Elena of Avalor S2 E10

## Plot

After yet another lengthy recap, the episode starts where the last one left off. It's a good thing too, because these hiatuses are slowing killing me. Five new episodes, three month break, four new episodes, four month break. Mateo tells everyone the second riddle: "In the Valley of Stars, find the Sun that sparkles inside the Moon." That definitely reminded me of Rapunzel and Cass from Tangled. While everyone else talks, Elena zones out and thinks about the day Shuriki attacked. She snaps out of it when Naomi asks her a question. She says that seeing Shuriki again reminded her of her parents, and that they have to stop her. Naomi assures her that they will, after they solve the riddle. Migs tells everyone that Vallestrella means valley of stars. Mateo and Gabe want to lock the staff up in the treasury first, but Naomi says there's no time. Meanwhile, Shuriki's group has also figured out that they have to go to Vallestrella. Victor and Carla want Shuriki to make them malvagos, but she reminds them that she can't until she has a wand. Fiero can with his tamborita, but he says they're not ready to become dark wizards. They'll need a jaquin to get into Vallestrella. Shuriki hates jaquins, and they don't have great chances of finding one willing to take them. Victor says that he knows an outlaw who can help them. Elena settles the argument by splitting up. Mateo and Gabe will go back to the palace to lock the staff up, while she and Naomi go to Vallestrella to find the next piece, and take care of Shuriki. It turns out that the outlaw is Troyo. The group sees Mateo and Gabe heading back to the palace with the staff. Shuriki wants Victor and Carla to take it from them, but they'll never catch up, since they're on jaquins… unless they were malvagos. She orders Fiero to make them malvagos, which he does. This changes their clothes and gives them tamboritas. Naomi, Elena, Luna, and Skylar arrive in Vallestrella. They don't know what the sun that sparkles inside the moon means, but Skylar has some friends that might. Elena has another flashback of Shuriki. She can't get her out of her head. She meets Skylar's friends, the Flaringos. They know what the riddle means, and take them there. Shuriki and Fiero meet Troyo. He agrees to give them two jaquins, but only if Shuriki makes him king of the jungle when she takes over Avalor. The jaquins are Cruz, and his twin sister Vestia, who broke him out. Aw man, why'd it have to be offscreen? The Flaringos tell Elena that if she can't move on from the bad things that happened in her past, then she'll never see a brighter future. They reach a pond shaped like a crescent moon. The mount piece is underwater. None of them can hold their breath long enough to reach it. A grumpy butterfrog gets it for them to get them to leave. They find the next riddle: "When you reach the highest of heights, the Jewel of Night will be in the clasp of your claw." The tallest mountain in Vallestrella is Monte Grande Garra. It translates to big claw mountain. There's a rock formation at the top that looks like a jaquin claw. That's where the jewel is. Elena gives the mount to Naomi, and they head to the mountain. Shuriki, Fiero, Cruz, and Vestia enter Vallestrella. The Flaringos, not knowing who they are, tell them about Elena getting the mount, and that she's heading to Monte Grande Garra next. Victor and Carla catch up to Mateo and Gabe. They cast a spell that creates a giant purple tornado. They grab the staff and take off. Elena uses the reveal ability to find the jewel inside the mountain. They wonder how to get it out. Suddenly, Shuriki and Fiero arrive. Elena has another flashback of Shuriki killing her parents, and gives in to her desire for revenge. She tells Naomi to get the jewel. She fires blasts at Shuriki and Fiero, but she keeps missing. They notice that she gets weaker with each blast, and Fiero heads back to get the jewel. Elena tells Skylar to follow Shuriki. She eventually collapses and falls off. Shuriki says that while she was chasing her, she left Naomi all alone. She recognizes the helpless expression on her face. It was the same one her parents had before she killed them, and she flies off on Cruz. Fiero gets the jewel. Naomi runs up the mountain with the mount while Luna holds Vestia and Fiero off. Shuriki and Cruz show up, and Naomi slips and drops the mount. Shuriki gets it, and she and Fiero escape. Naomi falls, but she's saved by Elena and Skylar. Elena wants to get both pieces back, but Skylar says she isn't going anywhere until she rests. Luna apologizes for not being able to stop them. Elena apologizes to Naomi for not sticking together, but it was like she *had* to go after Shuriki. Naomi understands why she's so mad. If she doesn't let go of her past though, it could really mess up her future. Gabe and Mateo find them, and tell them that Victor and Carla stole the staff. Back in Avalor, Shuriki reassembles the Scepter of Night. Fiero will teach her how to use it. Our young heroes wonder what to do now that she has it. Quita Moz appears. The flames told him what happened. He says Elena can still defeat Shuriki if she learns all the powers of the Scepter of Light. He agrees to show her, and the episode ends as they leave for more training. Naomi wishes her luck.

## Review

I absolutely *loved* this episode. I don't know what it is about teenage girls and trauma that draws me to them, but it does. Aisha on Winx Club, Elena here, arguably Rapunzel during her TV show and Aelita in Code Lyoko, nearly every single major character in RWBY, etc. Aimee is at the top of her game here. I think I might've cried the first time I saw it. Just, the fact that Elena receives advice about moving on, and tries to, but ultimately *fails* and gives in to revenge, is heartbreaking, especially since if things had played out just a little bit differently at one point or another, this story might've had an entirely different ending. Not to mention that she previously made the right decision to work with others and not try to get revenge at the end of the prequel special. This episode is a branching path "What if?" story from start to finish. What if everyone had gone back to the palace to lock up the staff, what if they all went to Vallestrella, what if Naomi and Elena had stuck together, etc. It's still hard to believe that this was Aimee's first voice role. She's just so good at it! Her voicing Adora/She-Ra in the Netflix reboot is the entire reason why I started watching that show. Speaking of which, Gina Rodriguez voiced Carmen Sandiego in *that* rebooted show, and in the 1994 original, the title character was voiced by the legendary Rita Moreno, who was on the rebooted *One Day at a Time*, along with the also amazingly talented Justina Machado, who voiced Carmen on this show. Whoa, everything just came full circle. I love the theme songs. So, now that I've gushed about four Latin American actresses and three Netflix reboot productions in a row… I think the reason I'm able to get into all of these rebooted shows so easily is because I wasn't born yet when the originals aired, and I never bothered to go back and rewatch them, so I have nothing to compare the reboots too. Besides, I like the animation, and doing the same old thing is boring anyways.