(Fade into clips from the rest of season 3 of Mako Mermaids as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): This season is making me want to reach for a bottle of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and a bottle of Don Julio 1942 Tequila as a chaser! So yeah, We are past the half way point of this season, Evie is no longer a mermaid or a main character and the writers who hated her got their jollies and the storyline of the season has officially come to a screeching halt! I'm not even joking on this one the pacing for this season was so bad that I literally lost interest in this season when I was watching this season in it's first run on Netflix. As a matter of fact I had to watch the rest of this season for the purpose of this retrospective, I deserve a few people saying "I'm Sorry You Had To Endure This" in the comments section. Again I know I've said this but I think this is true. Somewhere in his mind Jonathan Shiff must have given up and known this season had sunk like the Titanic and like I said before everyone in the cast when they looked at the scripts for this season looked at the writers and they realized....(Cut to the clip of MST3K where Joel, Tom Servo and Crow say in Unison "THEY JUST DIDN'T CARE" before cutting back to the third season as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): And what does everyone behind the scenes try to do to salvage their sunken ship of a season? Do they give Evie hope that her tail and powers will return? Do the pod try to get proactive and find a way to vanquish the dragon or restore Evie's Tail and Powers before the next full moon? Does the pacing pick up? NOPE! Instead of doing something to fix the problems of the season, we get three, count them THREE FILLER EPISODES back to back after Evie's final episode as a mermaid and a main character. The First one being a time traveling episode featuring Ondina, Mimmi and Weilan nearly destroying Zac's future! You know between this filler episode, the finale to "Power Rangers: Dino Super Charge", The Flash storyline of "Flashpoint",The finale of the second season of "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" and Every Time Travel Movie and Episode of a TV Series that kicks the Space Time Continuum in the Po-Pos it wouldn't surprise me if one day we saw the space time continuum having committed suicide and a note saying "God Forgive Me!" The Story FINALLY picks up steam in "Letting Go" and for the record this is the second to last episode before the two episode finale. Mimmi and Zac receive a vision of their mother Nerissa. Weilan shocked to hear Zac and Mimmi are in fact Nerissa's children tells Zac, Mimmi and the others that Nerissa disappeared after a rogue mermaid named Aurora threatened the Northern and Eastern Pod. While Zac and the others are hesitant to believe Nerissa is still alive much to Mimmi's irritation, during a Football Game Mimmi's Moon ring glows Mimmi believing it to be Nerissa. She gets away from the others and she swims out to the bay and uses her Moon ring to try and contact Nerissa, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.... (The Dragon arises) the words I'm looking for her to do of course is "SWIM AWAY!" but the words for what my reaction is... (Cut to a clip of MST3K in which Crow shouts out "DULL SURPRISE!" before cutting back to the season and James doing a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): And like we've seen in the past Zac senses Mimmi is in danger from the dragon. Unlike last time when the Dragon attacked Evie, The Dragon spares Mimmi's life, tail and powers as it did to Zac earlier in the season. Afterwards with a heavy heart the two decide to let their mother go and perform a memorial celebrating Nerissa's life and to give very little credit to the writers of this season, this moment is one of the most heart wrenching in the entire series but it does show how close Zac and Mimmi have become and what they must do now to avenge those who were killed by the Dragon, their mother included. After one more episode which develops Rita's Character. The story continues in "The Legend Of Jiao Long". The mermaids attend a book signing and an exhibition for "Secrets Of The Deep" the author is the same person who found the Artifacts including a bracelet noted to be a part of the Legend Of The Jiao Long Dragon and it just so happens to be Rikki from "H2O: Just Add Water". Hmmm, wonder if Zane funded the expeditions to hopefully reunite with her. Anyway, The mermaids go to Shen's antique store where Weilan examines the painting of The Legend of The Jiao Long Dragon. The painting reveals a mermaid using the same bracelet from the exhibition on the dragon in the legend. The girls suspect that Rikki is a mermaid and the bracelet can defeat the water dragon. The girls inform her of their real identities and of the dragon, but in a surprising move Rikki does NOT believe them nor does she want to help them! The three later enlist Zac to help them steal the bracelet. The heist ultimately fails and the girls are forced to retreat when the police arrive. You know if this happened while Evie was still a mermaid or a main character she could be of help to convince Rikki to assist the pod in stopping the dragon. But again I have to remind myself, the writers hated Evie and Gemma Forsyth.
