Sofia the First S4 E21

## Plot

As the title says, everyone is preparing for a royal wedding. James has to greet all of the guests, and remember where they're from. Sofia and Amber help him practice. It's revealed that Aunt Tilly is the one getting married, to Sir Bartleby, a knight. James has to greet everyone because he's going to be king one day, and that's one of his duties as heir to the throne. Aunt Tilly is practicing flying around, because she has wings, thanks to a Whenever Wings wand. I love her wedding gown! She asks Sofia to be her maid of honor, since she was the one who brought her and Bartleby together in the first place. She wants her to hold on to her wand until the ceremony, and when she gives her the signal… We don't hear the rest of it. It is supposed to be a surprise after all. The royal family gathers in the throne room for the official wedding portrait. The Grand Queen will stand next to the bride, flanked by the king and queen. The children will be in front, with the heir to the throne in the center. However, Grand Mum says that Amber should stand in the middle. Roland says that the middle spot is for the future king. She says that James and Amber need to switch spots. James isn't next in line for the throne, Amber is. Roland says that the firstborn son inherits the throne, like he did. Grand Mum says that's not how the law is written, and Tilly agrees with her. It's the firstborn child that gets to rule. Amber and James may be twins, but Amber is seven minutes older, making her the future queen. They read the law to prove it. Roland wonders how that's possible, because then Tilly would've been offered the throne instead of him. As it turns out, she was. I'm surprised that Sofia's surprised by this, because she already learned about it earlier. However, as I more or less predicted in that episode, Tilly didn't want it. She wanted to be an adventurer instead, so she abdicated. She also knew that her little brother would make a much better ruler. No one ever told Roland, because they knew that being king was all he ever wanted, and his mother and father knew it was all he could ever do. Seriously? The only thing Roland was ever good at or had interest in was being king? That makes a certain season 1 episode a bit harsher in hindsight. James says that maybe being king is all he ever wanted. Except it's not, and the law is the law. Amber points out that he doesn't even like doing most of the things a king has to do. James also points out that she can be selfish, but Amber says she isn't like that anymore. It's about time she finally learned her lesson about not being vain and selfish. But let's face it, both in universe and out of it, everyone can feel like that and make mistakes sometimes. James runs off to the stables to vent his feelings. Sofia talks to him. She says he can find another way to protect their kingdom. Like being a knight? However, James decides to make sure Amber never becomes queen. Tilly gives Amber Bartleby's wedding ring to hold on to, since she's heir to the throne now. It's one of a kind. James plans to make her look like a fool throughout the day, so everyone can see that he's more fit to rule instead. Yeah, James is an idiot. He clearly doesn't realize that by trying to sabotage Amber, he's being just as selfish and egotistical as he's accusing her of being. Hypocrite. And for no reason other than to create drama and tension, he forgets that he's been trying to become a knight. Amber greets the guests in the custom of their own land, and she does a much better job than James probably would've done. Hildegard is at the wedding! And Queen Emmaline! But not Cora or Oona? Oh well, they return later anyways. James tells Sofia about his plan. He leads the gnomes, centaurs, and giants to Amber, because their greetings are hard to remember. Oh, there's Queen Tessa, Kari's mom! Again though, Kari herself isn't here? What's the overall seating capacity of the entire outdoor area of the Enchancian castle? Anyways, Amber gets all the greetings right. She aced Majestic Formalities at Royal Prep. She also presented the cake, and she still has the ring. Tilly says she's going to be a great queen. She tells Sofia that when she gives her the signal, she wants her to release a flock of flying fish. Right, she has some at her manor. James says that watching the fish is a perfect job for the heir to the throne. Amber says that Tilly asked Sofia to do it. James says she doesn't think she can handle it. She says she can handle it, and offers to take care of the fish. It's okay with Sofia. Tilly asks the kids to meet her and Bartleby by the ceremony tent in a few minutes. James gets Sofia to talk to her wombeast friend Wilbur. Wow, Tilly really did invite everybody. James also tells Amber that her tiara is crooked, and while she's busy checking, he lets the fish out. Amber and Sofia try to catch them. Amber tells James that it doesn't matter if she gets her dress dirty, because she's doing this for Aunt Tilly. She catches the last two, but the wedding ring falls out of her pocket. The two fish escape, grab it, and go into the ocean. James didn't mean for that to happen. Amber blames herself for everything that went wrong, but Sofia says she's being too hard on herself. She gives up her claim to the throne, and says that James can be the heir again. Before they can talk about it, Baileywick tells them that the ceremony is about to start. James tells Sofia that he let the flying fish out. He doesn't deserve to be king, but Amber does deserve to be queen. Even if he tells everyone the truth, he still lost Aunt Tilly's ring. They see the fish with the ring in the water. James tries to use the Whenever Wings wand to give the ring wings so it can fly out of the water, but it won't stay still. Sofia thinks he should stop before he hits something else. He finally gets it, and they rush off to give it to Amber before she tells everyone she won't be queen. However, James also gave a Kondraki wings. It's basically a giant octopus. It attacks the wedding, and everyone takes cover. It's moving too fast for them to remove the wings with the wand. James tells Amber that he tried everything he could think of to make things harder for her, and apologizes. He and Sofia tell her that she was a great heir to the throne. Sofia learns that the Kondraki just wants the wedding cake. She tells Amber, who tells the guards to use a slice of cake to lure the Kondraki away. Sofia gives James wings, so he can get the monster's attention and lure it away from the wedding. He gives it the cake over the ocean, and Sofia gets rid of its wings. They finally realize that James would make a great knight. Amber says that her first act as queen will be to knight him. Oh, I see Lady Joy! And Winter! Aunt Tilly and Sir Bartleby finally get married, and Tilly gives the signal to Sofia. She gives everyone wings.

## Review

I loved this episode! It really changed up the status quo! That being said, one could argue that it introduced yet another main plot, or at least a major theme, very late into the season, and it's in almost all of the remaining episodes of the series. And that is change, moving on, and growing up. I love this theme, and it's a good lesson for anyone, especially me, since I'm not very good with uncertainty or extreme change. Anyways, because of this, there's very few breather episodes left, and until the series finale, almost no time to focus on the other two major plots: Sofia being a Protector, and Prisma trying to gather the rest of the Wicked Nine. Admittedly, they probably could've fit all this in if they had introduced the Wicked Nine plot sooner, or if the Wicked Nine and Mystic Isles plots intersected even more, or if they simply had a higher episode count, but this season still would've been stuffed to the gills with main plots. Imagine a season of a show that never had even one breather episode. Sounds like it would have a breakneck pace, and would need a lot of recaps. Come to think of it, how come this show never had a recap, but Elena of Avalor had plenty when it became serialized? I love serialization and world building and magical lore, but even I could use a fun filler episode every once in awhile. On a much more somber note, this was Florence Henderson's final episode as Grand Mum, since she passed away from heart failure in November 2016.