Winx Club S3 E1

## Plot

The Winx are packing to go on summer vacation, and Bloom is upset about saying goodbye to Sky. Apparently she had a fight with him. Too bad it was offscreen! Musa and Layla are staying at Alfea for the summer. I get that Layla didn't have a great childhood, but I thought she'd want to see her parents after being stuck at Alfea all year. Oh well. She athletically catches all of Bloom's luggage, although Lockette and Kiko falling into her makes her lose her balance, falling into Stella's luggage. The girls offer to help her repack when a message appears for Stella. She's invited to Solaria's Princess Ball. It means a princess, like Stella, Layla, or Bloom, is officially entering royal society. Her father, King Radius, also says he has a surprise announcement to make at the party. The girls also mention arranged marriages, which still happen in some kingdoms. Foreshadowing! Stella invites the rest of the girls to the ball. The Trix somehow got out of the Realix dimension/Shadowhaunt and got over the whole "merged into one being" thing. They're sent to the Omega dimension, a frozen planet for the worst criminals. Icy obviously gets out immediately. Whoever designed the detainment of these three is stupid. So Bloom probably did it. Stella gets excited when she thinks her mom and dad are getting back together. Icy frees Darcy and Stormy. Stella gets into a fight with a rude girl named Chimera, who's also having a princess ball and has magical powers. She also gets the dress Stella wants before her. The Trix free Valtor, who was sentenced to eternity, and was in there for 17 years. They team up to break out of the prison planet. Stella lost the opportunity to buy the dress because she and Bloom had to save some adorable puppies. Aw! Chimera said she was the princess of Solaria. Valtor and the Trix find the gate to Andros, Layla's homeworld. Valtor is extremely powerful. He turns the mermaids at the gate into his servants/monsters. At the beach, it's revealed that Stella got a new pink dress, and Musa got hair extensions, making her pigtails longer. Brandon, Helia, Timmy, and Riven show up to surprise them. They were also invited to the ball, courtesy of Tecna. Sky is also there, and he and Bloom apologize to each other for fighting. Layla says there's something wrong with the ocean. Huge tidal waves are coming in, threatening the people. The Winx and Specialists get everyone out. Layla notices a little girl still there and saves her. She creates a surfboard with Morphix, and rides the giant wave to shore. She receives a message from a mermaid. She speaks her language, and has to go because Andros is in trouble. The others want to go with her, but Layla has to go through the ocean to get there. Makes sense, she grew up on an ocean planet with mermen and mermaids, so of course she can swim extremely well.

## Review

This was a good first episode. Musa getting hair extensions is a good explanation for why her hair is suddenly much longer. Layla is athletic, a good dancer, speaks multiple languages, is a princess, an action girl, and a well developed character. Is it any wonder why she's my favorite? I'm looking forward to this season!