The storyline, season, and as of this post the series and the Shiff-verse of mermaids is mercifully taken behind the shed to be put down like Old Yeller with the episode "Homecoming". The Pod prepares to unleash the full power of the Moon Pool on the night of the Next Full Moon frying the Water Dragon to avenge...Oh wait what? It's not to avenge Nerissa or Evie? OF COURSE I FORGOT! THE WRITERS HATED EVIE! So it's so that no other mermaids suffer an Evie! I really need to be reminded how much the writers hated Evie this season. Meanwhile Zac and Mimmi continue to get visions of their mother contacting them. The two believing the spirit of their mother is in the Dragon and the only way to set it free is to get the bracelet and vanquish the dragon. Meanwhile Ondina and Weilan try to buddy up to Rikki in the moon pool. Rikki eventually agrees to help the pod but not before... this, just watch. (Show clip of Rikki telling Ondina and Weilan all the events of "H2O: Just Add Water" and what happened to her, Emma, Cleo & Bella's friendship before the video pauses and we cut to James physically with an angry look on his face as mouths the words "Excuse Me For A Moment" as he then walks out of his bedroom, down the hall, through the living room and Kitchen before cutting to the Basement door as James walks through the door and closes it behind him. The audio of someone going down steps is heard before a very loud and angry cursing is heard and a large amount of damage being done shaking the footage of the Basement door before hearing a very primal and loud roar then the sound of someone going up the steps, James opening the door before cutting to James' bedroom in which James sits down next to his laptop and James hits the space bar cutting to the clips of the Third Season of Mako Mermaids and James doing a voiceover.)
James Faraci (Voiceover): It was in that moment, Right there when Rikki Chadwick tells the audience that "H2O: Just Add Water" is now and always has been in the same universe and continuity as "Mako Mermaids". Now that's all fine and good and I think Jonathan Shiff should get the credit for coming up with this idea but now comes a moment for a guy like me who had to sit, watch and re-watch all 78 episodes of "H2O: Just Add Water" and all 68 episodes of this series to now go into a rant. A rant I've been waiting to get out of me that has to do with everything that happened in "H2O Just Add Water" and this series. And that rant is... (Cut to the outside of Mako Island then clips of "H2O: Just Add Water" as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): WHERE IN THE HELL WAS THE POD DURING ALL OF "H2O: JUST ADD WATER"? WHERE WERE THEY?! WHERE WERE THEY WHEN GRACIE AND HER FRIENDS WERE ON THE ISLAND AND THEY GOT THEIR TAILS AND POWERS?! WHERE WAS RITA WHEN RIKKI, EMMA & CLEO GOT THEIR TAILS AND POWERS?! WHERE WAS VERIDIA WHEN THE ISLAND WAS NEARLY TURNED INTO A TOURIST ATTRACTION BY ZANE'S FATHER? WHERE WAS ANYONE...ANYONE IN THE POD WHEN DR. DENMAN THREATENED TO HARM AND EXPOSE RIKKI, EMMA AND CLEO?! WHERE WAS ANYONE IN THE POD TO HELP RIKKI, EMMA AND CLEO WHEN THEIR POWERS EXPANDED? WHERE WAS ANYONE IN THE POD WHEN CHARLOTTE HAPPENED?! WHERE WAS LYLA, NIXIE, SIRENA, AQUATA, ONDINA, MIMMI ANYONE IN THAT FRIGGIN POD WHEN THE MOON POOL WATER BECAME SENTIENT, WENT ON THE ATTACK AND WHEN THE COMET NEARLY DESTROYED THE ISLAND AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE WORLD?!?! DID THE WRITERS...Oh yeah, I forgot they just didn't care, whoops. (Cut back to the finale of Mako Mermaids as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): But anyway this is the reason I came up with the "How I would've Written it!" segments, this is the reason I came up with such convoluted ideas, storylines and hell even making up "The Guardian" to make sure people knew everything that happened in H2O and Mako was in the same continuity. Yeah a lot of it didn't make sense in terms of a ongoing story but still it was better than what the writers gave Rikki in this episode because that was just the laziest basic description of the 78 episodes of "H2O: Just Add Water" told by one of the characters from "H2O: Just Add Water" and telling everyone nothing about everything that truly happened and letting us know the friendship between Rikki, Emma, Cleo and Bella ended... because... MAKES IT EASY! UGH! At any rate Ondina gets the bracelet before it's donated to charity. However The Pod isn't going to try to use the bracelet as they attack the dragon with using the moon pool unhindered that is until the moon appears at the right angle for Mimmi and Zac to use the bracelet against the dragon until... (Show the clip of Mimmi using the bracelet to vanquish the dragon and it appears to destroy both the dragon and Mimmi before cutting to the rest of the episode)
