Elena of Avalor S3 E23

## Plot

Mateo, Naomi, and Elena are in the palace garden. Mateo asks Elena if she really needs to practice using her scepter in her left hand. She could just wait for her right arm to heal. I can't wait for that stupid cast to *finally* come off, and I'm not even the one wearing it! And it doesn't even exist in the real world, because fiction. In real life, it usually takes around six to eight weeks for a broken arm to heal, which means that the past four episodes have all taken place in approximately two months or less. Elena says that Ash and Esteban could strike at any moment, so she needs to be ready. She can't even take the scepter out properly though. Couldn't she just wear her belt on the other side, and draw it out with her left hand like it's a sword? That sounds easier to me. Quita Moz shows up. The flames spoke to him again, but it wasn't about Elena's test this time… sort of. Long ago, in the time of Maru, he had a pupil, the most powerful magical fighter he's ever seen: Ixlan, also known as the titular lightning warrior. He thought that they had perished with the rest of the Maruvians, but the flames told him that Ixlan has actually been imprisoned on an island with a dark magic spell all this time. Elena will need them on her side for the struggle ahead. Naomi can get them there, but Quita Moz tells them that Mateo can't undo the spell. To break a dark magic spell, you need to use dark magic, and the only people who can do that are malvagos. Naomi points out to Elena that they have Victor and Carla in the dungeon, but she refuses to let them out. They have to give them a reason to help them. Elena doesn't think she can trust them, pointing out that they've lied to and endangered them before multiple times in the past. Mateo points out that Victor refused to go with Ash, and Carla turned herself in. People can change. Quita Moz tells Elena that she'll never know if she can trust someone until she trusts them. They moved Victor into the dungeon at some point, but he's still a statue. Mateo uses what looks like the last of his spellbreaker potion to free him. Before Carla can catch up with him, Elena tells them why she freed him. If they help, she'll let them live out their days on Soledad island. It's not freedom, but it's better than the dungeon. They take the deal, Elena warns them not to double cross her, and Carla tells her that they've changed. They're brought onto Naomi's sailboat in handcuffs. Elena locks up two tamboritas in a chest. Victor and Carla can use them, but only when it's time to free the lightning warrior. Elena has trouble cooking lunch for Naomi because of her right arm. It looks like she's a terrible baker *and* a terrible cook, at least when her dominant hand is out of commission. Victor and Carla offer to cook for her. She lets them do it, but points her scepter at them while they do so. They're really good at cooking, and they work together perfectly. Suddenly, Victor notices that Carla is crying and asks her what's wrong. She missed cooking with him. Aw! Just like Carmen and Doña Angelica! She's worried that they'll never get to make a meal together again. Victor tells her that they'll just have to enjoy this one, and treasure their memories of simpler times. They weren't always criminals, and their lives weren't always so awful. They've made mistakes, which have left scars that can never fade, so they just have to pretend like it's back then. Life can be strange. The things they think they want have changed, as well as the things they thought they knew. Elena smells the food they're making and identifies it as moqueca, a Brazilian seafood stew made of shrimp or fish as a base with tomatoes, onions, garlic, lime, cilantro, and coriander. Victor reminds Carla that he, Esteban, and Elena used to play together when they were children. They'd play hide and seek in the garden, and then spend all afternoon cooking together. Carla can't believe they used to be friends. Elena finally puts her scepter away and tastes the food. It's delicious, like always, but she tells Victor that he still uses too much pepper after she sneezes. Life was easier then. Before Elena can sadly handcuff them again, they hear Naomi say that they've reached land, and they leave the kitchen. They've reached the island. Elena tells Naomi that the stew will have to wait, but Carla gives it to her, and she thanks her. They reach the place where Ixlan is imprisoned. Elena tells Victor and Carla to reverse the encasing spell, and warns them that she'll be ready if they try anything. Naomi gives them tamboritas… and they reverse the spell, just like they said they would. Someone jumps out, which causes Elena to drop her scepter. Naomi picks it up. The only one who is surprised that Ixlan is a woman is Victor. She recognizes the Scepter of Light, despite its new crystallized appearance. Quita Moz told her that she might meet a princess one day who would be wielding the scepter. She's at Elena's service, but admits that she's disappointed, since she "defeated" her so easily. While sailing back, she asks them how they defeated the Moyacu, the creature that guards the island. Elena tells her that they didn't see any creature. Victor briefly sees it in the water and tries to grab a tamborita, but Elena stops him and asks him what he thinks he's doing. He tells her that he saw something moving in the water, but she doesn't see anything, and assumes that he and Carla have gone back to their old ways. Then everyone sees the giant whale. Ixlan asks for her gloves, but Elena and Naomi don't know what she's talking about. They're swallowed whole when the boat sails into the Moyacu's mouth. Ixlan says they can either exit out through the mouth or through the blowhole, but it's not big enough for the boat. If they can get the mouth open, Naomi can lasso the Moyacu's teeth. Then they'll pull the boat forward until the sail can catch the wind. The problem is that they can't open the mouth no matter what they do. Ixlan says this would be easy if she had her gloves. Victor and Carla beg Elena to let them help, but she refuses to give them tamboritas. Ixlan asks her why she won't, since a warrior always uses the most powerful weapon they have at their disposal. Naomi says they should consider it, because they don't have any other options. Elena agrees to use their most powerful weapon… her scepter. She still can't aim straight though, and carrying two tamboritas in her other arm doesn't help. Victor climbs to the top of the mast and uses pepper to try and make the Moyacu sneeze. He's blown out of the blowhole, but unbeknownst to everyone else, he managed to grab a tamborita. Carla blames Elena for what happened because she never gave them a chance. She admits that she's right, but asks her how she could trust her after everything she's done. I'm not gonna lie, episodes like this definitely give me a season 3 premiere of Tangled: The Series vibe. Naomi reminds Elena of what Quita Moz said. You'll never know if you can trust someone until you try it. Victor opens the mouth from the outside. Elena gives Carla the other tamborita to keep it open long enough for them to sail out. Ixlan grabs Victor. Elena also uses the seal power to keep the mouth open as well. The Moyacu breaks it, but not until they're clear of it. Ixlan tells Elena that she's impressed, and this time she wholeheartedly pledges her service to her. Once they get back to Avalor, they have an impromptu trial for Victor and Carla. Antonia is the guard that brings them in. The grand council has agreed to exile them to Soledad island, but they refuse. They want to stay here, learn good magic, and help the others defend Avalor. Elena asks them why they'd do that, since being malvagos was all they ever wanted. They're even willing to fight against Ash, because Elena is a true leader, someone worth fighting for. They also helped create the threat she now faces. Victor apologizes for everything he did to her and her family in the past. He knows he can't undo that, and he may never earn their forgiveness, but he'd like to try. This is the complete opposite of Esteban's trial, where he just gave them his Freudian excuse and expected to have forgiveness handed to him on a silver platter, without doing anything to try and earn it. Quita Moz shows up again, and they head outside. He returns Ixlan's gloves to her. It turns out that they insulate her hands, allowing her to unleash literal lightning, hence her moniker. A servant tells Elena that a doctor has arrived to remove her cast. **Finally!** She laments doing so because she just figured out how to use her scepter with her left hand, but Mateo points out that at least she's scepte-dextrous now. Naomi tells Ixlan that bad jokes like that are kind of their thing. Aw! My favorite ship has an official "thing!" I'm so proud! Mateo uses a spell to reverse the malvago transformation on Victor and Carla, which gives them their old clothes back. Now they and Ixlan have officially joined the team, bringing the total number of people up to eight, double what the original team had, counting Gabe, who shows up right at the end for the group pose, and Isabel. Huh. It took me two hours to write about this one too!

