Elena of Avalor S3 E7

## Plot

When Elena is surprised by a ghost while talking to Isabel, she finally tells her about being able to see spirits on the Day of the Dead. A spirit named Guillermo is upset that no one made an altar for him, again. A puma spirit named Sanza tells him that if he's not getting honored today, then no one should. An elderly woman tells a band to be quiet while setting up her altar. Elena recognizes her younger self and her butterfly necklace in the picture she has. The woman is Felicia, a childhood friend of hers. They were inseparable as kids and went on adventures together. The man in the photo is Ricardo, her husband, and this is just his pre-altar. The actual one has flowers, statues, paintings, food, candles, and even a confetti cannon. It's impressive, just like he was. They met at a dance competition years ago, but Felicia doesn't dance anymore. She and Elena hear something crash outside. The pre-altar is ruined, and someone stole Felicia's picture. Everyone is acting mischievous, destroying things and messing with people. Isabel bumps into Elena… and drops Felicia's picture. When Elena asks her why she did it, she says she doesn't know. One minute she was singing, and the next she felt an uncontrollable urge to take it. Sanza is influencing people to do bad things, like Bobo did way back in season 1. Elena sees Guillermo and Sanza and tells them to stop causing trouble, or she'll call her friends from the spirit world. However, Sanza just says that there's an even bigger party to crash there, and they leave. Elena calls Zuzo and tells him what happened. Sanza is a rogue spirit guide who likes to trick people into misbehaving. Elena returns Felicia's picture to her and tells her that she can see her chanul, and she's going to the spirit world to stop Sanza and Guillermo. Felicia comes with them so she can see Ricardo again. They go through the portal, which is filled with spirits going to and from the world of the living, since Día de los Muertos is the one day of the year that the spirit public can go through the portal. Felicia doesn't see Ricardo anywhere. Elena promises that they'll find him after they stop Sanza and Guillermo. When they reach the tree, Elena sees that the portal is surrounded by marigolds in the shape of a giant butterfly. Zuzo explains that it's the Flower of Light, which only blooms on Día de los Muertos. It's what keeps the portal open on the holiday, and joy makes it grow. They go to the spirit village branch. They split up to ask if anyone has seen Sanza and Guillermo, but Felicia asks the spirits if they've seen Ricardo. A thief spirit gives Sanza and Guillermo incense from the dark branch. One of them will have to keep it burning while the other collects the smoke. Guillermo isn't sure about going through with their extreme plan, but Sanza convinces him. Zuzo and Elena receive a tip and tell Felicia, but she doesn't follow them. Elena has Zuzo trail Sanza and Guillermo while she looks for her childhood friend. She reminds her that they'll look for Ricardo after they stop Sanza and Guillermo, but Felicia tells her that she can't wait… and actually has the nerve to say that she doesn't know what it's like to lose someone so close to her. What? Elena points out that she lost her parents, and she misses them every single day. It's not easy living without them, but she knows they wouldn't want her to dwell on the past and be sad. They'd want her to live in the present and be happy. Felicia says that nothing can make her happy anymore. Zuzo flies them to where Sanza and Guillermo are and confronts them. However, Elena and Felicia can only fly if Zuzo is holding their hands. Someone else in a house captures and ties up Guillermo. Zuzo goes after Sanza while Elena and Felicia watch Guillermo. The spirits that caught him are revealed to be Lucia and Raul. Elena is happy to reunite with them again, and this time she can touch them because they're all in the spirit world. They heard about Sanza and Guillermo and thought they'd lend a hand. They recognize Felicia, and assume she's a famous dancer now. She was, but after Ricardo died, she never danced again. She excuses herself and leaves. Zuzo comes back and tells them that Sanza got away. He's glad to see that Elena has reunited with her parents. They ask Guillermo what Sanza's plan is. He says that in life, it was just him and his music. It was the only thing that ever made him happy, so he never got close to anyone. No one has ever made him an altar. No one honors his memory. Sanza tells Felicia that he knows where Ricardo is, and he'll take her to him… if she helps him with something first. Guillermo tells the others that they were going to close the portal to the human world. Felicia helps Sanza, and he uses the smoke from the incense to make the Flower of Light wilt, which closes the portal. Felicia stomps on the incense, but it's too late, and Sanza reveals that he doesn't know Ricardo and lied to her to get her to help him. He's like a spirit version of Troyo. Zuzo tells Elena and Felicia that since the portal is closed, they're trapped in the spirit world forever. The Flower of Light only grows when joy is felt, and everyone is sad, even Elena and her parents. Felicia finally dances the sapateado again to make everyone happy, and Guillermo and some other musicians play music. Sapateado is Portuguese for tap dance. It works and the Flower of Light blooms again, opening the portal once more. Zuzo takes Sanza away for all the trouble he's caused. Felicia has finally realized that she was so caught up in the past that she forgot about the present, just like Guillermo, who is finally happy again after playing music and being invited to play with other musician spirits. He thinks he should turn himself in, but Elena tells him that Sanza was the one to blame. More spirits return, and Ricardo and Felicia finally reunite. She tells him that she's decided to dance again. All he ever wanted was for her to be happy. Back in the human world, Elena makes an altar for Guillermo, and she, Isabel, Felicia, and the band play music and dance, along with the spirits, like Lucia and Raul. Aw! This episode was really sweet, even if it didn't follow up on the previous one. I know how the world and the people of Avalor have changed since Elena and her family were imprisoned and stopped aging for 41 years has been a popular angst fanfiction idea since the show first started back in the summer of 2016, and I'm glad they finally addressed at least some of the implications. Once again, I'm dedicating this review to my grandfather, who passed away over three years ago. Elena of Avalor cast and crew, thank you so much for helping me heal when it felt like I would never smile again, like I was drowning in an ocean of pain and sorrow. Episodes like these mean the world to me.

