Elena of Avalor S1 E6

## Plot

Elena and Gabe are sailing to the kingdom of Cordoba. Elena is excited because she'll be working on her first big royal project: A bridge between Avalor and Cordoba to make travel easier. She'll be working on it with the prince of Cordoba, Prince Alonso. His father, King Juan Ramón, asked Elena to come to teach his son about what it means to be a responsible royal. You see, Prince Alonso is flirty, irresponsible, snooty, spoiled, narcissistic, and selfish. He flirts with Elena. Gabe doesn't like him. I know all of the shippers will assume that it's because of the flirting, but it could also be that Alonso is irresponsible, lazy, and treats anyone who isn't royal like they're below him, including Gabe. Gabe, despite not being a prince, is the exact opposite of Alonso. While walking through the corridors, Elena takes the time to admire the tapestries on the walls, which depict historic moments in Cordoba's history, and famous legends. There's a specific one about the legend of the Yacalli. It's a wooden giant that scares off people who wander into his territory. There's another tapestry right next to it that features some owls (or at least creatures that look like owls) called buhitos in dirt mounds and on a tree. Buhitos can only be found in Cordoba. Alonso wants to take Elena on a private tour as a sort of date, but they have to pick a site for the bridge first. Elena loves the model of the bridge. Alonso wants to take her on the tour right away, and suggests assigning a member of the staff to pick a site for the bridge. Elena points out that it's their job, so they shouldn't give it to someone else. She's already researched a number of potential bridge sites to check out. Alonso… has done no research whatsoever, and that should not surprise you at this point. The first site is the closest distance between their two kingdoms. It's the meadow next to the San Prado river. Despite Alonso's chariot only seating two, Gabe insists on following them, since he's Elena's personal guard. He's forced to ride on Pedro, an old, slow horse (or maybe a donkey?) who reminds me of Eeyore. Anyways, there are tons of buhitos at the San Prado river. Elena once again demonstrates logical thinking by saying that she chose the site because the river was the narrowest here, which would save them time and materials. Alonso just wants to get it over with and dig there, but Elena questions why there are dirt mounds in the ground. She grows even more cautious when the guards tell her that the local farmers say that if you build in this area, it will awaken the Yacalli. Alonso insists that the Yacalli isn't real, but Elena isn't so sure. She has seen and done some pretty fantastical stuff after all, both here and on Sofia the First. Alonso decides to prove it to her by having one of the men dig up the dirt mounds. Nothing happens, so they decide that it's safe to build there. Alonso wants to go on that tour now that their job is done, but Elena wants to supervise the workers for a little while. Alonso does get a little credit for correctly pointing out that Elena can be a workaholic, and she needs a balance of work and fun. He sings a song that convinces her to come with him, against Gabe's objections. And if you pay attention during the song, you might see something interesting. Also, wow, Tyler Posey can sing! And he's really good at playing a douchebag that you just wanna punch in the face. Anyways, it turns out that the Yacalli *is* real, and it just took a bit of time for him to wake up. He asks the people to leave the area, or he'll be forced to break all of their equipment. The guards tell the men to keep digging though. The Yacalli breaks their equipment, and the construction men run away. Gabe finally catches up to Elena and Alonso, and suggests that they head back to the bridge site. Elena wants to check on the progress, but Alonso wants to finish his lunch, and tries to assure her that his men are taking good care of it. Just then, one of the guards arrives and tells them about the Yacalli. They rush back to the work site. Elena tries to apologize to him and leave the area peacefully, but Alonso refuses, and wrecks one of the dirt mounds by accident. It was the home of a buhito, so now the Yacalli is honor bound to attack Alonso's home: The palace. The guards' weapons don't really do anything. See, this is why you carry either swords or bows and arrows, not glorified javelins! Gabe and Elena leave to warn King Juan Ramón about the impending attack. The buhitos can help the Yacalli to travel faster by carrying him and flying. Elena wonders why the buhitos are helping him. They tell the king, who intends to defend the palace himself with as many guards as possible, including the captain of the guards, Captain Rivas. This isn't important, I just think that Captain Rivas is a cool title and name, and it's cool to see a king in full armor with a sword ready to do battle. Alonso arrives and blames everything on Elena and the workers. Elena takes the blame for her part in the incident, but also says that it's Alonso's fault too, since he refused to leave and didn't apologize to the Yacalli. She wanted to leave after she heard about the Yacalli, but Alonso wouldn't let them. She should have trusted her instincts. King Juan Ramón believes her over his own son, since he knows what Alonso is like. He instructs Alonso to get Elena and Gabe to safety while he prepares to fight the Yacalli. However, Elena notices the two tapestries from before, and it all clicks. The Yacalli is the protector of the buhitos, and the mounds of dirt they destroyed were burrows for them. The tree branch of the buhitos tapestry was really the Yacalli's other arm, and he was in between them and the people. Elena knows how to save the palace. Alonso is a coward and runs away, while Gabe stays by her side and doesn't question her judgment, trusting her to do what's right. They're able to calm the Yacalli down by making a new home for the buhitos. Yay, they solved the problem in a nonviolent way! Elena explains the situation, apologizes to the Yacalli, and promises to make new burrows to replace the ones they destroyed. King Juan Ramón declares the meadow an animal sanctuary for the buhitos so no one will disturb it, and an incident like this will never happen again. The Yacalli thanks them and goes back to where he was to watch over the buhitos once more. This time, King Juan Ramón will help Elena pick a site for the bridge. Alonso will help build it, in the hopes that it may finally teach him some responsibility and humility. With everything *finally* taken care of, Elena decides to heed the only good advice from Alonso and tour the kingdom to have some fun and relax.

## Review

I will admit that, even if Craig Gerber says that Gabe has a crush on Elena, and I'm doing everything in my power to not see it, Gabe's expressions throughout the episode are hilarious! He's just so exasperated! I love it! Oh, and the Yacalli's dialogue is really funny too! He's voiced by Jason LaShea. Part of what makes him so funny is his voice, and the fact that despite being a giant, he's a polite gentleman. Someone has seen *The Iron Giant*.