Elena of Avalor S2 E21

## Plot

Mateo is in the library practicing magic when stuff starts disappearing. It turns out that Elena is making things vanish as a joke, which Esteban catches her doing. It's still glitching though. She asks Mateo if he's pulling another long night again. He didn't realize how late it was. He promised his mom he wouldn't be late for dinner again. He wishes he didn't live so far away sometimes. Elena says he doesn't have to, and shows him the royal wizard's quarters. Mateo loves it, but he knows how his mom will react if he says he wants to move out. Rafa is every overly worried empty nest suffering mother (basically my mom) and Mateo is like a college student living far away (basically what I wanted to be). Elena says his mom just wants what's best for him, and she'll understand. She agrees… but it turns out that she misunderstood, and thinks she's being invited to stay at the palace as well. Elena tells Mateo that the longer he waits to tell her the truth, the harder it'll be. He knows she's right, but his mom seems so happy. Armando tells Mateo that Olivia is waiting in the workshop for today's lesson. Rafa tells him to go, and he tells Elena that he'll tell her the truth right after Olivia's lesson. He shows Olivia the Creature Compendium. Alacazar locked up many dangerous magical creatures in the book. Mateo is going to teach Olivia how to trap something in the book. He releases it with a potion, and uses a dropper so it doesn't accidentally spill on and release an evil monster, like the Kupi-Kupi. Rafa shows up and offers them food. Mateo asks for Elena's help, and she gives Rafa a tour of the palace. However, she's called away by Armando when she has to review tomorrow's grand council agenda, which is really long. Rafa bothers and angers everyone though, from talking about Mateo nonstop to redecorating at random. Esteban tells Elena that they have a problem. She and Mateo see that Rafa has also put safety latches on the cabinets in the royal wizard's quarters, made a chore chart, and even built them bunk beds. How much time does that woman have on her hands? She does have a job, right? And when did she become such a fast carpenter? Mateo finally tells her that he's ready to live on his own, but she refuses to let "her baby" face the perils of the modern world on his own. They head to dinner, and Rafa puts down a picture of her and a baby Mateo. However, it falls and spills the releasing potion onto the Kupi-Kupi in the creature book, freeing it. Mateo tells Elena what happened, and they see that the Kupi was released. If someone looks him in the eyes, they'll run backwards. Rafa sees it, and Mateo tells her what it is. He casts a large shield spell around the entire palace so it won't escape, but it won't last forever. Elena leaves to get her scepter while Mateo heads to his workshop to get the creature book, and Rafa follows him. They see that the portrait of them knocked over the potion, and Rafa realizes that this is her fault. She, Elena, and Mateo find the Kupi in the royal wizard's quarters. Mateo keeps missing when he tries to hit it with the capture spell. Elena makes herself vanish and grabs it, but it makes her run backwards. Esteban and Armando were also put under the spell, and they bump into Mateo, who loses his tamborita. Rafa picks it up and tries to cast a spell with it, but she ends up destroying the shield around the palace. Mateo finally tells her to stop, and gets her to hand over his tamborita. He finally hits the Kupi with the spell, and it goes back into the book, which breaks the spell on the others. Rafa apologizes for everything, and accepts that Mateo has grown up and she needs to let him go. He says that she's the best mother anyone could ever have. She raised him all by herself, and everything he is is because of her. She cries and says he did this all on his own. She tries to give him the photo, but he creates a duplicate so they can both have one. They hug and say that they love each other. She leaves, and he promises to come home every Sunday for dinner.

## Review

I liked this episode. Like in Sofia the First, this episode is relatable to any teenager or young adult who's grown up and wants to finally leave home, and any parents who are struggling with the idea of letting go, especially if that person is an only child. This was basically my life in a nutshell when this episode originally aired, though we did the opposite of what happened here for financial reasons, and I had my little brother to hopefully placate my mom. Also, maybe it's because this originally aired two days after Valentine's Day, so I still had my shipping goggles on, but Elena and Mateo held hands at the beginning of the episode, and at the end, they put their arms around each other. Also, Rafa isn't the biggest fan of Esteban, and the feeling is mutual. All of that being said, I also know a lot of fans found it weird to have a message like this in this sort of show, where almost all of the characters are Latino coded, since Latino and Asian families often live with immediate *and* extended family, not just a nuclear family with parents and siblings like you see in a lot of sitcoms, at least ones with white families. There are also grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and maybe even close family friends. I could totally see Marlena living with Rafa now to keep her company, plus they'd each only have to pay one half of the rent or mortgage, assuming that even exists in Avalor, or the house hasn't been paid off in full already, since Alacazar also lived in that same house.