James Faraci (Voiceover): Of course if it was Evie you know the writers would've killed her with the one ACME Dynamite Kit that actually worked blowing Evie to smithereens just for their perverse jollies because again the writers HATED Evie & Gemma Forsyth. But I digress, Mimmi survives but surprisingly she's not the only one! (Show clip of Nerissa & Mimmi emerging from the water and embracing Zac and Mimmi.) That's right, Mommy has come back. Nerissa tells everyone that a Mermaid from the Eastern Pod casted the spell that turned Nerissa into the dragon that destroyed that Pod and then put into a deep sleep until Zac and Mimmi reunited when Weilan hit the water where Nerissa was sleeping it awakened her. So everything bad this season including what happened to Evie happened because of BLIND STINKING SIMPLE DOO-DAH CLUELESS LUCK! I'll be down in the basement while the ending of this finale plays. (Cut to the moments in which Zac, Cam, Carly and Evie discuss whether or not Zac should disclose his mer-family to his human parents, Mimmi reveal to her boyfriend that she's a mermaid, Weilan getting a moon ring and planning on reviving the Eastern pod with Ondina helping and Rikki getting an invite to join The Pod with Rikki wanting her friends to join as well then cut to the ending of the episode before fading to black then cutting to clips of season 3 of Mako Mermaids as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): Of all of the seasons of the series in the Shiff-verse of Mermaids, this one season, is without a doubt the worst! And what is worse is that this season had the potential to be the best and tightest sixteen episode season to wrap up any loose threads. They had so many opportunities to capitalize on the events of Season 2 and chose not to and even worse than that no matter how angry I want to get at this season I can't because it doesn't give me any reason to be angry outside of just bad writing and pacing. Everyone acting wise did the best with what they had and it was okay when everyone tried but again I think everyone in the cast must have known what I now know about this season. Jonathan Shiff gave up and like I said before everyone in the cast when they looked at the scripts for this season looked at the writers and they realized....(Cut to the clip of MST3K where Joel, Tom Servo and Crow say in Unison "THEY JUST DIDN'T CARE" before cutting back to the third season as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): And with all they could have done with this season it is now once again time for...(Cut to a black background and the words "HOW I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN IT!" in neon as James' voice echoes those words before hearing stock Game Show Music as clips of the season play in the background and James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): The season would begin with The Guardian cleaning up Rita's Grotto whilst listening to some classical music overlooking some photos of the two. One of them being a photo of Rita, The Guardian and Rita's fiancée. The two quickly realize it's been over five lustrum since Rita left the Pod and mention Sirena and Aquata had left for a vacation when we're introduced to Weilan with The Guardian having a vision in which The Guardian sees the dragon. Afterwards The Guardian and Poseidon have a conversation after Weilan prepares to join the others as a guest, Evie and Zac would be ready to join the pod in a full moon ceremony. It would be during the Ceremony which The Guardian would finally let the pod know all is back to normal and not only would Evie be ready to join the pod, Zac would be tasked to be the protector of the Moon Pool and Mako Island for The Pod but then Mimmi and Zac get a vision of The Dragon as it arrives. Evie tries to attack with the power of the moonlight and The Dragon attacks her, the island and the pod.
