Elena of Avalor S1 E4

## Plot

It's Esteban's birthday, and everyone is throwing him a surprise party. Like every other time this common story has appeared, Esteban thinks that no one remembered his birthday. Quick question. Does it really give away the fact that you're throwing him, or anyone, a surprise party, if you just say happy birthday? It takes two seconds. For example, when I had a surprise party, everyone knew that it was my birthday. And I knew that they knew that it was my birthday. I thought I wasn't getting a party because it happened to fall on my cousin's open house graduation party. But then my aunt came out with cake, and told everyone the story of me and my siblings'… troublesome birth, and everyone wished us a happy birthday. I was thirteen years old. It was the best party I had ever been to. I had made it no secret that I had wanted a surprise party growing up. Anyways, Elena and Mateo have to keep Esteban distracted so he doesn't find out about the party. They're taking him sailing. Esteban laments that when he was young, he had big dreams in life that never panned out because he was always taking orders from someone. First his grandparents, then Shuriki, and now Elena. Mateo found an old nautical map that belonged to his grandfather. It starts to glow, indicating that it's magical. You can magically zoom in on it by tapping on it. Oh, so it's like the maps app on a cell phone. Esteban doesn't want to go at first, but he changes his mind when he sees an island off the coast called Santalos. He wants to go there to drink water from the fountain of youth, so he can become young again and fulfill his dreams. Also, Elena has a new outfit and hairstyle, and I love it. Mateo mentions that according to the fountain of youth myth about the island, it disappears at sunset everyday, and turns up somewhere else in the world the next. There's a minor subplot about Francisco and Isabel playing the birthday song together. Isabel created a new invention to play it. It's a combination of a guitar and an accordion, which she calls a guitardion. However, despite it being a duet, the two have different ideas about how it should be played. Francisco insists that it's a sweet, heartfelt, slow song, and that's how it's always been played. Isabel likes her upbeat, energetic take on it though. Luisa suggests that they play for the staff to see which one they like better. Meanwhile, Esteban, Elena, and Mateo arrive at Santalos. Esteban runs off and makes a beeline for the fountain. Elena and Mateo follow him so they won't be late for the party. Esteban drinks some water, but when he doesn't immediately change back, he drinks more. When Elena and Mateo find him, he's changed into a young man. He keeps drinking the water and brings some along with him in a canteen. He doesn't listen to Elena and Mateo, and heads off to do whatever he wants. Mateo sees a baby monkey eat a flower petal, and it ages into an old monkey. When they get back to the rowboat, Esteban turns into a child. He drank too much water, so he'll keep getting younger and younger. Child Esteban doesn't like being a child, but he gets easily distracted and is really cocky. He wants to go after the magic aging flower and runs off. Elena and Mateo worry about what will happen if he eats too much of it, and they chase after him again. Meanwhile, at the palace, the staff prefers Isabel's music to Francisco's, which means that she'll play the song solo. This hurts Francisco's feelings. There is probably always going to be some kind of gap between different generations. But we shouldn't let our different viewpoints or ways of doing things divide us. They should bring us closer together. Just because one group of people like something doesn't mean that another group will. But that doesn't mean that these different ways don't have merit. They all do. Art is subjective, and in the eye of the beholder. Meanwhile, Esteban falls into quicksand and starts sinking. Elena and Mateo save him, but he runs off again. He grabs the flower, and climbs a tree to avoid Elena and Mateo. However, the flower blows out of his hand and onto a bush on a tall outcropping of a rock, and he turns into a baby. Mateo tells Elena that the sun is starting to set, and if they don't get off the island soon, they'll vanish. Baby Esteban starts to slip, and Elena catches him and sings a lullaby to calm him down. It has been speculated by fans, including myself, that this song is a lullaby that Elena's mother used to sing to her and Isabel. The island starts disappearing. Mateo uses a levitating spell he was practicing earlier in the episode to get the flower. However, Baby Esteban refuses to eat it. Mateo recalls a story Luisa and Francisco told at the beginning of the episode that Esteban was a picky eater as a baby. So Elena uses the trick they did to get Esteban to eat. Basically, replace the plane (the food) with jaquins and the runway (his mouth) with a nest. He eats it and turns back to normal. They run off the island. They jump a ravine Esteban had almost fallen into earlier. However, Elena and Esteban bump into each other. Elena falls in and needs Esteban's help to pull her up, but he has to choose between saving her or the last of his fountain of youth water in his canteen. Naturally, he chooses her. They get off the island just before it vanishes, and Elena thanks Esteban for saving her life. Just because he doesn't like the way she rules doesn't mean he wants any harm to come to her. He's less of a straight villain and more of an anti-hero. Mateo dropped the map on the island by accident, so they can't check where it is now. They get back to the party, and Esteban is really touched. Isabel wants to play the birthday song with Francisco, even though he doesn't know how to play it her way. She says that they'll just play it their way, and make a compromise that makes the music both sweet and upbeat. Yes, compromises do exist! Miracles are real! Esteban thanks Elena for the party and makes peace with his age.