and Mallory can use the sword to defend Brie. While they’re sparring Jared it trying to translate faerie so he can call the troll. Somehow Mallory gets over there too after Helen sprays iron in Mulgarath’s face. They come back to where Jared is and the three look at the window and whistle. Trying to make that sound that wind makes through trees. As Mulgarath comes into the room, he is grab by a very stretchy hand of the troll. We never see it of course.
At this point, sprites come and sprinkle magical powder over town like water hose and townfolk wake up from their everlasting sleep while zombies turn back human. Valentina meets Lucinda for one last time and everyone is happy.
The Grace family and Calliope go into their house to find a dragon which looks more like a b-movie larva has hatched. They contemplate killing it but before they do Jared’s family apologizes for trying to change him and pass him the beacon of deciding whether or not they should kill the dragon on Thimbletack who also changes his eye color from brownie to boggart.
Jared ends up deciding against it but then another Jared shows up claiming himself as the real Jared before another second touches iron to prove himself again but this time first one gets stab by Mallory who now assumes it’s Mulgarath as he disappears because second one then hugs his family with scar on his hand revealing that he was actually Mulgarath. Real Jared finds himself in fairy realm where he meets great grandfather Arthur in The Spiderwick Chronicles.
The Review
The ending was well… a train wreck would be an understatement. Not only was it rush but highly unbelievable and anti-climatic. The Troll ate Mugarth right when we first saw his original form. And mind you, the troll had a very stretchy hand. The whole scene was just absolutely ridiculous not to mention the Graces whistling while looking at the window to summon the troll.
Also, the acting by the cast is terrible and seems shallow. Simon knows that his brother who he loves so much is going to die but not one time does he bat an eye. And Jared told he’s going to die and his expression is rigid as a rock, like it’s an everyday thing to die.
Simon’s attempt to convince Calliope of giving him the antidote is massively weak. He just says that dragons and ogres and everybody have right to live as an answer when she questions him about her being death itself as she feeds on death. And for some reason she’s convince to help Simon when he says that she’s “worth it”.
Overall, Simon’s argument is for everybody to live including a dragon whose existence will kill all humans. And this exchange shows how weakly scripted this show was because creators seemed too focused on moral of acceptance for teenagers they seem to have relegated reason in background hoping nobody notices.
So once more we come to a plot hole, this time with the Manchineel tea. Do you recall episode seven when Jared finds the recipe for Manchineel tea written on the floor? And in the first few episodes where Lucinda makes Manchineel tea in her hospital room and now Jared is? How did Jared not know how to stir the tea correctly when he had read the recipe?
In short, The Spiderwick Chronicles episode was anticlimactic, badly done, and ridiculously rushed. This is an unsatisfying ending for an unsatisfying series.
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