Awesome / The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

For The Dark Crystal, see here.

In-Universe

• The female gelfling use the males as a springboard to launch an aerial assault against the Skeksis.
• skekMal the Hunter is made of villainous Awesome. While all the other Skeksis are slow, unfit for combat, shambling, and awkward owing to their decrepit state, skekMal is fast, agile, and lethal, capable of leaping between trees, striking, and vanishing before you can even know he was coming. He takes Multi-Armed and Dangerous to its greatest extent, quad-wielding his swords in a fight against Rian and his father. And despite being a journey that takes most characters a few days, he manages to rush from the Castle of the Crystal all the way to Stone-in-the-Wood after the battle commences to make his final effort to take Rian and claim his prize before it concludes. It's no wonder he's The Dreaded even among his own people, and that the only way to finally stop him is for the Archer to commit suicide.
• When two drunk Stonewood Gelflings push Deet to the ground, Hup immediately charges into battle and beats them up. And when his spoon breaks in half, he grabs a bigger spoon and uses it as his new weapon.
• Naia has her own Offscreen Moment of Awesome when it's revealed she saved Gurjin from the Skeksis and escaped the Castle. The siblings then manage to track down Rian and save him from the Chamberlain in a moving carriage.
• Episode 5 has Aughra reconnecting with Thra, her chanting overscoring the dreamfasting of a trio of groups, growing more frenzied as it climaxes and culminates in the Gelflings and Aughra finally meeting within the Dream Space.
  • The All-Maudra's declaration that she and her clan are going to join the fight again the Skeksis.
    All-Maudra: The first fire already blazes! Har'ra and the Vapra will stand against the skeksis!!!
• While hilarious, it's awesome that the hand puppets that the Heretic uses to tell the Geflings how to defeat the Skeksis, was actually brought to life by Youtuber barnabydixon who's well known for his hand puppetry.
• When Maudra Fara challenges Seladon to trial by air, Seladon dons herself an outfit more akin to the Skeksis and declares herself All-Maudra by default since the Skeksis said so and that her mother was just a traitor. Outraged, Fara flies up and tries to attack her, but Seladon remains on the ground, grabs her by the neck and tosses her into the throne!
  Seladon: You will bow.
  Maudra Fara: I will never bow!
  Seladon: Then you will CRAWL.
• Rek'yr just absolutely refusing to back down in the face of The Hunter, who demands to know where Rian and the others are. The Hunter is one of the beings who are as close to Gods to the Gelfling as makes no difference and is one of - if not the - most dangerous and bloodthirsty of them all, but Rek'yr calls him by name and just straight up tells him 'No', even under pain of death.
  Rek'yr: You should not have come here, Skek'Mal. I will not guide you on another hunt, you are a butcher.
  The Hunter: The Gelfling you transported, where are they? Talk.
  Rek'yr: That I will not do.
  The Hunter: Then I will have to start cutting PIECES off you, until you talk!
  Rek'yr: Go ahead. Do you want my hands? They are not mine. They are a gift from Thra. The same as my feet, my head, my LIFE.
  The Hunter: (growls, takes his blade from Rek'yr's throat) And HIS life? (hurls one of Rek'yr's friends off a cliff to his death)
  Rek'yr: (looks aghast, before readying himself and glaring at The Hunter) If this is to be the day of our return to Thra, we welcome it. Gladly.
• The fact that Hup was willing to face the Hunter himself when skekMal attacked the party at the Circle of the Suns. Sure, he fared just about as well as you'd expect mano-a-mano against someone who even terrifies the other Skeksis, but that he even tried is a testament to Hup's courage. And special mention goes to skekMal's classically villainous response.
  Hup: No...hurt...Deet!
  skekMal: (Picks up the tiny-in-comparison Podling like it's nothing) Cute. (Throws him across the room like he's just a pest)
  • Take note at the Hunter's tone when he said that. He's actually impressed that a Podling had the guts to confront him.
• UrVa the Archer shooting arrows at the Hunter to stop him. He perfectly knows this will kill himself, but that doesn't stop him, particularly since he's the most proactive Mystic in the Dark Crystal universe.
• The seven Gelfling clans uniting against the Skeksis after receiving Rian's message and arriving at the right moment.
  • Rian's message itself was truly inspirational.
