Matt Groening’s Disenchantment season 4 is here, but what does it all mean? The fourth part of Netflix’s fantasy animation ended with more questions than it did answers, which is now a common reoccurrence with the show. There were however several big subplots that got some form of resolution, answering some questions that have been gnawing at many fans. The show’s season finale is consistent with its previous installments in the fact that it splits up the main cast in various cliffhangers, and in the case of Queen Bean, literally being tossed off of a cliff.
Like each previous season, Disenchantment season 4 picked up where season 3 ended. Queen Bean and her mother Dagmar are in Hell to marry off Bean to Satan to fulfill some sort of bargain between himself and the rulers of Maru. Elfo is captured by a band of Ogres, Luci dies trying to save Bean and goes to Heaven, and Zøg is being admitted into an insane asylum. The season explored tantalizing mysteries about the Elves and Trogs connection to each other and Dreamland. In addition, it continued to explore the mystery surrounding Bean, Dreamland, magic, and seeding information of Dagmar’s ultimate goals.
Unlike many series, Disenchantment skips around resolving many of its ongoing subplots and long-standing mysteries every season. The show usually keeps adding to those questions in the process of revealing them, cleverly making them continue to grow as a mystery as the plot progresses. Season 4 of Disenchantment does however answer several questions Disenchantment season 3 posed as well as the other previous seasons planted. The finale however still left viewers hanging with the series biggest unanswered questions about Disenchantment’s central antagonist to Bean, her mother Dagmar.
What Is Dagmar’s Endgame Plan In Disenchantment?
In a series full of cliffhangers, Easter eggs, endless subplots, and many unanswered questions, the main consistent question of Disenchantment is “what are Dagmar’s plans along with her end goal?” This has been a consistently unanswered plot hook in the show that has become central to the story being told. Unfortunately, every time the audience thinks they’re beginning to understand Dagmar, any new information about her or her goals presents even more questions. Ultimately, Dagmar’s plans revolve around Bean, a prophecy surrounding her, the magic of Dreamland, and a deal between the royalty of Maru and Satan. Other than a few other fragments of information, Dagmar’s true goals and plans remain a mystery. The show will likely continue to keep it that way until the very end seeing how it now largely revolves around this plot hook with more revealed in Disenchantment season 5.
Could Disenchantment’s Freckles Be Yøg?
One side character, the “brought to life” puppet Freckles does some rather nefarious things in season 4. Freckles clearly has it out for King Zøg and shares a similar color pallet to the king’s “deceased” older brother Yøg. Freckles was bought by Zøg during his mental breakdown in season 3, but if watched with scrutiny, Freckles has been in the background since the very first episode. If there’s one thing Disenchantment isn’t short on its Easter eggs revealing characters before they’re properly introduced later on. Furthermore, both Zøg and Freckles are voiced by John DiMaggio.
Viewers learn about Yøg in season 3, and how he had been murdered by a secret society, which made Zøg become King. The two brothers didn’t share a very good relationship, as made evident by Zøg’s lack of emotions regarding his late brother. Freckles came to Zøg under rather questionable circumstances during the tail end of season 3 when he started going crazy after nearly getting murdered several times. This happened roughly around the time the audience learns of Yøg for the first time. Freckles is seen several times throughout season 4 aiding puppet versions of Cloyd and Becky begging the question how did they do that, is it permanent, and whose soul is in Freckles? With how much Freckles despises and has it out for Zøg, his presence since episode 1, and sharing DiMaggio’s voice could hint to a big reveal in future seasons that Freckles is Yøg out for revenge.
What’s The Deal With Disenchantment’s Satan?
Poor Bean, it seems that almost every season someone keeps trying to marry her off to some guy she doesn’t even know, for some treaty or debt she never got a say in, when all she wants to do is get neck nuzzled by the mermaid Princess Mora. Disenchantment Season 4 saw Dagmar trying to marry Bean off to Satan no less to repay a debt. Bean managed to “out Satan, Satan” and instead the blood pact was done with her mother. But what is this debt that had to be repaid? The only clue that can be deciphered is there’s a connection between Dreamland, Steamland, Maru, and Hell since elevators and stairs are going directly there. Somehow, Dagmar’s family (including Cloyd and Becky) have some sort of pact with the Devil that has helped them to pull the strings moving the main plot for the series forward.
What’s more disturbing still, is at the very end of Disenchantment season 4, Satan whispers to Bean that he doesn’t think he can spend eternity with Dagmar. This just begs the question, is Dagmar worse than Satan? This will continue to be explored in the next season since the end credits show Satan, Dagmar, and “Bad-Bean’s” severed head sitting on the thrones in Dreamland. But there’s another thing about Satan that remains an equally tempting question. What’s the deal with him appearing handsome in person but disgusting in the mirror? Mirrors seem to be a theme in season 4 because they’re used in several interesting ways. The first is Satan’s appearance being different in the mirror than in person. This wasn’t explored outside of a brief moment in the season’s first episode, but there is something at play regarding the importance of mirrors in the series that will be explored in later seasons.
