Elena of Avalor S3 E8

## Plot

Elena has invited Mateo to the grand council meeting in case she loses control of her emotion magic again. Victor is still a statue, and he's replaced Fiero in the palace garden. When Flo mentions Esteban, Elena gets mad, and her magic levitates Mateo, Flo, and Victor. Gabe and Doña Paloma arrive and are levitated as well. Elena sings the first few lines of her mother's song to calm down, which works, and Mateo is able to levitate everyone before they hit the ground… except Gabe, who fell in some bushes, but he's okay. The guards are looking for Ash and Esteban in the jungle, and the duo barely avoids them. Esteban wants to leave Avalor with his horse, Valiente, whose name means brave in Spanish… and he runs away when Ash asks how they plan to get past all the guards. Esteban agrees to show her the fastest way to Takaína. Um, Ash? You've already been there before. Sure, maybe she needs Esteban to get past all of the guards, but she can easily defeat them with her magic, which she points out. She makes a trail of footprints to send them the wrong way. Esteban trips over a large branch, which he picks up and uses as a walking stick. Doña Paloma has replaced him on the grand council. As Gabe begins to update everyone on the search for Ash, she questions why he's still in charge, because the Delgados escaped from his custody, and the only reason Victor and Carla were caught was because one was turned to stone and the other gave up. Not to mention that it was Naomi and her plan that helped them catch Victor in the first place, and Elena and Mateo caught Carla after she tried to rescue him by herself. Both times the guards were completely useless, except Gabe himself, but barely. Don't get me wrong, I like Gabe as a character, I'm just trying to make a case for everyone here. It was Higgins and his naivety that allowed Esteban to escape, and he didn't have to free the Delgados, he chose to. That is what I believe to be Esteban's biggest character flaw, his cowardice. His pride, snootiness, and thinking that he knows best are close seconds though. Doña Paloma ought to know a thing or two about that, assuming she hasn't turned into Hildegard and forgotten her character development. Speaking of which, she says that the only way to catch Ash is to fight magic with magic, so Mateo should be made Captain of the Royal Guard. Gabe finds the suggestion hilarious, but Mateo points out that he helped stop Shuriki twice, turned Fiero into stone twice, caught the Kupi-Kupi, and found the Codex Maru. True, but Gabe and Naomi helped you turn Fiero to stone the second time, and they helped you find the Codex Maru, along with Elena. Also, I love their rivalry song. I find it weird that Doña Paloma is the one who suggests replacing Gabe, considering her own backstory is incredibly similar to his, as well as Julio's. Gabe points out that he became the youngest captain in the guard's history, and he split Ash's drumwand in half with his sword. Actually, all you did was pin it to the wall, and again, it was part of Naomi's plan, not yours. At this rate, Naomi seems like the best choice for captain. Then again, the only captain she's probably interested in is Gabe. Or at least the role of sea captain. And no, we still don't see anything new with their relationship except what's implied. For example, she doesn't vote for Mateo to essentially take Gabe's job. It's hard to tell from her facial expressions though, and she doesn't get any lines, nor do Luisa or Francisco. Speaking of which, Francisco sides with Naomi, while Doña Paloma and Luisa decide to make Mateo the new captain, which makes Elena the tiebreaker vote… and she reluctantly votes to put Mateo in charge, which makes Gabe storm out in anger. Wait a second… they finally had a 3/5ths majority ruling? Yes! Sorry, I'm a stats nerd. Anyways, Elena goes after Gabe, and they enter a sitting room because he thought there was another door in there. He tries to leave, but Elena says he isn't going anywhere until they talk. She even takes out her scepter and threatens to seal the door… which she does on accident, with magic crystals. Looks like she just discovered another new power. Gabe tries to cut through them with his sword, but it's repelled. Elena tells him that they need magic to defeat Ash, but they also need him. They have to work together, and he agrees to try. He worked so hard to become captain though. Yeah, and Mateo stayed up all night making you a potion so a spirit wouldn't possess you anymore. These two already learned how to work together way back in season 1. Which reminds me, Doña Paloma finally got what she wanted in that season too. Elena doesn't know how to get rid of the crystals, so she and Gabe leave through the window. Mateo looks good in a guard uniform, but he's not much of a military leader, and he and Gabe give conflicting orders about where to search. The guards found the set of footprints, but Mateo points out that Ash probably conjured them to trick them and is heading back to Takaína. Elena uses her Farsight ability to see that she and Esteban are in Pueblo de Oro, so they're heading west like Mateo said they were, and if they leave now they can beat them there. The men head out, but only when Gabe gives them an official command. Elena