Elena of Avalor S3 E15

## Plot

The episode starts with a dwarf arriving in Castillo park. He uses a magical guitar called Salma to hypnotize everyone there and make them give him their money. He can even hypnotize animals. His name is Tito, voiced by Anthony Ramos from *Hamilton*. Francisco and Luisa leave to spend the day at the beach, and Luisa tells Elena to look after Isabel. She's upset that her abuela still treats her like a baby, saying that she's practically grown up now. Cristina, Amara, and Quique show up to have fun with her. She shows them a new wheelchair she built for Cristina called the Super Chair, with levers that make it go high in the air and rotate, and it can even go off road. Cristina wants to take it slow, but Isabel wants her to take it off road or do a scissor lift. Elena tells her that she can't push Cristina if she's not comfortable. She needs to let her do this her way. They hear a bell ringing, and Elena and Isabel start to leave, but Quique, Amara, and Cristina wonder what's going on. Isabel explains that she came up with an emergency communication system. She had to come up with seven prototypes to make sure it worked in all conditions. Cold weather made the wire that rang the bells contract and snap, and heat made it expand. It's for Elena's team, which you may remember Isabel was added to in the season 3 premiere. I didn't forget it, but she never helped catch Victor, Carla, or Ash, or stopped Troyo, so I wondered what the point of adding her to the team was if they were never going to show her doing anything with the others. Technically, they still don't do that even in this episode, but I'm glad they at least addressed it again. I still love Mateo's new outfit and tamborita. There are reports of a bandit with a silver guitar robbing people in Castillo park, and the guards that Gabe sent haven't returned yet, so they're probably dealing with a bigger problem. Elena says they'll flank the bandit from separate vantage points. On her signal, Naomi will move in with her lasso, Gabe will back her up with his sword, Mateo will cast a stunning spell, and if that doesn't work, she'll go in with her scepter. And Isabel… will stay in the super coach in case they need extra supplies. Surprisingly, she's okay with such a minor role, even though it's pretty much exactly the same way she was treated before. Still, at least she's allowed to come along this time. Baby steps. Higgins and Antonia are two of the guards that Gabe sent, and they've also been hypnotized by Tito's music and have given up their swords. The team arrives, but when they see Tito from behind, they assume his small stature is because he's a child and ask him his name. Naomi calls him little, which makes him mad. They see that he's actually a dwarf, and he hypnotizes them too, making them give up their weapons. He decides to sell the scepter for a fortune. Isabel sees that they're in a trance and wonders what to do. Back at the palace, Cristina tries a scissor lift, but she doesn't like it. Olivia asks them if they've seen Mateo, because he's late for their lesson, which is really unlike him. Isabel gets back and tells them what happened. If she sends more guards, they'll be put in a trance like everyone else. She wonders what Elena would do, and asks her friends and Olivia to form a team with her to stop Tito. Cristina wants to know what the plan is first, but Isabel says she'll figure it out on the way, like Elena would. Olivia can cast a spell to cover their ears and block all sound. After that, Amara will throw a lasso, even though she has no idea how to use it. Quique will back her up with a sword, even though it's too heavy for him. Olivia will stop Tito with a stun spell, but she and Mateo haven't gone over combat spells yet. Then Cristina will go in for the big finish with her new chair. She tries to tell Isabel that they should stop and think about this first. They barely even know how to use their equipment. Olivia casts the sound blocking spell, which also works on the horse, Canela, but that means that they can't hear each other or go over the plan one more time. Tito tries to hypnotize them, but it doesn't work. Isabel tells them to forget the plan and just go, but they can't hear her. Quique and Amara bump into each other and lose their stuff. Olivia casts Fenci, but Cristina bumps into her and throws off her aim, which knocks down a ladder by Tito. Cristina can't remember which lever does what. She does a bunch of scissor lifts, which scares Canela, who runs away with the coach. Quique runs at Tito with a sword, but when he trips over a rock, the sword goes flying out of its scabbard and cuts a rope holding a sheet up, which falls on Tito. Olivia points her tamborita at him, and he runs away on his horse… just down the street. The kids think they scared him away for good though and celebrate, except for Cristina. Tito sees a bank and decides to rob it with