The Guardian arrives but when he looks into the Dragon's eyes The Guardian's eyes turn black and a strange tongue passes his lips all the while a portal opens up in the sky. A portal that make the mermaids become worried because if The Guardian keeps at it, the whole world would be destroyed. Then from out of nowhere Cam arrives after seeing a spiritual vision of The Guardian and when Cam touches it Cam becomes possessed. Cam and The Guardian fight on the Island leading to a brawl in the Moon Pool between The Guardian and Cam. Zac tries to intervene but is immobilized by a possessed Guardian and the fight ends when Cam tackles The Guardian into the moon pool. Lightning emerging from the pool. At Rita's Grotto Veridia is informed of what had happened save for Cam stopping The Guardian. Cam begging Zac not to tell the Pod until it became pertinent. The Guardian tells he saw a face as he regained consciousness also Weilan would tell the truth for her reason why she would come to the Island, Veridia in turns sets the Pod to scour the earth for help in facing this dragon with Ondina, Mimmi, Zac & Evie volunteering to protect the Island and the Moon Pool in the pod's absence thus eliminating the Young Mermaid schooling storyline though the Dragon actually being Zac and Mimmi's mom would happen the same way.
In the following episodes Evie would be feeling the effects of the attack including her mop going on the fritz and attacking. Zac and the others would try to stop the mop though their attacks are ineffective it's in that episode Cam reveals the abilities that he has gained after the brawl between Cam and The Guardian in the first episode of the season which had been quickly growing in Cam since the end of that same first episode. The Guardian imbues Cam with the Title of The Apprentice to the Guardian and Cam embraces this new chapter in his life. Carly overseeing how much of her friends have been going through so much tries to gain a tail but Evie confides that her getting the tail was a byproduct of saving Zac because the Pool was in the middle of a full moon cycle. She embraced becoming a mermaid after the incident that made her become a mermaid in the first place so she could feel as if everything in her life was coming together and now it feels like it's coming apart telling Carly that her powers and tail are starting to wane ever since the dragon's attack. Fearing her powers would eventually give out she tells Carly and Carly advices Evie to tell Zac. Zac in turn tells Rita and advises Evie to go to the moon pool in the first night after the Dragon is subdued. Evie in turn decides to heed Rita's advice and tells the others that she must stay away from the Island because of the waning of her powers and how it could hurt everyone, this news gets to Veridia and in a moment of development Veridia allows Evie that right until the night the dragon is subdued.
Later in the season, Cam hears about Rikki Chadwick coming back and telling the others that Rikki is his cousin which comes to a surprise to The Guardian and the mermaids of the pod remembering Rikki and her friends being a part of the pod with The Guardian telling them all about the events in "H2O: Just Add Water". Also Cam has been having a vision of a staff that looked like the trident which The Guardian remembers something like that as the "Steel Of The Sea" Cam eventually discovering the Trident was originally The Steel Of Sea but when the Mermen took control of the Island they converted it to The Trident. So it's up to Cam to re-forge the Staff before the next Full Moon arrives. The next full moon is upon them and Cam has a vision of the Dragon attacking Rita's fiancée, Cam tells Zac and the Mermaids however Rita discovers in secret. Angered by the fact Rita swims into the Moon Pool on her own to attack the Dragon with the Power Of The Moon Pool, sadly things do not end well as the others are hurt as they try to divert the power of The Moon Pool. The Guardian finally gets Rita to stop her attack but not before nearly being obliterated by Rita's blind rage. While the dragon is momentarily subdued Cam is injured due to Rita's anger and The Guardian sacrifices his immortality to save Cam. As time goes on Evie hears what's happening and wishes to return in any way she can but Carly knows it could cost her everything and tries to keep giving her hope and letting her know that when things are settled the two will be mermaids in the pod together. In the meanwhile, We get more history towards The Guardian. His original name being David Henry Daniel Jean-Dian. He was on his way back home after journeying through the seas to be married to the woman he loved until he was kidnapped onto a Pirate Ship that ship crashed outside of Mako Island and him being the only survivor it is where he was revived and trained under The Guardian before him. David met Ismira and fell in love leading to where he ended up throughout both series and eventually hoping Cam would not suffer the same fate but Cam learns quickly from The Guardian's tale to cherish the relationship he has with Carly. The season would come to head into the second to last episode as Cam, The Guardian, The Mermaids and Evie meet Rikki and while Rikki acts the way she did in the original, she had her reason why she left the pod and why she won't help. Cam and The Guardian join the Mermaids in confronting her in the moon pool hours after the failure of the first heist. In the meanwhile Evie would have discovered a photo of her mother and a video of her sacrificing herself to protect Evie from a Merman discovering she was born part mermaid ending the first half of the finale.
