Elena of Avalor S2 E24

## Plot

Everyone, I present to you, our final recap of season 2! Naomi is teaching Elena and Mateo how to lasso. Elena has gotten the hang of it, but Mateo isn't very good at it. Also, Elena has her scepter back, but Craig Gerber said this was due to an animation error. Okay, but that's a pretty big error! Suddenly, Esteban arrives with an urgent letter from King Joaquín. It says that Victor and Carla were spotted sneaking into Cariza, and were caught. However, they told Joaquín something so troubling that he wants Elena to come to Cariza right away to discuss it immediately. Naomi points out that it would be easier if Joaquín just brought Victor and Carla to Avalor. Esteban says she doesn't have any experience in matters of state, proving that he's the adult male version of Hildegard when it comes to not keeping previous character development. Elena tells Naomi that this is a good thing, and decides to leave first thing in the morning, with Esteban and Mateo accompanying her. After they leave, Gabe, Migs, Andres, Miguel, and the other two jaquins return to the palace to pick up supplies and update Elena on their search. Yay, Gabe's finally back! And he and Naomi hug! No, I don't ship them, but it's still cute. He tells her that they found Victor and Carla's cabin, but they weren't there. She tells him about their apparent capture and Elena's departure, but she still has a bad feeling about it. All of Joaquín's previous letters addressed Elena as a friend, not by her title, which Naomi proves by showing them all to Gabe. They also ended differently too. Naomi suggests that someone else wrote the letter to lure Elena to Cariza. Gabe points out that the handwriting is the same, and says she's making a big deal out of nothing. She admits that he's probably right, but they decide to fly to Cariza anyways to see them bring Victor and Carla in. Esteban tells Elena that despite his earlier beliefs, she is a good leader, and will be a great queen one day. She says she never could have done it without him by her side. Aw! And also, ouch! The foreshadowing! It hurts! They arrive in Cariza and greet Joaquín, who is obviously under mind control. The only way it could be clearer would be if he had glowing eyes. This makes me worry about where his wife and daughter are during these events. He asks Elena to leave her two guards on the ship, and shows them the cell where Victor and Carla supposedly are, but it's empty. The Delgados show up behind them, and Ash blasts Esteban and Mateo into the cell. Victor takes Mateo's tamborita. Ash removes the mind control spell on Joaquín, and Carla blasts him into the cell. Before Elena can hit Victor, Ash freezes her in place. She explains that she put Joaquín and his guards under a spell to lure Elena into a trap. Victor and Carla tell them that she's his wife and her mom. She plans to drain Elena's magic from her that night with a spell to make her the most powerful malvago ever, and there's a chance that Elena won't survive. Can I just say that I'm loving the subtle but effective cinematography of this episode? Gabe, Naomi, Migs, and Skylar arrive at the royal galleon, and learn from the guards that Elena went to the palace with Esteban, Mateo, and Joaquín. Gabe says it's not like Joaquín to break protocol, which finally makes him realize that something is wrong. They see the Delgados taking Elena to a ship, and overhear them talking about how they plan to drain Elena's magic from her once the first ray of moonlight hits the jewel of the Scepter of Night. Gabe wants to stop them before they get on the boat, but Naomi says that they have tamboritas, and they only have a sword and a rope. Ash says it takes two malvagos to perform the spell, so Carla will assist her, since she's the stronger malvago. Victor tells Ash that she won't drive a wedge between him and his daughter. Naomi wants to find Mateo first, but Gabe points out that they have no idea where he is, so she suggests at least waiting until the Delgados are cornered on the ship, but Gabe wants to move now, and Naomi reluctantly agrees to go with his plan. It leads to him getting captured, and Naomi, Migs, and Skylar narrowly escape. Victor leaves to lock Gabe in the dungeon with the others. Naomi has no idea what to do now. Migs says she knows a lot more than she thinks she does. She knew that Joaquín's letter was a trap, and she knew it was a mistake to attack the Delgados right away. She still blames herself for letting it happen. She sensed that something was wrong, but backed down. Migs and Skylar tell her that she has to speak up for herself. And by that, I mean they sing a song about it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a surprisingly cute and stunning song, but it undercuts the tension and pacing when there's a time limit. They see Victor lock Gabe in the dungeon with the others. Naomi and Skylar taunt him into trying to blast them, and they dodge his shots, which brings down the wall of the cell. Migs bumps into Victor, and lampshades that he needs to start looking over his shoulder, since that's at least the third time that's happened. Mateo grabs his tamborita, and Joaquín and Esteban agree to watch Victor while the others rescue Elena. Naomi retrieves her lasso, and Gabe gets his sword back. She tells him that she already has a plan, and they head to the captain's quarters. Ash and Carla start performing the spell, but Carla heads outside to investigate when they hear Mateo yell after tripping over something. It turns out that it was just a distraction so Naomi could take Carla's tamborita. Mateo casts a spell that *destroys the jewel of the Scepter of Night*. Let me repeat that: He cast a spell powerful enough to shatter something that Elena's blaze couldn't vaporize. So cool! He then casts a shield against Ash's spell, Naomi lassos her wrist, and Gabe uses his sword to pin her tamborita to the wall. That was awesome! However, Ash cuts herself and Carla free, and they dive into the water. Gabe and Mateo head to the docks with guards to look for them, and Elena tells Naomi that she's okay. Carla wants to go back for Victor, but Ash says they'll have no chance without tamboritas. They have to leave him behind, but Ash promises that they'll come back for him. The next day, Victor is brought onto the royal galleon in chains. Joaquín apologizes to Elena for what he did, and thanks Naomi for saving them all. While heading home, Elena apologizes to her for not listening about the letter. She was right after all. She says that the next time she has a hunch about something, she won't back down so easily. Mateo tells them that Ash is the most powerful malvago he's ever seen. Naomi assures Elena that they stopped her once, and they can do it again. The quartet of friends hug as they see Avalor in the distance.