help from Elena and her friends, who are still hypnotized. The kids see him do it, and wonder if they should try the same plan as before. Cristina points out that not one single part of the plan went the way it was supposed to. They just got really lucky the first time. Isabel says she's right, but decides to focus on saving Elena and her friends this time instead of stopping Tito. They'll follow Elena's standard rescue plan. Cristina will get Tito's attention and distract him. Olivia will cast a reversal spell on Elena, Mateo, Naomi, and Gabe, even though she tells Isabel that she doesn't think Zenamo works on other people's spells. Isabel tries to encourage her by saying a few lines of *The Magic Within You*. Nah, doesn't have the same ring to it, or the same shipping vibes. Amara and Quique will get everyone on the coach and leave while Isabel knocks down the bandit, and then she'll leap on his horse and join up with the rest of them. Cristina isn't sure they can do all of that. Just because something works for Elena doesn't mean it'll work for them, but Isabel tells them to move out. Tito enters the bank and hypnotizes everyone there, including Doña Paloma, Julio, Carmen, Gabe's parents, and a man who looks exactly like Señor Estrada. Tito sings a song about his origins. He tried to sing on the street for money and fame, but everyone kept on walking and used his guitar case as a trashcan, until he found Salma, a magic guitar that made people do whatever he wanted. Cristina distracts him, but Olivia can't reverse the spell everyone is under. Isabel tells them to skip that part and get them on the coach, but Amara and Quique bump into Olivia and fall down. Tito sees them, and Isabel tries to knock him down, but swings right past him, loses her momentum, and falls down. Cristina backs into him with her chair and spins him around on it. He has enough and decides to use Elena and her friends to catch them instead. They tie everyone up and start leaving… And Tito stupidly doesn't hypnotize them like everyone else when Olivia undoes the sound blocking spell. Quique accidentally tells him that Elena is the Crown Princess, which makes him realize that he can use her to rob the royal treasury. Or you could hypnotize all the guards? He leaves with the others. Isabel realizes that she only made things worse, and thinks she's nothing like Elena. Cristina tells her that she's not her big sister and she never will be, but she doesn't have to be. She just has to be herself and figure things out in her own way. It's like in *The Legend of Korra* when Tenzin realizes that he has to be himself instead of trying to be his father Aang. Isabel tells Cristina to pull a lever on her chair, revealing that there was a pair of literal scissors in it the whole time. They get back to the palace and come up with a plan first. They'll play to each other's strengths and go after the source of Tito's power, his guitar. Quique is the class clown, Amara has a great throwing arm, Olivia already knows a freezing spell, Cristina will use her chair, and Isabel's superpower is her mind… and her great hair. They come up with hand signals to communicate even when they can't hear anything. Everyone gets into position and hides when Tito comes out with the others carrying gems. Quique takes Tito's sombrero, revealing that he's bald, and he orders Elena and Gabe to go after him. Olivia jumps out of the bushes and takes their swords away with a magic spell, and they go after them. Cristina takes the bags full of gems from Mateo and Naomi, and when they try to go after her, she does a scissor lift to send herself and Amara into the air, and they throw the bags onto a balcony. Olivia freezes the guitar, and when Tito tries to play it, the strings snap, which breaks the mind control on everyone. The kids tie him up and Elena gets her scepter back. The guards take him away and leave to return all the money he stole. When Elena asks Isabel how she stopped him, she explains that she realized they could break the spell by breaking the guitar strings, and she learned from the prototypes of her emergency alarm system that extreme cold would make the metal strings brittle and easier to snap. Luisa and Francisco finally get back from the beach. Before Isabel can tell them what happened, Francisco sees the guitar and decides to repair it, and the episode ends by freezing on Elena and Isabel trying to stop him, almost like an old timey sitcom. Also, I didn't mention it during the episode itself because I wasn't sure where to put it, but it's weird seeing Isabel with her friends, since she's been given a redesign and they haven't, so now she looks older than them, and she's definitely taller than them. It doesn't ruin the episode or anything, but it just kind of bugs me a little. Still, for a standalone filler episode that focused on Isabel again and doesn't even mention or allude to Esteban at all, it's pretty good.