Elena of Avalor S1 E8

## Plot

Elena, Isabel, and their grandparents are on their way to a royal retreat for a vacation. Elena is both nervous and excited, since it's her first time at King Hector's retreat. Armando and Skylar came along too. Elena is practicing with a slingshot to prepare. Isabel wants to see a marposa, a pink dolphin creature native to these waters. Their species name is a play on the Spanish word for butterfly, mariposa. The marposa can communicate by whistling to each other. Isabel wants to see if she can hear them through her latest invention, a magnaphone. They do see some, but Isabel wishes that she could get a closer look. Francisco wants to introduce Elena to all of the kings, but she wants to fly in on Skylar to make a big entrance. Francisco reminds her that not all rulers act the way they do, and tells her that if she needs anything, they'll just be on the other side of the island. Elena meets King Joaquín of Cariza, King Lars of Maarswik, and King Raja of Napurna. They're on King Hector's private island. They warn her that King Hector can be bossy, pushy, and difficult. I'd say obnoxious, rude, and sexist, but okay. The only reason they put up with him is because he bribes them with extravagant gifts at the end of the retreat. He previously gave them summer castles and private islands. When King Hector sees Elena, he assumes that she isn't royalty. This could be because she's just 16, but some people have pointed out that Elena is the only woman at the retreat. There are no queens. Which, historically speaking, makes sense. Primogeniture and the patriarchal society favored sons, not daughters, who were just expected to marry and give up everything to their husbands. There have been more queen consorts in history than queens regnant. Queen Elizabeth II is a good example of a queen regnant. Anyways, Hector intends to give them luxury battleships at the end of this year's retreat. He's rich, and spends all of his money on himself. Elena points out that he could spend that extra money on the welfare of his kingdom, by building roads or schools. Francisco and Luisa go on a walk, and Isabel discovers that the island is where the marposas come to lay their eggs. She and Armando discover their nesting area. They try to look for a baby. Hector keeps being mean to Elena, by making sure that she doesn't have a throne like the rest of them. The other kings are too scared to stand up to him, but Joaquín is nice to Elena. She tries to hand out gifts to them, but Hector says that gifts aren't handed out until the end of the retreat. The only way she'll be treated like the others is if she does what he says until the end of the retreat. Said retreat is interrupted by a marposa attacking one of the ships. Elena says that doesn't make any sense, since the pod she and her family saw on the way there were friendly. Hector wants to attack it, but Elena disagrees. She doesn't like solving problems with violence. Plus, it might be better to figure out *why* the marposa is acting this way than just blindly attacking it. Hector gets rid of her by suggesting that she check on her family to make sure they're alright. She tells Isabel what happened, and she agrees that it makes no sense. Marposas are harmless and stay way out at sea… except when the female marposas come to shore to lay their eggs. Baby marposas get very upset if they're separated from their mothers. The marposa is a baby, and it's just scared. They need to find the mother. Elena takes Isabel's magnaphone to see if she can hear the mother's whistling. However, Hector refuses to listen to her, and the other kings follow his lead, although Joaquín is the most reluctant to do so. Elena looks for the mother herself on Skylar, and finds her trapped in some roots. Skylar is able to free the mother, but in doing so, he bangs up his wing. He can still fly. The mother reunites with her baby by the ship, and Joaquín realizes that Elena was right. However, Hector still orders his men to lower the net. This doesn't make any sense, since the baby is no longer a threat. It turns out that Hector just wanted to capture it to put it in his aquarium. He plans to capture the mother now too. Joaquín insists that what he's doing isn't right. Hector captures the baby. Elena sees it and wants to do something, but Skylar's wing hurts too much to keep flying, and they're forced to land on a piece of driftwood. Elena believes that they're too late, and gets them to shore. However, Joaquín arrives in a rowboat. He says he should've listened to her from the beginning. He spent so much time doing what Hector said that he forgot that a true leader would stand up for what they thought was right. Elena believes that she's failed, but Joaquín points out that great leaders try again after they fail. Working together, they row to Hector's ship and come up with a plan to free the marposa. The mother is angry about her baby being captured, and is ramming the ship. It starts filling with water. Lars and Raja finally start questioning Hector's orders, but they submit when Hector says that they won't get their own ships unless they help him. Joaquín distracts them by telling them that the ship will sink soon, while Elena works to free the baby. Hector notices her, and tells her that if she frees the marposa, she'll never be one of the kings. She points out that she's going to be queen, and cuts the rope holding the baby. With the baby and mother reunited, they swim away. Everyone evacuates the ship, and it sinks. Elena decides to hold her own royal retreat for the other kings.