## What Else I Would Change **(SPOILERS!)**

Hi! It's me again. I already gave my review up above at the end of the plot section, so I won't reiterate myself here. Like I did with episode 2, I want to talk about other things that I would change about Elena of Avalor, or at least its third season. For one thing, cut out at least *some* of the guest stars and Ash's attempt at making a Legion of Doom, only to have almost all of them immediately fail and get captured early on in their first and only confrontation with the heroes in the series finale just to replace them with a new threat that's also made up of big name guest stars. Instead, just have Ash and Esteban sail to Nueva Vista and look for the Shadow Gateway after they lose Zopilote in episode 14, or maybe even after episode 8 or 11. Then we won't see them again for a decent sized chunk of the season, and we'd have more room for someone's character development, like Naomi or Gabe. Speaking of which, I would also place the episodes with Gabe and the guards learning magic, as well as Ixlan's introduction and Victor and Carla's redemption closer to episode 6, or at least episode 12, which is Antonia's introduction. That way Elena doesn't seem "evil" for not dealing with Victor and Carla sooner, because this way, she does. Maybe it could be Antonia's idea to have the guards learn magic, and as for why no one brought it up before now, they just never thought about it before, like how Antonia thought that women weren't allowed to join the royal guard, because before her, only men enlisted and joined the guard. Maybe Ixlan explains that in the time of ancient Maru, everyone used magic to defend the kingdom, which makes the Shades an even bigger threat if the Maruvians still only had one magical force powerful enough to stop them, and gives Antonia or Gabe the idea to learn magic to protect Avalor. Which reminds me, how, why, when, and by whom was Ixlan imprisoned in the first place? It was clearly before the Shades attacked Maru the first time, since she doesn't recognize them when they're released. And when Quita Moz thought that she had died alongside all the other Maruvians, did he think that his vision of her meeting a princess with the Scepter of Light was wrong? At least lampshade or try to justify your plot holes. Like, maybe the reason why Mateo never replaced his spare tamboritas is because he didn't know where to find more chespas until he found his grandfather's secret library in episode 14. Also, introduce the concept of a master wizard earlier, like maybe it's a rude remark that Ash, or even Fiero in the previous season, or hell, maybe even Shuriki herself, makes to him, and that's how he learns about the difference between a wizard in training, a royal wizard, and a master royal wizard. Oh! Maybe Victor, Carla, and Olivia could learn good magic with the guards, especially since Olivia mentioned in episode 15 that Mateo hadn't taught her any combat spells yet. As Sofia the First showed us, even if the child characters don't physically *look* older, they are growing up and can handle more responsibility. Defeating Tito proved that these kids have what it takes it protect the kingdom. It'd be cute to see a guard teach Quique how to sword fight, or have Naomi or Elena teach Amara how to lasso. Instead of just being "Isa's school friends," they could actually be part of the ever growing team, which I personally think Ciela, Nico, and Avión could also join, since they stopped being important after the season 1 special, even when the plot centered around the jaquins again. Nico is the only one that gets a few lines, and Ciela only gets a silent and easily missed cameo. If kids can kick butt and stop bad guys on *Sofia the First*, then they can do the same thing on this show, and on Tangled: The Series. I just really liked Kiera and Catalina, as well as Varian. Seriously, Disney, no matter how old I get or how much my interests change, I will **never** stop wanting or asking for a *Varian and the Seven Kingdoms* show with the exact same or at least a similar art style as Tangled's. **NEVER.** On an unrelated note, it seems like Luisa is now the only family member that doesn't know that Elena can see spirits on the Day of the Dead, unless you also count Esteban, but he's never appeared in these episodes before. Seriously, Mateo knew before Elena's own family, and even then, that was only because Zuzo told him about it 364 days after he and Elena first learned that it was a thing. Elena even lampshades it in the beginning of the episode when she tells Isabel, saying that she should've told her before. Yeah, like when you first found out about it, especially since she missed your parents, who are also her parents, a lot during her first Day of the Dead without them. Whatever, it's not a character's fault that sometimes the writers create a story that just… defies logic and common sense. I'm sorry Cass! I still love you, most of your canon story, and your voice actress! That's also why I actually like Riven and his romantic relationship with Musa in Winx Club. It's the writers that are injecting artificial drama into their relationship and then hitting the reset button, not the fictional characters themselves.