Tangled: The Series S3 E18

## Plot

**Content Warning:** Lots of extreme swearing about Cass, also known as she who doesn't deserve a name. It starts at "And don't you dare" and goes until Hell with a capital H. The swearing in general starts at my incredulous reaction to something Cass finds during the episode. In the previous episode, the Captain decided to retire because he realized he just couldn't fight his daughter, which meant that he couldn't protect Corona. He chose Eugene as his replacement, who spent the episode obsessively trying to catch a lookalike of himself using his old Flynn Rider thief persona. The Baron returned, and it's revealed he was horribly disfigured by the spider bite. He's thrown in the dungeon at the end. It was revealed that Eugene was originally going to steal the tiara for him. Eugene encouraged his lookalike to be his own person and make his own legacy, one that he can actually be proud of. This episode starts with Eugene and Varian testing out a weapon to take out Cass if it comes to that: Project Obsidian, a bazooka that can encase her in amber. Rapunzel tells them that they're not attacking Cass. They promise that they won't, but what they can't promise is whether or not she'll attack them. Rapunzel reluctantly approves the project, but says they won't need it, because the Cass they love is still in there somewhere. But if her parents are back to normal and ruling the kingdom again, then shouldn't *they* be the ones approving the project? While walking outside, Cass *finds the missing mirror shard*, which somehow didn't shatter into a million pieces or fall into the dense forest or the river. Seriously guys, what are the fucking odds? Cass sees the whole memory, and realizes that the little girl manipulated her. When she finally asks her who she is and touches her, she sees that she's actually Zhan Tiri. She claims that they're not so different, because they were both cheated out of their destiny. "Just because I'm pursuing my destiny doesn't make me a bad person." That's not what people in or out of universe have a problem with; it's the lengths that you're willing to go to that have changed their perspective on you. Cass runs away, sees a wanted poster of herself in the woods, and wonders if she really is the bad guy. Oh my god, yes! You lied to everyone during season 2 after the house incident, you stole from them, endangered them, kidnapped them, drugged them, and have tried to kill them multiple times now! Sane, stable, normal people who contribute to society don't do those kinds of things! And remind me again, why did you do all that? Oh, that's right! It's really unclear. You don't even know what your own motivation is! ***And don't you dare*** hide behind that vague destiny bullshit to justify it or hide from the consequences either! If Eugene was going to be hung in the movie just for stealing a tiara, then you should be drawn and quartered, or tarred and feathered, or burned at the fucking stake like the witch, the demon, the monstrous, vile, evil, selfish, shallow excuse of a person you are, you idiotic, moronic, stupid, non-reflective, unobservant, unaware, asskissing, fucking cunt. You are. Zhan Tiri's. Bitch. You don't deserve forgiveness or redemption, because you've never done anything to earn it, and you never will. Rapunzel, everyone else in Corona, and everyone you ever hurt are literal saints for doing so and letting you leave the kingdom after everything you've done to them and needlessly put them through. Showing hesitancy or regret at the last second doesn't make you entitled to forgiveness. Your words don't mean shit. Your meager actions at the end are equal to a fraction of what you'd have to do to get me to even try to forgive you if you were a real person. And if you were a real person, I'd tell you that I hope you rot in Hell. I'm sorry that everyone else had to hear that. This anger (at a fictional character, of all things!) has been festering and eating away at me for over a year. I blame the global pandemic. Cass regrets everything she's done to her home, her friends, and Rapunzel. She has to fix this. When the thugs see her though, they think she's going to attack Corona. She uses the magical cloak to disguise herself as a handmaiden named Faith, against Owl's nonverbal advice to just talk to Rapunzel face to face. Once inside Corona, she sees that this year's Goodwill Day play is Rapunzel battling her. However, Frederic has decided to cancel the Goodwill Festival this year in light of recent events. "Faith" encourages everyone to be brave and throw the best festival yet. Cass is convinced that everything will work out fine, unaware that Zhan Tiri is watching her. She volunteers to help Rapunzel and Eugene catch a new gopher for the annual Gopher Grab. "Faith" accidentally calls Rapunzel Raps again, but she just tells her that an old friend used