## Review

I loved this episode, especially Grey Griffin's performance as Ash. She's a spectacular, menacing, and powerful villain. Even when something like her relationship with Victor is being played for laughs, she herself isn't. I always get creeped out whenever a villain violates a protagonist's personal space, and this episode was no exception. Even after Ash has been defeated, she treats it as a minor inconvenience. She almost always has a slasher smile on her face. Her voice always has this sexy, confident edge to it, and I love it. So, I guess if Shuriki did survive the events of the special, she's definitely dead now. It's certainly an unexpected road to take, but I think the series would've come full circle if it ended the way it started, although I understand that it might have limited the writers' ability to create new one or two shot villains, especially in the final season or series finale. After all, Cedric was the antagonist we saw the most during Sofia the First's run, but the writers added lots of other villains who were slightly more competent and successful, even if some of them didn't appear as often as I wanted them to, or reformed too quickly in my eyes. And I'm really glad that Vor was the final villain for that show's series finale. I don't think it would've been as great if they hadn't done that. Viewers might've gotten bored if Shuriki was the main villain the whole way through. Even I might've gotten tired of it, no matter how much I love Jane Fonda, and how much of a personal stake it gives to Elena to beat her most hated enemy. So, that was season 2 of Elena of Avalor. Did it take forever to finish? Oh my gosh, yes, twenty months for twenty four episodes, are you kidding me?! Technically, it was 19 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days, but still, those hiatuses were the absolute worst. I don't blame the crew at all; I know they probably had little to no control over when or even how the episodes were aired. I still really liked this season, and I think that the serialized story line was mostly worth the wait. I liked the lesson and the song that went with it. Naomi has had a few problems speaking her mind before, but it was so subtle in the previous season, and in my opinion, I don't think it was showcased very well this season until this final episode. Plus, Elena apologizing for "not trusting [Naomi]" reminded me too much of the end of "Rise of the Sorceress", which did not need a tacked on moral. Looking back, Naomi *has* had problems this season with getting others (usually Elena) to listen to her in episodes 5, 7, 10, 16, and 18 before this. However, that's different than speaking up for herself (seriously, in those episodes, she had absolutely no problem voicing her opinion, but then in this episode she suddenly does), she's supposed to be (and is) in the wrong in episode 16, and the other episodes were more about cliché A and B plot stuff, overcoming trauma, and… apologizing. Plus, does it really count as an arc for Naomi if the problem is caused by *other people* continually not changing their responses to her, even after they say they will? After all, she can't and shouldn't force people to listen to her, and she can be wrong too, as we'll see more of in season 3. I know, teenagers and young adults and people of all ages and facets of real life can and will make a bunch of mistakes, and changing your behavior overnight after just one lesson is pretty much impossible, so it's actually incredibly realistic of this cartoon to see the same thing here with its characters, even if it's not what we're used to seeing or if it was unintentional. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.