 A "big" musical number, "Mother Knows Best" begins within the first fifteen minutes of Tangled during the film's first act when, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel finally summons enough courage to ask Gothel for permission to travel and see the floating lanterns in person. Gothel, whose eternal youth and beauty solely relies on the safety and protection of Rapunzel's magical hair, denies this request by sarcastically reminding her that "mother knows best," warning her ward that "the world is full of wicked people who want to steal her hair's magic," while explaining to her that it's "for her own good," claiming to only want to protect her. At one point during the scene, Gothel actually contradicts herself; Teena Elizabeth of BookMyShow observed, "Gothel has no intentions of letting her go. Though Mother Gothel sings,'soon, but not yet,' but ironically later says, 'Rapunzel will never leave the tower ever.'" Writing for the Tulsa World, Michael Smith observed that Gothel uses the song "as her lie / rationale for keeping the girl safe (holding her hostage) from those who might steal her for their own hair-inspired profit schemes." Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew felt that the scene is both funny and scary, citing Gothel's "theatrical gestures" and "claustrophobia-inducing stark black backgrounds" as examples of both. "cementing [the] character's ruthlessness," Gothel ultimately orders Rapunzel to promise never to ask permission to leave the tower again. Moviefone's William Goss cited the musical number as an example of "fear-mongering," which has been defined by Dictionary.com as "a person who creates or spreads alarming news." Jennie Punter of The Globe and Mail penned, "Mother Knows Best hilariously convey [s] the fear and guilt that have kept Rapunzel in the tower of her own free will." In her book Marvels & Tales, author Kendra Magnusson observed that, during the "Mother Knows Best" musical sequence, "the manipulation of Rapunzel's hair leaves the heroine's body wrenched in one moment and bound up in it the next", depicting that, while Rapunzel's hair can be used to defend herself, "it is simultaneously a liability" and can just as well be used to harm her.