    Rian: Gelfling. The Skeksis deceived us. Turned clan against clan. Murdered our All-Maudra. Drained our loved ones. Unleashed the Darkening upon our world. And now everyone and everything... is at risk. What was once unthinkable has become inevitable: Rebellion. This weapon, the Dual Glaive, was forged by two halves of a great being. And it has been foretold to end Skeskis power. It is now... in Gelfling hands. The Skeksis have sowed distrust amongst us for a thousand trine. Why? Because they fear what would happen if we were united. They were right to be afraid! Join me, at Stone-In-The-Wood! Here, we will make our stand! Not as many... BUT AS ONE!
• Deet absorbing the Darkening and unleashing it on the Skeksis, making the Collector's head explode.
• skekSil the Chamberlain orchestrating the downfall of skekVar the General is a masterwork of manipulation and deceptions that would make Petyr Baelish proud. It begins by placing the Gruenak slaves with skekTek to put himself back into the Scientist's good graces. He uses the Gruenaks — by promising their freedom if they help — to sabotage the General's dose of essence, taking it for himself and replacing it with doctored water to weaken him. This leaves him vulnerable when attacked by Tavra, and he is badly wounded. skekSil then steps in, mortally wounding Tavra by stabbing her In the Back, and returns the stolen essence to save skekVar's life. skekVar now considers the Chamberlain to be his friend, and vouches for him with the Emperor to restore his position as thanks. skekSil continues playing up his friendship with the General up through the Second Battle of Stone-in-the-Wood; when Rian calls the Emperor out, the Chamberlain instead steps in and manipulates not only skekSo into believing it better for the General to duel the Gelfling, but for skekVar himself to jump at the chance. Rian defeats and badly wounds him, forcing him to withdraw. With the General weakened and the others distracted by the battle against Stonewood, skekSil approaches him and — with the General still believing him to be his friend — finishes him off.
• SkekSil gets another one when he and Rian are in the carriage on their way back to the Castle. Over the course of the journey, the Chamberlain slowly breaks Rian, using a mixture of lies, truths, and half-truths so cunningly constructed that when he gives Rian the option to run, Rian ends up refusing and very nearly resigning himself to his fate.
• The fact that SkekSil is virtually the one responsable that the gelflings are near extinct in the movie: he's the one who gives SkekTek the idea of using the Crystal to drain the gelflings, and the creation of the Garthim was also his idea.
• Aughra continues her tradition of giving directly insulting speeches to the Skeksis that was displayed in the film, but her greatest one in Season 1 is delivered to skekSo The Emperor, in which she firmly jams on his Fear Button, his own mortality, right to his face, in an implied attempt to goad him into taking her offer of draining her instead of the Gelfling. And when she at first gives no essence, she taunts him even more, even though she is about to perish.
  skekSo: (In disbelief) You would give up your own life, for a few of these...worthless Gelfling?
  Aughra: (Scoffs) Dimwits! We are all Thra...all except you! You do not return to Thra when you perish! What happens to you when your part of The Song is done? Hmm?! Never figured that out, did you?! Tried! But failed! Maybe NOTHING is all that waits for you! So...make your choice. Do we have a deal? Or will you sentence one of your own...to endless oblivion?
  (...)
  skekSo: Ahh!! Liar!! Cheat!! I gave you your Gelfling, now where is my essence!?!
  Aughra: You...are doomed! You...and all your kind! Parasites! Thieves! In the end...you...are nothing...but...dust!
  skekSo: (Quivering with rage) I...will NEVER...be...DUST!! NOOOO!!!
• One for the Podlings, in the final episode. After taking much abuse from the Skeksis throughout the series, skekTek deliberately stands on the hand of one of the Podling butlers, causing him obvious pain. The other Podling witnessing this immediately starts furiously shouting at skekTek and doesn't back down even when the Skeksis comes towards him, infuriated. Considering what skekTek later does to the poor Gruenaks, it's a remarkable show of courage. What's better is that all four of the Podling servants manage to get away safely.
• skekTek gets one after the Chamberlain switches skekVar's essence. The General, furious, confronts the Scientist, calling him a fraud and that the essence is a lie. After a bit more arguing, the General calls the Scientist a weakling, only for Scientist to grab the General's arm and yank it to such an extent that the General is shocked, especially since that skekTek comes with an epic comeback ("It seems that you are the weak one!"). Given that skekTek's been given the short-end of the stick for much of the series, with none of his fellow Skeksis respecting him and losing his eye as punishment, it's clear that skekTek is quite enjoying the feeling of overpowering his fellow Skeksis.