The second half of the finale has come, the pod has returned and they've come up with every rogue mermaid they could find and members of other pods to destroy the dragon and while the others get their hands on the Bracelet, Evie confronts her father about the truth about her mother. Evie's Father saying that she knew there was something special when Evie was born and that her father knew she was part mermaid all along and that no matter what happens from this point forward she's still his daughter and he was proud of her. In the end Evie makes a choice to embrace both parts of her life and is rewarded thanks to the spirit of her mother coming back and giving Evie her tail and powers back. The Dragon storyline coming to a close as The Pod prepare to vanquish The Dragon. Rita and Cam combine their strength to divert the powers of The Moon Pool but that's even then it's barely enough even as Carly finds a moon ring and helps. While Mimmi bides her time using the Dragon Bracelet given to them by Rikki, Cam sees something happen in the pool as the lightning converges onto "The Steel Of The Sea" and The Guardian making the final sacrifice, shedding himself of his physical shell and converting it into power to imbue Cam with everything that was left in him. Cam fully embracing the powers and title of The Guardian. Finally with the full powers of Mimmi and The Dragon Bracelet, The New Guardian and "The Steel Of The Sea" and with one mighty blast vanquish the Dragon and releases Nerissa. The ending would also be different as everyone involved in the moment sees The Spirit of the Old Guardian returns hovering above the moon pool glad to know that the Island and the Pod were protected by the next generation and is greeted by Ismira as The Guardian of old becomes one with the Immortal Sea. The series would end in the grotto in the not too distant future as Cam looking slightly older with a few whiskers and a bit of grey where the darker color of his hair was as he writes down what happened in the last day of The Guardian before him as he, Carly and their children ready themselves for the next Full Moon ceremony, Carly and the kids are now part of the Pod, as is Evie, Zac and their children, Mimmi and her children, Ondina and Erik after some time reunite and their children are now part of the pod as is the children of Sirena and David and the Children of Aquata, Lyla and Nixie and the children of the mermaids that were in "Mako Mermaids" & "H2O" are now the future of the pod and taught by Rita, As Cam looks upon the sky, Cam's final thoughts are of his former mentor and an image of The Guardian of old looking out from up above at everything Ending this show and franchise on a proper closure note in this the edition of...
(Cut to a black background and the words "HOW I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN IT!" in neon as James' voice echoes those words before cutting back to clips of the season three as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): I might as well talk about all the characters who have been around since the beginning of this series, starting with the secondary characters and the development they went through in the series and to be honest how little development there was for them and the least developed was David. When we meet David he works and partly owns the Juice Bar that everyone meets at. While there was potential he didn't go anywhere. He gave Sirena a chance to perform at the Juice Bar and was basically Sirena's love interest and that was it. When Sirena told David her identity as a Mermaid it looked like something big was going to happen to the couple. Of course Sirena left the show and all David had that was left was the Juice Bar which nearly got closed but by circumstances in this season David keeps the place open thanks to Cam buying out David's Brother's Share in the Juice Bar. Carly gets just about the same amount of development. She's Evie's best friend and for the record how and why the Writers decided not to drop the same amount of development and crap on to her as they did Evie I have no clue. She did have a brief relationship with David but instead wound up with Cam. She found out through extreme circumstances that Evie, Zac and the others were mer-folk. and once Sirena left the show she began singing at the Juice Bar, GREAT DEVELOPMENT GUYS and like David went nowhere in the series.
As a matter of fact in the show's entire run in terms of Secondary Character Development Cam, Evie and Rita got the lions share and yes there is a reason why Evie is in the Secondary Character group because at the end of the day that is where the character ended up. Now I know what many of you thinking "Why did they make Evie a main character in the second season? Why did they do any of what they did to her around if they hated her?" the answer is simple, because they needed someone to suffer. In the first season she cared for Zac and was concerned that Lyla, Nixie and Sirena were either out to hurt him or take him away from her but when their secret was revealed she genuinely was repentant for her attitude towards the mermaids. In Season two when they made her a mermaid and a main character, it was great development for Evie. Sadly it also gave the writers carte blanche to use their ACME Cartoonish plot devices and they went through the gambit with Evie. She nearly exposed her identity multiple times including when she had a cold and her powers went nuts and that was when Carly DID discover their identities, They shrunk her, they had her suffer from the Moon fever and in Evie's version of it she acts like an overactive five year old! They had her misuse her powers as if she was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and then just to cap it all off, she loses her powers and tail and give her no hope in recovering both of them and after everything they did to Evie and her actress Gemma Forsyth I direct this towards Jonathan Shiff. If you are working on another season of "Mako Mermaids" or if you are able to connect this new series "The Bureau Of Magical Things" to both "H2O: Just Add Water" and "Mako Mermaids" PLEASE FIX THIS MESS AND COME UP WITH A PLAUSABLE SOLUTION TO RESTORE EVIE'S TAIL AND POWERS IN THIS NEW SERIES! This how I genuinely feel about this whole Screwjob needing to be rectified. What they did the character of Evie McLaren and Gemma Forsyth the actress who plays Evie was an inexcusable crime that has yet to punish the writers guilty of this heinous act! But if they choose not to fix this mess then this is directed towards Gemma Forsyth. If you ever comes to Sullivan County New York for ANY reason, I will GLADLY give you a check for a couple hundred dollars, a box of Chocolates, some flowers and a card as an apology for what the writers put you through.