to call her that. She admits that she was a little worried about having the Goodwill Festival this year, considering she spent the past few festivals with Cass, and before that, locked in her tower with Gothel. She's glad she has "Faith" with her though. Feldspar tells them that his Goodwill play is doomed, because the lead actor just quit, and it's fifteen minutes to curtain. Rapunzel tells him that "Faith" is an actress, so Cass is forced to dress up as Rapunzel. After she makes up her own lines about her "motivation", the actor playing herself quits, and Rapunzel takes her place. Cass says that she feels like no one ever gives her a chance, and that's Rapunzel's fault. Rapunzel tells her that maybe if Cass had been more honest about how she felt, then things wouldn't have gone this far. Cass says that maybe it's not so easy for everyone to say how they're feeling. Not everyone can look someone else in the eye and say, "I'm hurting." Or, "I'm sad." Or even, "I'm sorry." God, I felt that. Still never going to forgive Cass unless Disney decides to do something else with her, which they probably never will. Rapunzel tells her that just because it's not easy doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. When a member of the audience asks who the bad guy is, they both snap that it's complicated. No it's not. Intent makes a world of difference, at least in my book, but if you disagree, that's fine. To me though, Cass is the bad guy because she meant everything she said and did wholeheartedly. None of this would have happened if she had just told Rapunzel how she felt earlier, and because Rapunzel is a good person and a good friend who actually legitimately cares about people, once she was aware of what she was unintentionally doing, she would have found a way to stop and help her friend/sister. Later on, Zhan Tiri tells Cass that she could've just gone up to Rapunzel and apologized. She admits that she hasn't done so yet because she's scared that she won't be forgiven. That's a legitimate fear, since she won't be forgiven. At least, not by me, but unfortunately, I don't get a vote. Still, she can clearly see that people have forgiven Varian, right? I wonder how she feels about that. Zhan Tiri tells her about Project Obsidian, but Cass doesn't believe her. She also gives Cass a potion to protect herself against Rapunzel when she inevitably turns on her. This year's Gopher Grab will be held in the courtyard instead of the woods for safety reasons. "Faith" tells Rapunzel that she changed the lines in the play because she heard there's a lot more to the story. Rapunzel says there is. Cass is her best friend, and while she doesn't agree with her methods, she believes that Cass is still a good person deep down. Before Cass can get Rapunzel somewhere private to talk and finally reveal herself, Zhan Tiri ruins her chance by pulling the cloak off of her. The citizens run away, and when the guards run towards them, Cass pushes them away and traps them with black rocks, even though Rapunzel told them to stand down. Eugene and Varian arrive with the bazooka, and Eugene tells Varian to hold his fire, but Zhan Tiri presses the button to fire it, trapping Cass in amber. They think the device malfunctioned. Cass is able to break out of the amber, and now believes that Zhan Tiri was right. She throws the potion at Rapunzel, which knocks her out. Max and Pascal take her to safety while the guards and the citizens try to fight Cass. Varian and Eugene try talking to her, but she doesn't want to hear it. Before the citizens can get inside the castle for safety, they're attacked by the mind controlled Adira and Hector. Lance fights Adira while Edmund fights Hector. The guards try and fail to catch the binturongs and the rhino in nets. Lance tells Eugene that they need to retreat, but he refuses to. Edmund tells him that you can't save a kingdom by being trapped inside it. Cass breaks the amber bazooka, and Eugene finally tells everyone to fall back. Rapunzel wakes up inside the Snuggly Duckling. No one says anything when she asks what happened to Cassandra. She heads outside, and sees that the island has been covered with black rocks, just like in her fear vision. She's determined to take back her home though. Okay, so I've ragged on Cass for quite a bit now, and I probably should have said this at the beginning of said ragging instead of right now, when it's nearing the end, finally, but better late than never, right? Please don't mistake my hate at a fictional character as hate towards the actual, real life people who made the show, or the character's amazing and talented voice actress, Eden Espinosa. Don't send them hate, don't threaten them, don't belittle them or their work, and please don't let Cass's complete disregard for anyone except herself and her own feelings let you do similar things to actual people in the real world.