## Review

Gabe now has a black, yellow, and red bag behind his back like Mateo does to hold his tamborita, which seems to have been painted to show what looks like Avalor's crest, but it's hard to tell. I do kind of wish that Gabe had showed up at the beginning and end of the episode like Mateo did. That's exactly what happened in the original animatic version, along with the grand council. Even if Gabe didn't have any lines, it would've made his sudden appearance at the end be… not as sudden and immersion breaking. You could even have him say that the reason he and Mateo are staying behind instead of going with Elena and Naomi to help them watch Victor and Carla is because Mateo wants to teach Gabe and his guards more magic. Still, even without that, I loved this episode. It definitely hyped me up for the final few episodes, and showed us the character development of Carla, Victor, Naomi, and Elena, in both subtle and obvious ways. I also loved the song. Excuse me while I get it stuck in my head while I transcribe it. Little Carla is adorable! Maybe I'll even try and learn how to make the dishes they mention. Myrna Velasco and Lou Diamond Phillips' performances were great in this episode. I hope we see Ixlan again, and soon. I get that the joke is that her character doesn't show much emotion or understand rhetorical questions, but I'd like to hear more of Stephanie Beatriz before the show ends. It also seems unrealistic that after being imprisoned (and potentially conscious) for hundreds or even thousands of years, that she doesn't have to adjust or come to terms with how the world is now or what happened to the rest of her people, at least onscreen. Although she and Elena could definitely relate to each other. The themes of trust, forgiveness, second chances, change, and being able to trust someone who betrayed you before definitely reminded me of season 3 of Tangled, as well as season 15 of Ninjago. I personally think that it was handled better here, although if you disagree, that's fine. It just felt like Lloyd's arc was about leadership and responsibility for the first 2/5ths of the season, and it was subtle, but then it was about rather cliche and overdone trust issues, ex-girlfriend angst, and daddy issues the rest of the time, all of which were as understated as anvils to the face. The redemptions were also better done here too, at least in my opinion.