Cam gets the second most development of the three of the secondary characters who got development. He was Zac's closest friend and comrade throughout the first season. But they had a falling out specifically when it came to the Trident. By the second season it appeared the friendship was over all because of Zac being a merman and the trident. However Cam did some good throughout the second season. He helped keep Evie incognito when Ondina and Mimmi were trying to strip Evie of her tail, Cam started a relationship with Carly in the episode "First Date" to give him something good, possibly making up for what happened in the episode before that one, in which Cam absorbs some of the Moon Pool water and gained Powers only to lose said powers by the end of that episode, But in all honesty why not let him keep and develop those powers? He would've been of some use in this season, Oh well at least it lasted for an episode. By the time the second season ended he and Zac were friends again and showed that his loyalty was to Zac and the Pod. Even helping demolish the Merman Chamber after it had been rendered inert. A bit redundant like putting out a fire with an extinguisher after it had died out but oh well, In this season he convinces David's brother to a buy out and kept the Juice Bar going. He then tried to do things to better the Juice Bar but it nearly cost him Carly in the process. He does quit as Co-Owner to save his relationship with Carly before the end of the season and in the end Cam got what he truly needed by sacrificing what he wanted not a bad bit of development for the character.
Rita as a secondary character got the most development. When we are first introduced to her, she's closed off and when Lyla, Nixie and Sirena arrive in her introductory episode she's strict and very much a stick in the mud not wanting anything to do with them, even taking Sirena's sister's ring. Her only friend was her cat Poseidon. She has seafood delivered to her by David because she didn't interact with anyone outside of her work as a Principal at Zac's school. But by her next episode Sirena helps her open up and tell her backstory. She fell in love with a human male and left the pod for him. She and her fiancée were to be married but after her fiancée died she spent her time alone in exile and eventually became the Principal of Zac's school. Rita eventually gave the original three sanctuary and taught them how to hone their powers. By the middle of the first season The three original mermaids considered Rita the first family they've had since the Pod left and casted them out. In the second season her development had her slowly coming out of her exile. She even got a episode in the second season focusing on her in "Only as Young as You Feel" she starts to have a relationship with a Marine Park director and tries some homemade lotion that adds moisture to whoever uses it. However Ondina screwed up the formula making Rita act like a teenager again and it was up to Zac, Evie and Sirena to hopefully keep her from exposing their secret and but in her hyper active state inadvertently helped a rescued dolphin get over it's struggles also when Mimmi tells Rita about the visions of Zac she was having throughout the second season you can tell in Kerith Atkinson's face she was putting the dots together quickly so when she told of Zac and Mimmi's of their familiar connection you knew that Rita was right and that she knew what she was talking about. In this season Rita had a nemesis in the form of the Science Teacher who would probably make her life a living hell for reasons. Her development came to a head in the episode before the two final episodes of the series "Age Before Beauty" a concoction for a spell that enhances age is accidentally confused by Weilan for a Tea which causes Rita to age rapidly right before a review of her abilities as a Principal. As She and Mimmi sit together she realized she had quite a life as a human and as a Principal but missed her life at sea as a mermaid. Out of either shame or fear of being laughed because of her failed relationship with her fiancée, she stayed in the Human world because Rita felt like an outcast to the pod and in the human world she exiled herself away from everyone else because she wasn't like them and in essence she was alone in two worlds. But when the spell is reversed and after going through her review she decides to quit being the Principal and return to the Pod to be the teacher to the young mermaids reconnecting to both worlds and in turn the world she had left welcoming her back with open arms.
