Elena of Avalor S1 E5

## Plot

Mateo is being made the new royal wizard of Avalor. I know I've seen the formal clothes of the cast before, but they still look so pretty! As we find out much later (in the special), Mateo is the only wizard in Avalor, so he's their only choice. However, he doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself. It's not helped by the fact that Naomi keeps cracking admittedly funny jokes, Elena invited a crowd of people, and Gabe doesn't believe in him. Speaking of Gabe, he lets an obviously evil wizard into the castle because he added his name, Fiero, onto the list of guests. He claims that he was a friend of Alacazar, Mateo's grandfather. Gabe openly questions Elena's choice of Mateo, doubting that he's royal wizard material and questioning his age. Elena points out that he's a royal guard despite being around the same age. We also see Rafa, Mateo's mother, for the first time in the show. Mateo is officially made the royal wizard and given his grandfather's old wizard robes, but they don't fit. He's supposed to perform some magic for the crowd later, but no one can find him. Elena finds him on the balcony, practicing his spell. He doubts his ability to be the royal wizard, but Elena reminds him that he's still learning, just like she's still learning to be crown princess. She also says that he needs to believe in himself. Oh, and she fixes his outfit for him. The evil wizard, Fiero, is looking for something in the castle, but he can't find it. A guard tells him that the party's in the throne room. Fiero uses a spell that turns him to stone and decides to change his plans. Naomi and Gabe find Elena and Mateo. Fiero shows up behind them and tries to cast a spell on them, but Mateo casts a spell that protects them. However, he accidentally caused the dome to collapse. Mateo insists that he saw a malvago, which he knows because they have black tamboritas. A malvago is basically Spanish for an evil wizard. Gabe and Mateo butt heads all throughout the episode, mainly because Mateo uses magic and Gabe uses physical skills, and they only know each other through Elena, so they're not really friends. It's the same thing with Naomi, but she at least gets along with the two and knew Mateo through school. They're able to get out of the dome, but find that everyone in the throne room has been turned to stone. Mateo can't undo such powerful magic. He only has some beginner spells in his grandfather's notebook. Fiero is spying on them, trying to discover the location of the Codex Maru. It's the only way to undo the spell. It's an ancient Maruvian spell book that's passed down from royal wizard to royal wizard. It contains the most ancient and powerful magic in the kingdom, but no one knows where it is. According to the notebook, it's hidden in a secret chamber in the palace. Alacazar wanted to make sure that the Codex didn't fall into the wrong hands. All he left in his notebook was a riddle. Before Mateo can read it, Fiero knocks over a flowerpot and is discovered. Gabe recognizes him, and Mateo recognizes his name. Fiero was his grandfather's worst enemy. Decades ago, Fiero was in line to become the next royal wizard, but Elena's father, King Raul, appointed Alacazar instead. Fiero ran off to become a malvago and vowed revenge. They assume that turning everyone into stone is his revenge. Gabe tries to go after him, but Mateo stops him with magic, pointing out that Fiero will just turn him into a statue, like the others. Anyways, the first riddle is this: "If you wish to complete this task, a wizard most royal must simply ask." Elena figures out that only a royal wizard can ask the book to tell him or her where the Codex is. And Mateo didn't become one until that night. Mateo asks the book where the Codex is, and it gives them another riddle: "To find the book of which you speak, there are three keys which you must seek. Time will tell how much you know, you'll find key one three hours ago." Thanks to Naomi's joke, Elena figures out that it's referring to a clock, and there's one in the grand council room. She turns the big hand back three hours, and a drawer opens with a key inside. I hope they changed it back to the correct time at some point offscreen. They receive the next riddle: "When you play this melody, the second key is way off key." The riddle is referring to music, so they check the music room. Key means piano keys. Elena remembers that there was always a key that was off key on the piano. Gabe finds a button on the off key piano key and finds the second key. Wow, so many keys. Anyways, the third riddle is this: "In the proper frame of mind, the third key you will surely find. Once you've gotten all three keys, unlock the three mysteries." After Gabe points out that he's one ahead of Mateo and Elena tries to call him out on it, Mateo himself tells her that he should be able to solve the riddles, because that's the whole point: To prove that he's worthy of the Codex. Yeah, in the beginning, Mateo has a lot of self-doubt to work through. Elena tells him that the point is to get the Codex and save everyone. How they do it doesn't matter. Naomi realizes that the three mysteries are referring to the three big islands out in Avalor Bay. They're called The Three Mysteries. Mateo realizes that frame means the frame of a painting. And there's a huge painting of the islands in the library, which is where he was at the beginning of the episode. He finds the last key, and realizes that there's a keyhole in each island. They turn all three keys, and the painting moves aside to reveal the secret chamber: A wizard's workshop. In it, they find the Codex Maru. Mateo looks through it, and finds the reversal potion that they need. However, if they don't undo the spell by sunrise, it'll become permanent. I think this was just added to create tension and suspense, since later episodes in seasons 2 and 3 retcon this detail. Mateo finally stands up to Gabe. After making the potion and taking the Codex, the team tries to leave, only to be cornered by Fiero, who followed them. He claims that he let them escape so they would lead him to the Codex, which shakes Mateo's newfound confidence in himself. Instead of trying to fight him, Mateo gives him the book, but only if he promises to leave. However, Fiero takes the reversal potion too. Gabe, tired of doing things Mateo's way, tries to catch him, but Fiero just turns him to stone. Naomi tries throwing books at him, but that doesn't work either, and she's turned to stone too. However, before Fiero can do the same to Elena, Mateo blasts him out of the room with a spell. He gets the potion back and throws it to Elena. He tells her to unfreeze Gabe and Naomi while he goes after Fiero and the Codex. After doing so, Elena and the others run after Mateo. He and Fiero engage in an awesome wizarding duel. Fiero is able to disarm Mateo, but he sees his tamborita not too far away. Mateo is able to deflect Fiero's own spell back at him, turning him to stone and getting him to drop the Codex. The others are relieved that he's okay and amazed that he did it, including Mateo himself. Gabe apologizes to Mateo for doubting him. They have to hurry though, since the sun's coming up. However, there's not enough time to pour the potion on everyone. Gabe throws the potion into the center of the room, and Mateo casts a spell that makes the potion rain on everyone, restoring them to normal. Gabe explains that a malvago invaded the palace, but he was defeated by Mateo. Mateo thanks Elena for always believing in him, even when he didn't believe in himself. He finally performs some magic for the crowd and everyone loves it.

## Review

I loved this episode! And not just because of the unintentional or not subtext between Elena and Mateo. Although this is probably the episode where I started shipping them hard. This episode felt a lot like a *Harry Potter* movie. I just love the idea of kids coming together as a group to stop the bad guy, either in a scientific or magical way. And I really like learning all about the magical lore in this world. Also, I love how Gabe was a real butt monkey this episode. Consider it comeuppance for being so rude to Mateo. He gets grief over letting Fiero in, he bangs his head on the collapsed dome, he falls on the floor, his singing voice gets insulted (which is especially funny because we still hadn't heard Naomi, Mateo, or Gabe sing yet), he gets turned into stone, falls on the floor *again*, and gets a book thrown at his head. I also like how they all contributed to solving the riddles. It makes it feel like they're all needed in their own way, you know? It was also nice to see that, after all of their initial animosity towards each other, Gabe and Mateo can respect each other, work together, and even be friends.