W.I.T.C.H. S2 E20

## Plot

Nerissa has cast a spell on herself that makes all of the guys fall in love with her. It works on everyone except Matt, due to him defeating Shagon somehow making him immune. Now that he's no longer spying on them for her, she's doing it herself. This makes the girls really mad. Hay Lin got braces, but after Eric falls in love with Nerissa, she thinks that he thinks they're ugly. Altermere Yan Lin is still working at the cafeteria, and suggests that the girls follow her and try to steal the seal from her, due to the girls not knowing that she's actually under Nerissa's control. They realize that the love spell only works when Nerissa is in range. Once she leaves, the guys go back to normal, with no memory of what happened. Irma finally uses her mind suggestion powers again. The girls follow Nerissa to the new mall to try and steal the seal. Just like with Caleb in episode 15 and Kadma in episode 17 though, she just zaps it right back to her hand. She reveals that she's resurrected the old Guardians, who attack them, element against element. Two Hearts against one. They fold to Kandrakar to escape. Hay Lin is devastated because she thinks that her grandma betrayed her and doesn't love her anymore. The next day, Nerissa challenges the girls to one final battle at the mall that night. They promise not to fold or teletransport away. Hay Lin can't bring herself to fight her grandma, so Will offers to trade partners with her. Nerissa reveals that she has Eric and is planning on killing him. Hay Lin realizes that she doesn't have the luxury of breaking down when innocent lives are at stake. The girls switch partners, knowing that without constant instructions, the mind controlled Guardians can't keep up. Nerissa folds away, and reminds them that *they* promised not to run away, not her. Eric wakes up, and says that he likes Hay Lin's braces. She's so happy that she kisses him. Aw!

## Review

I liked this episode. What Hay Lin went through was kind of like an even more G rated, implicit version of Aisha/Layla's PTSD from Winx Club season 2, or Elena's PTSD from season 2 of her own show, or Yang in RWBY after volume 3. Yes, I know going through a traumatic incident doesn't automatically mean that someone is going to develop PTSD, and I'm not exactly an expert on the subject at all, so don't take my amateur diagnosis as law or anything, but I *do* know what it's like to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. I loved that Will referenced the times in seasons 1 and 2 when she jumped to conclusions about the adults that were dating and/or were interested in her parents being the evil bad guys in disguise just because she didn't like them personally. Nice to know that she seems to have finally learned her lesson. I know I've mentioned this before, but seriously, how come no one ever sees the girls when they fight in public in Heatherfield, which is basically all the time? Or no security camera ever records them? Technically, the mall wasn't open to the public yet for the first half of the episode, but still. What about all of the collateral damage that their fights cause? With the cameras, I guess it's possible that either Nerissa or Will could use their powers on them to either delete or alter the footage, but still.