As for the Main mermaids and Zac well... Again I'll start from the least and build my way up to Zac and the least developed of the Mermaids in the entire series was Weilan. Now that is not a knock towards her actress Linda Ngo. I'm sure she is a fine actress but when Weilan was all Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle, Happy, Happy, Happy she grated on my nerves and when she was trying to be serious, I couldn't take Weilan serious at all because again one of her first scenes was taking a Selfie with Poseidon and in the next she's saying that with the dragon unleashed no mermaid is safe and it felt like she was putting out a bad performance and as the season dragged she didn't do much to remedy this and again I do agree with Ondina on this, if Weilan didn't come to the Pod then the Pod would not have been in danger and Evie would not have lost her tail and powers. But she did try to teach Zac some spells to defend the pod and was the only one who actively tried to stop the dragon. In fact after Evie's screw job she nearly leaves hoping the Dragon would follow her and stop causing pain to the Pod, she eventually stays and helps vanquish the dragon and earn a moon ring, possibly Evie's because the writers wanted to get one more bit of trolling towards Evie and decides to restart the Eastern Pod by the end of her run. But by that point I had given up on her and the fact everything that happened to Weilan and everything bad that happened this season was simply because of BLIND STINKING SIMPLE DOO-DAH CLUELESS LUCK didn't exactly make me like her any better. And now for atonement's sake I shall let acclaimed Asian Character Actor James Hong shove a pair of Chopsticks up my nose, drag me down a hallway and then toss me down an elevator shaft. (Cut to a clip from Balls Of Fury as it has a photo shopped picture of James over Jason Scott Lee and James copies the reactions of Jason Scott Lee as it cut to James Hong dragging James by the nose and he speaks in Chinese and James translates the subtitles as the following "You dishonor every Asian actress you white trash piece of crap! Asshole! I will see you in hell Gweilo! Happy Landings!" before James is tossed down an elevator shaft and cutting back to Mako Mermaids as James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): Ondina got the second most development by default. Her character was originally very headstrong and more times than not made the most mistakes which is where most of her development came from. It took her a few episodes to accept Zac as a friend and when she did it helped her accept Erik as someone she wanted to be with when the two became a couple. However when Erik became the De Facto villain by the end of Season 2 she had to break up with him because he was toxic to her. So it kind of baffled me why the hell she was given a teaching assignment to the young mermaids and I'm going on a hunch and that's all I have, If I am wrong, I will apologize for what I say in a later post but my hunch says originally Sirena was meant to take the Teaching assignment and would look to Rita to mentor her while doing the job and her relationship with David would suffer eventually leading to David and Sirena calling it quits! Balking at that idea, Amy Ruffle decided to take her fishtail and scaly top and swim the hell away from there with her middle fin in the air! But when Rita took over the assignment to teach the young mermaids that actually gave Ondina the freedom to join Weilan in rebuilding the Eastern Pod. But that didn't mean she didn't pull a whopper this season. In one of the endless filler episodes of this season Ondina tried to sabotage Mimmi's relationship with a guy named Chris who worked with Mimmi at the water park and why did she do that? Because Ondina didn't want Mimmi to suffer the same way she did when Ondina was with Erik. UM EX-SQUEEZE ME ONDINA! BUT YOU WERE WITH A MERMAN WHO NEARLY DESTROYED YOU AND THE POD! MIMMI IS WITH A HUMAN WHO WORKED WITH HER AT THE MARINE PARK! TOTALLY DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND TOTALLY DIFFERENT SITUATIONS THE SECOND YOU THINK ALL GUYS ARE THE SAME THAT IS WHEN YOU ARE BEING ELITIST, STUCK-UP AND ANNOYING AS ALL GET OUT! IF IT WAS PROVEN THAT MIMMI COULDN'T HANDLE THE RELATIONSHIP THEN YOU CAN STICK YOUR NOSE INTO MIMMI'S RELATIONSHIP AND BREAK THE COUPLE UP. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BE A PART OF OTHER PEOPLE'S RELATIONSHIPS WHEN IT DOESN'T INVOLVE YOU! But my rant aside she did overcome most of her flaws during her run and became less of the egotistical mermaid she was and became more subdued and overall a less irritating character.