reveals that she had second thoughts about exiling Esteban, but now those doubts are gone. She takes a second to stop her new magic from kicking in. Gabe wants to set up a perimeter around the entire mountain with lookouts on three of the pyramids, but Mateo says there's no time. Gabe says that strategic planning is crucial, but Mateo tells him that if they stop to plan, Ash will get to the forge first. And then a guard spots her and Esteban. The guards try to engage them, but Ash blasts them back with her magic. All of the chaos means Elena can't get a clear shot. Before Mateo can blast Ash and Esteban, Higgins tries to "save" him, which results in his spell knocking down a tree and separating Ash and Esteban from them. Mateo tells Gabe to stay there with the guards while he and Elena go after them, because he'd just get in the way, but he says they need them. Elena tells him that Mateo is in charge now, and he gave an order. Gabe tells the soldiers to stand down. That interaction kind of reminded me of how the teenage characters occasionally treated Isabel. Luckily, they were always shown as being in the wrong and apologized for it, and it stopped after she joined the team. Elena and Mateo enter Takaína, and Ash casts a spell at them that makes Elena drop her scepter, and she tells Mateo to go ahead without her. Esteban tells Ash that she won't hurt Elena, but then she points her tamborita at him and says she'll do as she pleases. She throws Mateo around again, and he drops his tamborita again. Elena throws her and Esteban to the floor with a blast. Ash's tamborita is thrown towards Esteban, and he picks it up. Elena orders him to drop it. He tells her that he didn't want any of this to happen. He only escaped to avoid being exiled. He never meant for her to get hurt. Elena thinks he's lying, and loses control of her emotion powers again. Aimee, why? Can you and Christian please stop making me feel like crying? She lifts up everyone and everything. At least Mateo was able to get his tamborita back right before, and she stopped Ash from getting any of the crystals. Mateo casts a spell, but it just hits the ceiling. Ash gets her tamborita back from Esteban, but her spell just blasts a wall near Elena, who sings her mother's song again to calm down. Everyone falls down… and Esteban falls into the well of crystals with his walking stick… *which gives him magic powers!* What?! His stick is transformed into a staff, and he gets slightly different clothes and a new hairstyle. Hate the hair, love the outfit. Before Ash can get the power of the forge too, Esteban bangs the staff on the ground, which teleports himself, Elena, Mateo, and Ash all over Tepet Muul. Before he can fall off one of the pyramids, he teleports to the one Ash is on, and they start heading back to Takaína. Elena was teleported onto the ground near them, and her magic acts up again. She starts heading towards them, lifting rocks as she does so. Mateo is teleported in front of Gabe and some of the guards, and he gives them a brief summary of the situation, unaware that the others are behind him. He asks Gabe for help, who brings up his "getting in the way" comment. He says that he had no idea that Elena's magic would go wild and that Esteban would become magical, and Gabe tells him that's the whole point. You don't know, so you plan for every possibility. Luckily, he deployed backup and had the guards set up a perimeter beforehand. He tells Mateo to intercept Ash and Esteban with everyone else while he stops Elena from doing anything reckless. He sings her mother's song to her to get her to calm down. Esteban and Ash try to run, but Gabe and Elena confront them, and Elena destroys Ash's tamborita, but also causes large rocks to fall that block them off. But not really, because they just climb on top of them. After a few tries, Esteban uses his new teleportation power to escape with Ash. Gabe tells the guards to split up and search the area for them. Elena uses her new seal power to block the entrance to Takaína so no one else can get powers from it. Ash says they can't go back until they're more prepared… so they head to Xotep and talk to Zopilote. So he's not just an extended cameo in one episode after all? Yes! Ash apologizes for taking his tamborita, but he's proud of her for doing something so evil. She tells him that Elena destroyed it though. She found Takaína, but Esteban got powers, so they'll have to train him in dark magic, and they don't give him a say. They leave to find a new lair because their enemies know about this place. But it looks so cool! Yes, Elena could use her Farsight power to find them at any landmark she's ever heard of or been to before, but still. While updating the grand council, Gabe says he understands why Mateo was put in charge of this mission. They do need magic to fight magic. Mateo says they also need strategy, careful planning, and military know how. Elena suggests that they reinstate Gabe as captain and make Mateo advisor to the royal guard, and everyone agrees. Having finally learned her lesson about recklessness and impulsive behavior when things get personal, which started in season 2 with Shuriki, Elena sends Gabe and Mateo out to find Ash and Esteban without her, at least until she gets her new powers under control.