Elfo’s Ogre Lineage Revealed In Disenchantment Season 4
One of the questions that finally gets answered in Disenchantment season 4 is Elfo’s parentage. It’s ironic really, one of the first “humanoids” Elfo interacts with outside of Elfwood is his Ogre half-brother Junior, who Elfo blinds by stabbing him in the eyes with daggers. The two would interact many times over the 4 seasons developing a sibling-like rivalry without realizing they were half-brothers. Elfo learns all of this shortly after finding out his mother is Queen Grogda of the Ogres. Fans have suspected since season 1 that Elfo’s mother was likely an Ogre, and it was strongly implied in earlier seasons. This brought on a whole new aspect for Elfo’s character. Knowing both sides of where he comes from became a major moment for him. It is also one of the few plot hooks that have been answered for the show, making it significant in multiple ways.
The Elf, Trog, And Sea Trog Connection To “The Very Thing”
Season 4 did a lot in terms of answering questions about Disenchantment‘s elves and their heritage. The elves learn thanks to Leavo, that Dreamland is their homeland and that underneath the castle, “the very thing” the elves were looking for was located. “The very thing,” turned out to be the precious goo that the Trogs have been protecting for years. Every elf and Trog gathered soon learned that if an elf drinks the goo, they become a Trog after watching Leavo drink some down. This opens up several answers as well as creates several questions in return. The elves, Trogs, and sea Trogs in and around Dreamland are all related, their race likely split due to the human takeover of Dreamland in their lost history.
Because the history of these events seems to be lost to each distinct subrace of elves, none of them were truly aware of the existence of the other. The goo seems to be what gave the two forms of Trogs the ability to adapt and survive in their change of scenery when their kingdom fell, with some of it falling into the sea. The ancient halls of the elf’s kingdom remain split above and below the water, clearly showing that some cataclysmic event drove them out of their homeland. Whatever happened was briefly revealed in a flashback Bean had while investigating the corpse of a mermaid. Even though this long-time theory that the elves and Trogs were related is confirmed true, it still raises more questions. How did this happen and why did it work? Why is the goo that the Trogs have guarded so important for Bean and how will it help her defeat the Trog’s most feared enemy, her mother Dagmar? As Disenchantment continues, the mystery surrounding “the very thing” will only continue to be delved into deeper.
What’s With Disenchantment Mermaid Fascination?
Disenchantment Season 3 explored Bean’s romantic life with mermaid Princess Mora, who appeared several times in Season 4 right when Bean needed her the most. Disenchantment is no stranger to having mermaids depicted in nearly every episode in some fashion. The castle has countless mermaids painted on the walls, incorporated into the architecture, and other forms of art. Though not as explored this season compared to the last, mermaids have filled in some answers as well as raised further questions in the process. In a cave underneath the castle, Bean interacted with a dagger plunged into the skeleton of a mermaid, receiving a vision of the battle. This battle seemingly concluded with a flash of magic identical to the kind that comes out of Beans hands. Somehow, mermaids are as entwined in this mess as everyone else and are somehow also connected to the magic and the curse of Dreamland.
Bean also found out that her father Zøg’s first girlfriend was a mermaid. The audience gets a glimpse of this when Zøg was a teen and still the prince as he interacted with the mermaid. When pressed about the relationship from Bean he didn’t say much. Does this beg the question is Zøg Mora’s father? Or the father of one of the mermaids seen in the previous season? It wouldn’t be unlikely considering he increasingly continues to have children with different mothers as the show goes on. If Disenchantment stays true to its current formula, viewers will likely find out more about mermaids in season 5.
Where Does P.T. McGee’s Freak Show & Gawkatorium Fit In?
Frequently portrayed in season 3, P.T. McGee’s Freak Show & Gawkatorium in Steamland, once again appears as a place of interest and plot development in season 4, but why? How does this shrewd businessman who would, and has thrown his own son into the Gawkatorium fit in with the bigger plot? What is known about him is McGee is a member of the adventurers’ society in Steamland, and he journeys out far and wide collecting rare oddities and abducting them for his show. And now, audiences know that McGee somehow has connections to the larger story instead of a person who collects many of Disenchantment‘s many Easter eggs. Season 5 is set to have McGee take on a more prominent role since half of the secondary characters are oddities on display in his Gawkatorium during this season’s finale.
How “Bad Bean” Set Up Dagmar’s Take Over For Season 5
Dagmar’s expanding plans for Bean continue to be the last thing the audience is left with at the end of Disenchantment season 4, and where season 5 will pick up. As previously mentioned, mirrors seem to be a recurring theme in season 4, and the mirror in Bean’s room proved to be equally if not more unusual than Satan’s mirror incident. “Bad Bean” was able to interact with Bean through her dreams, which raises several other questions about how the magic of Dreamland works. She was able to mentor, in some sense, Bean into how to use her powers, before stealing her body and trapping actual Bean in some parallel Dreamland that could be viewed by the mirror in Bean’s room. Has this mirror always been able to do this? Is it just a recent development? Somehow, it all involves Dagmar, who returns to Dreamland only to find the daughter she wants decapitated before tossing the disappointment over a cliff and still finding a use for the severed head of “Bad Bean.”