Mimmi was intelligent and inquisitive of the human world so when she arrived at Rita's School she automatically caused conflict between the Science Teacher and Rita. She was also a skilled spell caster and could create concoctions and for the sake of the plot she and Zac would have shared visions of each other which was a sign for Rita that there was something between the two. One aspect of Mimmi's character that was reminiscent of Cleo in "H2O: Just Add Water" was the fact Mimmi worked at a Marine Park in which she developed a relationship with a guy named Chris. Mimmi even helped Chris in secret get an internship by helping connect to Dolphins, M'Kay. When Rita asked Mimmi about her mother and to me it's a damned surprise that she remembers her mom at all because again I ask about how good a parent can a mermaid be? When Rita discovers the familial connection between Mimmi and Zac, the fact she embraces Zac as her brother quickly made her character development more enjoyable. The fact that Mimmi was undeterred and was able to hold her own and be one of three couples to hold onto a stable relationship in this series tied her and the last character I'm going to talk about for most developed.
And Who tied with Mimmi for the most developed? Her Brother Zac of course. Over the entire series run Zac was the character every story had to hinge upon. In season one his character development started when he had to take a leak while camping with his buddy Cam which happened by coincidence led to that fateful moment when he found the entrance to the cave which led him to the portal that led to him falling into the Moon Pool and gaining his tail and receiving his powers. So when Rita was told Zac's name by Lyla, Nixie and Sirena, you could see on Rita's face that she knows something Uber-bad must have gone down and that if something had happened to be Zac Blakely and the pod had left because of Zac it wasn't good news. But ultimately Zac showed that not all humans and subsequently all mermen were made the same. Although there was a few times when you could see the dark side of him. Like when he nearly sent those two trolls to their watery grave after giving him so much grief throughout the episode after he discovers he was a naturally born merman. His better traits and characteristics shined through a lot in the series. In fact when he looked at Erik in season two and how he was, Zac saw something he could've been if the Blakelys hadn't adopted him. Kind of looking at someone else and seeing a dark image of yourself in a mirror and what you could've been but didn't because you were surrounded bygood people. And again I hate saying this but What kind of Parent is a mermaid at all if they can't raise their child or children properly? Seriously! While in the final season he was not at the center of the story he wasn't shoved to the side we did see development as he tried to learn how to fend off the dragon and slowly become the protector of the pod. But when the whole Mommy mermaid being the dragon thing came up it derailed that development but it did make an interesting end point to his character's development finding something he thought was lost forever. So when he decided to go on his trip with Mimmi and their mom in order to bond and eventually tell the Blakelys about everything that had happened to him. It was a no brainer on his part.
(Cut to Clips of the entire Shiff-Verse of Mermaids shows as "Part Of Your World" instrumental plays in the background and James does a voiceover)
James Faraci (Voiceover): While the next chapter of the Shiff-Verse of Mermaids is in question, I want to thank you all for joining me on this retrospective series. What started off as a fun romp through the waters of Mako Island turned into something better than anyone would've expected save for this season of Mako Mermaids and if you want to see more of this then I suggest you go and be a part of Manic Expression's Patreon through their link here: https://www.patreon.com/manicexpression and through Rowdy C's Patreon through his link here: https://www.patreon.com/RowdyCProductions. While "H2O: Just Add Water" is available in full on DVD, Sadly Mako Mermaids Season One is only available, at the time of this post, Regents free on DVD. But You can find both on Netflix, Hulu,YouTube and Amazon Prime and other streaming services. But until the next chapter is written, I think I'm safe closing the book on this retrospective. For now I'm James Faraci, enjoy the adventure, be careful of the water and I'll see you later. PEACE!
(Cut to even more clips of the Shiff-Verse of Mermaids as "No Ordinary Girl" play then "I Just Wanna Be" play in the background of the clips before they fade to black before James says in the background "And now an interview done by Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff of Mystery Science Theater 3000 Fame with Jonathan Shiff as part of the Promotion Tour for this season of Mako Mermaids" before cutting to the clip of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as TV's Frank looks at the bum who is supposed to be the guy behind "The Attack of the Eye Creatures" looks at him and says "You don't really care, Do Ya?" before cutting to black)
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