The Way of the Willow

"The Way of the Willow" is the fifteenth episode of Tangled: The Series. It premiered on October 22, 2017.
==Plot==
It is Queen Arianna's birthday, and she plans to spend it with Rapunzel on a mother and daughter trip to watch the upcoming Empyrean Meteor Shower on the peak of Mount Saison. She is looking forward to their first trip together after eighteen years of being apart. Just when she thinks all is perfect, she receives an unexpected surprise visit from her younger sister, Willow. During her visit, Willow gives Arianna a strange furry little creature with a rattle for her birthday, known as an Uumlaut, and meets her long-lost niece, who both discover they have a lot in common: they both never wear shoes. Arianna becomes quietly irritated by her sister's presence, especially when she has plans to spend some Mother and Daughter time with Rapunzel. Just when she thinks nothing else could ruin her special day, Willow volunteers to come along on their trip to see the shower.
Soon, Rapunzel, Arianna, and Willow were out in the forest, and in sight of Mount Saison where they hope to see the Shower. Along the way, they visit the Snuggly Duckling where Willow tells the Pub Thugs stories about the misadventures she and her sister had when they were kids. She tells them about the time they tried to build a cape kite, and how Arianna ended up crashing it into their father's carriage. All the while, Arianna is left feeling embarrassed, especially when Willow brings up the nicknames she used to give her like Darianna, because she did anything Willow dared. Meanwhile back at the castle, Eugene, Pascal, and Lance are preparing for a camping trip to see the Imperian Meteor shower as well. They are visited by King Frederic, who feels left out of all the fun. To make him feel better, Lance invites Fredric to come along, despite Eugene's objections as he considers Lance to be a slob and ill-mannered around nobles. However, Frederic accepts the invite. As he leaves to get his things, Eugene severely expects Lance to be on his best behavior around the King, but has his doubts.
By evening, Rapunzel, Arianna, and Willow had left the Snuggly Duckling, and are almost at the southern ridge on Mount Saison. Arianna becomes more and more irritated by Willow, that she finally bursts out her frustrations in front of her face and storms off for a minute to cool off. Meanwhile, Lance is not even trying to be well-mannered in front of the King, and starts to get on Eugene's nerves. Back on Mount Saison, Rapunzel and Willow are waiting for the Empyrean Shower to arrive. Arianna keeps ranting quietly about her sister’s antics, but while looking at the Uumlaut she decides to cool down and go back up to see the shower. When the shower does come, Arianna sees Rapunzel and Willow enjoying it together and they even embrace. This consumes her with jealousy that she misses seeing it with Rapunzel after a while sulking. In her frustration, she throws away the Uumlaut's rattle, which has been ringing it all day. Arianna meets up with Rapunzel and Willow after seeing the shower, and has a private argument with her sister. All the while, Rapunzel discovers that the Uumlaut is multiplying, and the only way to stop it is to give back the original Uumlaut its rattle. They soon find it in a tree on the edge of the ridge, but fail to give it back to the original Uumlaut in time. The Uumlauts charge through the forest towards where Eugene, Pascal, Lance and Frederic are camping. They escape the Uumlaut stampede, and reunite with Rapunzel, Arianna and Willow. They notice that the Uumlauts are heading straight for the Kingdom. The two sisters turn away from each other, but Rapunzel urges them to work together. Remembering the stories of Darianna, they build a cape kite big enough to carry Willow and Arianna. Arianna flies them over the Uumlaut stampede, and Arianna attracts the attention of the original Uumlaut by shaking its rattle. Once the Uumlaut gets its rattle back, her copies are retrieved back into her body. The next day, Willow sets out to continue her travels, but not before saying goodbye to Rapunzel and Arianna, who both reconcile. Despite her Birthday not turning out the way she hoped, Arianna admits that she enjoyed it in the end, as did Rapunzel. However, they are both shocked to discover that Willow left the Uumlaut with them instead of taking it with her.
==Cast==
*Mandy Moore as Rapunzel
*Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider
*Clancy Brown as King Frederic
*Julie Bowen as Queen Arianna
*James Monroe Iglehart as Lance Strongbow
*Jane Krakowski as Willow
*Jeffrey Tambor as Big Nose
*Steve Blum as Atilla
*Charles Harlford as Vladimir
*Paul F. Tompkins as Shorty
*Jeff Ross as Hook Foot
*Ping Wu as Mysterious Man
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The Uumlaut having a tendency to go feral and multiply due to neglecting instructions is similar to the Mogwai from Gremlins.
*This is the second episode in which Cassandra does not appear. The first was "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth".
*Uumlaut's two dots on her back is the reference of the term umlaut, the two dots above the vowel in German. (Example: ä, ö, ü)
*This episode reveals Rapunzel got her mannerism from her aunt, Willow.
*Neserdnian Empire, where Willow found the Uumlaut, is later revealed to be one of the seven kingdoms in episode "Beginnings".
*Its shown that Stan got his moustache after being encouraged by Willow. Later in the series, in "No Time Like the Past", Rapunzel (while trapped in one of Stabbington Brothers' body) says that Stan would suit a moustache more than Pete.
==International Premieres==
*January 5, 2018 (Brazil)
*February 18, 2018 (Germany)
Category:Tangled episodes
Category:Birthday productions